Welcome to Care2.com's Race for Pets in Need! The Race for Pets in Need is a quick, easy way to help help our needy pets with a simple point and click.

The race is 100% free to you!

What you need to do: Click on the "Click to Help" button located at http://pets.care2.com up to once per day. Each click generates a donation, paid by Care2, to The Humane Society of the United States' (HSUS) Rural Area Veterinary Services program. 100% of the money you generate will be donated to The HSUS to help spay and neuter, vaccinate, and provide check-ups to pets in need.

How to help even more:

1. Get your friends to help: When you invite friends to join the Race, you'll get credit for their participation. After all, if it wasn't for you, they wouldn't be helping to help the needy pets! You'll get credit for the friends they invite, and their friends, and their friends. We'll chart everyone's progress so you can see your impact. One person can really make a difference!
   
   
2. Take advantage of special offers: Your clicks and purchases help pay for maintaining the Race for Pets in Need. Please support those who are sponsoring the race!

3. Sign the petitions advertised in the Race. These petitions help different social causes, often relating to endangered wildlife protection.
   
   
4. Register for the Race: Care2 will make a donation to double your contribution on your first click.

(Note: While we appreciate some people's efforts to help more by using "creative marketing" ideas, please do not send unsolicited invitations to people you do not know. Please do not sign up for multiple accounts. To preserve the integrity of the Race, we will be forced to terminate accounts that are abusing this trust.)

Where the money goes: 100% of the donations generated go to The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) program. RAVS provides free spaying and neutering of pets, free veterinary health exams and free vaccinations to families in need. Many of the families who use this service would have no other way to provide any sort of health care for their pets. Contributions made by Care2 to The HSUS are funded by sponsors who have agreed to pay to be featured on the Race for Pets in Need. If during a period there are no paying sponsors, Care2 has guaranteed to make a donation of at least $1 for every 1000 clicks on the Pets race. No matter what, every time you click, (up to once per day) you will be generating a donation to support pet saving efforts.

About Care2.com: With over 8 million members, Care2.com is the first and largest online community for people who "Care2 make the world greener" through their everyday web usage. Care2.com provides a wide range of resources for learning about the environment and offers free e-cards, e-mail, web search and news services. Simply by using Care2.com's free services, you generate donations, paid by advertising sponsors, to environmental causes. Care2.com donates 5% of its website revenues to environmental causes, providing another simple, yet effective way for its members to help the environment.

About The Humane Society of the United States' Companion Animal Programs: The HSUS runs dozens of programs designed to protect the dogs, cats, and other pets who share our lives and homes. The HSUS works with the general public and the animal protection community to reduce pet overpopulation, and assists people in becoming more responsible and empowered pet caregivers through the ambitious Pets for Life campaign. In fact, The HSUS's pet care experts can help you safely introduce your pet to a new baby, find pet-friendly rental housing, select the perfect pet from your local shelter, and much more.

The HSUS provides low cost veterinary care to needy families through our spay/neuter and wellness clinic in Dallas, Texas. Through its Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) program, The HSUS provides free spaying and neutering of pets, free veterinary health exams and free vaccinations. RAVS brings the veterinarian to the community since the closest veterinary office may be over one hundred miles away. Many of the families who use this service would have no other way to provide any sort of health care for their pets.

Spaying and neutering is just one part of helping pets in need. Many pets (and their people!) find themselves in need when confronted with certain challenges during the life of the pet. These challenges are:

• Commitment - The owner realizes that he or she obtained the animal without a firm understanding or acceptance of the commitment the relationship required.
• Behavior Problems - The animal has a behavior problem that the owner is unwilling or unable to resolve.
• Renting with Pets - The owner is moving and is unable to find suitable housing that allows pets.
• Human Health - A family member has a health problem (for example, an allergy or an infection that weakens the immune system) and the pet's primary caregiver decides to give up the pet or is counseled by a physician to remove the pet from the home.