When Velma of Richland, New York found some starving kittens in her backyard, she nursed them back to health. After finding good homes for all, she decided to keep this one — and you can certainly see why! So did Ellen, crowning Velma the winner of Halo’s Dog Days of Summer Pet Photo Contest for August 27.

Send Ellen your funny pet photos by clicking here for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate for Halo products. Each week there is one lucky winner.

Kim from DeBary, Fl. sent Ellen the cutest picture of her dog, Bodie, relaxing poolside. Yes, this is indeed a dog day of summer! The terrific shot won Kim Halo’s Dog Days of Summer Pet Photo Contest for August 6.

Send Ellen your funny pet photos by clicking here for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate for Halo products. Each week there is one lucky winner.

For the 2,000 homeless cats and dogs at Los Angeles Animal Services, Halo’s 10,000 meal donation of Spot’s Stew dry and canned food was the cat’s meow.

“The Halo donation is extra special to us,” says Linda Barth, assistant general manager of the city’s six shelters. “Wonderful for us.”

Receiving such a large donation — eaten by cats and dogs, kittens and puppies at two of the shelters — enabled the animals to eat one kind of food for an extended period of time, helping their bellies get used to a new food. “Animals are already under stress in an animal care center and already have digestive issues,” says Barth.

“It is great to be associated with this kind of product and Ellen DeGeneres,” Barth continues. “It is a boost that our organization is something that Halo wants to help, and is providing a natural food.”

The strays who enter the shelter following abuse particularly benefit from a food like Halo. “We would have used this food for animals who need to get healthy,” says Barth, “animals in trouble due to neglect.”

The donation was in partnership with Warner Brothers and L.A. station KNBC.

Barth and her veterinary medical and animal tech staff were so impressed with Halo’s top quality, they are now recommending it to people adopting pets.

In the first four months of the pet food bank’s existence at the City of Sacramento Animal Care Services, 500 different people showed up, all unable to feed their cats and dogs. Their only other option was the devastating: to turn their pets over to the shelter.

So when Halo, Purely for Pets recently sent over 5,000 meals of Spot’s Stew, which was shared by the Sacramento SPCA, it was a complete surprise. “Halo was dropped from heaven,” says Penny Cistaro, manager of the animal care program for Sacramento and creator of the food bank in November of last year. “It has been incredible for us to have that much food.”

The food bank relies on donations for the program to run. “I love the food bank,” says Cistaro. As do the grateful pet owners who come for food. They include the homeless and those that lost their house, even state workers experiencing financial difficulty due to California’s forced unpaid three-day-a-month furlough.

“They’re just plain thankful that they’re here,” says Cistaro. “They can’t believe we won’t make them do something to do for the food. When people come in for help, it’s a humbling experience and it’s a good thing to offer.”

Watch the segment on the local TV news about the donation and the shelter.

On July 21, Massachusetts became the first state to ban the cruel practice of debarking dogs and cats — a surgery that cuts or removes an animal’s vocal chords to quiet barking and meowing.

“To take the voice of an animal would be the equivalent of taking a person’s voice or a person’s ability to communicate,” Brian Adams, spokesman for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA), told Reuters.

Debarking — unless done as a medical necessity — will now carry a penalty of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $2,500. Almost 60 state representatives and senators cosponsored the bill.

The procedure leaves the dogs or cats with scar tissue in the throat that can make it difficult to breathe, leading to a lifetime of wheezing, coughing, and choking for some animals, Beth Birnbaum, a member of the Coalition to Protect Rescue Pets, the organization that originally filed the bill, told The Boston Globe.

The law is known as Logan’s Law, which got its name from an adopted dog who was debarked. “This is so remarkable, the passage of this legislation,’’ said Birnbaum. “Beacon Hill should be congratulated.’’

Opponents of the bill claim more animals will be taken to shelters or abandoned if the surgery is banned, but Adams, of the MSPCA, says that in 2009, not one dog or cat was surrendered because he or she was too noisy. Supporters of the new measure say it is important for pet owners to understand why their cat or dog is making noise and use behavioral techniques to quiet them down.

Inspired by the Massachusetts law, U.S. Congressman C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersberger, D-MD, introduced a bill in May to support states that pass similar legislation to ban devocalization.

H.R. 5422 would authorize grants of up to $1 million for the prevention of cruelty to animals. It was referred to a House Agriculture subcommittee in June.