Mad About Pets!

Lacey's Barkery gluten-free crisps

Lacey’s Barkery was kind enough to offer Mad About Pets a sample of their most popular baked treat flavor, Peanut Butter and Bacon. We wanted to put Lacey’s to the ultimate test, so we recruited a particularly selective test subject. Meet Amos, the 8-year-old rescue poodle. Amos’ person reports that he does not eat treats; in fact, he has no idea what to do with them. When offered a dog bone at the bank drive-up window, poor Amos just stares at it. Growing up in a puppy mill, Amos never learned the simple pleasure of a dog treat. Even if he wanted to eat a treat, the amount of teeth he’s missing makes it quite difficult. Yes, Amos is a tough test subject indeed!

Lacey's Barkery baked treats

Amos the test dog gives Lacey’s Barkery two enthusiastic paws up! Besides the glowing review from the pickiest poodle in Madison, Mad About Pets loves that Lacey’s donates part of the purchase price to animal charities like AKC Canine Health Foundation and Romania Animal Rescue when you use the appropriate promo code (found at the bottom of this page.) If you’re looking for tasty homemade treats you can feel good about giving your dog, check out Lacey’s Barkery and the full line of great products they have available to spoil your dog rotten!

Dog names graphic produced by Matt Beswick for Pet365. Click here to view the full post.

Photo credit: blog.craftzine.com

A cat food ball is an easy way to prevent regurgitation. Photo credit: northernilcatclinic.com

Today I came across a company I think is fabulous! It's called DoggyLoot, and it's a daily email service (similar to Groupon, Woot, or Living Social)...except it's for dog supplies only.

You can save up to 75% on things like treats, toys, chews, and more. The best part is, the shipping is always free!

When you sign up, DoggyLoot will ask you for the size of your dog so that your deals can be customized to fit your specific pet(s). Your dog will be in heaven with all the great discounted items you can purchase!

Check out DoggyLoot and start finding amazing deals for your doggy today!

In today's current economic climate with job loss and gas prices on the rise, many of us are looking for ways to pinch pennies. Unfortunately, pets are one of the costs that many people can no longer shoulder. Animal shelters are currently filled with pets who were displaced due to their owners losing their jobs, their homes, or both.

With CouponCabin, no more cutting coupons required!

Many people are looking to coupons these days more than ever before to help save on essential purchases, and pet owners are no exception. Thanks to the internet, searching for coupons is easier than ever. Couponing used to mean digging through stacks of newspapers and magazines and cutting coupons out by hand. Now with online shopping, coupon sites like CouponCabin make it easy to search for, find, and use coupons without ever having to leave the house.

CouponCabin.com works directly with Petco and more than 3,700 other retailers to offer incredible savings on quality goods. Their Petco online coupons save shoppers $31.99 on average! Users can grab a code quickly (less than 90 seconds on average), or sign up for CouponCabin Rewards to earn points toward gift cards. Also, CouponCabin just released a mobile app! The CouponCabin Mobile app is available at the GooglePlay and iTunes stores. In addition to the mobile app, they also just launched the CouponCabin iPad app! It really is a single coupon app that does it all! Learn more about having the power of saving at your finger tips at http://www.couponcabin.com/mobile/ .


CouponCabin has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, O, The Oprah Magazine, USA Today, Good Morning America, MSN Money, Good Housekeeping and Yahoo! Finance, among many others.

Here's how to WIN!

To enter the giveaway:

All you need to do is leave a comment on this post telling me what you'd buy at Petco if you won the gift card.
Want some extra entries? Here's how:

5 extra entries:

*Blog about this contest with a link to this post (leave me a comment with a link)

1 extra entry:

*Tweet a link to this giveaway @MadAboutPets (use the Twitter share button at the top of this post!)
*Follow me on Twitter
*Join my Facebook fan page
*Subscribe to my feed
*Post a link to Mad About Pets on your blog or site

Please leave a separate comment for each additional entry to state you have completed the requirement. I highly suggest that you leave your email address in your comment(s) so that I am able to contact you ASAP if you're the winner. If I cannot contact the winner within 3 days, I will have to draw a new winner.

The giveaway begins today and ends at 11:59 Central Time on August 30, 2012. I'll then be drawing a random winner from all the entries.

Good luck!

Disclosure: I received no compensation for this post and the opinion stated here is that of my own. I was not influenced in any way. By entering this promotion, each participant agrees to release, indemnify and hold harmless the Sponsor and its parent companies, affiliates and subsidiaries and their respective representatives, officers, directors, shareholders, agents and employees from and against any injuries, losses, damages, claims, actions or liability of any kind resulting from or arising from participation in this promotion.

"Potty training"...the two words that make many dog owners cringe. It seems like some dogs take to potty training like a fish to water, while others require a long and difficult period before the concept makes sense. Even when a puppy is fully potty trained, owners still must deal with the early-morning and late-night potty breaks, and occassional accidents on the kitchen floor. Wouldn't it be convenient just to have an indoor dog bathroom for your dog that he could use whenever the need arises? Believe it or not, you CAN: it's called the Potty Training Puppy Apartment!

The Puppy Apartment is a unique new potty training device that combines the best parts of the many different training methods on the market. Puppy training pads seems to be the most popular product for indoor potty training, but unfortunately many dogs "overshoot" or miss the pad entirely (leading to sticky, not to mention stinky, floors.) Indoor grass patches have become popular, but the same problem exists with overshooting and the obvious inconvenience of having a box of grass/faux grass in your home. These solutions aren't viable, either, if your dog or puppy is confined to a crate during the day. Older dogs will be expected to "hold it" until you get home. However, puppies have tiny bladders and therefore must take frequent potty breaks;  if your puppy is confined to a crate for more than a few hours, accidents can and WILL happen. The Puppy Apartment combines a crate and a bathroom so your dog has access to a potty area and a sleeping area, yet in separate compartments to keep your puppy clean and comfy.

The best part about the Puppy Apartment is that it comes with a training DVD to teach you exactly how to use the device with success. The Puppy Apartment training program teaches the dog to use the bathroom indoors in 3 stages, so the puppy gradually learns to use (and prefer) pottying indoors in the Puppy Apartment. Eventually, your dog will be able to have free reign of the house and still will go back to the Puppy Apartment to potty (like his own personal bathroom!) The training program was developed over a period of five years of research, and is even patent pending. Customer service is also available 7 days a week to help with any questions or concerns that might come up with the Potty Training Puppy Apartment, so once you start you always have help available if you need it.

The Puppy Apartment is a combination bed/bathroom

Many owners like to crate train their dog, but this can come with the issues discussed above (older dogs being forced to "hold it", and puppies requiring frequent potty breaks.) The nice thing about the Puppy Apartment is that it can be used to crate train and potty train simultaneously. Since the Puppy Apartment is divided into two separate sections, it is a combination bathroom and bedroom (sort of like a studio apartment for dogs.) Your dog will always have a clean and dry place to rest in the crate, and a bathroom available when he needs it. Dogs that stay crated during the day will be sure to enjoy this! Dogs who will have free reign of the house (after potty training) will also appreciate having an indoor bathroom to use. Dogs are biologically wired to seek a den to dwell in (like their wolf relatives), so having a crate available to rest in is a great idea even for dogs who are not confined to a crate for long periods of time. The Crate Training Puppy Apartment fulfills the need for a den dwelling and a bathroom in one unique product.

If you're looking for an effective way to potty train your puppy or dog, or a nice alternative to taking the dog out at 6 AM every day for a potty break, check out the Potty Training Puppy Apartment.

The artist and her loyal German Shepherd, Truda.

Alicia Banks of Texarkana, Texas sees pets in a whole new light. Bright, bold, vibrant colors make pets come alive in her unique pop art pieces custom-made for pet owners. Working under the name AB Pop Art, Alicia creates art that not only memorializes treasured pets, but turns them into models for kitschy and fun art that will liven up any decor. Ms. Banks was kind enough to grant Mad About Pets an interview about AB Pop Art, and offer some insight into her creative process.

(Mad About Pets) Why are pets your preferred subjects (versus other subject matter?)

"The Gang"

A cat exhibiting the flehmen response. Photo credit: fabcats.org

The litter box: one of the best and worst things about owning a cat. Cats are great because they go potty in a box, and don’t have to be let out several times a day to “go.” Of course that means there is a box in your house full of cat waste. It can be a pain to keep the litter box clean, but still…it’s better than waking up at 2:00 a.m. to let the cat out!

Your child's sandbox is the ideal "litter box" for feral cats. Photo credit: lowes.com

But why exactly do cats use a litter box? Well, it all goes back to before cats were domesticated. By burying their feces, cats break the scent trail and protect them from predators. It’s much easier to dig in sand or loose dirt than digging a hole in the regular soil, so they naturally gravitate towards those easier digging spots. Ever notice that feral cats will seek out a child’s sandbox to use as a litter box? Naturally indoor domesticated cats will seek out a place that is easy to bury their waste, and the best choice for them is the litter box. They prefer a finely ground litter that resembles sand, which is why fine grained clay litters tend to be the most accepted litter choice for cats.

In the “wild”, cats urinate and defecate in different spots. For this reason, it is always best to have 2 litter boxes in a single cat household. You may find that your cat prefers to urinate in one box, and defecate in the other. This is a call back to natural, wild behavior. In a multi-cat household, the rule of thumb is “1 box per cat, plus 1.” So if you have 3 cats, you should have 4 boxes. 4 cats, 5 boxes. And so on.

Mother cats teach their kittens how to potty properly. Photo credit: pupsispups.blogspot.com

Most cats are taught by their mother how to properly bury their waste and where to do it, but some kittens raised from a young age by humans may have missed out on mom’s lessons. In that case, simply placing the kitten into the litter box after meals, play sessions, and other rigorous activity should be sufficient to potty train the kitten. The natural desire to ward off predators is in a cat’s very DNA, and they will naturally be inclined to use a litter box when provided.

Always remember, though, that cats are impeccably clean creatures. As such, they require a clean litter box that lives up to their standards. Try your best to scoop the litter box at least once per day, and sanitize the box frequently to get rid of the ammonia build-up from urine.

I know my blue eyes are lovely, but please refrain from staring at me.

The eyes are another aspect of our cats' complicated body language. To directly stare at a cat is considered a threatening behavior. Think about it, though…doesn’t it make you uncomfortable and a little creeped out when someone stares at YOU too long? Sometimes the cat may look away if you stare it directly in the eye. Sometimes it may continue staring back at you, unwavering. But sometimes, the cat may slowly blink at you. The slow blink is body language stating, “I am not a threat to you.” As a cat owner, you may find your cat staring intently at you from across the room. If you slowly blink at the cat, it will probably blink slowly back at you. By slowly blinking at the cat, you are giving him the message that you are not a threat. By blinking back at you, your cat is telling you, “Hey, neither am I. I’m pretty comfortable here.” Cats also use the slow blink with other cats to break up an aggressive stare down.

Some behaviorists use the “slow blink” trick when meeting new cats. It can be a way to “break the ice” with the cat, showing her that you are not a threat. To be honest, the best way to show you are not a threat to a cat is to not stare her in the eye to begin with! Though the cat may slowly blink in submission, staring the cat in the eye IS a threatening gesture, and most cats respond better if you simply look past them or off to the side. Ever notice that someone who dislikes cats seems to be the most attractive person to a cat? That’s because people who dislike cats tend not to pay them any attention, and that (in feline language) is a non-threatening gesture and an invitation for further contact. For “cat haters”, it’s almost a catch 22.

The best rule of thumb? Never stare a cat directly in the eyes. It’s just not nice.

Have you ever watched the Westminster Dog Show and realized just how many dog breeds you're NOT familiar with? Personally, it seems like I am learning about new breeds all the time. Here are some of the most unique and unusual that I've encountered.

Photo credit: dogfamily.org

Photo credit: pets-puppies.blogspot.com

Is it just me, or does this breed look like it belongs in an 80's glam rock band? The Chinese Crested is a mix of hairless and long-haired, with a naked body and tufts of fur on the feet, tail and head. Having 2 types of coat means double the grooming needs. The naked skin needs to be treated like a human's, and can be prone to the same sorts of problems like acne and sunburn. The furry parts can matt easily, and as such need to be brushed and combed frequently. The amount of fur varies from dog to dog, and some dogs in a litter of Chinese Crested may be born with a full, long coat and almost no hairlessness whatsoever!

Photo credit: nicholasspyer.com

Photo credit: woofahs.com Klee Kai

Photo credit: breederretriever.com Basenji