Hat tip to Stacy Mantle of the Phoenix Pet News Examiner for noticing a change on the home page of Lifestyle Pets, the company that got a bazillion dollars worth of free publicity with its claims of producing “Allerca’ cats that wouldn’t trigger allergies (whether or not that was true remained the subject of many news articles after the company’s big splash of positive coverage). The company then decided to expand its line a big, with other interesting developments in very expensive pets, plans apparently no as long gone as the Web pages promoting them.

Even their first claim to fame in the pet business seems to be coming to a complete end. From the site:

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Effective January 1, 2010, Lifestyle Pets aims to focus exclusively on developing its animal genetic technologies and WILL NO LONGER offer our hypoallergenic pets for sale. Anyone interested in purchasing one of our hypoallergenic cats or dogs should place their order on or before December 31, 2009.

For some interesting reading, use Teh Googles and look up “Simon Brodie.” Or check our archives here.

Update from Christie: A little science background from TheScientist.com.

There’s no arguing with the animal population control benefits of spaying and neutering pet dogs. The health benefits, though, are a somewhat harder case to make. It’s not that there are none — there are. It’s that the more research that’s done, the more the risks seem to equal or outweigh those benefits.

In addition to the then-comprehensive look at the benefits and risks of surgical sterilization of pet cats and dogs that was published in 2008 in the Journal of the American Veterinary Association, research out of Purdue University is suggesting that female dogs and, interestingly, female humans, live longer if they keep their ovaries:

This year, hundreds of thousands of women and pet dogs will undergo a hysterectomy and have their ovaries removed along with their uterus. Now, two independent research studies looking at longevity may challenge almost four decades of standard operating procedures used in women and in pets.

Research published Tuesday (Dec. 1) shows female dogs that keep their ovaries longer also live longer. The study, exploring the factors that favor successful aging in pet dogs, was conducted by a research team led by David J. Waters, a doctor of veterinary medicine.

Waters’ work is the first investigation to look for a link between retaining ovaries and reaching exceptional longevity in mammals. Waters is executive director of the Gerald P. Murphy Cancer Foundation, based at the Purdue Research Park of West Lafayette. The Murphy Foundation is home to the Center for Exceptional Longevity Studies, which tracks the oldest living pet dogs in the United States.

Waters went on to report that the dogs in the study lived 30 percent longer if intact, and that dogs with ovaries until the age of 6 years were four times more likely to have “exceptional longevity” than those female dogs who were spayed the earliest.

It’s not just dogs, though:

The pet dog research published in Aging Cell mirrors the findings of the Nurses’ Health Study published this summer by Dr. William Parker and colleagues from the John Wayne Cancer Institute in Santa Monica, Calif.

Parker’s group studied more than 29,000 women who underwent a hysterectomy for benign uterine disease. The findings showed that the upside of ovary removal – protection against ovarian, uterine and breast cancer – was outweighed by increased mortality from other causes. As a result, longevity was cut short in women who lost their ovaries before the age of 50 compared with those who kept their ovaries for at least 50 years.

[...]

Taken together, the emerging message for dogs and women seems to be that when it comes to longevity, it pays to keep your ovaries.

Read the whole story here.

If you want to adopt a dog but you have children there is always a concern about getting an animal that is too aggressive, and does not get along well with kids. There are some breeds that are not suitable for the purpose simply because of their nature. Here are some of the breeds that should not be taken home when there are children…

Here is the info for choosing between a male or a female Golden Retriever. Bitches are from Venus and boys are from Mars…well maybe.

Compared to other dog breeds, it is believed that owners can train Golden Retrievers easily because they have a good temperament and they are always eager to impress their owners. Trust me when I say that this is true. Your Golden Retriever that you have purchased can be trained without much difficulty because they are so obedient by nature.

Here we go again…that time of year when that cute little puppy arrives to the delight of everyone around it. For the most part all I can say is Poor thing!

My girlfriend was pretty upset with me when I brought home a stinky little stray dog. Not only did he like to chew on my girlfriends shoes, after a couple accidents on the carpet, it was time to build some shelter outside. So, I went on line and did some research.

Golden Retriever Info: Should You Choose A Pup Or Grown Up Dog? Puppies are so cute, but are you ready for the peeing and pooping on your carpet?

Golden Retriever puppies are so cute we cannot help but fall for their lovable charms. He can look so angelic the moment you took him home but wait for a few days and he will become your worst nightmare, a nonstop chewing machine. Sounds scary? There is always a solution.

More and more people are talking about feeding your dog raw, but what is it? How do you do it? Is it expensive? Let me try to help answer some of your questions.