Winner Redux? Goodnewsforpets Wins Video Contest, Joins BlogPaws Influencer Group

Redux seems like a nice fit for goodnewsforpets, and I hope you will agree as you see what we have in store for 2014.  In the meantime, the news is we have won!  Over the years Goodnewsforpets has celebrated companies and organizations that have won awards, introduced winning products and/or services, professionals who have deserved special praise, and pet owners that have either shown their amazing talents in caring for pets or won one of our prizes.  Now we’ve taken a special turn ourselves — winning a contest for running a contest!

This holiday season we decided to repeat our popular matching donation format, but this time it’s a video contest about celebrating the holidays with your pet. And, in the holiday spirit, we’re also offering a chance to win an Apple product — one of ten iPad minis and a matching donation to a shelter of your choice. The catch? Produce a 1-2 minute video to share with our community.  So far, the contest won Best Online Contest of the Week by Online Video Contests and has been liked and viewed by thousands of people. Now we are looking forward to seeing the videos. There is still plenty of time to enter by December 29, 2013!  

In another recognition of our site, this blog has been invited to join the BlogPaws Pet Blogger Influencer Group, a trend-setting panel of pet bloggers/microbloggers/pet parents who enjoy sharing their opinions and being a valued voice in the ever-growing pet blogosphere, one of the most influential groups of pet bloggers on the web. Since BlogPaws is the original and first social media community and conference for pet bloggers and microbloggers, BlogPaws is adding to the power of the pet blogger by engaging feedback in constructive and useful surveys. These surveys will cover pet parenting to pet products, blog posts to blogger influence, and more and be posted within this blog. To receive this shareable data from these surveys on our blog & more in the coming months, register for our free e-newsletter on our home page. 

Happy Holidays and I look forward to sharing our 2014 news very soon! 

 

 

There’s A Whole Lot of Love Going On…

“Love Your Pet, See Your Vet” is this year’s theme for National Pet Week May 5-11.  The American Veterinary Medical Association is reminding pet owners that the best way to show your pet you truly care is to give them the gift of good health.  According to Dr. Douglas Aspros, president of the AVMA, “Regular veterinary visits are important because many times pets will hide symptoms of illness, so you need your veterinarian’s skill and expertise to keep your pets healthy.”

“Spreading the Love Around” is Goodnewsforpets.com.  We’ve relaunched our contest section and celebrating National Pet Week with a chance to win a gift card from Petsmart and a matched donation to Petsmart Charities.

Ceva Animal Health together with the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists  is on the road again with the “Keep the L.O.V.E. Alive Behavior Express Tour” bus this year.  The L.O.V.E. stands for “lean on veterinary expertise” and given that it’s National Pet Week, it’s a great time to remind pet owners of the tour’s message: thousands of pets die needlessly due to untreated behavior problems.  According to spokesperson Debra Horwitz, DVM, DACVB, “Pet owners can keep that love alive by seeing their veterinarian to help solve those pet behavior problems before it’s too late.”

Finally, news about a “beloved” trade show. The legendary H.H. Backer pet trade show in Chicago has a new format and will now be called “Backer’s Total Pet Expo” and be held September 20-22, 2013.  The show has a new website at www.totalpetexpo.com.

Whether it’s “love” or “L.O.V.E.” or “Beloved” that’s a whole lot of love going on with pets front and center. That’s good news for pets, for sure.

New Leadership for the Animal Health Corridor & More

Fall is usually a relatively quiet time as we gear up for 2012. Not so this year. Hot on the heals of the success of its 2011 Homecoming event, the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor confirmed new board leadership this week. The KC Animal Health Corridor Advisory Board voted at its meeting October 5 to appoint Craig Wallace, North America Zone director for Ceva Animal Health, as chair. The board also approved the appointment of Kostas Kontopanos, U.S. president of Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. as vice chair. Both positions will be held for one year terms at which point the vice chair will become chair. Read the full story here.

Fall is known as the “second season” for ticks that can spread Lyme disease.   Our guest veterinarian Steven A. Levy, VMD, is president of Veterinary Clinical and Consulting Services, LLC.   Dr. Levy  is a globally known, highly respected researcher & educator and is considered the premier expert on Canine Lyme Borreliosis.   He holds numerous professional memberships and has received countless industry awards recognizing his expertise, his cutting-edge research and his leadership contributions to the veterinary community and beyond.   For the interview with Dr. Levy, click here.

 
The Goodnewsforpets & Planet Dog “On the Go” Fall Contest is underway.  Submit a one minute video or photo enjoying the outdoors with your pet and you may be one of five lucky winners of a collection of Planet Dog On the Go products.  Goodnewsforpets.com will also make a matching donation to the Planet Dog Foundation for each winning entry. Each of the five winning entries will receive a Planet Dog On the Go Snack Sack, Feedbag, Shammy, Food and Water Bowls, and a WOOF sticker. The contest period runs from October 1, 2011 to November 6, 2011. For more details, click here.

Happy Fall!  For more news and items of interest at goodnewsforpets, go to www.goodnewsforpets.com.

St. Louis Celebrations

This Saturday, July 16th , the 148th Annual AVMA Convention  kicks off in St. Louis with a celebration of World Veterinary Year.   St. Louis is special to me as it is the site of my very first public relations conference 30 years ago with a celebration under the Arch.  It’s a great city.

This year, I will be at a different kind of celebration — one of the very few times I will be experiencing the conference from afar.  I will miss seeing so many people until next month at the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor Homecoming Dinner and Investment Forum.   The good news is that for the first time I and many others can receive the conference news online.  I will still have many colleagues with ears to the ground to report back. 

For those attending the conference, check out the new free MapIt APP to plan your schedule.  There are so many interesting meetings and events to attend.  For example, Ceva is offering veterinarians and other AVMA attendee a  flea & tick information session and free lunch from noon to 2:00 PM today, Saturday July 16th.  Speakers include Dr. Phillip McKinney, Dr. Mike Paul and Dr. Mark Setser with moderator Dr. Jim Humphries.

Speaking of another celebration, it’s Christmas in July as we offer congratulations again to Shane Free of  Los Angeles, our latest featured goodnewsforpets.com 10^th Anniversary winner of an iPad and a matching $500 donation.  Shane produced a fantastic holiday video celebrating the special bond with his cat Annie who has a kidney condition.  Shane designated his matching donation to the Los Angeles Animal Services.  Read more about Shane and Annie in his column.

To read more about when formalized veterinary medicine was founded and more pet questions answered, read our Pet IQ.

For those attending AVMA, have a great conference.  I hope those of you who can’t enjoy reading about it.  I hope to see many of you in Kansas City next month.

Bits & Pieces for the Memorial Day Weekend

Congratulations to Taylor Kearns, one of our ten goodnewsforpets.com 10^th anniversary winners of an iPad & matching shelter donation. You can read Taylor’s column, “What Is It About Those Cats? Belle Remembered & More ” and his feature story, “Belle, the Wiley Little Thing.”  Also take a look at the Pawmetto Lifeline web site, the shelter he designated to receive his $500 donation. 

The Morris Animal Foundation (MAF) has announced David Haworth, formerly of Pfizer Animal Health, has joined MAF as the new president & CEO.

Last week, I presented a seminar: “Stay True to Your Brand: Tweet, Poke & Post, But Don’t Forget the Basics“ at the NYC Pet Show Retailer Summit. While other social media platforms were discussed, much of the question & answer session focused on use of Linked In and the subgroups.  If you haven’t joined the network, I encourage you to check these by joining Linked In.

Weight management continues to be a hot topic.  There’s still buzz about the NYC event we attended in Union Square with Alison Sweeny and the Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. Million Pound Pledge.  And, goodnewsforpets.com columnist and veterinary surgeon Phil Zeltzman has his new book out, “Walk a Hound, Lose A Pound.”

Natural products in all shapes and sizes continue to be a growing trend.  We saw plenty of them at the NYC Pet Show.  Check out our “What’s New” featuring the Planet Petco line of new products.

The Kansas City Animal Health Corridor is gearing up for its August events.  A reminder the deadline for applications to the Investment Forum is June 24, 2011.

For more news, go to www.goodnewsforpets.com.  

It’s a short post this week as we head out for the holidays as well.  Have a great holiday weekend with your loved ones.

Western Vet And Jen’s Pumpkin: Shared Concerns

 

Western Veterinary Conference Entrance

The Western Veterinary Conference is in full swing through tomorrow yet I can’t help thinking about Jennifer and Pumpkin, our latest profiled goodnewsforpets.com 10th Anniversary iPad winners.   That’s because Jennifer chose to donate to the ASPCA to help other pets, yet faced unique challenges of her own.  With all the emerging issues and one of the leading points of discussion —  why pet owners are visiting the veterinarian less often.

Bayer Animal Health, Brakke Consulting and the National Commission on Veterinary Economics (NCVEI), in a recent study, identified six root causes:

— the economic impact of the recession; fragmentation of veterinary services; consumers substituting Internet research for office visits; feline resistance; perception among pet owners that regular medical check-ups are not needed and the cost of care.

Several of these factors played into Jennifer’s experience, yet she ultimately adopted Pumpkin, a shelter cat, and knowning Jennifer will seek the level of veterinary care she can for her cat.  Several other winners had the same challenges.  Sure all these issues are on the table, but of most concern is that pet owners feel regular pet check ups are unneccessary.  Watch for more dialogue and hopefully ACTION about this topic from the veterinary profession — ALOT more.

Hill's Pet Nutrition Weight Reduction Kit

Also new at the conference was a new Product Showcase, and front and center was Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc.’s Weight Reduction Kit, available through veterinarians.  An article in The Wall Street Journal “Personal Section” created some buzz.  The article cited yet another study by the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention with Banfield Pet Hospital.  Interesting stuff and more to come!

Another interesting topic back on the horizon is the American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA)’s impending release of updated vaccine guidelines.  The last canine guidelines were updated in 2006.   The organization releases guidelines on a wide variety of topics to help guide the latest best practices in veterinary medicine.  We don’t have an exact date as while they are compiled by experts in the field, they are now ensuring citations of the scientific literature to back up claims are in order.  The original guidelines which led from annual to every three year vaccinations created quite a stir in both the veterinary profession and for pet owners.  The categories of “core” and “noncore” were hotly debated.  the concept is there are certain vaccines (core) that all pets should receive and then other vaccines (noncore) depending on the pet and where they live.  Stay tuned for this one as well.   As much as I’ve learned about Jennifer as a caring pet owner, she and other pet lovers will be watching each and every one of these issues.

Jack’s Day in the Sun uh Snow

Today you get to meet more of Jack, the rest of the Harris family, and learn about Operation Kindness at http://www.goodnewsforpets.com. We are kicking off the new year with the results of our $10,000 Goodnewsforpets.com 10th Anniversary contest with profiles of each of our ten winners and more about where they decided to send their matching $500 donation. With all the snow we are having, he seemed like the perfect first start, and he happens to be #10 in our countdown of the ten winners. I’m crazy for my iPad too and yes,the winners are excited to win them too, but as you will read, they love animals as much as I love my Cocoa and our beloved RandyJo — and are so thrilled to make a difference in helping pets. I hope you enjoy their stories as much as we have.

And the Winners Are….

Congratulations to the following Goodnewsforpets.com 10th Anniversary Winners! We received entries from across the nation and beloved stories about all kinds of pets.  The judging panel had a very tough job indeed!  Each winner will receive an  iPad with a matching shelter donation made to the ASPCA or a local shelter of their choice.  To view the winning entries visit www.goodnewsforpets.com and register to receive more news about each story and shelter donations AND more contests. On behalf of goodnewsforpets.com, your pets and the pets you will help, thanks to all winners and all entrants for sharing your special holiday moments.

Goodnewsforpets.com 10th Anniversary Contest Winners:

“Every Day Is Christmas,” Karen Miller, New York , New York

“Annie, A Special Kind of Cat,” Shane Free, Los Angeles, California

“Sandy Made Our House A Home,” Joelle Bergau, Fort Meyers, Florida

“Belle the Wiley Cat,” Taylor Kearns, Columbia South Carolina

“Cats Bring Holiday Joy,” Joe Canning, Greenville, Indiana

“A Special Christmas Pair,” Stacy Mantle, Queen Creek, Arizona

“Mindy in the Snow & Presents Galore,” Jenny Myer, Montgomery, Alabama

“Pumpkin, the Shy NYC Shelter Cat,” Jennifer Goddard, New York, New York

“A Christmas Pet Tradition,” Tanja Berkhouse, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

“Jack and His First Christmas Snow,” Chance Harris, Richardson, Texas

Running a Contest

We had the concept of a $10,000 contest for the 10th Anniversary ready since January but the timing never seemed quite right. As we neared the end of the year and we had to make decisions about contributions, we wanted to do something special, and so the concept of the 10th Anniversary contest coincided with the introduction of the i-pad. The ASPCA graciously agreed to be included and off we were! The entries at first trickled in and then as the holidays approached, we received so many heartwarming stories that the judges panel did have some tough decisions. Today we will announce the winners at www.goodnewsforpets.com and eagerly look forward to sharing more of their stories and the special matching donations to benefit www.aspca.org and local pet shelters.   To receive your own email notification, register at 10thanniversarycelebration@goodnewsforpets.com .  There is no doubt 2010 was a difficult year for all but there is also hope and gratitude that the spirit of helping and the love of pets is alive and well. I’m looking forward to your comments on this contest’s winning entries. Again, Happy New Year, thank you for celebrating our Anniversary with us and look for more contests to come.

Win One of Ten iPads; Help Shelter Pets

 As promised, here’s our big announcement!

New York, NY – December 6, 2010 – Goodnewsforpets.com is celebrating its 10^th anniversary with a special $10,000 promotion.  Pets bring special holiday memories.  Now celebrate those memories and enter for a chance to win one of ten iPads™ ($499 MSRP plus tax) from Goodnewsforpets.com and a matching $500 donation to the ASPCA^® or your local pet shelter.  The contest runs from December 6 through December 28, 2010.  Winners will be announced on New Year’s Day, January 1, 2011. 

 “Goodnewsforpets.com has a ten year history of educating pet owners and delivering news of value to our community.  Our new contests have benefited pets and pet owners alike.  With this matching donation we can now give something back to the shelter community.  It’s a win-win opportunity,” said publisher Lea-Ann Germinder, APR, Fellow PRSA.   

 Pet owners are invited to tell their holiday story and share it with a photo or shoot and submit a 1-minute video at www.goodnewsforpets.com. All submissions that meet the contest criteria will be posted on the site or videos uploaded to our new YouTube™ channel at YouTube.com/goodnewsforpets. For the contest form and the rules and regulations, visit goodnewsforpets.com

 “We are delighted that pet owners will have the chance to share their holiday stories on goodnewsforpets.com, and that by winning, they’ll contribute to the care of shelter pets.  With today’s challenging economy, the need for financial support to care for shelter pets is great, and every contribution helps,” said Julie Morris, senior vice president of Community Outreach for the ASPCA.

GoodNewsforpets.com is a recognized, award-winning source for pet news. The site is published by Germinder & Associates, Inc, Free subscriptions are available through http://www.goodnewsforpets.com. Also, the sites can be tracked through Twitter.com/GoodNewsForPets, the GoodNewsForPets blog, and GoodNewsForPets.com Facebook. For 2011 sponsorship, advertising and social media packages, contact Lea-Ann Germinder at lgerminder@germinder.com.

Apple is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion.