Changing Animals' Lives One Gift at a Time: Paws & Give(TM) this Holiday Season with Rocky & Friends!

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Nov. 17, 2015) -

Note to editors: There are six photos associated with this press release.

This season, make a furry friend's holiday with the Ontario SPCA's one-of-a-kind gifts that give back in purrs and tail wags. The Ontario SPCA's Paws & Give™ 2015 Holiday Symbolic Giving Catalogue is filled with gifts to help change the lives of animals in need. Whether you're shopping for the animal lover in your life, grandparents, teachers, co-workers, or kids, the Ontario SPCA offers inspiring gifts that makes holiday shopping easy, fun and thoughtful.

Proceeds go directly to the Ontario SPCA's efforts to prevent cruelty to animals and promote animal welfare. Current programs and services include investigations, adoptions, advocacy, wildlife care and rehabilitation and violence prevention. By purchasing a gift from Paws & Give™, your donation directly assists these programs and animal welfare across Ontario.

Rocky & Friends

Five limited edition collectible plush toys are now available exclusively for the holiday season. Inspired by real rescue stories, Rocky, Maddison, Tyson, Bear and Velvet all found their forever homes with the help of the Ontario SPCA.

When you give the gift of these inspiring stories, you'll be giving another animal in need the chance to find their happily ever after.

Rocky is a shining example of the lifesaving work the Ontario SPCA performs every day to protect animals from abuse and neglect. Rocky was suffering from a painful skin infection which had spread across his entire body requiring an intense treatment regime of skin medication and pain killers. With the help of veterinarian Dr. Bryer, great teams at Toronto Animal Services, the Toronto Veterinarian Emergency Clinic and the Ontario SPCA, Rocky made a full recovery and now has a chance at a happy and healthy life.

Found living in an abandoned barn, Maddison was rail thin and struggling to survive and care for her seven puppies. After receiving nutritious food and medical care, Maddison and her puppies found loving forever homes.

When investigators first met Tyson, he was tethered on a very short leash with no food. Incredibly thin, Tyson was one of nine other dogs rescued from an abusive home.

Tyson and his new owner Monty love spending time together, rambling around the countryside.

Velvet is a Connemara pony. She was pregnant when she came to the Ontario SPCA when her previous owner could no longer provide the care she needed.

After a few months in a foster stable, Velvet found her forever family and gave birth to her black filly, Chantilly Lace, in the loving care of her new home!

Velvet now works as a member of an equine assisted therapy team at Back of Beyond Equine Centre in Huntsville, Ontario.

Bear is a brown, tabby feline. At three weeks old, he was found alone in a homeowner's garage. With no mother or other kitten siblings in sight, the homeowners brought him to the Ontario SPCA Muskoka Animal Centre.

Shortly after arriving at the shelter, Bear was taken in by a foster family that eventually became his forever home!

Bear now helps other cats and kittens fostered by his owner Kirstin, taking on the role of "Foster Father" and helping rehabilitate some of the more frightened felines.

Paws & Give™

With the Ontario SPCA's Holiday Symbolic Giving Catalogue, there are gifts to help all kinds of animals from the moment they're rescued to the moment they find new forever families.

You can select your gift from the homepage by browsing one of our departments: Help Animals in our Care, Rescue and Rehabilitation, Special Gifts and Rocky & Friends. New this year, you can also purchase Ontario SPCA Animal-Themed holiday cards and the 2016 Second Chances calendar. Click on the Extras tab to add these items.

Help Animals in our Care gifts provide cats/kittens, dogs/puppies, horses and other small animals with loving care, nutritious food, safe shelter, soft bedding, enrichment toys, daily grooming and any required veterinary care.

Rescue & Rehabilitation gifts provide equipment needed for rescue operations, sponsor officers who provide frontline protection by responding to animal cruelty complaints and offer options to help rehabilitate animals in our care.

Special Gifts include holiday care packages, mitzvahs for pets, and support other programs such as cat cuddling and dog walking, all gifts that keep animals healthy, warm and comfortable during our cold Canadian winters.

Rocky & Friends purchases include an adoption certificate, high-quality plush toy and a story card. Each year, new plush toys will be added to Rocky's group of friends. Start now and collect them all!

How it Works

1. Select the gifts you want to give from the catalogue by adding them to your cart. There are gifts to help all kinds of animals from when they are rescued to when they go home with a new forever family.
2. Pay for your gifts. You can pay online securely with your credit card (bank account and PayPal coming soon) and you will receive a charitable tax receipt for your donation.
3. Choose how you want to notify the gift recipient. You can send an eCard right away, or download and print a digital certificate at home to give in person.

Selecting Your Gift

Visit the Ontario SPCA's Paws & Give™ 2015 Holiday Symbolic Giving Catalogue here pawsandgive.ca and discover how you can help change animals' lives for the holiday.

About Ontario SPCA and Humane Society:

For more than 140 years, the Ontario SPCA has provided protection and care to animals in need. Compassionate and generous supporters are the reason we are still able to keep our investigators on the streets and our shelters and wildlife centre open to abused, abandoned, neglected and orphaned animals.

The Ontario SPCA network of Animal Centres and Affiliate Societies is critical to our lifesaving work. Our Animal Centres across the province are owned and operated by the Ontario SPCA. Affiliate Societies, which include both Humane Societies and SPCAs, are independent registered charities governed and operated locally by Boards of Directors and their staffs.

To view the photos associated with this press release, please visit the following links:

Rocky & Friends: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20151117-1033106_r%26f_800.jpg

Rocky: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20151117-1033106_rocky_800.jpg

Maddison: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20151117-1033106_maddison_800.jpg

Tyson: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20151117-1033106_tyson_800.jpg

Velvet: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20151117-1033106_velvet_800.jpg

Bear: http://www.marketwire.com/library/20151117-1033106_bear_800.jpg