We are creeping up on the Mercury's annual Pet Issue, which mostly means my inbox is a flood of adorable photos—keep them coming, please!

It also gives me a little extra rope to highlight all things pet-related, such as the donation drive being held by Lovers Not Fighters Pitbull Rescue, which is wrapping up this week. Aimed to benefit homeless and under-served pet owners—mostly of dogs, but let's not forget those intrepid kittens you occasionally see on the shoulders of downtown panhandlers. Through Saturday, you can drop of donations of new or gently used leashes, collars, harnesses, and toys to the following locations:

NoPo Paws in North Portland
Green Dog Pet Supply in NE Portland
Personal Beast in SE Portland, and
Mud Bay, Lake Oswego, Oregon

Other useful donation items include flea preventative, bottled water, and pet food. If nothing else, take this as an excuse to check out the rescue work being done by Lovers, as well as their adoptable pits, like Cinnamon here, who is only eight months old and just gave birth to six puppies less than a week ago—the whole family will be available for adoption (not necessarily as a unit unless you wanted to be extra magical about it) once the pups are ready to leave the nest. Look at this face: