Pet Publications

Since I write about pets, and am obsessed with them, I take great pleasure in reading about them. I was aware of some local publications focusing on pets, containing articles but also filled with ads for all kinds of pet-related stuff like food, grooming, adoptions, whatever.

With our younger Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Mystie now on a restricted diet because of her fortunately former health issues, I sent my husband to a local shelter with some food we had bought for her that she now would never eat. I wanted to be sure that the food wouldn’t go to waste, and I hoped the shelter would be able to use it for its residents. While there, he picked up some copies of additional local pet magazines, some I‘d never seen before. I’ve had a great time going through them and hope to find them other places as well. Now I’m aware of at least 3-4 different pet publications in the Los Angeles area.

Of course there are nationally distributed magazines that feature pets, and I enjoy them, too, reading them as often as possible, although I don’t always maintain subscriptions. Their pictures are often adorable, glossy photos of the featured animals, and also interesting articles. But I can’t always find things that are of specific interest to my own backyard in them.

What about in your area--have you found pet publications? What about other local publications dealing with your favorite interests?

By the way, I was also excited by a segment on The Today Show today--all about a couple who had their beloved golden lab cloned. It was expensive, and wasn’t done in this country, and I know there are plenty of reasons not to clone a pet, no matter how beloved. Even so, I was enthralled by it, especially after my own Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery DOUBLE DOG DARE. Oh, and the couple had other pets as well--including a tricolor Cavalier King Charles Spaniel peering at The Today Show camera from the background.

--Linda

Pets in the Media

Being a pet-person, I’m always watching for stories in the media relating to animals. Apparently, I’m not alone, since the papers and TV seem full of interesting stories nearly all the time--which I assume wouldn’t happen if the media people got feedback that no one was watching or listening.

A couple stories over the last few days really caught my attention. One was about the way the current housing crisis has harmed pets. That’s becoming old news, unfortunately. A lot of people whose homes are foreclosed on can no longer keep their beloved dogs and cats, and shelters are becoming full of these poor abandoned dears. That hurts enough. But in this particular story, the people who came to take charge of the foreclosed-upon home found that the family dog was still there--starving. Eating the walls, since there was nothing else. How horrible! I don’t understand how anyone could do that to their best friend.

Also, there’ve been stories about a woman who had her beloved pit bull cloned by an outfit in South Korea that’s affiliated with a cloning company in the U.S. She now has 5 pit bull puppies. She doesn’t have her home any longer, since she sold it to pay for the cloning; the process is very expensive, but presumably she’s gotten what she wanted. Maybe she’ll be able to sell her story for enough that she’ll have someplace to raise the pups.

My latest Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery DOUBLE DOG DARE has a cloning theme, so I found that story of particular interest.

Have you seen or read any pet-related stories lately that especially caught your attention?


--Linda