Yes it's true! We are now giving away money through our GiftGrabber! We don't know of any other company that has ever done something like this before so this may be a bit baffling and you may even be a little skeptical, so we hope to answer all of your questions concerning "how" and "why" we are doing this.

(You can Play GiftGrabber now, or click the "Play GiftGrabber and Win $$$!" link on the top right of every page in our store.)

We have one central "pot" of money that anyone can claim, at any time. Every couple of minutes this pot grows by $0.01. Anyone can claim this pot at any time and when it is claimed a few things happen:

1. The pot will reset to $0.00 and show "JUST CLAIMED" and the "pot" counter will start all over again. This is true for the winner as well as everyone else who is watching the counter.
2. An email will be sent to the first person who clicks "claim". This email contains a unique promotional credit number (similar to a credit card number). Please note: Be certain to double check your email address and type it correctly. The winning certificate will be sent to the exact email address that you type in the claim box provided. Also, the email containing the certificate number and expiration date will be sent from no-reply@petkaboodle.com, so it is important that your email account does not block email from this address. To be sure, you may want to add it to your contacts.
3. The winner can now use their claimed amount towards any purchase before it expires (two days from the exact date and time that it was claimed).

1. Once you have received the winning email, log into your PetKaboodle.com account (or create an account if you don't already have one). You must be logged in to claim your credits.
2. Go to the "My Account" screen.
3. In the left hand column of the screen, click on the "Credits/Gift Cards" menu bar and enter the GiftGrabber card number from the email you received into the text box provided and click "redeem". Your account balance should then change to reflect the new addition.
4. Once you have all of your items in your cart and are ready to use your account credit, simply choose "proceed to checkout" from the cart screen. Check the checkbox for Store Credit/Gift Card and select a backup funding source of either Paypal or Credit Card. (Your backup funding source will only be used if your credits do not cover the full order amount).

GiftGrabber promotional credits expire exactly two days from the date and time that the winning claim was made. Once your winning credit is expired, the credit number becomes invalid and any amount of credit applied to your account that was not used will be removed from your balance.

Your email is always kept private and NEVER shared. Your privacy is our top priority and we will NEVER sell, rent, or share your email address with anyone. You will NOT be subscribed to any form of mailing list by playing our GiftGrabber game. Your email is solely used to send your promotional credit after winning a claim.

It's quite simply really. We'd rather give our advertising money to you! Now, if we gave all of it to one person we'd have one REALLY happy customer. But that wouldn't be fair to everyone else. On the other hand, if we lowered our prices by the amount we're giving away, each product would only be lowered by a fraction of a cent! That wouldn't help anyone at all! So what we decided to do was allow you to decide how much of a discount works for you! For example, maybe you want to claim the GiftGrabber and use it to offset your shipping costs, or tax. Maybe another website sells something for a little cheaper but you'd rather buy from us, whom you know and trust. The GiftGrabber could make up the difference allowing you to buy it from us for the price you want!

There are no strings attached and no "catch". Just simple advertising. Our hope is that our GiftGrabber catches on in a big way allowing us to reach many customers and to eventually give away, not pennies every couple minutes, but dollars every second!

Now go give our GiftGrabber a try, and if you find it helpful, or even just interesting, please tell us. And by all means, please tell your friends!

If you feel we didn't address your questions about GiftGrabber, or just want to drop a comment and let us know what you think of this (good or bad) please post a comment at the end of this post and let us know!

~Your friends at PetKaboodle

This Christmas I learned a couple of important pieces of information through a series of rather unfortunate circumstances that I felt I needed to share with you. This information may save you some time and money, and at it may even save your pets life!

My wife and I hosted Christmas this year for our family and friends and it just so happens that (while many cats will run off and hide when guests arrive) our cat, Kiwi, LOVES people and parties. This is normally great fun for both us and her, except that this year it allowed her to be the first one to dig into some of the bags of gifts people brought us. One of the bags contained a Poinsettia and unfortunately Kiwi discovered it before us. By the time we found out, she had already eaten about 3 petals and chewed on a couple others!

Although we were pretty sure that Poinsettia weren't deadly, we weren't sure how bad they were or weren't so we called a local pet emergency center who told us to bring her in because they would need to induce vomiting. After rushing Kiwi to the emergency room they admitted her and took her off into the back. We learned shortly after that they didn't have a toxicologist and that we would need to call the ASPCA poison control hot-line. In the meantime, the emergency clinic gave Kiwi something to induce vomiting. It was apparently also a painkiller and we were told that she may be tired and out of it for a little while. The person who answered the ASPCA hot-line was incredibly nice and helpful and essentially said that unless the cat had eaten something along the lines of an entire Poinsettia, she should be fine. You may see her foaming at the mouth after about an hour but this is a sign that she is nauseated. The verdict being that she will be fine and that you don't really need to do anything except potentially give her something to settle her stomach. The vet than gave us back our cat, now slightly doped up from the painkiller, and a large bill - as was expected for using an emergency clinic after hours.

We ended up paying for both the emergency room visit and the phone call to the ASPCA. On top of that since the cat was now slightly drugged and we didn't know if she would be vomiting around out house, we kept her in the basement which caused her to miss the festivities which she usually loves to be a part of. But we learned some valuable lessons that I would like to share.

1. Keep the number for the ASPCA poison control center handy - (888) 426-4435. They charge a $60 consultation fee, but it may spare you an even more costly trip to the emergency room, or if emergency care is still required the toxicologist at the ASPCA will be able to instruct your vet on how to handle the specific poison.
2. The ASPCA maintains a list of poisonous plants and what can be expected from/what to do about each. That list is located here: http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/plants/ and we suggest bookmaking it.
3. The person from the ASPCA made special mention that one of the most toxic plants to pets are Lilies. Please do not keep Lilies in your house.
4. If you suspect your pet has been poisoned, it is likely better to call the ASPCA poison control center before contacting your vet. Please note: If your animal is having seizures, losing consciousness, is unconscious or is having difficulty breathing, telephone ahead and bring your pet immediately to your local veterinarian or emergency veterinary clinic. If necessary, he or she may call the Animal Poison Control Center (APCC).
5. Here is how you can expect the ASPCA poison control center call to work:
   1. When you call you should have the following things ready (Taken directly from http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/poison-control/what-to-do-if-your-pet-is-poisoned.html):
      • The species, breed, age, sex, weight and number of animals involved
      • The animal's symptoms
      • Information regarding the exposure, including the agent (if known), the amount of the agent involved and the time elapsed since the time of exposure.
      • Have the product container/packaging available for reference.
   2. They will advise you on how to handle the situation. They will give you a case reference number and a follow-up phone number. This information can be given to the vet for them to follow up on your call and allow the APCC to guide the vet on proper treatment.

Although everything ended ok with our cat involving the Poinsettia, please do not take this article as medical advice. If your pet consumes Poinsettia, we encourage you to call the ASPCA poison control center as the quantity, plant type, breed, etc. could change the outcome of this and we are not toxicologists.

If we had started with a call to the APCC both Kiwi and I would have been able to enjoy our friends and family on Christmas instead of sitting at an emergency vet for three hours and spending a ton of money in the process.

And whatever happened to Kiwi? She's fine; actually she was fine the whole time - never started foaming, never vomited - even after being given something to induce vomiting; never showed any signs of discomfort. She did end up a little out of it from the injection of pain killer but still enjoyed posing for her Christmas photo:

Hopefully my story can help someone else save their pet or at the very least save some panic, money and time!

Best Regards,

Brian Riley
President
PetKaboodle, Inc.

If you happen to live on the west coast, chances are you're stumbled upon CityDog Magazine, and if you happen to pick up their Holiday 2009 edition you may discover a familiar company graces their pages.  That's right, CityDog Magazine has contacted us to feature some of our holiday dog toys, holiday dog cloths and holiday grooming products!

These include:

Our gingerbread men	Our EastSide Collection Argyle Sweaters
Our Menorah Squeaky Toys	Our Christmas Rope Chew Toys
Our Naughty/Nice Tugs	Our Gingerbread Shampoo

Thank you so much to Brandie, Wendy and all of our new friends over at CityDog Magazine!!

As the holidays are approaching incredibly quickly, it be comes important to know if your order will arrive before the big day.  To assist with this, we now show estimated delivery dates for all orders!  This date range is shown on the cart, order review, receipt and emailed receipt to allow you to make the best decision possible about which shipping speed to choose. 

Occasionally orders will contain items that are shipped at different times or by different methods.  For example, a small selection of items ship direct from the manufacturer and these can take longer to deliver.  As well, if you order something that is back ordered, it will be shipped at a different time than the rest of your order.  In both of these cases, these items will be listed separately with their own estimated delivery date.

We hope you enjoy our new feature!

Huge 40% off ENTIRE STORE Cyber Monday Sale! Black Friday has passed but Cyber Monday is almost here! Cyber Monday is the busiest on-line shopping day of the year! Stop in to PetKaboodle.com on Monday November 30th from 9am to 5pm EST and enjoy 40% off our ENTIRE STORE!!  Not only are Christmas and Hanukkah themed items on sale, all of your everyday necessity pet supplies are 40% off as well! Every item is on sale for 8 hours only! Don't miss your chance to get all of your pet's necessities and finish all of your pet's holiday shopping at super low prices!  Now's a great time to get everything from dog toys and pet beds to cat collars and even cat harnesses!  But hurry!  This sale won't last!

The Holidays are Almost Here! Come celebrate this Holiday season with PetKaboodle.com!  Get fantastic gifts for your furry little friends at super low prices.  Shop early to save big! From now until November 8th, enjoy 20% off ALL Holiday merchandise! Brand new styles and gifts for every type of pet personality! From Christmas to Hanukkah, get everything you need to enjoy this holiday season with your pets. Be among the first to see what this year's Holiday trends are all about! Here's some of what you'll find in our early "Holiday Season Celebration" Sale at PetKaboodle.com!

As we move forward and get ready for this holiday season, now is a great time to to snatch up our store clearance sales!  Starting NOW! All Halloween items are 40% off! Depending on your location, there may still be time to get your costumes before Halloween with Priority Shipping or even stock up for next year! Be sure to take advantage of these super low prices while supplies last!

Not only that but we also have a some tremendous sales going on in the following:
Pet Apparel Sale Items
Cat Bed Sales
Dog Bed Sales
Bowl and Dining Sales
Pet Carrier Sales
Dog Collar Sales
Flea and Tick Prevention Sales
Pet Grooming Items on Sale
Health and Nutrition Sales
Dog Breeding Supplies on Sale
Outdoor Pet Items on Sale
Dog Toys and Chews on Sale
Dog Training Items on Sale
Pet Travel Item Sales
Dog Treats on Sale
or just look page through everything we have on sale!

These items and sales won't last long so hurry in and see whats in store for you!

~Your friends and PetKaboodle.com

Halloween Already?!

That's right, you heard us correctly! Our new Halloween costumes are here! Shop early to save big! From now until September 8th, enjoy 20% off ALL Halloween merchandise! Brand new styles for every type of pet personality! From soft plush costumes to spooky fun toys, be among the first to see what this year's Halloween trends are all about at PetKaboodle.com!

In case you're wondering why we've been so quiet on our blog recently, we've all been VERY busy working on some revolutionary new site features! This has been some grueling work and we can't wait to share them with you! In the coming weeks we will let you know what some of our changes will be and begin to phase in some beta users to check it out for themselves and give us feedback. If you're interested in being part of the beta keep an eye on our blog and the PetKaboodle.com facebook site for information on how to be accepted into the beta. We can't wait to show you the future of on-line pet supply shopping!

Get your paws on this season's latest trends!  Stop in to PetKaboodle.com
and save up to 30% off select dog supplies and 10% off all Cat supplies,  Ferret, Small Animal & Bird items! Hurry in to save BIG on pet supplies and pet accessories this summer season
because this sale ends in one week! Sale ends Friday July 3rd 2009. While supplies last.

As everyone knows, shipping costs went up on May 11th.....AGAIN!  Have no fear! We here at PetKaboodle.com always charge correct shipping fees across the United states. We never charge any handling fees, boxing fees or anything extra. Rest assured that when you order from us, you are never over paying on shipping!     Also, remember that every order $100 or more qualifies for Free Shipping no matter what the items in your cart! Watch your countdown bar as it calculates how much is needed to meet your free shipping goal! So stock up on all your favorite pet supplies knowing that you're always saving at PetKaboodle.com!

Not only is PetKaboodle.com your budget friendly Cat and Dog supply store, we now offer Ferret, Bird and Small Animal supplies too!

Now is your chance to get great products for all of your special little companions at great PetKaboodle.com prices!  Come visit our new products and enjoy 5% off your next order of Ferret, Bird, and Small Animal Supplies! Hurry in, sale ends April 30th!

This is one of the worst flea and tick seasons yet, and it's just begun! There are alot of reports that Frontline has changed it's formula and is not very effective this year. Don't let this get you down!

Although spot on treatments may work great, they are not the only product one should use to control fleas. Alot of pet owners make the mistake of just giving a flea bath and spot on treatment and expect all the pesky little buggers to go away. But they will always find themselves back at the groomers for another flea bath spending ALOT of money thinking they're doing the only effective thing to treat their pet's fleas. The most important thing is to not just rely on the spot on treatments and flea baths alone. It is ESSENTIAL for pet owners to treat their homes with either sprays or "bombing". The fleas and their eggs can live in carpets, pet beds, laundry, and virtually anything! Just because flea season is over doesn't mean that they are gone. The eggs can still be hibernating inside your home and begin to hatch the next year. They're very persistent!

The best way to deal with flea and tick season is to give your pet frequent (but not TOO frequent because it can dry out their skin) flea baths, follow up with spot on treatments and treat your home. Frequently wash dog beds, cat beds, your bedding, pet apparel, your laundry, carpets and rugs. Also, don't use the spot on treatments directly after a bath. Wait a few days, the spot on's work best with "dirty" hair and when giving a flea bath, let the flea shampoo sit for awhile while you run a flea comb through the fur. It gives enough time for the shampoo to be efficient and it's much easier to get the fleas out with the comb when the hair is soapy. Flea collars are not very efficient in eliminating the fleas that your pet already has. Basically, they just keep fleas away from the dog/cat's face and neck where they tend to "hitch their ride" and drink. It does not kill them if they happen to find their way onto your pet.

If you find that your pet is uncooperative during bath time, it's sometimes best to take them to the groomer for their flea bath. Most of the time, pets will act very differently and behave better with strangers than with their owners. You can also take this perfect opportunity to "bomb" and treat your home while your pet is at the groomers getting their flea bath. Try to stay away from flea dips. They are made with very strong chemicals and can be harmful to your pet's health. We wish every pet owner the best of luck during this tough flea and tick eason! If you need any more help and advice, feel free to contact us at any time. Our professionals always happy to help!

~Your Friends at PetKaboodle.com

 
 Is people food ever OK to feed your pet? The answer is yes, but a very careful yes.  Some foods such as cantaloupe, crunchy raw or lightly steamed vegetables, and meat with fat and gristle trimmed off can offer healthy diet additions. Also, baby carrots, apples and popcorn are excellent low-calorie dog treats. As long as high quality ingredients are used along with a recipes that meets a pet's nutritional needs, human food can be a perfectly fine diet.  But be careful!  Many owners don't realize that a pet's diet must be balanced in nutrients.  They need different nutrients than humans and therefore need some careful researching before switching to a human food diet.  Most owners feed too much and create an unbalanced or incomplete diet.  Table scraps are a big NO NO which can create unwanted and annoying begging behavior.  If you're thinking about giving your pet a human food diet, do some research and find some tasty recipes for pets online or in bookstores. Be very careful with certain people foods that can be toxic to pets.  Some of these toxic foods include, chocolate, onions, grapes, and raisins. Another option are holistic and organic dog food, cat food, cat treats and dog treats.  Many are already prepared with human grade ingredients and saves you all the work.

~Your Friends at PetKaboodle.com

Oral hygiene is very important to not only humans, but their pets too!  Besides the obvious stinky dog breath and cat breath, your pet's teeth need to remain healthy.  Just like human teeth, pet's teeth can decay and rot causing much pain, discomfort and eventually result in high vet bills for tooth extraction.  Tooth decay can also cause serious illness if not treated properly.  Certain breeds are more prone to poor oral hygiene than others.  Shelties and Yorkies for example tend to have a high rate of tooth decay among other dogs.  It is very important to keep up with your pet's teeth.  Daily brushing coupled with the right food and dog treats or cat treats can come a long way for a healthy smile!  Some owners may  not have the time to brush their pets teeth every day but there are other methods to keeping your pet's teeth healthy.  Dry food in your pets diet cleans teeth as they chew and helps rid teeth of plaque and buildup.  The same goes for "crunchy" dog treats and cat treats.  There is also a myriad of dog toys that aid in the health of your pets oral hygene too!  Your dog can play and clean their teeth at the same time!  Any hard rubber toys with nubs or rope tugs are great for cleaning teeth.  As for cats, feline greenies along with other crunchy treats and food can help keep teeth strong and healthy.  An all wet food diet can be detrimental to pet's teeth so be sure to always include a bit of "crunch" to their mealtime.  But what about when the breath of your cat or dog smells?  Try some oral breath sprays, daily brushing, or minty rope bones and dental treats.  With frequent use of these essential pet supplies you can keep your pets teeth healthy and pain free! Time for some happy, healthy smiles! =D

~Your Friends at PetKaboodle.com
 

I just read an article online and I felt I needed to speak about it.  The article was explaining that New Zealand is currently planning on stopping their importation of dog and cat fur.  I'm actually amazed to learn that any modern civilization could still be trading in cat and dog pelts!  Apparently they even use these furs to create dog toys!  This ads a sick new sense to the terms dog apparel and dog clothing!  Unbelievably, most products are intentionally mislabelled as other types of fur so American vacationers may even travel with pets fur out of New Zealand without knowing it!  Well the saying goes you learn something new everyday - I just wish this wasn't what I learned today.  Rest assured PetKaboodle.com will NEVER carry these items!

We've been very busy in recent days updating the accuracy of our search.  We still have a bit more left to do, but as of now our search is much more accurate than it previously was.  The following may get a little too technical for all but the most nerdy of you ;-)  Please read on if you're either a software developer, or just glutton for punishment! 

Previously, our search was was very elementary in that it would take your search terms and check the title then the description of each item for those terms.  Basically if you searched for Dog Bowls we would search the title of the description for Dog Bowls and then the description for Dog Bowls.  However, if the title contained the text Dog Food Bowls then that item wouldn't have been found.  I know - pretty pathetic.  Also we weren't checking the actual category that the items belonged to in the search.  For instance a search for Pet Accessories would not previously search the category Accessories but instead would have searched for items that contain the words Pet Accessories in their title or description.  Further, the two words would have needed to be right next to each other.

Now what we are doing is creating a hash table of keywords and cross referencing those keywords to the corresponding items.  Then we add in a keyword that tells if the items is for cats or dogs, male or female, and which category each item is under.  This means that when you search for Dog Leads all leads for dogs will show up regardless of if the item actually says Dog Leads anywhere in it's title or description. 

Why not try a search for Dog Carriers, Cat Toys, or even Nylon Dog Collars and see what you come up with today?

Also please note that we are always interested in improving our site, so please, if you ever do a search for something and can't find it but later discover that we actually have it - please send us an email and let us know! 

Happy searching!

 

We would like to thank everyone that stopped by our booth at the Arts & Crafts Fair this weekend.  We had a great time and we hope you enjoyed all the new products we had to offer!  The new dog apparel, cat apparel, pet jewelry, and pet accessories will all be available on the PetKaboodle.com website within the next couple of days.  If you've seen any items at the fair that you would like to purchase but don't see them available on the website yet, just send us an email and we'll put it up for you that day.  Thanks again for everyone's support and we look forward to seeing you all again at our next show!

 

 

So tomorrow we here at PetKaboodle are doing our first show, actually it's a craft fair.  Although I've personally worked many trade shows in the past I don't think I've ever even been to a craft fair before.  But it's really all about getting our name out there, and we're pretty sure we're going to be the only pet boutique retailer at the show so we should (hopefully) stand out a bit.  The tough thing is deciding what to bring.  Our cat apparel is a definite along with pet jewelry and dog apparel, but when we get to the trickier stuff like dog beds and dog harnesses I'm just not sure what counts as being "crafty" enough for a craft fair.  We're still planing on bringing some things that barely pass as crafty such as our Cranberry Mint Perfume grooming spray because we still need something to offer people when they tell us that their dog smells LOL!  Now that we've got our signs made and out banner stand made (tactfully out of PVC) we can spend tomorrow - well I guess that would be today now - getting last minute details in order.  Then Sunday we can discover if all our hard work will pay off and if we can get our pet supplies to fit in well enough at a craft fair!   I'm thinking our pet jewelry will probably be one of our biggest sellers on Sunday... but time will tell.  If anyone reading this is interested in attending and meeting us in person, the details on the fair are below:

Date:	Sunday, March 8, 2009
Time:	11:00am - 5:00pm
Location:	THE HOLIDAY INN OF "PLAINVIEW"
Street:	215 SUNNYSIDE BLVD
City/Town:	Plainview, NY

Hope to see you there!

~Your Friends at PetKaboodle.com
 

     Outdoors can be a cruel and dangerous place for an unattended cat.  "Possum", a 2yr old domestic cat was trapped on Friday night around 9pm and shot 27 times with an air rifle at point-blank range in the head and mouth.  Luckily, he survived but not without huge vet bills and emotional stress.  
     Yes, the finger can be pointed at the cruel humans that maliciously harm animals but why not question the cat owners themselves?  No one should purposely injure an animal but outdoor cats can also be considered "pests" to some, similar to rats, mice, roaches, etc.  They trespass on other homeowners properties, sometimes destroying their lawns, ponds etc.  These homeowners spend the time and money to upkeep their home and possessions and train their own pets to respect this property only to have someone else's cat continue to destroy it.  Now, in no way should they harm the cat, the proper thing a citizen should do who finds themselves with a "pesky" cat would be to take it to the nearest animal shelter, or bring it back to the destination on the cat's tag to confront the owners about the cat's behavior.  But keep in mind, some humans are not so polite as proved in the case of "Possum".
     Cats are domesticated pets and should not be left out to roam on their own.  They can get into dangerous and even fatal substances and situations forcing owners to pay substantial vet bills.  Antifreeze is a popular killer of outdoor cats along with being hit by a car, wild animal attacks, accidental trapping, and human cruelty.  It is unsafe not only for your cat but can be for the humans they come in contact with.  If you have children, an outdoor cat can also bring in disease, fleas an any other dangerous substances they have come in contact with, therefore transmitting it to your child when he/she pets the cat.  The only way to keep your loving pet safe is in your own home and on your own property where you can monitor what they eat and play with. 
     There are many pet supplies to help you provide a comfortable environment for your cat.  If you feel your cat needs to roam the outdoors, there are cat harnesses and cat leashes that allow owners to take their cats for a safe walk as well as pet strollers.  Take advantage of these items to keep your pet and faimly healthy and safe.

~Your Friends at PetKaboodle

Michelle Obama told People Magazine that the family is considering a Portuguese Water Dog for the new family pet.  There are many concerns about this choice.  Portuguese water dogs are a less popular breed and there is fear that the popularity and demand for the dog will increase for the general public. This could cause many puppy mills to sprout up and an incresase abandoned animals in this already poor economy.  Portugese water dogs are not for everyone and certainly may not be the best choice for first time dog owners. They were bred centuries ago to help fishermen along the Portugal coast, working as couriers, retrieving nets and diving for fish. They are working dogs who love the outdoors.  Although they are good for people with allergies, one of which is Malia Obama, age 10, they require much attention and excersize as well as frequent grooming with the proper dog grooming supplies.  They are the type of dog that will entertain itself with bad behaviour you don't want if they do not receive the proper puppy training and the exercise this specific breed needs. Of corse, there are many responsible pet owners who properly care for this specific breed.  The Obamas have the resources and space to properly train an exercise any pet of their choosing.  Even though the decision still is not final, with dedication, disipline, the right pet supplies and dog grooming supplies, anyone can have a happy healthy pet reguardless of the breed.

~Your Friends at PetKaboodle.com

Winston, a Great Dane from Schofield, WI, was the $100,000 winner of the Milk-Bone contest.  Months of anticipation finished off with a nationwide vote to determine Winston as the new Milk Bone Spokesdog! Winston's not too interested in the $100,000, but he's definitely happy about his lifetime supply of Milk-Bones! What dog wouldn't be happy with that?! You'll be seeing Winston's Face on Milk-Bone Boxes everywhere. 


Dont forget to stock up on your pup's favorite dog treats at PetKaboodle.com!
~Your Friends at PetKaboodle

There's a bunch of dog training options out there. Some work, some don't. It all depends on the specific needs of each dog.  The most common form of dog training is the collar.  While most owners use regular quick release nylon dog collars or buckled nylon collars, a lot of the time your pet can easily escape if they figure out how to move just right.  For these types of "stubborn" dogs it is best to use training collars.  There are many types of training collars.  Two of the most popular are the martingale collars and prong collars. 

The martingale collars are mostly made for sight hounds because their heads are smaller than their necks.  These martingale collars are similar to choker chains but are made mostly of nylon.  They are more comfortable but most importantly, safer than choker collars.  The martingale collars expand and contract but only to a certain point.  They feature a safety that only allows the collar to get so small. Choker chains do not have a limit and therefore can constrict the windpipe of your pet causing injury. 

Prong collars, also known as Pinch collars are similar to the martingale collars in that they have the same safety feature.  However, these are much more heavy duty and are meant for use on more assertive and aggressive dogs.  The prongs simulate a bite and "pinch" the neck when the collar is pulled taught.  These collars are excellent for correcting bad behavior in larger and more assertive dogs.  No worries though, these prongs will not puncture the skin and many are available with rubber tips for extra comfort.

When armed with the right pet supplies, it makes dog training that much easier!
~Your Friends at PetKaboodle

Mr. Li, a Chinese man, found a shivering puppy one year while on an excursion in the mountains and brought it home to care for it. For over a year Mr. Li was puppy training his new companion and had built it a den in a clearing in his village.  The two would go for walks every day after work and grew very much attached. Villagers became suspicious of the dog when they began to hear a wolf howl close to their homes during the night. Many took precautions and made sure not to let children out on their own after hearing these howls.  When police were informed, they called an export wildlife investigator to determine the species.  Much to Mr. Li's surprise, his pet "dog" was actually a Wolf! The wolf has now been taken to the Qinling Zoo.  

While owning a purebred wolf is illegal in the Us, it is possible to own wolf hybrids, more commonly known as "Wolfdogs". Wolfdog "ownership" is not to be taken lightly, as wolf dog crosses have some characteristics that can make them a challenging addition to the family. Even though these animals are not pure wolf, they can still be dangerous if not properly trained.  Generally speaking, the more wolf in the mix, the more "wolfy" the dog will be.  Proper research should be done before adopting as well as crucial puppy training is of the utmost importance.

Many resources can be used for puppy training a new or difficult pet. Some examples are prong collars for larger more assertive dogs or for less aggressive and more sensitive dogs, martingale collars will also do the trick.  Small training treats are always a good idea to carry around during puppy training.  Reward good actions and correct the bad.  The most important puppy training tool is time and patience!

~Your Friends at PetKaboodle

Safety during travel with pets is very important along with all the pet supplies needed during your excursion. When you travel with pets in the car, it is always very important for the safety of you as well as your pet to be buckled up.  Travel with pets becomes very dangerous when they are allowed to roam the car.  Pets do not understand the concentration needed while driving and may sometimes be a distraction that could cause an accident.  For comfort and safety during travel with pets, using a safety dog harness or pet car seat is always best. Some pet carriers also have easy seat belt attachment for added safety.  Some concern travel with pets in the car many have is pet hair on the upholstery.  In these cases, you can protect your car seats with travel blanket seat covers or individual bucket seat covers. 

When the travel with pets is lengthy, it is always good to have a travel kit for your pet.  Some of the items your kit should include are travel bowls for food and water, toys for entertainment or even pet beds for a good night's rest.  Oh, and dont forget to take your pooper scooper ;)

Travel with pets can be fun! It doesn't  have to be a hassle when you have the right pet supplies to help!

~Your Friends at PetKaboodle.com

A recent innocent at a dog park in Orlando Florida yesterday gave everyone a scare. A dog found just outside the Downey Park dog park on 10107 Flowers Ave. was tested positive for the highly contagious Parvovirus. This virus is extremely contagious from dog to dog and every pet owner should be aware of it's signs, symptoms and how to take precautions against it.

          Parvovirus or "Parvo" is a highly contagious disease characterized by diarrhea that is often bloody. In recent years a new strain, CPV-2c has been detected. Today, this strain has largely replaced the earlier strains and is the most common form of the Parvovirus. There are also talks about new strains that have not yet been identified. Current vaccinations help prevent the spread of the Parvo Disease but despite being vaccinated, some dogs still contract, and die from this deadly virus.

How it Spreads:
          Parvovirus is spread through contact with feces containing the virus. It can survive for 5 months or longer. It's known to live on inanimate objects such as kennels, litter pans, rugs, carpet, food dishes, clothing, etc. Insects and rodents also play a roll in transmitting the disease.

Symptoms:
          The normal time period a dog will start showing signs of the virus is 7-14 days after exposure. Excretion of the active virus can be passed in as little as 3 days after the disease is contracted, before clinical signs even start to occur.
          There is a very broad range of symptoms a dog that has contracted the Parvo Virus may show. Adult dogs may show very little to no symptoms at all. The most common age range where severe symptoms will occur are in puppies less than 6 months of age, with the most severe symptoms occurring in puppies less than 12 weeks. Severity also may depend on breed. Some breeds such as Rottweilers, Doberman Pinchers, and Labrador Retrievers are more susceptible than others.
          The most common form of the Parvo virus is enteritis, or inflammation of the intestine. It is categorized by vomiting (often severe), diarrhea, dehydration, dark or bloody feces, and in severe cases, fever and lowered white blood cell counts. These white blood cells help defend the body against bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Acute or Chronic parvovirus enteritis can occur in any breed, sex, as well as any age of dog and progresses very rapidly. Death can occur in as little as 2 days after the onset of the disease. A less common form of the disease causes myocarditis (inflammation of the heart).
          Of course, not all cases of bloody diarrhea and/or vomiting will be Parvo. Many dogs have been diagnosed with Parvo incorrectly. The only way to know if a dog has parvovirus is through a positive diagnostic test. Testing of all suspect cases of Parvo is the only way to correctly diagnose and treat this disease. A complete physical exam and additional laboratory tests such as a CBC and chemistry panel help to determine the severity of the disease.

Treatment & Prevention:
          The most important treatment is replacing fluids lost through vomiting and diarrhea. Intravenous administration of a balanced electrolyte solution is preferred, but in less severe cases, subcutaneous or oral fluids may be used. In severe cases, blood transfusions may be necessary. Antibiotics can sometimes be used to treat secondary bacterial infections. In those dogs who have severe symptoms, antiserum against endotoxins may be given and corticosteroids may be given if the animal is in shock. In cases of severe vomiting, drugs to slow the vomiting may also be used. After the intestinal symptoms begin to subside, a broad spectrum de-worming agent is often used. Restricting the food during periods of vomiting is also necessary and providing nutrients intravenously may be necessary.
          When getting a new puppy, always be sure that the environment and care that is being given to them is clean and friendly. Even if the puppy looks healthy and you are given shot records, do not assume all is well. ALWAYS take your new puppy to the vet before bringing them into their new home. Make an appointment for a physical examination, stool sample, and vaccinations. Even if you have papers that say your new pet was vaccinated, bring these with you and ask your vet to look them over. These documents are easily forgeable and many new pet owners are taking home sick animals that could potentially die within days after costly medical bills.


          In conclusion, the Parvovirus is very common and is a huge killer of puppies. Due to its ability to be transmitted through hands, clothes, and most likely rodents and insects, it is virtually impossible to have a kennel that will not eventually be exposed to the disease. Modified live vaccines are safe and effective, but despite the best vaccination protocol, all puppies will have a window of susceptibility of at least several days where they will be at risk. In addition, the newer CPV-2c strain presents new challenges since it is less detectable in laboratory tests and current vaccines may not be as effective in providing protection against it. Prompt treatment by a veterinarian will increase survivability in infected puppies and working with your veterinarian on a vaccination program that is best for your puppy is very important.
          ALWAYS get all of your pets vaccinated and physically examined in the time lines given to you by your vet. Calling your vet and asking about symptoms will not always help. If you think your pet is exhibiting symptoms of any kind, make an appointment to get them checked out. Diseases can not be diagnosed over the phone. The vet can only assume what is going on without seeing and physically examining your pet. You have the right to have your dog examined. If you don't feel comfortable with your vet's answer over the phone, make an appointment or contact another vet to get a second opinion. Vets are Doctors and their patients are animals. Would you want an appointment with your doctor if you were exhibiting signs of a severe disease? Animals can not speak for themselves. It is up to their loving owners to do the talking for them so they can live a happy and healthy life.
~PetKaboodle.com

PetKaboodle.com's grand opening sale will be beginning in just a few short hours! The excitement here is palpable as everyone is running around getting last minute items arranged and finalized. Some of us here think we may have gone a little nuts by over discounting our items, but we want this sale to be big and BIG it will be! Here are the sales we're running and how to get involved:

First the entire store is being marked down by 10% and all items qualify for free shipping.

Next anyone who is a fan of our PetKaboodle Facebook Page will be able to take an additional 10% off.

Also, if you sign up for our newsletter you can get an additional 10% off one purchase on top of all of that!

And that's not all! - just for reading our blog and knowing about our company you can get yet another 10% off!

That's 40% savings plus free shipping on the ENTIRE STORE!!

Alright, so if you want the promo code from here, you have to work for it a little (don't worry this won't hurt much).
The promo code is:
(The first four letters of our company name) + (The sum of all the digits in our phone number) + (The number of founding members of the company) + (The number of years we have been selling pet supplies).

Here's an example -
If our name was "A Company", with a phone number of (555)555-5555, started by 1 person and had been selling for 9 years the code would be: acom5019

If you get stuck shoot us an email at blog@petkaboodle.com

Alright, that's it for now! Get in there and get your 40% off plus free shipping! This sale isn't going to last long! (It all ends March 8th).

Thanks to all of you who have given us your thoughts and feedback on improving the site. We want PetKaboodle.com to be your #1 pet supply store! So, based on this, we have added a more visible and immediate way you can get in contact with us. We have added our phone number ((631) 292-9153) and, more importantly, a live chat to our website. Now, if you have a question, concern or problem, anywhere on our site, --or just wanna let us know what a great job we're doing ;-)-- simply click the "live chat" button at the bottom of the screen. Then enter your name, email, and question and we will do our best to answer your question on the spot! If we're not around, it will tell you that we're offline and it will submit your question/comment to us automatically via email and we will get back to you as soon as we possibly can. In general we should be around to answer both phone calls and live chat requests from 9am - 5pm EST Mon - Fri. Chances are pretty good that someone will be around on weekends and off hours also. So if you've got a question, don't hesitate to call, email or send us a live chat message! Rest assured that we will have an actual person (We know... a novel idea) answer your phone calls, live chat questions, emails, or voice messages as quickly and accurately as possible.

You ask for it - we listen and do our best to provide it!

Speaking of us doing our best to meet your requests and continuously adapting our business to better fit you, we have created a Facebook page at your request. If you're on Facebook, please feel free to join us as you will be able to connect with other PetKaboodle users. (PetKateers? PetKaboodelers? hmm... we'll need to come up with a good term for you guys... We got it! Why not let you - our users - come up with a name for yourselves? We can hold a vote for it! Visit our Facebook discussion board and send us your ideas! We will post the winner after the grand opening event! (There may even be a surprise in it for you ;-D). Another great advantage to joining our Facebook page is, not only will we organize events though Facebook, but we will also periodically have Facebook promotions and discounts exclusively for our Facebook fans. --There - did we make enough links to our Facebook page?<-- there's one more =)-- Well that's about all for now - back to building PetKaboodle.com, the future of pet supplies.

We work hard keeping your pets happy!

Wow almost 3 years into the creation of PetKaboodle.com now and we've finally decided to start a blog!

We have chosen this to be our most informal voice. A spot where we can let you know the inside scoop on whats going on @ PetKaboodle, and you can let us know what your thinking, ask us questions about your pets, our site, pet products, or anything else related! As PetKaboodle.com is now finally launched (HURRAY!) perhaps it's a good time to back fill in some information for anyone that wants to know what we're all about.

The two founding members of PetKaboodle are:
President/CEO - Brian Riley
and
Vice President - Christina Riley

They came up with the initial idea of PetKaboodle.com in the summer of 2006. They loved pets and with Brian's skills in both software development and business, and Christina's skills in Art, animaton, and experience as a dog groomer (at a well known national pet chain we won't mention here), establishing a business doing what they both love seemed to be the logical thing to do.

One of the early founding decisions was that all of the currently available shopping carts lacked much of the functionality we wanted to include in what would some day become PetKaboodle.com. Adding our desired features on to these shopping carts would still leave our site with a "cookie cutter" feel, and Brian felt he wanted to know intimately what was going on behind the scenes. So the decision was made to write the store entirely from scratch!

In January of 2007, six months into the development of the site, we decided to bring in a little additional income to support our development efforts and especially to begin establishing a customer base. stores.ebay.com/PetKaboodle was born and we began officially selling pet supplies.

We kept in stock a modicum of inventory during the following 2 years of website developement and kept the company profitable with a growing customer base all the while keeping our eye on the ball of getting PetKaboodle.com to become a major player in the pet supplies market.

Finally after years of hyping the eventual comming of PetKaboodle.com, our website went live at 1:30am EST on January 18th, 2009.

This however is only the beginning of what we have planned for PetKaboodle.com. Right now we are working on listing our first major order, so within the next 1 - 2 weeks we will be listing over 500 new items!

We have tons of new features that will be added to our site in the comming months. The one we are the most proud of will revolutionize the way you find products on websites! But, more on that later...

In the meantime - welcome to the beginning of the future of pet supplies.
Welcome to PetKaboodle.com
We work hard keeping your pets happy!