April is autism awareness month

Since April is designated as Autism Awareness month it seems like a suiting time to spend more time talking about, Autism and our efforts behind our autism awareness dog collars, leashes, etc. Most of you reading this already know that many of the items on Felinefido.com are products we have created that are near and dear to us. This also applies to the products we have designed to support awareness for autism. -- Let me stop for one second to toss in a number and please pause and think about this for one moment...it is now estimated that 1 in 150 children are diagnosed with some type of Autism Spectrum disorder. -- Did you give that a chance to sink in? 1 in 150. This is an epidemic -- we need to use our voices to promote awareness, donate to causes benefiting those with autism and donating to research efforts.

A few months back we elected to donate a portion of our autism awareness dog collars, leashes, key fobs, etc. to a special organization called 4 Paws for Ability that specializes in training and placing autism service dogs . More and more families are coming forward to rave about the positive experience that is a result of the addition of an autism service dog. Yesterday, ABC posted a story about service dogs helping autistic children. The article includes several personal accounts from families that currently have a service dog for their autistic child, a few of them from 4 Paws for Ability.

We currently donate to 4 Paws for Ability in honor of a little boy in Alaska named Trapper Leeth. We posted about him a few months back, you can read the previous post here. Trapper's family resides in a remote area of Alaska where his wandering tendancies can pose a huge danger in particular. Trapper has been approved for his service dog and is in the process of trying to raise the $13,000 donation needed to train and raise his dog through the 4 Paws for Ability program. Thanks to so many generous folks, he is nearly 1/2 way through his fundraising requirements. We are excited to hear this news and hope that through the donations made through so many caring folks, their local community, some generous businesses contributing to their cause and our autism awareness product sales that we will be able to see Trapper bring his dog home within the next year! If you have it in your heart to help, you can donate directly by visiting Trapper's website.

Spay & Neuter Collars on Newsday Blog

So, we usually don't "toot our own horn" but we just got word that our spay & neuter collars are in a Newsday bloggers entry titled 'handmade fashions go to dogs'.

This is exciting for us, as we are very passionate about rescue and responsible pet ownership, thus the reason we've custom designed our line of designer dog collars to promote such an important cause.

By sure to check out the rest of the Cheap Thrills Newsday Blog - they provide links to a lot of crafters, etsy artists and DIY-ers that offer unique, high quality items you can't find anywhere else!

And, of course, follow this link to see the entire collection of Save Lives, Spay & Neuter collars for dogs AND cats!

Thank you, Google for helping us find 4 Paws for Ability

Wow. The internet is really an amazing source of information. Have you ever found yourself searching for something specific and then finding yourself completely engulfed in something other than what you typed in the google search box? Well, that's how we found an organization called 4 Paws for Ability. Sometime last year we started our line of dog collars to support awareness of autism, as you know we currently donate 15% of the proceeds to the Autism Society of America. For some time, I have wanted Feline Fido to form a relationship with an organization (supporting autism) that would be a little more intimate. By "intimate, I basically mean, that I'd like to have a contact at that organization, I'd like to have more insight as to their specific goals and for us to feel like we are helping support a team effort. So, as stated before, I did my google search...after clicking on a link, that took me to another link, which took me to another..(you get the idea) I found my way to 4 Paws for Ability. I am so glad.

Their mission is to:
"Our mission at 4 Paws for Ability is to enrich the lives of people with disabilities by training and placing service animals to provide them with companionship and promote independent living. We specialize in placements with people who are turned away by many other agencies."

There are other organizations that place service dogs, but here are a few things about 4 Paws for Ability that we really find unique:
--ONE (of many) of the areas that 4 Paws for Ability specializes in, is placing service dogs in homes of autistic children
--They don't focus on any specific region, they offer placement of dogs nationally.
--They do not have any age restrictions.
--You are NOT required to give up your family pet in order to qualify for a service dog. (Many other organizations require the service dog to be in the ONLY pet and/or dog in the household)
--The also adopt and train many RESCUE dogs to become service dogs. (Yippee, did someone say rescue dog?)

Karen Shirk, founder of 4 Paws for Ability, has to be one of the most inspiring people I've personally come across. She started this organization after her own challenge in finding a service dog. She was turned down by every agency she contacted. Still seeking the companionship of a dog, she brought Ben into her life. A very special dog that Karen says, saved her life on more than one occasion. After training Ben herself and realizing the loyalty he had for Karen, she began to train service dogs that were provided to those who may not otherwise qualify for one through other organizations. Watch the videos on Ben's page - it will definitely be the best 15 minutes you've spent this week. I can guarantee you that.

I think you get the idea...this organization is truly spectacular. And, since they work on placing service DOGS - to those with AUTISM - and we craft DOG collars to promote awareness for AUTISM...you can bank on some upcoming announcements about the restructuring of our autism awareness collar proceeds donations...