Estragon: Dog is a man’s best friend.
Vladimir: Why not fish?
Estragon: Okay, fish too.
Vladimir: Why not birds?
Estragon: Okay, birds too.
Vladimir: Why not cats?
Estragon: Kindly make your point, Vladimir…
Vladimir: The Animal Kingdom makes better friends than the human race, don’t you think?
Modified from Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.
People who have befriended even an injured stray animal at any point in life will be familiar with the emotion that comes with having a pet. For these proud owners – be it of birds, fish, dogs, rabbits, goats, cows, exotic pets or even less popular ones like snakes or crocodiles – the net is a goldmine of information, tips, help, and a great place to meet like-minded people.
With over 2,00,000 sites worldwide dedicated to domestic animals alone, there’s scarcely a point not covered, whether it’s pet care and services, or veterinarians, hospitals, breeders and even methods of finding a mate for your pet. And for those who thought most sites weren’t India-specific, think again. Sites like PetsIndia based in New Delhi rarely go beyond Indian boundaries to give you what you need.
Apart from information on breeders, pet-care, vets, product dealers and animal welfare organisations from all corners of India, there are also sections that let you share your views with people who are as interested in the welfare of domestic animals as you. Taking it a step further, there is also a page where you have free email for your pets @petsindia.com, and a page where pets can actually make pen-pals! This feature will, of course, be used by pet-owners, because animals handling the mouse are hard to come by.
Most sites offer classifieds and listings where you can buy and sell pets, products or accessories. This is perhaps the most useful feature, telling pet-owners that they are not alone with their slew of problems.
Indya.com shows you how to deal with day-to-day problems like travelling with pets, and making them useful around the house, especially with elders who could require assistance. It also addresses issues such as daily diets, and how balanced or nutritional they are for your pet. Add to this a number of interesting features like quizzes, contests, and articles by prominent personalities like Maneka Gandhi, and you have a pretty good place to stop at for a while.
DogsIndia restricts itself strictly to dogs, going to the extent of offering horoscope readings of the animals! Claiming to be the number one portal for all information on dogs, puppies, breeders, doggy products, vets, and related services in India, it aims at bringing together all dog enthusiasts in India and around the world, to share ideas and information, enrich their knowledge about dogs and work for the betterment of the canine race.
The other interesting feature here is the attention paid by the site to the welfare and care of stray dogs, which is definitely a pressing problem. It also offers strays for adoption.
On a different note, VetHelplineIndia focuses on the veterinary profession in India. Run by a professional, it represents a dedicated web-based network of multidisciplinary professionals, collaborative services and information dissemination efforts, all aimed at enhancing standards.
The site is categorised as per its target audience – clinicians, animal owners, entrepreneurs and policy makers alike, along with students, mid-career professionals and management of veterinary hospitals and clinics. There are also helplines in each category, and newsletters that can be availed of by members. For those in the profession, it’s great for information, jobs and future career prospects.
Pet care takes on a new dimension with A2ZofPets a site that has specialists offering expert advice on issues of pet health and happiness. An elaborate section here is one on cats, which covers all kinds of information – feline communication, nine senses, history, behaviour and wildcats, too. Another well-planned out section is the one on birds (which leaves out absolutely nothing) and yet another on fish.
More on adoption can be found at ConcerningPets which covers a gamut of emotions, right from choosing a puppy to bringing it home and watching it grow. There’s also a chat section and one on Reiki for dogs! Research papers of unidentifiable or incurable dog-diseases are also up for reading. For those who have and love dogs, this one’s unmissable.
It also has an obituary section, where you can put up a pet obituary, and profiles of pet care and welfare organisations like Jeevashram, which started off as a mobile caretaker of animals in 1990 and gradually became involved in the activities of draught and pack animals. Then there’s a Pet’s King and Queen Contest, where your pet could participate and win lots of freebies.
Another regular feature here is the forum to which you could write, send pictures, create ‘ememories’, share recipes of pet delicacies, get your pet a date, figure out your pet’s moods through the weekly astrofocus or even check out its karmic cycle.
Covering the range of ‘items’, so to speak, that invariably find their way on all sites are screensavers, wallpapers, e-greetings, astrology, hunting for pet names, pet jokes, moral science stories about pets, lost and found pets and basically any other advice you can think of. Even topics like whether or not a dog can fall in love and how some man left his $500,000 fortune to his dog are covered.
So the next time you think your pet’s trying to tell you something, you know where to sniff around for an answer.
Take this tour on pet sites
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