Pet Food Sales Are Growing
Americans’ fascination with gourmet fare is carrying over into the pet arena, with sales of premium products helping boost 2005 pet food sales to $14.5 billion, up 4.4 percent from 2004, according to a new report by Packaged Facts, a division of MarketResearch.com (New York) ...

NRF Predicts Above-Average Holiday Sales
Despite a surprising amount of resilience on the part of consumers, retailers can expect total retail sales in November and December to increase only 5 percent over last year, bringing holiday spending to $457.4 billion, according to the National Retail Federation (Washington). By comparison, 2005 holiday sales increased 6.1 percent from the previous year...

Pet Retailers Poised for Growth
Retailers targeting children and pets may be better insulated from a potential slowdown in consumer spending, according to a semi-annual report by Standard & Poor’s Equity Research Services (New York)...

Feds Restrict Koi and Goldfish Shipments
The U.S. Department of Agriculture in late August issued an interim rule to restrict imports of koi and goldfish into the United States to prevent further introductions of a serious contagious viral disease of carp...

SPECIES AT RISK FOR SVC
Several species are considered susceptible to spring viremia of carp...

FDA Proposes MUMS Regulations
Issuing proposed procedures for legally marketing "unapproved" drugs for minor species, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in August took a significant step toward making it easier to treat aquarium fish, reptiles and small mammals kept as pets..

Pets Evacuation Act Moves Forward
A federal law that will require local and state disaster plans to include provisions for household pets and service animals in the event of a major disaster or emergency is set to go back to the House for final passage or to a conference committee that will reconcile differences between the House and Senate versions....

Rising Energy, Fuel Costs Are Big Issues for Small Businesses
Rising energy costs transformed from expenses that were simply passed along to customers to the single greatest issue impacting small businesses, according to a nationwide poll of small-business owners and managers by the International Profit Associates Small Business Research Board (Buffalo Grove, Ill.)...

Pet Fashion Week NY Debuts
Approximately 2,000 people from 20 countries attended the first Pet Fashion Week NY, held Aug. 19-20 at the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York. Organized by well-known pet groomer Mario DiFante and designer Alexa Cach, the event featured a runway show, a fashion awards competition and a trade show with 130 exhibits...

America's Family Pet Expo Offers Advance Tickets Online
For the first time in 17 years, America's Family Pet Expo will sell advance tickets via the Internet at www.petexponovi.com.

The next consumer pet show organized by the World Wide Pet Industry Association (Arcadia, Calif.) will take place Nov. 17-19 at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi, Mich ..

Global Pets Forum 2007 Slated
The worldwide retail markets for private-label and consumer-brand products will be the focus of Global Pets Forum 2007, to be held Jan. 18-19 at the Copenhagen Marriott Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark...