Animal Sites We Love

Many animal lovers are already familiar with Freekibble.com and Freekibblekat.com, the trivia game sites that donate to shelters ten pieces of kibble for every answer (right or wrong) you give to their questions. You can visit every day (and really, you should!), but on special days sponsors will donate five times as much kibble. Today, Feb. 5, is one of those days.

The sites and the concept are really cool, no doubt, but what's even cooler is that our friends at Tonic scored an interview with the girl behind the site, 13-year-old Mimi Ausland! She shared lots of fun facts, including how she was inspired to start these sites and -- something we're all itching to know -- how much kibble has been donated since she started nearly two years ago.

Check out the full interview at Tonic!

While you're purchasing holiday presents this year -- whether for human or pet -- there's an easy way to make a difference in the lives of shelter animals at the same time.

At Bring Pets Home, you can shop from approximately 140 online stores, including retail giants like Amazon.com, Macy's, Walmart and Sephora. Do your regular online shopping through Bring Pets Home, and a percentage of your total tab will be donated to the site's foundation, which provides immediate financial assistance to shelters nationwide.

Even better: Sign up for a free account at Bring Pets Home and you can choose the participating animal shelter that will receive your donation. You'll also have a shot at the site's holiday sweepstakes, for $5,000 to you and another $5,000 to your favorite shelter!

Bring Pets Home was started by the microchip pet-recovery company HomeAgain. "We love this program and we're really hoping it hits its stride," HomeAgain marketing director Linda Block told Paw Nation. Besides providing shelter funding, Bring Pets Home -- which you can use year-round -- aims to educate animal lovers about how shelters work. "There's a lot of misconceptions about animal shelters, even with pet lovers or people who work in the animal-health field," Block says.

For example? "A lot of people think shelters receive the majority of the funding from the government, which is not true," Block explains. "And with the economy, shelters are having a really hard time, as donations are down and people in need are relinquishing their pets."

Twitter has exploded this year by providing a new platform for the public to rant and communicate about the things they love. And while the 140 character updates can be mundane, they're not all meaningless. Groups like PetMD, PETA and the ASPCA now use Twitter to post useful information for their followers. And naturally, pet owners and "celebrity animals" like Jenny the Stroller Pug have added their tweets to the mix. Search tools and hash tags such as #TwitterACritter are also used to help facilitate animal adoptions.

On behalf of animal lovers on Twitter, Paw Nation did some research to find the 12 most useful and entertaining animal Twitter accounts for our readers to follow:

1. @ASPCA
The American Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has taken to the Twitterverse to reach out to the animal-loving masses, and it's working. With more than 14,000 followers so far, @ASPCA brings the latest updates about their campaigns, victories and efforts.

2. @TheQuackPack
No, it's not an afternoon animated series with Huey, Dewey and Louie. The Quack Pack's tweets are deployed by the "parents" of two mallard ducks (named Laylah and Saydee) who are being raised as children. Think "My Monkey Baby," with ducks.

We know what you're thinking: By now you've seen so many pets in clothes that you're almost surprised when you see naked pets. Dressed pets are the norm. The novelty has worn off, and you wish people would stop bothering you about it.

But what if there was a site where you could rate pictures of animals in apparel? What if your opinion could be heard? What if you could have a say in what's cute and what's humiliating? Now there is such a site: Pets in Clothes.

The site runs just like that old internet staple HOT or NOT, but without the guilt of objectifying people. You simply cycle through pictures of animals in clothes and rate them between 1 and 10, although the site doesn't really explain what the ratings are meant to indicate. Cuteness? Level of confusion on the animal's face?

So if you're looking for a new timesink in which to dispose of all your productivity, petsinclothes.com offers a distraction so cute that you might just start shouting out ratings to pets on the street.