Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a crazy cat lady, no doubt about it. I’m not even a little bit ashamed to admit it. My cats are my babies, and, to be honest, I love them more than I like most people.
What some of you may not know is that I come from a family full of crazy animal people. My grandmother has 4 cats. My aunt and uncle have 2 black labs. 2 of my cousins each have 2 cats. My parents have two beagles and an old mostly-blind cat.
And those are just our current animals, not a listing of all of the cats and dogs we have had in my lifetime. Yep, we’re THAT family.
Outside of just loving our animals as family members, something my family believes strongly in is animal rescue. Out of the 5 cats and 3 beagles that myself or my parents have had in my 24 years of life, all of them have either come to us as strays or been rescues – some from bad situations. Our sweet Steinbeck (pictured below) was rescued from a hoarder situation – he was around 3 years old when we adopted him, and he had spent his entire life up to that moment chained to a doghouse, never being shown love. As a result, he had a lot of issues with anxiety, especially separation anxiety from my momma. He has gotten much better in the two years we have had him, and is just one of the most loving dogs I have ever met. There is no reason that he should have spent those 3 years chained up and mistreated the way that he was. Rescued animals have so much love to give, and there is not a single one of our animals that has not enriched our lives in one way or another.
All of this is why I was excited to hear that, following a successful partnership with the ASPCA in 2012, through which they raised over $31,000, Walkers Shortbread has committed to a second year of partnership with the humane organization committed to the prevention of animal cruelty.
This year, Walkers has made a commitment of a minimum donation of $50,000 to the ASPCA, which will be funded by the sales of their Scottie Dog shortbread cookies – 3.9-ounce cartons will generate 10 cents per sale, and larger boxes will generate 20 cents per unit sold. Products supporting the sponsorship include the traditional Scottie Dog Shortbread (Walkers’ top-selling item, and aren’t they just adorable??), their new Chocolate Scottie Dog Shortbread, and the adorable Scottie Dog Tin, which holds 18 of the Scottie Dog Shortbread cookies. All of these products are, as always, made with only the highest-quality ingredients and never contain GMOs, artificial colorings, flavors, or preservatives.
As a special treat to EYHO readers, Walkers would like to give one lucky reader one of the aforementioned Scottie Dog Tins. In addition, EYHO readers can enjoy free shipping on orders of $25 or more through Friday, June 28, 2013. Just enter the code EYHOSCOTTIES at checkout! Finally, when you purchase any of the Scottie Dog cookies or tin, Walkers will donate an additional dollar to the ASPCA in EYHO’s name {be sure to use the given promo code}. So put in an order and help give our furry friends a voice.
To enter the giveaway, simply comment below and tell me what your favorite animal is! That’s it! Giveaway will end at 10 pm on Monday, July 1, at which point the randomly chosen winner will be emailed and will have 48 hours to respond.
Congrats to giveaway winner Denise Soloko! Denise, be checking your inbox for an email from me!
As part of the Walkers Blogger Buzz Ambassador program, I was sent product to review and giveaway but my opinions are, as always, 100% my own.
My favorite animal is my brother’s rescued bird. He is very smart but he thinks he is a cat and will cuddle against my neck.
I’ve never heard of a bird doing that! How funny.
Cats, cats, cats!! I could easily become the crazy cat lady. I have 3 kitties right now and cannot remember a time in my life when I didn’t have a cat. I was always dragging home stray cats, much to my mother’s delight and my father’s chagrin. Because I never had a study hall in high school and had no time to take typing, I took a summer typing class between my freshman and sophomore year and while I was walking home I caught some boys being mean to a kitten. I chased them ( the boys ) away and picked up the kitten, who had its tail partially cut off, infections in both eyes and was stinky and dirty. I knocked on doors in the area and no one knew who the kitten belonged to so I carried the kitten (probably about 3 months old) home and into our house. We really couldn’t afford to take the cat to the vet so mom and I did a little veterinarian work with bandages and antibiotic ointment for the tail, boric acid solution for the eyes and a lot of TLC and that cat grew into one of the most loving and beautiful cats I ever had. Dad grumbled a lot but when I left home after graduation I was not allowed to take Tiger with me ( he was a striped, short hair type tabby cat, gray with darker stripes and beautiful green eyes. Did I mention how much I love cats??
Oh, I just love that story!
Manatee
My favorite animal is a Yorkie dog. I had one and loved her so much until she passed. She was such a good dog.
I’ve also had horses, chickens, a goat, fish, a raccoon, and 2 monkeys.
They were all so cool.
My daughter runs a rescue shelter made up of all volunteers. She gets dogs from the kill shelters, gets them their shots, spays and neuters them. Then gets people to adopt them.
She is awesome for doing this and it is so much work. She too is an animal lover.
2 monkeys! No way!! And that’s awesome that your daughter is doing something she is so passionate about. I love hearing that.
dogs
Crazy cat lady here too. Although I love my 2 pooches too. We have 4 cats and 2 dogs, all rescues. So, I love this post! I’ll definitely be buying some Scotties (I used to have 2 of those when I was younger too).
My fur babies: Rory Fae, Kadee Boo, Lilly Pie, Tooter Michelle, Teaser Michelle, and Snooty Sue, thank you for this post.
Haha, I love your pets’ names! So creative!
My little dog Zody Her first mom rescued her and loved her very much, When she passed away three years ago I promised I would take good care of her. Even though many days she drives me nuts I still love her and take the best possible care of her I can!!!
I love cats. My cat Toes is so sweet. My husband rescued her at a construction site he was working.
Love them all. About 15 years ago, I somehow ended up with 2 large dogs and 10 cats. Seems like every time I went back to the shelter to get a new friend spayed/neutered, I’d fall in love with another one.. I currently have 2 cats, and I miss having a dog, but I’m disabled and it would be difficult to walk one. One of my cats is almost 15 and I’ve had him since he was about 3-4 weeks old.
And you just articulated why I am not allowed to go to animal shelters. 😉
I love cats! My Mom is allergic so I couldn’t have one growing up. The day I moved out on my own I adopted one from a shelter. I didn’t even have a couch or a kitchen table, but I was bound and determined to have a cat lol! Sadly he passed away many years ago. We don’t have any cats now because I’m honestly not too sure how well one would fare with my crazy clan. But we do have Boo the boxer, and quite a few neighborhood strays and I love when them come up on the porch and rub up against my legs. If I’m lucky they occasionally jump up on my lap and purr.
The more I learn about your family, the more I just love them. I’m a firm believer in animal rescue, too. I adopted my cat that way! Think you can explain to Garrett why we need to rescue a dog? I’m getting antsy about having a buddy to go running with and he’s not really buying in. So happy to read this post and hear about Walker’s generosity. Very cool!
Tell Garrett to watch it or I’ll start borderline harassing him to let you get a rescued dog. 😉
I know we talk about animals allll the time, but I am so glad we share the same animal loving ways. My family as you know was more about little rodents, bunnies, birds, and fis instead of cats and dogs. Not that I didn’t love all those little creatures, but my fave animal is my pug, WEEZER! I know you love him too!
Dogs! I love beagles and have one as well, a sweet girl named Clover.
I’m in love with pretty much any animal I meet. They seem to all love me in return, so it’s always a win win! Who does’t love meeting someone that loves them at first sight! My current love is my yellow lab, Winston. He’s a rough and tumble 85 lb lover that absolutely adores giving kisses and hugs. Yes, if you are at his height, he will wrap his neck around yours and give you a little “hug”.
Omg I love that! I bet it’s adorable!
I love bunnies! I had to give mine away when I moved last year though 🙁
My favorite is always the one I have at the time. So, a boxer Booker, a yellow lab Zoe, a humane society mutt, Rowdy, a dog found at the Indianapolis airport, Sammie, and cats-Mo, Cagney, Bo, Casey, and Dot. And those are the ones in my adult life.
Cats are my favorite animals followed by dogs as a very close second.
I love these pictures. I love my fur babies. I love these shortbread cookies. I semi-dread going to the shelter next week and having to choose only one cat to take home. I want them all to have a good home. Our beagles love the little tin that these cookies came in, because I filled it with their homemade milk bones. 🙂 They arooo when they see the tin come out of the refrigerator!
my favorite animal is a giraffe!
My favorite animal was my brother’s pet skunk.
Oh, Steinbeck :’) I love him even though he snores like a weird pig. You know I’m a dog person, but really, if it’s cute and especially if it’s cute AND furry, it’s my favorite.