Archive for the ‘animals and pets’ Category

Pet Worming Service

Sunday, May 3rd, 2009

Pet Worming Service

When a cat or dog needs medication for worms, you can bet that the owner would rather have someone else do it. Most people will take their pets to their vet to have them do it. That can be expensive. Offer a service that goes to the pet owner’s home and does it for them. You can charge $10 for the service plus whatever the cost of the worming medication is. You must be an animal lover to do this job. Treat the pets with respect, and you will earn your customer’s respect. Remember to use disposable gloves each time.

Just like humans, pets need their medication for various reasons. These pets need their medication for worms, which are given periodically. So sometimes, it proves to be rather hectic to the pet owner to take their pets to the veterinarian every time, for their worming needs. This may be because of insufficient time or because this may prove to be a rather expensive chore for them.

This is where you can offer your services as a pet lover. You have to be a pet lover to handle this job, where you offer to do the services of administering worming medication to the pet for them. You can offer a service where you charge about $10 to go to the client’s home, to worm their pet. Of course, this charge is just the charge of your services. You have to charge separately for the medication. You can either have the client buy the medication, which you will give the pet or you could buy the medication, and charge the cost to the client.

An animal lover can best do this job. Only an animal lover can handle a pet in case it gives you trouble when dispensing the medication. Some pets may get violent on seeing a new person and it is only if you are an animal lover that you will be able to handle the pet. There is no point in abusing the pet; it will not cooperate with you by taking the medication. Moreover, once you treat their animal with respect, the client too will treat you with respect and will call you again the next time their pet needs worming. However, if you do not treat the animal well, you can lose all hopes of the owner calling on you the next time their pet needs worming.

You have to take care of your health and hygiene when worming these animals. So make it a point to wear disposable gloves each time you handle a pet. Do not use the same gloves for different pets, as there is always a chance of diseases spreading amongst animals. Not only that, there is also a possibility of you contracting diseases too, through animal contact.

You may need some advertising and marketing tactics incorporated in your service so that people will be aware of your services. You could have a few pamphlets printed and distributed in pet stores and veterinarian offices, where there is a high possibility of pet owners visiting. You could also distribute these pamphlets in areas where there are numerous pets, as there is bound to be some people there who would like your services.

If you are Internet confident, you could also create a website on the Internet, advertising your services. Of course, this opens up an option you have to decide on, as you may not want to cater to clients needs in far away locations. You can cater to clients in your city or town; and having a vehicle will be an added advantage for you. This way, you can service many pets in a day.

Helpful Resources:

http://www.canismajor.com/dog/worms.html

http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/parasites/f/FAQ_tapeworms.htm

http://www.yourpetsbestfriend.com/your_pets_best_friend/2007/08/when-to-de-worm.html

http://www.petmeds-plus.com/guide/p12-worm-problems.html

Pet Watching for Cash

Tuesday, April 28th, 2009

Pet Watching for Cash

When pet owners go away on business or vacation, they want to make sure their precious pets are well taken care of. Most would rather have a person care for their pet or pets than sending them to a kennel. Make some cash pet sitting!

Having a pet is like having a companion at home. This is why it can sometimes prove to be rather difficult for a pet owner to send their pet to the kennel if they go on a vacation or business trip. Instead, they would feel better having someone look after their pet personally, than keeping the pet in a kennel, (much like jail for animals).

This is the reason for the bloom of pet-sitting services around you. You too can easily start a home business as a pet-sitter with minimal investment, if you have a fancy for pets! Pet sitting is a great means of making money in the company of your pet friends; you assure the pet owner of taking the best care of their pets in their absence.

Having knowledge of the specific service needed for different domestic house pets proves to be an added advantage for you. This way, you can offer to look after any pet; be it an iguana, dog, rabbit, pigs, or even tarantulas! Once you start your pet-sitting business, and learn the secrets of the trade, you can always have other people who are animal lovers work for you. This way, you can attend to more pets, and thus have more income generated for you!

Pet sitting is a very easy business to start up, with immediate results. All you have to do is to advertise your services either through pamphlets or through websites. People who have entrusted their pets to your custody are sure to vouch for your services if they are satisfied with your caring for their pets. So even advertising through word of mouth proves to be a good form of advertisement for you!

The advantage of starting a pet-sitting service is no experience or training is required. All you need is a love of pets! There is no need of wearing any expensive wardrobe or specific uniforms. However, just as an added incentive, you can always advertise your services by wearing shirts with your company name or logo on them! There is no investment required for pet sitting only an office to manage your accounts and records! All your work is accomplished in the client’s home!

You have very flexible hours with pet sitting too. You will probably need to spend some time in the morning, afternoon, and evening with the pets; that is all! This can be while your children are in school, and thus very convenient for you! Besides being a novel source of income for you, with pet-sitting services there is an added benefit, you can lose weight! This is because you burn calories and thus shed pounds running after, playing with, and walking them!

When pet sitting, you will have to meet your client and pet in their home. This is to familiarize yourself with the pet or pets, so that you can provide the best services. The pet should also familiarize itself with you because you will be taking care of it for a few days. It needs to feel comfortable with you in the house. Be sure and ask and take notes on where the pet food is to be found and how much to offer for each meal. Also, take note of the pet’s veterinarian and phone number, for health and safety reasons. Find out if you need to administer any medications also and ask how to get the animal to accept them. Your thoroughness will put the client at ease with you and convince them that they can trust you with their beloved pet.

One thing to remember is never misuse the liberty of the client’s house or house keys. Do not offer the keys to others, as this would be a breach of security on your part. Take very careful care to lock up when you leave their home and file the key away in a safe place.

Just follow all these points, and your instincts with pets to establish a full-time pet-sitting service for your neighborhood!

Some pet watching resources are:

http://www.petsitterhowto.com/

http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/choosing_a_pet_sitter/

http://www.petsits.com/

http://www.petsitters.org/

http://www.petsit.com/

http://allpamperedpets.com/

http://www.money-op.com

Pet Burials

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Pet Burials

Create caskets for people who have lost their pet, so they can bury them. This would be especially good for parents, but also for any pet lover. You will need to cater to all of the different sizes and types of pets. You could charge an average price of $100 per casket.

People who have lost a long loved pet usually want to bury them close to their home, often times in their own yards. Creating caskets for this purpose could be a great new business idea worth starting. Creating many different sizes starting from the size of a goldfish to a large dog should probably be the range to aim for. If you choose too, you could even offer larger sizes for horses, but that would take some serious designing plans.

The death of a close family pet can be difficult for children, parents often will use this sad time to explain, or introduce, death and the burial process to their children. Providing an appropriate casket can make the burial a little easier to explain and can help children understand the process of the burial of future loved ones in caskets.

Offering simple wooden boxes to metal sealed caskets are your option to choose to sell. If you are able to construct the caskets, you will be able to make a high profit margin on each sale. If you are a handy person with many different materials, you may have a good choice for a profitable business.

Remember that you will have to have caskets on hand, or at least the basic containers so that you will be able to ship the caskets quickly to the families that need them. As you receive the orders, it will require you to embellish the chosen caskets that are ordered and then either offer next day shipping if the customer wants to pay for faster shipping, or include the shipping cost in the full price and decide on the fastest shipping options.

If you are a creative person, you can use many simple prebuilt containers that are inexpensive and make them into beautiful resting places for people’s pets. Remember that a goldfish is not very expensive, so try to offer a casket that isn’t too pricey, but appropriate. These smaller pets might be fine with cardboard caskets, lined with satin and embellished with casket-like items on the outside.

You could choose to sell on the web from your own web site, and/or offer your items to local pet shops in your area. If you do decide to start out small with local pet shops, make sure you protect each casket with durable packaging and printed information attached with it. If pet shop owners aren’t sure if there is a market for pet caskets, ask if you can leave one or two, for display purposes with order forms that you can leave with them. Be sure and leave pamphlets with pictures of the many types and sizes you offer, including a price list for each size and material.

Offering these caskets for an average of $100 should be a good price. However, this will depend on what materials you plan to use and embellish with inside and out. The more you decide to put into the making of the caskets the more you can ask. There are sure to be some people that will pay thousands of dollars for something special. The hardest thing to accomplish is finding these people. Using a web site will open up your business to many different types of spenders. Be sure to offer a vast variety of caskets if you want your business to grow quickly. Start with the same basic designs offered for people, and use your imagination from there on.

Resources:

http://www.thepetcasketshop.com/

http://www.vintagecoffins.com/

http://www.tspetmemorials.com/

Perfect Pets

Sunday, April 19th, 2009

Perfect Pets

We humans love our pets, don’t we? This is a huge target market. Even I own a hamster. Create a website to help people sell their animals. It’s difficult for people to find certain breeds of pets to buy and own. Your website can create sales worldwide. Charge listers a monthly or per-ad-fee for their listings. Make even more money by putting up affiliate ads on your site that are pet related!

If you are a pet lover, this could be a great business idea to give thought too. Pets are an important part of our society; just about every home in the U.S. has at least one, this is a profitable target market because of this. In some areas of the world, it can be hard to find certain types of pets. Often some housing choices can make it difficult to enjoy certain types of pets. This is why more people are looking at varied choices of pets that can be hard to find.

Create a website to help people sell their animals. This will be a popular site for many people that are interested in buying a pet too. It’s difficult for people to find certain breeds of pets to buy and own. You will be able to help the seller and the buyer aware of each other. Your website can create sales worldwide; you must admit that is a great customer base to work with.

You may want to sell only well known breeds of animals (they cost more money). You can charge listers a monthly or per-ad-fee for their listings. In order to make good profits you might want to charge a listing fee according to the asking price of each pet. This would assure your profits for the less expensive, medium priced, and the very expensive pets.

Don’t forget that you can make even more money by putting up affiliate ads on your site that are pet related! These can prove to be very profitable to your business. Your customers will love having the options offered to them too. It will save them the time to find these sites needed to take care of and pamper their pets.

Encourage your listers to take many different angles of photos and explain why they are selling their pet. Include information about their pet’s age, personality traits, likes, and dislikes, showing that the seller truly is the owner of the pet. It might also be a good idea to inform buyers whether the seller thinks that only certain age groups should consider owning the pet also. Since some pets are not good with children or other pets, it is important to include all of this type of information too. The more information given about the pet the better it will be for possible buyers.

Include on your site articles for your visitors about all of the different types of pets, their care, maintenance, lifespan etc. You might also be able to offer books that can be helpful to buyers too. Encourage your customers to leave feedback on their experiences buying a pet from your site.

Resources;

http://www.petclassifieds.us/

http://www.api4animals.org/a5a_petshops.php

http://www.animallaw.info/topics/spuspetsales.htm

See Spot Stay

Tuesday, January 6th, 2009

See Spot Stay

‘Rufus the Doofus’ that is what the kids nicknamed our dog. He was an adorable beagle and yes, he was a bit goofy. However, we should have named him Houdini. I’m sure he broke every world record on escaping from any enclosed area. Eventually we found a new home for Rufus, with a family who had a lot more patience than we did. However, they had help from a little something else.

The new family had invisible fencing installed in their yard. The bad little beagle couldn’t see the enclosure, which calmed his stir-crazy nature. With proper training, their new family member felt right at home and stayed there.

Pet containment services are a quickly growing field. Due to the original patent expiring in 1991, several companies have now developed their own technology to help frustrated pet owners. In addition, many new housing developments have fencing limitations or restrictions. This market is a wide-open field for an outgoing person who enjoys the outdoors.

The hidden fence consists of an electrical line buried a few inches underground around a perimeter and a transmitter connected to the dog’s collar. If he tries to cross the line, he receives a light shock as a reminder to stay home.

To start an invisible fencing business, check with various companies to choose the best product for you. Become an expert on the product. Use your acquired knowledge, professionalism, and compassion towards animals to make the sale. The real money comes with the installation. You will have to invest in the right kind of equipment for installing the underground wire, but you really should be able to make a good profit by charging $8 to $10 per square yard. For greatest effectiveness and humane treatment of animals, some pet training with the system is required. By offering this service too, you will be a one-stop shop for pet owners.

Newspaper and yellow pages ads as well as direct mail and flyers are great to get the word out about your business. Becoming friends with local veterinarians is also a good idea. Even landscaping companies or homeowners associations might offer referrals.

By opening a pet containment business, you will be jumping into a fairly new, fast growing market. Stay organized, energized, and in no time you will be off and running- that is more than you can say for Rufus.

Resources:

http://www.invisiblefence.com/

http://www.mightypets.com/

http://www.petsafe.net/fencing/wireless.php?c=29&xc=16

How Your Dog Can Make You Money

Monday, October 20th, 2008

How Your Dog Can Make You Money

Let’s face it. Geese aren’t the friendliest of all animals, especially if you’ve got something they want; i.e. food. In addition, they tend to leave their waste behind (one goose makes about one pound of waste each day!) wherever they go - golf courses, parks, cemeteries, schoolyards. In short, geese can be a nuisance.

You’re on the golf course, ready to take a shot. It’s going to be a hole in one - you can feel it - you bend over, ready to swing and it happens - out walk the geese.

Or…

It’s a sun-soaked afternoon, and the kids are kicking the soccer ball around. A few are eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, when it happens - honk, honk, here come the geese.

Let’s face it. Geese aren’t the friendliest of all animals, especially if you’ve got something they want; i.e. food. In addition, they tend to leave their waste behind (one goose makes about one pound of waste each day!) wherever they go - golf courses, parks, cemeteries, schoolyards, etc. In short, geese can be a real nuisance.

Actually, they are more than a nuisance - they can pose health risks to humans, especially when the geese are clustered together in large numbers.

That’s where a “Goose Be Gone” type business comes into play. Here’s how it works: you train your dog to chase geese from public areas (i.e. golf courses, parks, schoolyards, etc). Generally within six to eight weeks (sometimes more), the geese will stop returning to those areas, and you will have rid your client of a very annoying nuisance.

This could be the business for you, especially if you have a Border Collie. Because of their inherent herding instinct, Border Collies are the best breeds for chasing geese. Border Collies are taught to never touch or harm geese just scare them away. (This is an excellent selling point as well-your clients will be rid of a nuisance, but the birds will not be hurt in the process.)

Other breeds tend to nip at the legs and feet of the geese, causing considerable injury to the birds. (The point is to chase the geese and teach them to stay away from a certain property, not to harm them.) Labrador Retrievers, for example, instinctively grab their catches in their mouths - again, this can injure or kill the goose. Your goal is to rid an area of geese, not to harm the geese.

If you love dogs and want to adopt a Border Collie or two, you can visit this extensive list of Border Collie Rescuers across the United States. To find a credible, qualified dog trainer, look through your local phone book, ask your veterinarian, local animal shelter, or pet store if they can recommend someone.

In order to start your goose chasing business, you will need well-trained Border Collies, and you may need to make sure you have your business licensed and bonded. You can learn more about license and bonding by visiting the Small Business Advisor’s Small Business FAQ.

You can find potential clients all around you: cemeteries, universities, local school districts, golf courses, apartment communities, country clubs and so on. Wherever there are geese, you can find potential clients. Attract potential clients by creating a strong marketing plan, through word-of-mouth, creating an attractive website, and sending press releases to local newspapers and magazines.

Starting a “Goose be Gone” business can take some time - especially if you need to have your Border Collies trained. However, you are offering a much-needed service, considering the growing problem of Canadian geese migrating to the United States. The best part and a great selling point of course, is the fact that you will offer a safe, effective service resulting in happy clients without harming the geese.

You can do further research on goose chasing businesses by visiting Geese Police Inc, Adventure K9 and Triangle Goose Control. Some even offer franchising opportunities, if you would rather go that route.

Resources;

http://www.nogeese.com/

http://www.adventurek9.com/home.htm

http://gothamist.com/2007/03/27/geese_police_co.php

http://center.spoke.com/info/cQXkgg/KalcadeGeesePoliceInc

http://www.geesepolicevamd.com/

http://www.geesepoliceinc.com/news.html

How to Put Your Pets to Work

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

How to Put Your Pets to Work

Is your pet your best friend? Do you spend lots of time playing with them and watching them? Have you often wished they could make money for you?

If you know a lot about your pets, this home-based business could help you make some money off them. No, I am not talking about sending a video to a TV program! That method can work but your chances of getting your pet seen on National TV are slim and making any substantial regular income, that way is impossible. This method involves a regular steady income just from having and enjoying pets.

Since you are not the only pet owner with a fascination for your animal, you can put this love to good use. Publishing a free “Pet Gazette” may be the answer you are looking for. Don’t worry if you are not good at writing, you could have freelancers write articles for inclusion in it. You could distribute it to various “drop-off” locations and make money from advertising (pet stores, veterinarian clinics, groomers, etc.).

-How to Get Started

First, you will need to create your Gazette. If you have a computer at home, this will be fairly simple. You can use Publisher (or MS Word) to create the publication. Use some cute graphics and be sure to include your contact information as Publisher. MS Publisher is easier to use because it includes several layouts that can help get you started.

You can print it up on plain white or a basic color paper on your home printer, which will eliminate expensive printing costs. A printing service can also be used, but may cost a little more than home printing.

-Getting Freelance Writers

Your articles do not need to all be professional. Poems or short bits from school kids can be fun to include in your Gazette. Another source of articles is writing classes at local schools, your veterinarian, and your friends. Every aspiring author wants to see their work in print, so it should be easy to get articles to use as long as you give them credit for writing the article.

-How to Get Advertisers

Contact your local pet stores, veterinarian, pet groomers, and any other company that have anything to do with pets and pet products. Tell them what you are doing and see if you can include a coupon to offer a discount for people reading the Gazette. Have them set up an account tracking code that can be put on the coupons so they will know the coupon came from your newsletter. At the end of every month, contact them to see how many coupons have been used and request your payment from them.

-Distributing Your Gazette

The same contacts you used for advertisers are a good place to start putting your newsletter. Ask them to place copies on the counter or give a copy to each person who visits their establishment. If you have kids, you could also have them put a copy on each of your neighborhood doors or porches, (stay away from mailboxes this is against the law).

If you make your newsletter fun and informative, you will soon have lots of readers wanting your publication for the value it provides them each month in discounts and information about their pets.

Helpful Resources:

http://library.humboldt.edu/~ccm/copyrite.htm

http://www.topstory.ca/newsletters.html

http://www.freelance-writing.net/copywriting-newsletter.htm

http://www.companynewsletters.com/electronic.htm