Blog Posts by Sarah D. Bunting

Liz Perry didn't intend to become a "go-to foster mother" for unwanted birds – but according to Meg Jones's profile of Perry in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that's exactly what's happened.

Perry, who owns two Nutzy Mutz & Crazy Catz stores, started getting requests for chicken feed shortly after opening her first outpost. Seeing a retail opportunity, she began stocking the feed, but didn't realize just how common chicken ownership was within city limits; at the time, Madison, WI ordinances permitted residents as many as four hens per backyard. Then, another coincidence: during a trip to a local dump, Perry saw a chicken "running around the landfill." She adopted the bird, called her "Consuela," and went on to star in the documentary "Mad City Chickens" with her flightless pet.

Perry soon joined a network of current and hopeful chicken owners, and before long, people who could no longer keep their birds were contacting her for help with placements – some ordered four chicks but got

Cute counts -- but so does personalityThe ASPCA is set to release a study revealing that "physical appearance" is the most important reason pet adopters give for choosing puppies from animal shelters.

Cats, meanwhile, could rely on inner beauty; the numbers showed that "behavior with people" was the most important quality folks looked for in a feline.

The ASPCA conducted the research from January to May of last year, gathering information at five shelters nationwide. Roughly 1,500 prospective pet parents answered questionnaires about their chosen pets, and how they decided that a particular animal was the one for them. The organization hopes to use their answers to make better and more frequent matches between shelter pets and people; understanding what factors go into the adoption decision is extra-handy for the front-line shelter workers, who can then supply additional information and insights about particular cats or dogs that might not be immediately evident to a first-time browser.

VIDEO: Baby giraffe chases butterfly

Dr.

Still haven't mailed in your tax forms? Looking for that one last write-off that adds up to a big refund check for your household? You may have been tempted to claim your dog – and/or his expensive food and heartworm meds – as a "dependent minor." But jokes aside, some pet expenses do qualify as deductions.

A bill proposed back in 2009 would allow up to $3,500 to be deducted annually for pet expenses. H.R. 3501, the "Humanity and Pets Partnered through the Years" Act (HAPPY), wants to formalize the tax status of pets as family members. But the bill hasn't made much progress since its introduction despite endorsements from the Humane Society, the ASPCA, and other groups.

But can you position your pet as a tax break in the meantime? In a piece written last fall for Forbes.com, Robert W. Wood focuses on ways to get "good tax benefits" from pets (as well as love and companionship, of course). Wood cites a case filed in Tax Court by "self-described 'cat lady'" Jan Van Dusen, who has cared

Kat Albrecht could return your missing dog to his empty houseNot only does Kat Albrecht have the perfect name for her job; she's got the ideal background as well. Featured in a Baltimore Sun piece by Parella Lewis, Albrecht – who calls herself the only pet detective in the U.S. – is a former police officer who's been applying what she learned on the force to tracking down missing and lost animal companions since 1997.

We're not sure she's the only pet detective; Animal Planet's "Pet Detectives" is all about various animal mysteries, and the show's info page mentions other pet PIs who sound pretty legit. But Albrecht may be the only pet tracker who graduated from the police academy – and there's no doubt she loves both aspects of her work, saying that "it's very much like working law enforcement investigation." And she uses some of the same tools – psychological techniques, the latest technology, even an animal-tracking dog. She actually specialized in training tracking/search dogs during her time as an officer, but she didn't feel like her

Finding a pet-friendly hotel or B&B is easier than ever before these days. But what about when it's time to move house entirely? Lots of landlords and co-op buildings prohibit dogs (because of barking/damage), cats (permanent effects of cat pee), or pets above a certain size; other apartment complexes limit tenants to a single approved pet, and dorms generally cap pet ownership at dwarf-hamster-size or smaller, if they allow furry friends at all. (NYU, for example, permits fish in a tank smaller than ten gallons, and that's it.)

Looking for a new apartment is stressful enough without thinking you'll have to hide Tigger in the dishwasher (or worse, leave her behind – a study by the National Council on Pet Population and Research found that moving was the most common reason owners gave up their dogs, and the third most common reason they gave up their cats). Avoid the agita and get a new home you all can enjoy with these 7 tips:

A new foster-cat program at the Larch Corrections Center is improving life for inmates and felines alike. Larch, a minimum-security facility near Yacolt, WA, launched the Cuddly Catz program two weeks ago; Cuddly Cats pairs pound-bound cats with inmates who meet certain requirements (did not commit a violent crime against animals or humans; free of prison demerits for at least six months; set to remain at Larch for at least a year after receiving a program cat; and passing an extensive screening process).

The program definitely benefits the inmates. Joey Contreras and Joseph Walter share a ten-by-twelve-foot cell – and charge of Princess Natalie, a long-haired black cat. Contreras noted in an Olympian.com article by Paris Achen that fostering a feline has given him an increased sense of purpose. "When you're doing prison time, you get set in certain ways and forget what it's like to have everyday interactions and be compassionate," Contreras said. "It's a little different when you have

President Obama shows Easter-egg-roll guests where the wild things are while Michelle and Bo look onThe entire Obama family -- the President, the First Lady, Malia and Sasha, and Bo -- turned out for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday. The President is shown here giving his all to a reading of Maurice Sendak's "Where the Wild Things Are" during the Storytime Stage portion of the event; Bo appears to be pretending not to know the First Owner (who looks hilarious).

Yahoo! Screen: Obama honors Easter at prayer breakfast

The "Let's Go, Let's Play, Let's Move" theme focused on health and exercise, and in the service of that, the President did push-ups and helped a young boy roll his egg towards the finish line. Celebrity chefs performed cooking demos -- including Chef Marcus Samuelsson making healthful tacos -- and attendees played a variety of games (some with basketballs that had the President's face printed on them).

No word on whether Bo snacked illegally on any of the eggs (or on any jellybeans), but he's looking pretty mellow here.

Elsewhere on Shine Pets:
9 super sites

New procedures could save your pet's life... but break the bankVeterinary medicine has made extraordinary strides over the last few years; a New York Times piece  describes several innovative procedures used to save the lives of beloved pets that wouldn't have been possible a decade ago.

But reporter William Grimes also notes the prohibitively high cost of these procedures. The tale of Tina, a 10-year-old Chow with lymphoma who benefited from a bone-marrow transplant thanks to Dr. Steven Suter and the equipment he borrowed from the Mayo Clinic, has a happy ending – and it's promising that contemporary vet science now has a chance to catch and treat a "long list of cancers, urinary-tract disorders, kidney ailments, joint failures and even canine dementia," Grimes notes,

These improvements are reflected in a rise in consumer spending nationwide; the American Pet Products Association reports that money spent in this sector has gone from a "mere" $9.2 billion in 2006 to $13.4 billion last year. Unfortunately, these improvements may not be something many