Gemini Universal LLC

For those who want to honor their beloved pets who have crossed Rainbow Bridge, the folks at My Eternal Family Tree in Southern California are offering something very special. Lisa Brambilla, founder of My Eternal Family Tree and creator of BioUrn4Pets™ invites pet lovers to visit her website and enter their email and pet's name. In return, she will plant a tree in their pet's memory in recognition of World Pet Memorial Day, June 12, 2016.

Here’s a great new Calendar Contest for those of you with handicapped pets to participate in! HandicappedPets.com has announced its 2017 Walkin’ Wheels Calendar Contest! The online pet product company has opened the contest to all pets who get around with the help of a Walkin’ Wheels dog wheelchair. The contest is open for submissions now through July 31, 2016, and there is no entry fee.

The weather was absolutely perfect for the Memorial Day Parade this year. People and pets lined the streets while folks marched by waving and even throwing candy to the smiling crowd. The event took place on Saturday, May 28, 2016, and attending the parade and the ceremonies that followed was a great way to start the Memorial Day weekend remembering our fallen heroes, both two-legged and four-legged.

Our friends at Pet Remedy, makers of natural calming sprays and diffusers for pets, asked us to share their tips for keeping people and their pets calm on Friday the 13^th. Why? It turns out that an estimated 17-21 million people suffer from “paraskevidekatriaphobia” – an irrational fear of Friday the 13^th according to phobia specialist, Dr. Donald Dossey. Unfortunately, people can pass along this irrational fear to their pets due to their amazing ability to sense our emotions. Read more about what you can do recommended by the Pet Remedy team if you are also a pet owner who fears Friday the 13^th!

The third annual South Jersey Pet Wellness Symposium took place Saturday, April 16, 2016, at the Palmyra Community Center. The event was staged not only as an educational event for the public, but as a fundraising event to benefit the Boo Tiki Fund. Following are some highlights of the event.

Pet Partners is the nation’s largest and most prestigious nonprofit registering handlers of multiple species as volunteer teams providing animal-assisted interventions. In honor of National Therapy Animal Day on April 30, they have released some educational facts about animal therapy and the services they provide, and they are offering a limited run of special T-shirts to commemorate the occasion. Read and learn more!

As springtime begins so does kitten season, a time when babies are born to cats who have not yet been spayed or neutered. People don’t always know the best way to help these kittens. Sometimes taking home a kitten found outdoors is the best way to help and sometimes it’s best to leave them outdoors with mom – it all depends on the situation. Read more from Alley Cat Allies’ press release about what to do when springtime ushers in kittens.

A nice feature of the Central Jersey Cat Fanciers Cat Show is the Parade of Breeds. Cat owners participating at the event take the opportunity to show off their feline to event attendees in an attempt to educate folks about their particular breed of cat. In 2016, Judge Toni Jones handled each cat while Anthony Hutcherson offered additional commentary and helped to generate questions about each breed that the owner could answer. Following is a summary of what took place.

I love attending pet shows and events, and I often run out of time to write about everything that I’ve seen and experienced in the most timely manner. So it was with shock and sadness that when I finally sat down to write about John Lege, aka That Guy With The Birds whom I met at the New Jersey Family Pet Show, I discovered he had passed. This writing is about my memory of him.