April vacation is right around the corner. Make your boarding reservation now to make sure that your pet can enjoy a stay at Green Acres!

Keep Your Pet’s Teeth Clean with Wysong DentaTreat™

February is national Pet Dental Health month. While months dedicated to specific issues are useful, it is important to understand that your pet needs you to be thinking about their dental hygiene throughout the year. Daily brushing, with the appropriate pet toothpaste and brush, is one way that you can keep plaque and tartar from building up on your pet’s teeth. If you do not prevent this build-up you will inevitably be making an appointment with your veterinarian for a teeth cleaning, which can be a costly procedure.

While nothing beats the benefits of daily brushing, Wysong DentaTreat™ can be a supplement or an alternative to the regular brushing of your pet’s teeth. Composed of a special blend of dental-active natural cheeses, minerals, apple polyphenols, and many other ingredients that help to maintain oral health, DentaTreat™ can be sprinkled directly onto food, or it can also be used with a toothbrush as a tooth cleaning powder.

Paula and I have been using DentaTreat™ with our pets, sprinkled on each meal, for years and have definitely noticed a reduction in the need for annual dentals since we began its use. We’re not good about the daily brushing so it is practically all we do and we love the simplicity of use and the results. We encourage you to give DentaTreat™ a try with your pet. The best time to start its use is when your pet’s teeth are already in condition, like after a veterinary dental procedure. If you would like to learn more about appropriate dental care for your pet, talk to your veterinarian or checkout our podcast at: http://woofmeowshow.podbean.com/2010/02/07/

Pet Portraits and Pet Identification Passports with Deb Bell

Spring's almost here and with warmer weather comes the chance that a pet might wander off, get lost, or break loose from a yard. While we never hope that our pets will get lost, it's important to know what to do if they do go missing.

On Saturday, March 20, from 8 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., pet guardians will have an opportunity to make their pet a star while also gaining tools to help them in case Fido goes missing. Debra Bell from Bell Imaging & Design will be on hand to provide a mini-pet portrait session for $25. Included in the cost of the mini-session is a free 5x7 print, a specially designed pet passport with spaces for information about the pet, and an online gallery of the images available for up to 6 months.

Pre-registration for this event is highly encouraged. To register, sign up at Green Acres Kennel Shop prior to March 20. Snow date is March 21. Payment may be made the day of the event to Debra Bell.

We Love Puppies – That’s Why We Don’t Sell Them

We are proud to have joined the ranks of the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Puppy Friendly Pet Stores initiative. Participating pet stores pledge to refuse to sell puppies, but instead suggest that people obtain a puppy from a humane society, animal shelter or reputable breeder.

For help on finding a reputable breeder, checkout the article Finding the Right Dog and Breeder on our web site or ask for a copy the next time you are in the store.

Community Projects

Furry Friends Food Bank

Thanks to your generosity; we have raised a total of $466 for the Eastern Area Agency on Aging’ Furry Friends Food Bank (EAAA-FFFB). We will match each dollar and round it up to an even $1000 to use towards the purchase of pet food that will help Seniors keep their pets in their homes.

In addition to your cash donations, many of you have brought in food for our EAAA-FFFB basket which we deliver on a regular basis. We will continue to accept your donations throughout the year and will make sure that they get to seniors in need.

A very special thank you to a Cameron Ashe who asked that guests at his birthday party bring pet food to donate to FBBB in lieu of bringing gifts for him. Thank you Cameron! Also thanks to the Healing Light Spiritualist Church which dropped off a large donation.

Bangor Humane Society Low Income Spay/Neuter Fund

On February 1st the Bangor Humane Society announced that due to the generosity of three foundations, they received a grant of $17,000 to fund a Spay/Neuter Program for low-income cat and dog owners. Due to the overwhelming need of many families in our community, the programs funds were exhausted in a record 7 days and the program is now closed to new applications.

Pet over-population is a critical issue throughout the US and intact animals are a major reason for that problem. Some statistics:
· In seven years, if left unaltered, one female cat and her offspring can theoretically produce 420,000 cats
· In six years, one female dog and her offspring can theoretically produce 67,000 dogs.
·  According to the American Humane it is estimated that around 3.7 million pets were euthanized in 2008.
We are keenly aware that we cannot solve this problem ourselves, but do feel the need to do our part. From now until May 31st we will be collecting cash donations for the Bangor Humane Society’s Low Income Spay/Neuter Fund. As with the campaign for the Furry Friends Food Bank, Green Acres will match each dollar donated to the spay/neuter fund, dollar for dollar, up to $500. If we can raise $1000 among us, that will spay/neuter approximately 16 pets.

Checkout our podcast on the pros and cons of spaying and neutering at: http://woofmeowshow.podbean.com/2010/01/31/

Staff News

Congratulations to Kaila, who has earned Level I certification through the Pet Care Services Association (PCSA) as a Certified Pet Care Technician. In order to be certified by the PCSA, an individual must pass a comprehensive exam which covers Breed Recognition, Small Animal Anatomy and Physiology, Boarding Care, Emergency Care and First Aid, Geriatric and Degenerative Disease Care, Contagious Disease, Parasites, Zoonotic Diseases, Pesticides and Customer Relations.

A huge thank you to Rachel and Tracy who celebrated their service anniversaries at Green Acres this month. Rachel started her career at Green Acres seven years ago as a Pet Care Technician. She then became Kennel Manager and for the last 18 months has been a Groomer.  Tracy started her journey at Green Acres three years ago as a part-time Pet Care Technician. Today she is a fulltime Certified Pet Care Technician and an assistant instructor in our dog training classes. Thank you for being key members of the Green Acres team!

Every month the Green Acres staff chooses two Staff Champions; someone who has done an exceptional job and someone who has publicly recognized another employee for doing an exceptional job. A hearty congratulations and thank you to our December champions; Brenda and Rachael and our January champions Alexa and Rachael!

We are pleased to announce the birth of Elizabeth Hannah Ruggiero on February 12th. Elizabeth is the daughter of Becky, one of our Certified Professional Dog Trainers, and her husband Paul.

Election time for Best of Surveys

Once again it’s time to vote for the Best Kennel and Best Pet Store in the Bangor region and if you believe we are deserving we would greatly appreciate your vote. Votes may be cast at: http://www.bestofsurveys.com/vote-town.html.