Sunday, January 31, 2010

Rescue Ink in Chadds Ford!

On Friday January 29, 2010, the crew from the National Geographic Channel's show Rescue Ink, came to the town hall meeting in Chadds Ford to discuss how they plan to help find out who shot and killed 2 dogs, Emma and Luna, who were beloved family pets, this past October.
They also held a discussion about increasing the awareness of animal abuse and what we can all do to help in our community.
Check out their site to learn more about all of the wonderful things Rescue Ink has been doing: http://www.rescueink.org/about.html

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Super Pet Expo

We are very pleased to announce that we are one of the sponsors of the Super Pet Expo in King of Prussia, Pa! The Expo is February 26-28 at the Valley Forge Convention Center.
Check out this link for more details:
http://www.superpetexpo.com/kingofprussia.html
Hope to see you there! 

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Feline Language

 “I found this cool blog post on cats written by Lynne Peeples… enjoy!”




Although perhaps not as jolting as an alarm clock, a cat’s “soliciting purr” can still pry its owner from sleep. And, when sufficiently annoying, the sound may actually coerce them from bed to fill a food bowl.

This particular meow mix—an embedding of her cat’s high-frequency natural cry within a more pleasant, low-frequency purr—often awakens Karen McComb, a behavioral ecologist at the University of Sussex in the U.K. and lead author of a paper about that sound published today in Current Biology.

“Solicitation purring is probably more acceptable to humans than overt meowing, which is likely to get cats ejected from the bedroom,” McComb said in a statement.

To understand just how cats vocally manipulate owners, including herself, McComb and her team set up a series of experiments. First they recorded the purrs of 10 cats; some were recorded when a cat was actively soliciting food and others in a non-solicitation setting. Fifty people then listened to the sounds at the same volume. Individuals judged pleading purrs as more urgent and less pleasant than normal purrs. When the researchers played the purrs re-synthesized to exclude the hungry cries, leaving all else the same, the volunteers perceived the purrs as far less urgent.

McComb suggests that cats may be cashing in on human's naturally nurturing response to a baby’s cry. Previous studies have shown the cat’s embedded cry shares a similar frequency.

Like babies, domestic cats are “completely dependent on us for their survival,” says C. A. Tony Buffington, a professor of veterinary medicine at The Ohio State University, who was not involved in the study. “Any time an animal is in that situation, they are going to be scrutinizing their caregivers for any response to any signal they are sending out. Whatever works, they’re going to do it—whether that’s changing a purr, or doing figure eights between their owner's feet.”

Buffington sees potential in applying the findings at his veterinary hospital to decipher what a cat is experiencing and what it needs. “Here’s something that everyone’s probably observed, but no one has paid attention to,” Buffington says. “Now, we can look at it in much deeper way.”

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=the-manipulative-meow-cats-learn-to-2009-07-13

Monday, January 11, 2010

Meet Our Pet Stylists!



Regina, on the left, has been grooming dogs for 20 years, and she enjoys cooking and karaoke in her spare time. She has two white cats, Sugar Daddy and Sister Angel.
Val, on the right, has been grooming for 9 years, and has a miniature poodle, Izzi, and a cockapoo, Skippy. Val loves reading and making jewelry and art.
We are so glad to have Val and Regina on out staff--they are awesome!
Call 610-459-2724 to schedule your pooch for a day at the spa today!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Small Dog Meet-Up!

We are pleased to announce that we will be hosting a meet-up group for small dogs in our camp room at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday January 16th!
Come with your little pooch and hang out and play with us! It is free! Call 610-459-2724 if you have any questions.