Social networking

I registered at Dogster.com and AnimalAttraction. I thought the regististration process was very simple, quick and easy, and the registration link arrived quickly. Dogster also warned me that since I have gmail I need to add them to my address book, as they often get stuck in the bulk mail folder. When they asked for my zipcode, I expected them to link me to others in the area who are registered, but there was nothing. I don't know if more relevant information will come up as more people register. Animal Attraction I registered for because I think its a nice idea that they will donate money for everyone who registers, and every time you log in. I saw a lot of homeless pets, back in PA. We were a vacation town, and a lot of the inner city tourists would come for the summer, pick up a pet for the summer, and then on their way back to NY, would dump them on the side of the road. So its nice to see a website doing something positive for them.

As to some of the site features, most of them were ok, but I came to find myself getting very annoyed with Dogster's local feature. It required a keyword of some type, and even when putting in nothing, it came back with no results for () found. So even leaving it blank didn't help. I did find a page with all local pet businesses, and reviews of them from members, so that will be a nice thing to have.

Loss of a Pet

We did lose a pet, 4 years ago. It was very hard for us, but even more so for our youngest son. I checked out the pet loss websites, but, to be honest, I really didn't see anything that was any different from what we already know. I DO disagree with the ASPCA website, of getting a "replacement" pet a month later. These are members of our family, and there is no replacement for them. We waited 3 years, and then I made sure to not get another cat, as I didn't want it to even seem like we were replacing her. She was a wonderful friend, and kooky enough that even my husband, who hates cats, loved her. My son still writes essays about her, whenever he has to write something serious for school. We try to remember her, whenever we can, as a way of respecting her memory. We even have a special Christmas ornament, that she always played with, that goes on the tree last, down at the bottom, where she'd whack it around. My son hangs it in his room the rest of the year. It's just like losing a person. All the information in the world doesn't help, you have to go through the grieving process and no amounts of information is really going to help that.