By: Beth DeCarbo, Wall Street Journal

Who can resist those big puppy-dog eyes, floppy ears and fluffy tail? In a new study to be released by the ASPCA, “physical appearance” is the top reason given for picking a particular puppy at an animal shelter.

With cats, it’s a different story: “Behavior with people” was what convinced [...]

By: Sue Manning, Huffington Post

LOS ANGELES — Filmmakers are calling DogTV a new breed of television – an eight-hour block of on-demand cable TV programming designed to keep your dog relaxed, stimulated and entertained while you are at work.
To get the right footage, cameramen got on their knees and shot low and long. “I shot [...]

By:  MINI VASUDEVAN
Summer vacation is the time when there is a perceptible interest in pet ownership largely triggered by children’s desire for companionship. While getting a pet is a random act for many, only very few realise the responsibility that comes with it. Sadly, reports of abuse and abandonment of pets either due to [...]

By Ann Hohenhaus, DVM

1. Pets are becoming medically underserved
Data shows the pet population in the U.S. is climbing, but visits to veterinarians are declining. On an annual basis in 2007, dogs saw a veterinarian 2.6 times per year and cats only 1.7 times, indicating cats are affected more than dogs. This number has continued to [...]

By Sarah Meehan, USA TODAY
Charlie swallowed a $3,600 corn cob. Well, that’s about how much it cost to remove the corn cob from the Komondor puppy’s belly.
Luckily, his owner, Les Kaciban of Ashburn, Va., only paid about $1,000 out-of-pocket for the procedure. Kaciban’s policy with Pets Best Insurance covered the difference.
As veterinary expenses continue to [...]

By: JULIE ROVNER, NPR
Those of us who own pets know they make us happy. But a growing body of scientific research is showing that our pets can also make us healthy, or healthier.
That helps explain the increasing use of animals — dogs and cats mostly, but also birds, fish, and even horses — [...]

By SUE MANNING Associated Press
LOS ANGELES March 3, 2012 (AP)

Americans spent $50.96 billion on their pets in 2011.
That’s an all-time high and the first time in history more than $50 billion has gone to the dogs, cats, canaries, guppies and the like, the American Pet Products Association said in a report issued Thursday.
Food and vet [...]

By Sue Manning, Associated Press
They still fight like cats and dogs in divorce court. But more and more they are fighting about cats and dogs.n
Custody cases involving pets are on the rise across the country.
In a 2006 survey by the 1,600-member American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, a quarter of respondents said pet custody cases had [...]

(ARA) – Americans love pets – to the tune of 62 percent of all households with at least one pet in residence, according to the Humane Society of the United States. Statistics show that 72.9 million homes accommodate approximately 78.2 million dogs and 86.4 million cats.

With so many four-legged friends among us, pet health is a [...]

By BETHANY KANDEL, New York Times
Pets Accompany Couples Down the Aisle
WHEN Melissa Kahn walks down the aisle at her April 15 wedding in her parents’ garden in Beverly Hills, Calif., in place of a flower bouquet she plans to be clutching a chicken, her little black frizzle cochin bantam hen that she says looks like [...]