"Who Let the Dogs Out?"

That's the perennial question on Mud Island every year when the Harbor Town Dog Show gets underway. This year's 10th annual event  is set for October 28th, 12 p.m. in Harbor Town's Nursery Park, and as always, promises loads of fun and laughs.

As in years past, this year's event benefits the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County.

Competitions include most obedient, least obedient, most glamorous, most mysterious heritage, original Costume, best float" and best vocal performance, to just to name a few.

(WMC-TV) - The Memphis-Shelby County Humane Society is kicking off a $1 million capital campaign to raise funds for the city's first mobile spay/neuter unit.

The Humane Society says the need for that kind of unit is great in Memphis.

Administrators say the number of unwanted animals is too great for Memphis to adopt its way out of pet overpopulation, causing 16,000 to 17,000 animals to be euthanized in Shelby County each year.

The goal is to make spaying and neutering more accessible, particularly to low income pet owners and those without transportation.

The Humane Society hopes to spay or neuter 20 to 30 pets per day, four days a week once the mobile unit is purchased and customized.  The ultimate goal is to complete 4000 to 6000 spay/neuter surgeries per year. The capital campaign will cover the operating budget for five years.

(WMC-TV) - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers it a “major neglected parasitic infection”, and a new report says it affects 1 in 5 Americans.

Midtowners - the parasites are in your cat's poop!

According to the CDC, toxoplasma gondii has infected 22.5 percent of the U.S. population and it's one of the leading causes of death attributed to food-borne illness.

Cats are apparently the only known host of the parasite, while other animals and even humans can be intermediate hosts.

Until recently, it was believed that most transmission occurred from undercooked meat, but new studies are suggesting far more environmental contamination from cat feces is occurring than was originally understood.

There are some simple steps you can take to avoid becoming infected.

BluePearl Veterinary Partners recommends the following precautions:

•     Clean the litter box at least once every 24 hours.