Pet Fashionistas: By Guest Blogger Jill A. Richardson, DVM

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| Print | By | August 19, 2008 6:50 AM

Attention all divas… it's Pet Fashion Week! During Pet Fashion Week, pet fashion designers around the world meet up in New York City and strut their fashion forward mutts on the “dog walk.”

Pet fashion has become one of the biggest growing divisions of the pet world. In fact, according to the American Association of Pet Product Manufacturers, an estimated 48 billion dollars will be spent on pets in 2008. Some of that spending will be on pet clothing.

Designers like Isaac Mizrahi and Coach have been creating very chic duds for pets for several years now. (My friend, Reiko, recently got the cutest pink Coach collar and matching leash for her Akita, Coco.) And, many other designers are jumping on the band wagon. Pieces can range from a few dollars to a few thousand--- just like with people clothing.

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My personal favorite designer is Ada Nieves, she has a shop called Prima Dog on 59th Street in NYC. I was just Prima Dog this week. Although she didn’t have anything in stock that would fit my dogs (Baby is almost 200 pounds and Hootchie is shaped like a 100 pound cashew), she did have several beautiful things for my cat, Kitty. And, since Kitty is white, she’s was very easy to match.

People often ask me if there are potential dangers or health issues to be concerned about when dressing pets. Of course there are, I tell them, but, if you observe the following guidelines, you can dress up your pet and keep them haute and happy.

· Be very careful not to overheat your animals with pet clothing. Pets can overheat when the temperature rises. You want to make sure to either skip clothing during warm weather, or choose fabrics that are light and airy. Be especially careful with short faced dogs, like Bull Dogs, Boston Terriers, since they are even more sensitive to overheating.

· Make sure your pet’s outfit fits. Loose fitting pieces can cause your pet to trip or fall. Tight fitting apparel can be very uncomfortable. Also, always make sure the clothing does not obstruct your pet’s vision. If your pet is not comfortable or can not see, they can easily panic and hurt themselves.

· When dressing your pet for the first time, take it slow and make sure your pet is not stressed out. Some pets can get nervous or become uncomfortable when trying new things, like dressing up. You don’t want to stress out your pet if she appears to be too anxious about the situation. In my experience, it seems that cats are especially prone to stressing out when you try to dress them for the first time. An easy way to dress up your cat without too much stress would be to add a fashionable collar. Again, you need to try new things with pets very slowly at first, making sure not to get them too stressed out.

· Check the clothing for loose buttons or baubles. Dogs like to chew and will start chewing or biting at their clothes and could ingest a button or a bauble off the outfit. Not only could this potentially cause an intestinal obstruction, depending on the size of the bauble and the size of the dog, and it could possibly be toxic. Some metal buttons may be made from zinc, which, if ingested, could cause severe problems for your pooch.

To learn more about Pet Fashion Week, visit: www.petfashion.com

Send your pet fashion photos to photos@petside.com -- who knows, you may see your pet on the homepage!

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