Today I discovered a new pet blog available on a prominent website. It only began in recent days and the introductory post discusses the site's intentions to have experts as well as pet owners blogging on pet topics and issues.
While the posts themselves (the small amount that have been posted to date) have been fairly generic about a topic that affects most pet owners, my concern is in the comments that have been numerous and, quite frankly, incorrect in most cases. So this blog is just a short warning to you to be very careful where you get pet health information from.
It is my hope that the site owners do find genuine experts to blog - as yet, I don't know how they are picking their sources however I'm sure they have a system for doing it. So if you do come across information on a website posted by "some random person" whose credentials you cannot identify or who have no credentials at all, be very careful if you decide to take this information on board. Do your research - visit veterinary health-based, factual websites, or contact your veterinary clinic if you want to clarify any information you have seen or heard of. The last thing any veterinary health professional wants is for your pets to become unwell because of unsolicited advice.
Have you heard any advice that you weren't so sure about? Tell us about it in the comments. Don't forget that we also have our Ask a Vet column - if you have any questions you would like clarification on, just ask!
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Free Kibble!
As part of my daily routine I read up on all the animal related news items from around the world, and the occasional blog now and then. I also religiously go to one of the cutest and easiest sites on the internet where all animal lovers can make a difference with one single click of their mouse. This site is http://www.freekibble.com/
I love the trivia - it's normally pretty easy but if you can't bear to be wrong, just open up a new tab, go to Google and type in the question. The answer should pop back pretty quickly.
Free Kibble is the brainchild of a young American girl who (with help from her parents) created the website to help feed animals in US shelters. Her idea has really taken off and they regularly receive daily visitors to the site. Going by the kibble tally at the bottom of the question section and dividing the number by 10 (which is how many pieces of kibble are donated each time an answer is guessed - whether correctly or incorrectly), it appears as though freekibble and freekibblekat users have played 12,113,880 times. That's 12 MILLION, 113 thousand, 880 times (as at 9 June 09)!
Recently added to the site is a tally of which countries Free Kibble is being played in. I found it very interesting that New Zealand is ranked in 15th place out of a total of 135 countries. That puts us in the top 12% of countries playing. That's pretty awesome for a country with such a tiny population! What this tells us is that New Zealanders are big animal lovers and we're generous enough to want to help another country give food to their animal shelters, which is very noble.
Good on Mimi Ausland for her inspiration to create the site and good on you, New Zealand, for helping to support unwanted animals in another country.
I love the trivia - it's normally pretty easy but if you can't bear to be wrong, just open up a new tab, go to Google and type in the question. The answer should pop back pretty quickly.
Free Kibble is the brainchild of a young American girl who (with help from her parents) created the website to help feed animals in US shelters. Her idea has really taken off and they regularly receive daily visitors to the site. Going by the kibble tally at the bottom of the question section and dividing the number by 10 (which is how many pieces of kibble are donated each time an answer is guessed - whether correctly or incorrectly), it appears as though freekibble and freekibblekat users have played 12,113,880 times. That's 12 MILLION, 113 thousand, 880 times (as at 9 June 09)!
Recently added to the site is a tally of which countries Free Kibble is being played in. I found it very interesting that New Zealand is ranked in 15th place out of a total of 135 countries. That puts us in the top 12% of countries playing. That's pretty awesome for a country with such a tiny population! What this tells us is that New Zealanders are big animal lovers and we're generous enough to want to help another country give food to their animal shelters, which is very noble.
Good on Mimi Ausland for her inspiration to create the site and good on you, New Zealand, for helping to support unwanted animals in another country.
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