The long, cold winters in Vermont can be rough on pets, particularly if they are strays with no place warm to find refuge. Without hesitation, we answered a call for help recently from Vermont-based rescue Save Our Strays for Halo Cloud Nine Healing Salve to heal frostbitten ears and paws cracked from road salt and ice.

“We have used it on our animals here and it worked really good,” says Lisa Haynes, founder of Save Our Strays, which received 120 jars of Cloud Nine Healing Salve. Always caring about a dog or cat’s nutritional needs, we also sent them 24 jars of Daily Greens and 24 jars of X-tra C, our vitamin C supplement.

Recently, a homeless cat that ended up at Save Our Strays sorely needed Cloud Nine. He had frost bitten ears with raw edges. “We used the salve on him and it worked incredibly,” says Lisa.

For the dogs, Lisa and her husband, Roy — who run the rescue from their Huntington home — coat their paw pads before a walk to prevent penetration of road salt and ice. “It bothers them alot,” Lisa says. “To put this (salve) on, it makes it so it doesn’t penetrate their little paws.”

And big paws, too. Lisa, owner of two St. Bernards, puts Cloud Nine on their paws after a romp in the snow to prevent irritation caused by the snow clumps stuck between their toes. “This works better than anything I’ve used,” Lisa says. “And the dogs seem to tolerate this alot better. The other stuff they don’t like the smell and run away from me, but they tolerate the application of really well and it’s not like they mind it.”

Last year, Save Our Strays received over 300 cases of Spot’s Stew for its cats, and 570 for the dogs, a donation worth over $32,000. Click here to read more about the donation and Save Our Strays.

Lisa says that feeding her rescued animals such high quality food creates shiny coats that people marvel at. “We get alot of comments on our strays and ask, ‘How do their coats look so good?’” says Lisa, who is down to the last cases of Spot’s Stew. “I try to make sure the dogs have human grade ingredients in their food, it makes a huge difference.”

Halo, Purely for Pets is proud to join the United States Postal Service “Stamps to the Rescue” campaign.

Today, USPS is unveiling its 2010 social awareness stamp, “Animal Rescue: Adopt a Shelter Pet” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show.  In celebration, Halo and our co-owner Ellen, plan to donate 1 million meals to shelter pets awaiting adoption.

According to Halo CEO Steve Marton, “We’re here to help make sure this amazing social awareness translates into a meaningful difference for shelter pets. That’s why we’re working with everyone to reach the 1 million meal donation of Halo Spot’s Stew. I’m 100% confident we will achieve our goal of feeding 1 million meals to dogs and cats waiting to be adopted.”

Animal lovers can make sure the 1 million meal donation is achieved by visiting www.halopets.com/stamps.

Opportunities to trigger donations include signing up for a free holistic pet care newsletter, following Halo and its nonprofit partner Freekibble on Twitter, using Halo coupons, and more. Already, over 150,000 Halo meals have been donated to shelters this year towards the 1 million meal goal.

Adopt a Shelter Pet stamps can be pre-ordered at www.stampstotherescue.com, and will be available at all US Post Offices starting April 30.

From now until mid-May, visit your local post office to see this cool Halo “Give Shelter Pets a First Class Meal” poster!

In our current recession many of us need to cut down on our expenses. If you feel you might have to give up your pet or pets to make ends meet, first look into the many national and local resources that may be able to help.

There are several national and local animal welfare organizations that have programs like pet food banks, low-cost veterinary clinics and foster care programs to help people keep their pets.

The Humane Society of the United States has a list of organizations that offer financial aid to people with pets. The list of pet financial aid organizations is listed by nationwide, and some are listed alphabetically by state.

Also Halo, Purely for Pets proudly supports many pet food pantries nationally. Halo has donated thousands of cans of Spot’s Stew to several shelters and rescues, which has been distributed to pet owners in need.

Another great resource is No Paws Left Behind; is a focus driven non profit organization, designed to help pet owners who are facing foreclosure.

You can also contact your local shelters and rescue organizations. Most have lists of local resources for acquiring pet food, pet-friendly housing and low-cost veterinary care.

If you must move out of your home, look for pet-friendly housing. Here are some websites that list pet-friendly apartments and homes for rent, Pets911 and PeopleWithPets.com.

While it is still important to visit your veterinarian yearly for an examination, you can cut out many unnecessary tests and procedures by keeping your pet as healthy as possible throughout the year; read Dr. Donna Spector’s article “Tips on Lowering Veterinary Bills and Pet Expenses“.

Halo is a proud supporter of Best Friends Animal Society; their web site is another great resource for pet owners to find pet-friendly housing and pet financial aid organizations.

Franny Syufy was kind enough to talk about our favorite 13 year old animal rescue hero, Mimi Ausland, on her super-popular Cats page on About.com, saying “Since I first interviewed Mimi Ausland, I’ve followed her progress, and like pet lovers in 137 countries, have become addicted to playing the Freekibblekat game, Meow Trivia, every day.”

“Cue TV Announcer Voice: But Wait! There’s More! Friday, February 5, 2010, is Freekibblekat HI-5 Day! If you play the game on the 5th, 50 kibble bits will be donated. Halo, Purely for Pets, is sponsoring this event, to help meet the needs of shelter cats and dogs.”

Thanks, Franny!

Click over to our News page for the whole story.

Shannon Bahrke, a bronze medalist in this year’s Olympic women’s moguls, is also a champion for animals.

Bahrke, founder of the Silver Bean Coffee Company, brewed up a way to help our furry friends with Best Friends Animal Society, America’s largest sanctuary for abused and abandoned pets.

For every bag of Silver Bean’s Best Friends special blend you buy, Best Friends and the animal on the front of your bag of coffee receives $5.

Bahrke tells NBC that her love of animals is one thing people don’t know about her.

“Whether it’s my own kitty cat or somebody else’s dog or fish in a tank, I just love animals,” Shannon said. “And I really have a soft spot about them. I’m going to be the cat lady, that’s what I tell everyone, I’m going to be the cat lady with like 30 cats because I love them all.”

Halo loves to help Best Friends’ furry friends too. We are longtime supporters, and recently donated 3,599 cases – or 43,188 cans – of Spot’s Stew for its 400-plus dogs.