Meet Swanky Pet, KC!

Meet Swanky Pet, KC! She lives in Palm Bay, Florida with her family. She's a 7 month old Rhodesian Ridgeback and her mom, Gail tells us she loves to sun herself in the sandbox.

In this photo, she is looking perfectly lovely in her new Wild Thing collar. What a beauty!!

20 Tons of Food Donated to Help Hurting Pet Families in the Gulf

Thousands of people came to the Health Pet Clinic in Jefferson Parrish, Louisiana. This was the 1st of 4 events organized by the Humane Society of the US to help struggling pet owners in Gulf Coast Communities. Just outside of New Orleans, this one was very popular with lines so long that some people waited up to 5 hours!

But when the waiting was done and the people got what they came for, they said it was well worth the wait! Why? Everyone with a dog or cat that could get to the clinic got free microchips and free vaccinations for their pets. And because Freekibble donated 5 tons of Halo, Spot's Stew, each family took home two bags of healthy, nutritious food. This was a huge deal for people in the area… for many of them it meant that they could keep their animals in the family and not have to give them up.

We are very excited and honored to be able to help and see the many happy, smiling faces of people taking care of their pets. For all of the people at home or at work, playing Bow-wow and Meow trivia everyday, I want you to know that you are really helping make a difference! When you watch the video please realize that it is because of you that thousands of animals in the Gulf Coast area are eating big bowls of healthy kibble, while their human parents get to be relieved of the issues of trying to keep their animals.

Meet Swanky Pets, Cassey!

This sweetie pie is Casey and she will be ten next month. She lives with her parents in Limerick, PA. Mom, Laura tells me:

"This past January the Dr. found a cancerous tumor in her right ear. They were able to remove the tumor, but they had to remove her ear canal, leaving her deaf in that ear. She has rebounded and is just as spoiled and energetic as ever (well, as energetic as a basset can be:) Finally, the impetus for getting her the cute collars and leash was a recent trip to Tennessee. My husband had bought her a standard black collar - everyone who commented on her kept calling her a 'he'. My daughter and I were talking about it and decided when we got home we would go on-line and see what we could find...leading us to your site and it was exactly what we were looking for! We can even tell that she feels 'prettier' with her new clothes. Thanks again!"

We think Casey is just adorable and glad to hear she has bounced back!

Waste Not: Can One Dog Poop-Powered Lamp Spark a Revolution?

When Matthew Mazzotta visited a Cambridge, MA, dog park with a friend, he noticed the trash can stuffed with bags of poop.

The sight sparked inspiration; Mazzotta, an M.I.T. graduate, had been studying methane digesters for several years.

On a trip to India he even watched people fuel methane stoves with dog doo to make chai tea.

"With every bag of poop you tie off, you're cutting off its supply of oxygen and thus making a mini methane digester," explains Mazzotta.

This revelation led to his Park Spark Project, a gas-burning lamppost powered by the first Dog Park Methane Digester in the United States.

Basically, people at the park are prompted to use biodegradable bags supplied on site to pick up their dog's poop and deposit it into a big tank. As people put dog waste into this digester tank, it fills up to the level of an outlet pipe and then overflows into an overflow tank, thus keeping the digester tank at a constant level.

The small pipe coming off the digester brings the methane to the gas-burning lamppost. And then there was light! Although the installation in Pacific St. Park is temporary, Mazzotta plans to bring it to six different cities in 2011.

Why Dog Doo is a Big Deal

For those not lucky enough to have a methane digester to light your way, at least not yet, that's no reason not to be conscientious about cleaning up after your pet in an eco-friendly way.

It's estimated that dog owners fail to pick up over 4 million tons of dog waste annually.

Twenty to thirty percent of all pollutants in waterways can be attributed to dog waste; pollutants originating from rainwater run-off via sewer systems, and dogs pooping near watersheds or beaches. Dog waste is believed to be third or fourth on the list of contributors to bacteria in contaminated waters.

Finding Better Bags

Many commercial bags, even those advertised as "biodegradable" fail to adhere to biodegradable standards, especially California law SB 1749, which defines biodegradable as being able to degrade at the rate of an apple with no plastic bits left behind. The law also prohibits the sale of plastic bags within the state which are labeled "compostable," "degradable" or "biodegradable" unless the bags conform to standards set by the American Society for Testing and Materials.

Several companies do sell biodegradable, compostable bags for picking up after your pooch.

Companies like BioBag and PoopBags.com provide bags and dispensers for use in shelters and parks (including the Park Spark Project), pet-friendly campgrounds and hotels, apartment/condo complexes and doggie daycares as well as selling directly to consumers.

Poopbags.com president, Paul Cannella, used to pick up his dog May's poop with plastic grocery bags, bags from the newspaper, sandwich bags, whatever was handy, "then I started looking around and I saw how bad plastic bags were for the environment."

After testing different materials - including a film that unfortunately melted when it rained - Cannella chose the final product that launched Poopbags.com. While biodegradable bags might be a little more expensive than plastic ones, "it amounts to the cost of about one latte a month," says Cannella.

Community Matter(s)

In Ithaca, N.Y., several dog walkers who frequented Allan H.Treman Marine State Park noticed that the dumpsters were overflowing with bags of dog poop.

Members of the Tompkins County Dog Owners Group initiated efforts to turn the dog park into a dog waste-composting park.

Composting began in late spring 2009. "We bought biodegradable bags and dispensers and educated people to pick up after their dog, making sure they used our bags," says Leon Kochian, a professor of plant biology at Cornell University.

People use roughly 5,000 bags a month. And once a week, Cayuga Compost picks up the bags, weighing roughly 250 lbs.

What was once six tons of dog waste was reduced to what looks like a small pick up truck load.

After the material is tested later this year to make sure there are no pathogens that could cause illness if released back into the community, "Our hope is that it will be nutrient-rich and pathogen-free and can be sold as a fundraiser to benefit the Tompkins County Dog Owners Group," says Bruce Stoff, communications manager for the Ithaca Visitors Bureau. "It's nice that a little town can do six tons of it, but what about a big city?"