Happy Birthday Miss Bella!

From Park Avenue to Petaluma, animal lovers across the country are celebrating the special bond they share with their companion animals. For instance, every Thursday this summer, tails are sure to be wagging at The Downtown Doghouse in New York City, where the upscale pet salon and boutique is hosting weekly pet parties. Themes include “Pomeranian Pow-Wow,” “Shih Tzu Shindig,” “Curly Coat Convention,” and “Shorties Soiree” (presumably for Dachshunds and Chihua huas). Pups and their people will be treated to gourmet snacks and will even take home doggy bags filled with assorted goodies.

The only thing missing is the giant sheet cake from Costco (Am I the only one wondering about dessert?)

Make no bones about it; parties for Pooky and Princess are big business. Consider this:  According to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA), one out of ten dog and cat guardians hold birthday parties for their pets, while 27% of dog guardians and 13% of cat guardians ‘fess up to going on spending sprees for their four-legged friends. The cost of the average gift? $22 bucks.

Birthdays aren’t the only time pet guardians are in a gift-giving mood. They also buy presents on other occasions such as graduation (from dog obedience school) and holidays (Christmas is the most popular).

Perhaps no one knows more about spoiling their pet than Graham Gemoets, a caterer in Houston, who is the proud papa of Bradford, a Chihuahua/Dachshund mix. “He’s my best friend and my best-accessorized friend,” Gemoets gushes in a recent BusinessWeek article. He has indulged the pup with a $1,200 Hermès collar and leash, as well as a $500 string of Chanel pearls for posh parties. I should be so lucky.

Gemoets isn’t the only person to lavish luxuries on his pet. Americans now spend an astounding $41 billion (yes, billion!) a year on their furry children. Pet products and services, in fact, is the fastest growing retail category, second only to consumer electronics. That’s more than the gross domestic product of all but 64 countries in the world. We now shell out more moolah on our pets than we spend watching movies ($10.8 billion), playing video games ($11.6 billion), and listening to recorded music ($10.6 billion) COMBINED. Now that’s a lot of kibble!

Statistics and shopping aside, I tell you all this because today is Miss Bella’s third birthday. If you’ve been following my column, you know that I adopted this British beauty from a cat rescue organization nearly five months ago. Miss Bella’s life has not been an easy one. Born and raised in an overcrowded breeding facility and dumped after her kitten-bearing days were over, this gorgeous girl spent most of her young life confined to a cage with little human interaction. Even with all the trauma she experienced, Miss Bella is adjusting admirably to life as a pampered pet.

I want to commemorate Miss Bella’s day of birth by purchasing something special for her. I’m not as flush with funds as Graham Gemoets apparently is, so I won’t be snapping up a pricey pearl necklace or designer duds. I’m thinking of a more understated gift:  a can of tuna or perhaps a new catnip toy. Given the choice, I’ll bet Miss Bella would choose tuna over Tiffany every time. Being the veritable party animal that she is, Miss Bella will no doubt spend her special day doing what cats do best: snoozing in the sun (I may join her).

So, the next time you’re pondering the perfect present for your pet, you might consider either catnip or a catnap. See, that wasn’t so hard. In fact, it was a piece of cake.

 

Miss Bella would like to send out a big “Happy Birthday!”  to her godmother, Jody Rundle (whose birthday is also August 28!) as well as to the Daily Sound’s top dog, Jeramy Gordon, who hits the quarter-century mark later this week. You can send birthday wishes to Miss Bella at karenleestevens@cox.net.

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By Karen Lee Stevens,
Founder & President, ALL FOR ANIMALS, Inc.
Copyright © 2008. All Rights Reserved.

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