DECEMBER Promo:

12 Dogs of Christmas
12 different BLOWOUT Deals!

Okay folks. This is not the way I'm supposed to do this sale. However, over the past few years, I've gotten feedback that you are confused, not sure, generally don't understand what's happening. So, let me spell it out...

Starting on Tuesday, December 13 we count down the days to Christmas with a different sale every day - 12 days of sales! Every day there is a different deal. Stores that run this sale successfully claim it is their most popular sale of the year! We are not supposed to tell you what is on sale before it goes on sale. It is supposed to be a surprise. But this year, I'm going to give you a sneak peek at what the sales are up front. Hopefully this will get you excited...
 

Day 1 - TU Dec 13 - 6 oz of Bulk treats for $1.99 (40% savings) 

Day 2 - WE Dec 14 - Bottle Buddies Toys - $4.99 (up to $5 off)

Day 3 - TH Dec 15 - Yoghund Frozen Yogurt 4 pk - $3.99 (up to 50% savings)

Day 4 - FR Dec 16 - Buddy Biscuits Treats -any variety- $3.99 (over 40% savings)

Day 5 - SA Dec 17 - STOREWIDE 25% OFF (excludes food)

Day 6 - SU Dec 18 - Cat TOYS BOGO - Buy 1 / Get 1 FREE

Day 7 - MO Dec 19 - Jr. Hedgehog Toy - $2.99 (40% savings)

Day 8 - TU Dec 20 - PLATO Thinkers 10 oz. $7.49 (over $5 off)

Day 9 - WE Dec 21 - ROGS Collars BOGO - Buy 1 / Get 1 FREE

Day 10 - TH Dec 22 - Earthbath Shampoo $8.99 / Travel Wipes $3.99 (40% savings)

Day 11 - FR Dec 23 - Antlers BOGO - Buy 1 / Get 1 70% OFF!

Day 12 - SA Dec 24 - STOREWIDE 40% OFF (excludes food)

 

If you are subscribed to our e-newsletter, we'll send you a reminder email every day starting on Dec 12 to let you know what is on sale the next day. All sales are while supplies last...Enjoy!

Lucy Postins, founder of The Honest Kitchen, offers some sound advice for how to safely include your pets in your holiday feasting. Don't Forget Your Pet When Preparing Holiday Meals is a refreshing departure from the typical advice, which is to steer clear of holiday foods when it comes to your pets. It's not that abstaining from holiday feasts for pets is bad advice, it's just not that much fun. And most of us don't really follow that advice anyway, since we love including pets in our family traditions. So I was happy to see Lucy's article earlier this month about what foods are okay to feed pets during the holidays - and what to avoid - it gives us some framework to help us make decisions. Here's a short summary of Lucy's article:

Turkey, Ham, Prime Rib and other meats. Okay in small amounts / moderation and focus on meat - not fat and gristle. However, never feed any type of cooked bones - they can splinter and damage the GI tract. Too much fat and gristle can lead to pancreatitis - a very uncomfortable and dangerous condition. Stay away from meats with added sodium, nitrates and preservatives - they are bad for you and your pet.

Green Bean Casserole. Okay in very small amounts, but don't include the onion topping. Fresh raw or cooked green beans are okay to add to your dog's food any time.

Sweet Potatoes. Excellent source of beta carotene and highly nutritious. Steamed or baked sweet potatoes are ideal and easy to digest. Avoid serving your pets the traditional holiday version of sweet potato casserole that contains lots of syrup, marshmallows or candied nuts.

Cranberries. A great addition to your pet's bowl any time of year and especially during the holidays. No cranberry sauce or jelly, though, as these can be full of sugar and other things that Fido shouldn't have. Cranberries are good to help prevent urinary tract infections.

Pumpkin & Squash. These are wonderful foods to share with cats and dogs in moderate amounts. Most pets love the taste of these yummy and nutritious vegetables.

Winter Greens. Chard and kale are awesome sources of vitamins and antioxidants. Brussels sprouts and cabbage are also loaded with good nutrients, but they can cause gas in your pet's tummy. These can be added raw, lightly steemed or sauteed, but without added salt, wine, soy sauce or butter.

White Potatoes. Okay in moderate amounts. Avoid serving your pet potato dishes loaded with cream, dressings, oil or butter.

Lucy's List of Holiday Foods to Avoid

• Stuffing and corn pudding
• Desserts and cheeses
• Relishes
• Onions
• Chocolate
• Macadamia nuts
• Grapes
• Raisins
• Candies with xylitol

Lucy also explains that as with any time you change your pet's normal meal routine, it is best to make additions to your pet's bowl gradually so you can ensure your pet is able to tolerate what you are serving. Don't allow your pet to gorge. Gorging can lead to pancreatitis or bloat. If you do experience an incident where your pet over indulges due to counter surfing, or getting into the holiday trash, keep a close watch. If you notice signs of bloating, vomiting or other digestive problems such as diarrhea or constipation, Lucy says a visit to your vet's office is recommended, without delay. Happy Holidays!

We all look forward to the holiday season, and we love to include our pets in the festivities. However, the ASPCAs Holiday Safety Tips warns it is best to keep your pet's eating and exercise habits as close to normal as possible. Plus, there are certain holiday traditions you should steer clear of for the safety of your pets. Here are highlights from the ASPCA's Holiday Safety Tips...

1. Got cats? Say "NO!" to tinsel. Tinsel is the equivalent of sparkly "crack" to the kitties and can lead to obstructed digestive tracts, severe vomiting and possibly surgery. It is best to keep it away from your cats.
2. No big feasts for the Fur Kids. You know not to feed your pets chocolate or anything sweetened with xylitol, but it is also important to resist the urge to let your pets feast along with the family. One splurge can lead to pancreatitis or worse. Ensure pets are kept away from the table and unattended food. Take extra steps to secure the lids on garbage cans. The best way to include your pets in the holiday feasting festivities is to get an extra special treat that you know is safe - so they can enjoy something special while the rest of the family enjoys the holiday meal. Groovy has seasonal baked treats, yummy bones and canned meals you can serve as special treats for your pet.
3. Joy to the Toys. Considering stuffing your pet's stocking with toys? Be sure to select toys that are safe. Not sure which toys are safe? Select toys for your pets much the same way you would select a toy for a small child - no small pieces to break off or chew off. For your cat, choose a toy that you can interact while playing with your feline pal.
4. Holiday plants are dangerous for your pets! Steer clear of holly, mistletoe and certain lillies that are toxic to cats. These traditional holiday plants can cause symptoms ranging from nausea, vomiting and diarrhea up to and including kidney failure. Choose artificial plants instead.
5. No leftovers please! Fatty, spicy and certain foods enjoyed by humans during the holidays are absolute no-no's for pets. Even after the holiday feast has past, continue to keep your pets away from holiday leftovers.
6. Watch that holiday glow. Don't leave lighted candles unattended. Pets can easily burn themselves or cause a fire if they accidentally knock over a burning candle. If you leave the room, put out the candle!
7. Wired up. Keep wires, batteries and glass or plastic ornaments out of paws' reach.
8. Put meds away. Be sure your medications are locked behind secure doors, and be sure to tell your house guests to ensure all their meds are zipped up and packed away, out of pets reach too.
9. Take care with cocktails. If your celebration includes adult holiday beverages, be sure to place unattended alcohol where pets reach. If ingested, your pet could become very sick.
10. A room of their own. If you have the extra space, consider placing your pets in a quiet room where they can retreat -- complete with fresh water and a place to snuggle with their favorite blanket or toy. 

Also, read Five Holiday Pet Safety Tips written by Lucy Postins, founder of The Honest Kitchen, one of our absolute faves!

Do you like to celebrate Halloween with your canine pal? Join us for a night of Halloween fun and wine tasting in Original Carrollwood with your dog! This year, Groovy Monster Bash is hosted by Jenn's Wine Shop. Cost is $15 per person and proceeds benefit Pit Stop Bully's Rescue. Snacks and wine provided by Jenn's Wine Shop. There will be 8 wines total: 4 red and 4 white for tasting.

Here's what else you can expect:

*Spooky Halloween music
*Treats for canine guests
*Dog costume contest with a $100 Grand Prize value

So, mark your calendars now. Here are the details for this year's Groovy Monster Bash:

Saturday, Oct 15 / 6p - 9-
Jenn's Wine Shop of Carrollwood
11724 N Dale Mabry Highway
Tampa, FL 33618
Phone: 813-960-4808

Call Jenn's at 813-960-4808 for details. Bring your well-mannered dog on leash for a howling good time! See you there!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PHOTO BY INA JALIL

As we've discussed before, music can excite, agitate, or soothe and calm pets, and it's the relaxing aspect of music that most interests us: can music make your anxious dog calmer during or after the storm, or while you're away? Can the right symphony soothe kitty when too much activity or outside interference makes her skittish? Research says yes, and in fact we've discovered a whole micro-industry of sweet sounds for furry friends, including one online shop that actually sells "pet speakers" for purrfect acoustics. If you search Amazon for "relaxation music" or "calming music" for pets/cats/dogs, you'll discover you have a lot to choose from, but there's really no need to spend a lot of money on pet tunes.

Many experts recommend classical music (this article has some specific recommendations), so you could just mine your music collection for Bach, Beethoven, Vivaldi and the like for your furball's relaxed listening pleasure. This independent study [PDF] claims that solo piano with simplified arrangements at 50-70 beats per minute is optimal for calming canine anxiety, and this article says, "dogs appear to be calmed by music with slower tempos, fewer instruments and simpler melodies."

But guess what, you don't even have to bother rifling through your stash of tunes, because in the manic, magical wonderland that is the Internet, guess what I've discovered? Yep, radio stations for pets. For reals.

• Dog Radio plays very simple, classical compositions which should please skittish kitties, too. The page operates on auto-start (no controls), and worked for me in Firefox and Internet Explorer, but not Opera.
• Cat Galaxy radio says it plays only cat-approved tunes -- music that the cats of the website owners like, as well as as suggested tunes from other music-loving cats, via their owners. (Article here.) Cats apparently have way more adventurous musical tastes than dogs, according to what I've listened to on this station! :) Cat Galaxy worked for me in FF, IE, and Opera.
• Dog Cat Radio is another station for our furry friends, but it seems stuck on only one song for the moment... perhaps something to check back with later.
  

There's also an inexpensive Pet Acoustics iPhone app "music for your dog, cat or horse from your iPhone, iPod Touch or other music player" that I have not personally checked out.

Mark your calendars now for Saturday, October 8. Tell your friends!

Our Natural Paws-a-Palooza is right around the corner and we've got a great line up planned this year. What is Natural Paws-a-Palooza you say? It is one of two wellness events we host each year. This is our Fall wellness event. The day is focused entirely on the subject of wellness and your pets.

Featured guests include:

• Meet Paws for Friendship
• Free pet massage by Canine Comfort Pet Massage
• Pet portraits by Laura Allen (by appointment - call 813-265-1333)
• Free samples / door prizes / snacks for pets and humans

Free Seminars Include:

11:00a Behavior / Training Qs and As by Amy's Canine Kindergarten

12:30p ABCs of Raw Food Diets  by Chuck Harris of Raw Health

  2:00p Intro to Energy Medicine by Eve Lucia, Holistic Healing Expert

Plus, participate in our PAWSOME Treasure Hunt where there are over $2,000 in prizes up for grabs. Visit local pet businesses, learn nutrition and wellness tips from Groovy experts and seek out samples and special offers from our suppliers in order to earn raffle tickets good for our raffle prizes. Our grand prize is a one year supply of dog food by Natural Balance.

Hope to see you there! Remember to call 813-265-1333 to schedule your pet portrait appointment with Laura Allen Studios. Sitting fees start at only $7.00 and we are booking them fast! Pet portrait times are all day from 9a - 5p. Schedule your pet portrait NOW!!

Click on the image above to see a cool infographic from mint.com. "Pet Obssessed" gathers together a big ol' pile of stats to explain to us the "cost of cute." For example, "$1.5 billiion is spent on pet food every year. This is four times the amount spent on baby food."

Okay, but on the other hand, we don't have to spring for several years of college education a few years down the line, do we? Who's laughing now, eh? eh? On the other other hand, "39% of pet owners say they have more photos of their pet than of their spouse or significant other." erm. well. yes. guilty. You can laugh now. (My spouse is quite lovely and photogenic, actually -- he just complains too bitterly when I try to take photos of him begging and playing dead.)

For more statistical and infographical goodness, you can also check out 20 Crazy Facts About Pet Ownership in America.

I happened upon this rather gorgeous little gem of a news story from the mid-1950s while browsing some dark and dusty corridors of the online newspaper morgue.

Thus begins the story of "The Case of the Stowaway Dog: Hector Finds His Master," from an actual newspaper article that I found in archives dated May 12, 1956 (which means the recounted incident took place in the early 1920s), and printed in the "Youngstown Vindicator" newspaper, though it was originally written for The Christian Science Monitor "in collaboration with the Readers Digest."

Now, there are many heart-tugging dog tales that I take with huge grains of salt. Huge. Grains. -- usually those of the "faithful dog who never leaves the master's/mistress' graveside variety," or others than require us to believe that the dog has mastered certain abstract and/or metaphysical concepts that are so very peculiar to the human species. Now, if the dog himself had buried the master's bones, I might be more inclined to go along with some of those stories, but poochy hanging out graveside for years (or by some other marker that could never be recognized by the dog as having anything to do with the owner in actual life)... well, no, not so much.

Yet this vintage story of a dog reunited with his master through what appear to be astonishing and epic machinations and maneuvers on the part of the canine somehow has the ring of truth for me. I can imagine the ways that a dog negotiates such challenges possibly ending in such a mythic way, and, also, the recounting of the specific behavior of the dog seems so very, very familiar to me as a dog owner... and the narration is attributed to a Capt. Kenneth Dodson, instead of, say, an ambitious reporter with a vivid imagination and a deadline to meet. Also, The Christian Science Monitor has long had a reputation as an upstanding journal.

Of course, Captain Dodson may have simply been an especially observant dog lover, with a penchant for romanticizing and telling tallish tales, but I'll rely on his honor as an officer and a gentleman. :) At any rate, it's a great story, a bit challenging to read in this old scanned format, but worth it, I think.

Perhaps not quite as rare as the African Golden... ladies and gentlemen, the mysterious Bodega Cat:



Very amusing... and very true! Our local bodega has one, though we don't call our local bodega a "bodega" -- we call it Convenience George, to distinguish it from our local small grocer, who we call Grocery George. We have a lot of Georges in our neighborhood. But only one bodega cat -- long may she rule.

Oh, these T-shirts are too good! Why has no one thought of this before? Why haven't I thought of this before? I wonder how... unusual... they would look on women? We really need to see someone actually wearing one of these things, don't we? If anyone spots one in the wild, let me know.

(Of course if our various lovely bumps and bulges create too much dissonance, we could always wear them backwards, right? And why do I have so many question marks in this post? Why?)