| If there was any doubt that the sellers of wholesale | | | | catblogging" which is basically an excuse for blog |
| pet products need never worry about the health of | | | | proprietors to post pictures of their beloved cat |
| their industry -- even in a poor economic climate | | | | felines, lazing about looking very unconcerned with |
| where cheap closeouts outsell more expensive pet | | | | the rages and disasters that so occupy the minds of |
| supplies - recent events have erased it. The widely | | | | their owners. And as for Facebook and other social |
| awaited and controversial appointment in a historic | | | | media, pictures of dogs, cats, and anything else furry |
| new presidential administration has turned out to be a | | | | and cute, are regularly posted in bulk. |
| six month-old Portuguese Water Dog named Bo. The | | | | As for older media, it has always been the case you |
| day the long-awaited young canine actually appeared | | | | can't leave a television set on for more than a few |
| on the White House lawn, the press swarmed and | | | | minutes without seeing cats, dogs, rodents and birds |
| the story eclipsed an economic emergency, major | | | | - and not only in ads for pet supplies. And, as the |
| foreign policy changes, and innumerable controversies | | | | recent success of "Marly and Me" proved, dogs still |
| across the political spectrum, eclipsed by fierce | | | | rule the box office as much as they did in the |
| questions from the President's critics about Bo | | | | movies' early days - before "Old Yeller" and even |
| Obama's non-rescue dog status. For a time, | | | | 1939's "Lassie Come Home" -- when German |
| journalists even stopped writing about Michelle | | | | Shepherd Rin Tin Tin's tales of dog daring helped |
| Obama's arms. | | | | popularize the Shepherd dog breed in North America |
| Let's face it; this country is crazy for pets. Particularly | | | | and saved Warner Brothers Studios from financial |
| on the Internet, it seems to induce a form of serene | | | | disaster. |
| pet madness. The extremely popular blog I Can Haz | | | | We're pet mad. Whether it really is because of urban |
| Cheezburger consists of nothing but pictures and | | | | alienation, or the fact that many of us are delaying |
| videos featuring cats, dogs, and assorted animals | | | | childbearing (or putting it off entirely), Americans |
| with captions in a dialect crafted to sound as if pets | | | | spent some $41 billion in 2008 on pets, including |
| themselves were actually writing them. This vein of | | | | wholesale pet products, pet food, dog and cat toys, |
| humor goes back at least as far as the 1980s and a | | | | veterinary care, pet hotels and all the rest. And, while |
| classic Gary Larson cartoon in which some dogs try | | | | economic shifts might cause some of us to, say, |
| to tempt a feline cat enemy into a washing machine | | | | resist the urge the buy the fancy cat toy and may |
| with a promise of "cat fud". | | | | slow down adoption rates and pet store closeout |
| On a somewhat more rarified level, for whatever | | | | sales to some degree, the pet business isn't going |
| reason, many American political bloggers across the | | | | away, though cheap, bulk wholesale pet supplies will |
| political spectrum engage in the practice of "Friday | | | | clearly be more popular for awhile. Woof. |