Dear Petlover,

Hi there it’s Marko, one of the owners/administrators on Pets.ca and this is our first newsletter of 2010 so Happy New Year! We wish all our visitors and their pets an amazing 2010. We intend to put out only 1 newsletter every second month or so, so rest assured you will not get bombarded with mailings. If you think you know another pet lover that may like our newsletter, please just forward this email to them and ask them to sign up on almost any page on Pets.ca. Our past newsletters are always located here on Pets.ca but our latest newsletter is only available by subscribing by free subscription in the yellow navbar on almost every Pets.ca page. If you have any comments or suggestions feel free to email them to newsletter ( A T ) pets (Do T) ca (please use the correct formatting) Now, onto some info.

In terms of Pets.ca news, for the last couple of months we have been redesigning the entire website and it’s just about finished. The look and functionality of Pets.ca will dramatically improve. Stay tuned, we are just a few weeks away.

Featured podcast (audio recording)

Unintentional Neglect

Even though everyone is extremely busy these days, we sometimes forget about the family dog. This is a mistake because dogs are social creatures that thrive on interaction. When they have nothing to do they get into trouble and in this podcast with Tenderfoot Training, we discuss the consequences (insecurity, separation anxiety, barking, lunging, running away, destructive behavior etc.) of unintentionally neglecting your dog on different levels. We also discuss how you can correct the common problem behaviors that result from this.

You can listen to these recordings easily by clicking the embedded player at the bottom of each particular post. Click here for the Unintentional Neglect podcast.

A podcast is simply audio (similar to a pre-recorded radio program) that you can listen to on your computer or on an mp3 player like an ipod any time you like. At this time we have recorded over 50 shows and many of them are interviews with specialists like the trainers from Tenderfoot Training and Dr. Lee our amazing podcasting veterinarian.

We realize that some people may still be confused about podcasting so if anyone has questions feel free to email me personally at marko (a T ) pets (D O T) ca – Please use the correct email formatting of course.

Just Answer – Fast answers from a live veterinarian 24/7

Although Pets.ca offers tons and tons of free pet information, sometimes pet lovers need a quick answer from a vet. Even though we associate with different vets including the amazing Dr. Lee, when you need an answer from a vet lickity split, you need a place to ask the question. We have just partnered with Just Answer for this very purpose. They always have vets online to help for a small fee. Full disclosure: This link gives Pets.ca a standard affiliate amount that helps support our site.

JustAnswer.com

Advertise to 4,000 petlovers

Thanks to all of the petlovers that have told 2 friends about our newsletter and to everyone that has sent us private messages and emails telling us how much they like the newsletter. This newsletter now goes out to approximately 4,000 subscribers and new subscribers join daily. We want to keep this newsletter in its current format and so we are offering 2 spots for small sized ads; one spot will be at the very top of this newsletter the other spot will be to the right of this text. Please contact us for details if you are interested.

Pet Photography

Photography on Pets.ca – There are many places to see cute pet photography on Pets.ca including our Free cat webpages and Free dog webpages. We also have a special forum just for pet photography in our bulletin board, where each month we set up a challenge or theme. It’s all fun and it’s all free and here are just a few pictures from this winter. Here’s the November 2009 Photo Challenge – Pets Inside, Over and Under Things and the December 2009 Photo Challenge – Naughty and/or Nice. This month’s challenge is January 2010 – New Year’s Pet Resolutions and pics from that challenge will go in our next newsletter. Thanks to Chaser, aslan, rainbow, Melinda SolaMio and Teri_M (November 2009 challenge – top set) and krdahmer, Melei’sMom, Chaser, Spatx and Melinda (December 2009 challenge – lower set) for the use of their pics in this newsletter. Please note: There were MANY pix that we did not use even though we wanted to. We only use pictures that members from our pet bulletin board have allowed us to use by posting in this list. Please add your name if you want us to consider your images (it’s fun and free).

November 2009 Challenge – Pets Inside, Over, and Under Things

December 2009 Challenge – Naughty and/or Nice

Pet Videos

Pet videos are so cute and so much fun that we have decided to add pet videos to our bulletin board. We’ve only just started adding a few videos but the ones that we’ve added are likely to make you smile. One that is busting with sweet cuteness is Dog and Elephant – Best Friends. Anyone can see all the videos but in order to comment, you need to be a bulletin board member (it’s free).

How to Safely Switch Pet Food

Whether you are switching from a puppy/kitten food to an adult formula or switching to a new brand of pet food entirely, there are some steps that you should follow to ensure that the change is gradual and safe for your pet. Any abrupt change in diet may result in stomach upset and discomfort for your cat or dog and the diarrhea that ensues is neither pleasant for you or your pet. Gradually transitioning from one food to another over a seven day period will greatly reduce the risk of your pet developing a gastro-intestinal upset.

The Seven Day Plan to a Healthy Diet Change:

The following example will be used to help illustrate the Seven Day Plan: You are feeding your puppy 2 cups a day of his favourite puppy food brand and you wish to switch him over to an adult food.

You can read the full How to safely switch pet foods tip here.

2 cute gifts for pets and pet lovers

New products for pet lovers have recently been added to our store including our new Ruler of the house charm and Favorite Child charm.

Suggestions Welcome and Our No Spam Policy

We love to get feedback and suggestions. That’s the best way we can improve and give you the information that you want. Please send any suggestion or feedback to newsletter ( a T) pets.ca. (Please use the correct standard email formatting)

The people that put together this newsletter are pet lovers NOT spammers. At Pets.ca we absolutely hate spam. We hate getting it and we never send it on purpose. If by chance you received this newsletter and did not want it, we apologize. Clicking the unsubscribe link assures that you won’t get this newsletter again.

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