What’s better than giving the animal lovers we love something that their pets will love? Giving them something that’ll help pets all over, that’s what. Hence this post.
These are just three simple gift ideas that’ll be sure to charm the pants off your favorite animal lover. I refer to them as “considerate” because they don’t just benefit the recipient, but also less fortunate (read: homeless and/or shelter-bound) pets.
With that said, let’s get started!

^ Not my kid (I don’t have any) or my pets. ^
NOTE: I didn’t receive compensation for any of the following ideas or products.
ONE// Make A Donation In Their Name
Local animal shelters have one of the toughest jobs around and what can sometimes make it even more difficult is that they may lack all the funds necessary to carry it out. (On the other hand, it might be this unfortunate lack of funds that makes that job even more difficult.)
So why don’t you write a check, buy some pet food, blankets, or toys, or simply shop from your local shelter’s wish list online/Amazon (many have one, you know?) and donate it on behalf of the animal lover in your life?
(I just discovered that Amazon even has a program called AmazonSmile, through which it donates 0.5% of the price of eligible AmazonSmile purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. [The prices stay the same for shoppers, though.] Among the charities involved in the program are Best Friends Animal Society and the American Society for the Protection of Cruelty to Animals (AKA ASPCA) at a national level, and in Utah they include Therapy Animals of Utah, the Humane Society of Utah, the Utah Animal Adoption Center, and Friends of Animals Utah, among approx. 90 other local causes.)
An alternative: If you’d rather help a single pet or you already have one in mind because they have some sort of illness or their humans haven’t been so fortunate in life, then give them some money or pet food or toys on behalf of your animal lover!
TWO// Doggie Treat Cookbooks
One day I saw an update from Robyn Arouty, a Texas-based pet photographer, I follow on Facebook (she takes such darling portraits of pets and their humans!) about some book of dog recipes her friend had just released. I learned more about it and within minutes purchased the Kindle version (and I’m even getting my parents the hardcover one). It’s called Shaggy Dog Eats and it looks so AWESOME.
But the best part is that the book isn’t just a cookbook; it’s also an avenue through which the author donates to animal rescue organizations. Which means you’d be donating to an organization as well! You may even make a bunch of servings from one or many of the recipes and give them to your favorite pet lover or shelter. (Or if you give them the book, then they’ll be able to pay it forward as part of one “pawfect” chain of acts of kindness :).
(Of course that isn’t the only book of recipes available for the canine fans in your life. There are MANY of them. I mentioned that one–without any compensation whatsoever–because after having been thinking about starting to make our dogs cool treats at some point, that post serendipitously appeared on my News Feed and I thought it’d be a great idea to bring up on here.)
THREE// TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Last week was Skyler’s 4th birthday and as such we’ve been in such a cheery mood. To celebrate, he said he wanted to feed every animal who’s not as fortunate as him. That may not be possible :(, we said, so instead we proposed we’d donate pet food to the shelter where we got his brother Sparky. Making this a cool mission was on my to-do list next.
But while I didn’t want to brag about my idea, I nevertheless wanted others to look at how rad it was and to hopefully inspire them in one way or another to maybe (even if it was a long shot) make their own donation.
So I created a couple posts on Instagram: Basically, every Like/Comment post receives is worth $1 (of our money, not yours). Then at the end of the month, we’ll count the TOTAL number of Likes and Comments and that will = the value of the pet food we’ll be buying. (So 50 likes and comments = $50 in big bags of food, and so on.)
You’ll find the posts below. Please, please(!) Like/add a Comment because we’re not done counting yet!! We want it to be like our Christmas present to those needy doggies. (And at some point in the future I even want to open a shelter.)
[instagram url=http://instagram.com/p/wWuXUUPGI2]
What else can YOU do for a gift for your favorite animal lover? Simple: Copy me! My main goal was to make it easy (read: Free) for people, so I didn’t ask for a dollar or $10. I simply ask for Likes/Comments. They take from a millisecond to a minute, tops, to “give.” Perhaps after some time–and a few more Likes/Comments campaigns so that people know I do follow through–I’ll create a campaign or two where funds would go to a lesser-known shelter or pet foster family. But until then, I’m happy donating and making my canine and feline brothers famous. (<<Help me!)
After you’ve Liked/Commented ^the posts above^, I invite you to participate in this other (FREE) adorable campaign I came across recently:
This one only asks that you take a picture of your fur baby wearing a red bow, tell a story of how he/she rescued you in the caption, tag three friends, use #ImARescueToo, and for every submission both BarkBox and Sony will donate $1 to the ASPCA. Also easy peasy! (Isn’t he cute too?)
[instagram url=http://instagram.com/p/wwX0b8jNpe]
There you have it. Technically, there’s still PLENTY of time for you to work on these gift ideas (even the hardcover copy of Shaggy Eats if you have Amazon Prime) for Christmas, so there’s no excuse :)! By the way, if you have any more considerable gift ideas for the animal lovers in your life, please share them below!
Joe just introduced me to Amazon Smile the other day! :) So cool!!
Isn’t it fantastic? Idk why I hadn’t spotted it earlier. Thanks for stopping by!!