We were blessed with the first comfortable, warm day after a long stretch of cold weather on 2/19 when we set up our booth for the Rayford Sunday Market. This is the first event that is not strictly geared to pets that we've attended, but there were plenty of pet parents enjoying the nice day amongst food trucks and various vendors. In addition, this event was located in Spring, TX...only 10 minutes from our office. BONUS!

As always, we had an assortment of PetProductDelivery.com brand products, an assortment of holistic food, treats and toys, with a prize drawing at the end of the day. And, we had the absolute NICEST vendor neighbors on either side of us. Complete opposites, though! One vendor sold tamales, the other gluten-free pastries.

3Brooklyn K. was the WINNER of our drawing. She chose the Vital Essentials Turkey Giblets Freeze-Dried Treats as her prize. She had already left the event when her name was drawn and we called her, so we shipped the treats. Her adorable Pomeranian will GOBBLE them up! ;-D

While we had our hands full and did not get any photos of pets and their people this time (sorry!), we did talk to a lot of people about their pets and they gave us some great ideas for videos and blogs for you all to enjoy going forward.
Watch for a video with tips on ways to enjoy the spring and summer festival season with your pet. That video will be coming out with our newsletter Friday 3/3/2023.

The Rayford Sunday Market happens every Sunday in the Kroger Parking lot in Spring, TX. Here's the address: 

We plan to attend about once or twice a month, but many of these vendors are there every week. If you get a chance to stop by you simply MUST try the tamales at the Tamale Guy booth and the sweet treats at Decadence Pastries. You'll be glad you did!

Let me tell you about one of the most exciting things that I experienced this month. Did I win the lottery? Nope. Did I go on a trip to a far away land? That would be awesome, but that's not it either. So, here it is (insert drum roll, please)...

On February 7th I received a Certificate from the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters stating that I had successfully completed the Aging Cat Course with an A+. Ta-da!

I know, I know. I'm a big pet nerd. No surprise there. But why is this news worthy? Because if there's one thing that I have learned in my 40 years of working with pets it's that continuing education is important. I have learned a lot in 4 decades and I don't intend to stop. And, best of all, I get to share that knowledge with my favorite people in the whole world: pet loving people like YOU!

As a National Certified Master Groomer I have enjoyed many years of sharing tips and recommendations with groom clients. As someone who has spent decades studying pet products and staying on top of trends in pet nutrition in both the retail and wholesale segments of the industry, I am better qualified than most to curate the HOLISTIC products we offer online at PetProductDelivery.com. And, now that I am a member of the ONLY national, non-profit, professional pet sitting association dedicated to raising and abiding by industry standards, I can lend a helping hand to pet parents in an entirely different segment of the industry.

Exciting, right!

As a member of both the National Dog Groomers Association of America and also the National Association of Professional Pet Sitters, I look forward to sharing everything that I have learned so far, and everything I will be learning in the future. It is a joy and a privilege to work as a pet professional and to stand side-by-side with other pet parents to keep our pets happy and healthy. 

When I think of the word "holistic" I think of the WHOLE as being greater than the sum of its parts. This means that when I dedicated PetProductDelivery.com to "Holistic Health Products for Pets..." I had to consider the impact not only of the products that we purchase on the pets themselves, but also the overall impact on the environment. This is extremely difficult as we cannot separate ourselves or our pets from the environment that we all share and, at the same time, manufacturing is inherently BAD for the environment. It's a truth we humans sometimes try to sugar-coat, but there really is no way around it. If a product (food or otherwise) comes in a box, can or bag, it is part of the manufacturing process and therefore will have some kind of impact on the environment.

So, what can we do if we want to feed our pets a healthy "manufactured" diet AND do our due diligence to protect the planet? 

In this article I hope to introduce some basic information about recycling that might shed some light on how environmentally friendly certain packaging is...or is not. And, since most of us are becoming aware that our environment - including our own bodies - is saturated with plastics, I thought discussing plastics might be a good place to start.

Have you ever noticed that little "chasing arrows" symbol that is on all plastic containers? Many of us believe that symbol indicates that the container it is printed on is recycled or recyclable, but that is not the case. The number in the center of the "chasing arrows" symbol only indicates the type of plastic. So, when you sort your plastics for recycling, you may want to consider separating your plastics by the numbers so that they can find their way to where they need to go. For example, plastics with the number 4 are made from LDPE plastic, which stands for low-density polyethylene. This plastic comes in the form of shopping bags, highly-resistant sacks, and crushed bottles. You can also find this number on bags of some of the products we carry like our Steve's Real Food products. This type of plastic can be converted into floor tiles and shipping envelopes. In other words, if you have all of your type 4 plastics grouped together when you arrive at the recycling center, they have a better chance of making it to those facilities that can use LDPE plastic. If they are together with all of your other plastics, they may be thrown out.

Some other types of plastics, like those that exhibit the number 3 with the letter V (PVC plastic or polyvinyl chloride), are not usually recycled at all and should not be lumped in with plastics that you plan to recycle.

To better understand plastics by the numbers, you may want to read this excellent article written by Acme Plastics: 
Your Guide to Plastic Recycling Symbols  

Learning more about the products we purchase helps us all make healthier choices.

It is my job to be informed about the products this company carries. And, while it is rare to find any manufactured products that check all of the right boxes, I think as a company we have done a really good job of presenting you with the best options available. 

This week our focus is on packaging, but in the following weeks we will be exploring definitions like "all natural", organic, sustainable, nonGMO and more. I am diligent in my study of what it means to be holistic and healthy. There is much to learn and to share. I look forward to sharing more with you in the days, weeks and years to come. Together, we can all make a difference.

The first 30+ days of 2023 have been absolutely wonderful, so far! These are just a few of the highlights...

January 13 - 14 saw us as vendors at the CFA Houston Cat Club Houston Charity Cat Show held at the Houston Hilton North. It was even better than last year! Our booth was very busy and the show had many spectators, exhibitors and several cat charities with kitties for adoption. 

Many cats and their handlers visited our booth. Check out these photos from the show...

There were many other vendors. It's fun to get to know one another. This vendor is brand new to the show circuit. Meet Katie Frank, owner of the Duck Bar Bath Shop. Her hand made soaps look good enough to eat!

Every show we have a drawing at our booth and we choose a winner on the last day. Jessica D. was not present when we drew her name, so we shipped her prize to her home in Alvin, Texas. She chose the Stella and Chewy's Sea-Licious Salmon & Cod Raw Dinner Morsels as her prize. Congrats Jessica!

Pretty awesome stuff, right?! But, that was only some of the fun. On January 28 - 29, we had the pleasure of being invited to participate in the TICA Felines, Football and Fun Cat Show at the Jimmy Burke Activity Center in Deer Park, Texas. So much fun! See photos, below...

We've seen Mariana at several of the shows. She's super nice and a very talented make-up artist. Such skill!

Congratulations to Christie H. of Houston, Texas! She won the drawing at our booth in Deer Park and chose Steve's Real Food Freeze Dried Lamu Recipe for Dogs and Cats for her prize. Woo-hoo! :-D

If January is any indicator of what the rest of 2023 will be like, I have high hopes that this will be the best year yet.

​Thanks for letting us share our love of all things PETS with all of you. Your fur-kids mean the world to us!