DEAR ABBY: Over the years, I have seen many letters in your column about dogs and cats, but I can't recall seeing one about a hidden problem -- abandoned pets. My neighbors and I live in a rural section of Washington. We constantly see dogs and cats dumped on our road. Frightened, they run from help. They are chased by predators. With no hunting skills, and no food or clean water, they suffer in unimaginable ways -- dying slowly.

I vividly remember the plight of one cat. Maybe the owners thought by leaving it close to a house, it would find the loving home they could not provide. Day after day, it haunted the roadside. I stopped many times to try to lure it to safety, but it would hide frightened in the underbrush. Eventually, it was hit by a car. It had sat for days on the edge of the road, confident its owners would return to take it home.

Abby, please ask your readers to think twice before taking on the responsibility of an animal. If they must get rid of a pet, take it to a shelter. Dumping a pet on the side of the road is not the answer. People who live in the country have as many pets as they want and can afford. -- PET LOVER IN TENINO, WASH.

DEAR PET LOVER: Your letter is an important one, and it carries a message that has appeared in this column before.

Pet owners should indeed think twice before dumping an animal they want to dispose of. They should rid themselves of the fantasy that it will survive, because it probably won't. If they cannot bring themselves to take the animal to a shelter, then they should call a veterinarian for referral to a pet rescue group.

DEAR ABBY: As chief of staff, secretary and head policy maker of the Long Beach Society of Couch Potatoes, I must say that your correspondent Ann Fink of Florida, with her exercise program for lazy people, neglected to mention a few favorites.

I hereby submit our local program for California Couch Potatoes:

-- Skating on thin ice

-- Casting aspersions

-- Throwing caution to the wind

-- Bending the truth

-- Digging up dirt

-- Flogging a dead horse

-- Going the extra mile

-- Jumping to conclusions

-- Lashing out

-- Upping the stakes

-- Quashing rumors

-- Dancing up a storm

-- Marching to a different drummer

Our group urges that you don't push your luck, for fear that you could end up pushing up the daisies. -- MAX GATOV, LONG BEACH, CALIF.

DEAR MAX: You seem to have an unusually active group of couch potatoes. As with other produce from our great state, California Couch Potatoes are larger and more fully developed than those you usually see sitting in doctors' offices in the other 49.

Dear Abby is written by Pauline Phillips and daughter Jeanne Phillips.

For an excellent guide to becoming a better conversationalist and a more attractive person, order "How to Be Popular." Send a business-size, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $5 (U.S. funds only) to: Dear Abby Popularity Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Postage is included.)

DEAR ABBY: When you printed my letter about the thousands of former prisoners of war who had never gone to the Department of Veterans Affairs about benefits available to them, you touched many lives. It has enabled many former POWs and/or their spouses or widows to finally receive benefits due them. We American Ex-Prisoners of War have been extra-busy because of what you did.

Our work is all volunteer. The rewards come when we get letters like the one I'm enclosing from "Mrs. K." in Oklahoma.

Mrs. K.'s daughter talked with me about her father, who died 15 years ago. It turns out I was in the same German POW camps as her father. His best buddy and I could write nearly identical letters about our forced march in blizzard conditions in northern Germany in January 1945.

She told me: "I have four sisters. We all agree that this is the most excited our mother has been in a very long time. Words do not adequately express our gratitude."

Abby, if you would consider including Mrs. K.'s letter in your column, it would no doubt reach more World War II and Korean War POWs who need a nudge. -- FRED CAMPBELL, SAN ANGELO, TEXAS

P.S. Another nice thing you did was to forward a letter to me from a Ms. Moore in New York. She had seen my letter in your column and wrote to ask for help in locating someone who might have known her father, a bombardier/navigator who flew flying missions out of Assam, India. (Naturally, the plane's name was "My Assam Dragon.") Ms. Moore never knew her father. He died on his last mission in World War II. I put her in touch with the China-Burma-India Association.

She said in her letter that her father was part of a Moore family in Harrison County, Ky., going back 200 years. Well, my mother was a Moore -- and HER family came out of Harrison County, Ky., same era. So it's possible you have connected some kinfolks.

DEAR FRED: It's letters like yours that make writing this column a thrill. I'm gratified to know that we were able to help Mrs. K. from Oklahoma. I am frequently told that when I print a letter, the writer hears from long-lost friends and acquaintances. But in the case of Ms. Moore, I'd say 200 years is a record. Read on:

DEAR ABBY: Thank you for printing Fred Campbell's letter. My husband has been deceased since 1986. He was a B-17 pilot during World War II and was shot down May 4, 1944. He was a prisoner of war until April 29, 1945, and the conditions were deplorable.

After reading the letter from Mr. Campbell, my daughter contacted American Ex-Prisoners of War for more specific information about the legislative changes regarding former POWs and special benefits available. Mr. Campbell followed up my daughter's inquiry personally.

For years before his death, my husband suffered from puzzling ailments. One of the most puzzling was bouts of swollen feet. Mr. Campbell recognized that as a possible symptom of ischemic heart disease.

Fortunately, my husband kept good records, and we had an autopsy done when he died. Those records enabled the VA to decide favorably on my behalf and determined that after all these years that my husband's death was, in fact, service-related. The additional benefits I am now receiving have helped relieve tremendous financial worries for me.

Had I not seen your column, I would not have pursued a review of my husband's records. You have provided a wonderful service to your readers. Thank you again. -- MRS. K., WIDOW OF AN AMERICAN EX-POW

Dear Abby is written by Pauline Phillips and daughter Jeanne Phillips.

To receive a collection of Abby's most memorable -- and most frequently requested -- poems and essays, send a business-sized, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $5 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby -- Keepers Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Postage is included in the price.)

DEAR ABBY: I worked with this great gal, "Lauren," for about four years. She is very attractive. We would see each other about once a month outside of work. We never went out as a couple -- always with other co-workers. We didn't see each other as often after she got married, but we maintained our friendship.

Two years ago, Lauren quit work and she, her husband and child moved away. Within a year, they moved back to our city. I now talk to her on the phone once every three months. Whenever we talk, she says we will get together "soon" -- but we never do.

I know Lauren is married and I am single, but I would enjoy having lunch with her or going for a walk once in a while. Abby, my question is, do you think Lauren and I are still friends? -- JUST A WORK FRIEND?

DEAR JUST A WORK FRIEND: I'm sure Lauren doesn't like you any less, but it's time to face the fact that your friend's circumstances and priorities have changed. She has a husband and child who must come first. Instead of dwelling on the status of this relationship, it is time to move on and cultivate new friends.

DEAR ABBY: I adore the letters about "pennies from heaven." After reading the last one, I thought about it all day and said to myself: That could never happen to me. I don't know anyone in heaven who cares about me -- except maybe my brother who was killed in a car crash when I was 13, but he's probably forgotten all about me. I'm almost 38 now.

Three days later, after my husband and I were leaving a restaurant and walking to our car, I looked down on the filthy sidewalk and spotted a penny. I laughed and told him, "I found a penny from heaven!" I turned the penny over to check the date. I couldn't believe my eyes -- the date was 1974! Abby, I have only one keepsake that belonged to my deceased brother -- a high school class necklace with the inscription: "Senior 1974." No other date would have meant anything to me, as I don't even know what year he was born.

When I got home, I showed my family the necklace I had kept hidden all these years. Even my husband was touched. What are the chances that the penny would have the same date, the only date I would associate with my brother?

I am not religious and never thought this could happen to me. I am still shocked. My mother is astounded. Now she knows her son is where she hoped he would be. I absolutely believe it is a "penny from heaven." -- LISA ANGILANO, BEREA, OHIO

DEAR LISA: So do I. And since that penny had the power to reinforce your mother's faith and restore yours, I'd say that penny was heaven-sent -- wouldn't you?

DEAR ABBY: My parents recently retired and moved into a condo. While in the process of helping them move out of their house of 35 years, I was given some items. In one of the cartons, I discovered some steamy love letters written to my dad from another woman in 1981.

How should I handle this with my father? It was hurtful and embarrassing to find something like this after all this time. -- UNSURE SON IN UTAH

DEAR UNSURE SON: Place the letters in a manila envelope or a sturdy box and seal it securely. Give it to your father privately and tell him the contents belong to him and were taken by mistake. Period. End of conversation.

Dear Abby is written by Pauline Phillips and daughter Jeanne Phillips.

To order "How to Write Letters for All Occasions," send a business-sized, self-addressed envelope, plus check or money order for $5 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby -- Letter Booklet, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Postage is included in the price.)