Almost as soon as Lindsey Maloney heard about the tsunami that devastated parts of southeast Asia in December, she knew she wanted her group to do something.

“In the wake of such a disaster, we just couldn’t sit around and wait for others,” said Maloney, executive director of Planet Dog Philanthropy, the fund-raising arm of Planet Dog (Portland, Maine), which manufactures dog and cat products. “We felt like we needed to do something.”

Planet Dog Philanthropy had just $500 left in its budget, and sent it all to Mercy Corps (Portland, Ore.), a charity that focuses on children and families. It may not have seemed like much, but it was something. And that was the idea.

In this, Planet Dog was not alone. A variety of groups in the pet industry, from manufacturers to retailers to nonprofits, did something:

• PetsMart (Phoenix), the country’s largest pet retailer, announced that all donations to its nonprofit arm, PetsMart Charities, between Jan. 7 and Feb. 7 would go directly to help animals affected by the tsunami. The company held in-store fundraisers in its some 700 locations, and sent donated money through a U.S.-based agency coordinating animal-related tsunami relief efforts abroad. The company said affected areas included several national parks, home to hundreds of species, including elephants, leopards and water buffaloes
• Petco Animal Supplies Inc. (San Diego), through its nonprofit Petco Foundation, has encouraged its employees to make personal contributions and has provided information on where donations can be made. The company considered supporting animal relief efforts through the foundation, but decided to encourage donations to established organizations like the American Red Cross and UNICEF.
• A host of retailers, veterinarians and groomers across the country donated profits from a day’s business or from specific services to the relief effort. Typical was Alicia Pet Clinic (Laguna Hills, Calif.), which donated half its proceeds from bathing dogs during January to the British charity Oxfam International.
• The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (New York) donated $25,000 to the World Society for the Protection of Animals (Framingham, Mass.), which sent disaster relief teams to the hardest-hit regions of Asia. Teams provided food for starving animals in India, food and veterinary supplies in Thailand and similar support in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.
• The Humane Society of the United States (Washington) dispatched two veterinary disaster teams to Thailand and Sri Lanka in January to help local vets deal with dogs that have been homeless since the tsunami. The group, which is accepting donations for the relief effort, had raised almost $100,000 though January.