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CM Plus chatted recently with Dave Ratner, the "chief instigating officer" of Dave's Soda and Pet City, an Agawam, MA-based chain of pet supply stores (that, yes, also sells soda).

There are brands of food that we regularly buy, simply because (a) the cats like them, or (b) the vet suggested them. But despite all the times I've mailed or e-mailed in my contact information in the hopes of getting offers, coupons or whatever, nothing much ever came of it. Likewise for the brand of…

As it happens, the howling and mewing elicited by two commercials were from man and animal in equal amounts. The first spot, in the "shoulda known better" category, comes from PetSmart.

For many folks, tis the season to give to charitable causes. This month, we look at the Web sites of several well known animal nonprofits, to see what they're doing online.

Sixty-three percent of U.S. households — 69.1 million homes — own a pet, and 45% own more than one, according to a survey by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association.

Five days before Christmas, and chances are your local shopping center looks like the Battle of Verdun, only with less parking. What would you give to be able to find out, without setting foot in that seething mass of frazzled parents, crying kids and overworked sales clerks, whether that set of barbells your Aunt Fanny…

About seven years ago, the Lazy E-L ranch in Roscoe, MT decided it wanted to try marketing directly to red meat lovers. It formed the Montana Legend Co., which markets angus beef online and through catalogs.

Terrence Smalley, a longtime online marketing executive, has formed Outonthenet.com, a loyalty-marketing firm catering to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) market.

My pointed observation from reviewing hundreds of self-penned sales letters from small business owners is this: A majority of these otherwise by and large hard-working and conscientious people don't put nearly enough time and effort into the job.

MerchantCircle has launched Web IdentityManager, a software package designed to help local business owners manage their online reputation by aggregating company listings, reviews and online ratings from local search sites.