FINALLY A WAY TO PROVE YOUR PET IS REALLY THE CUTEST IN THE WORLD!

    -/24-7PressRelease.com/ -- Is your cat the sweetest, most adorable pet in the world? Is your dog’s extraordinary cuteness more than obvious, even to those without your natural bias? If you answered yes, a new website, ThePetStar.com, thinks it’s time you and your dog or cat join this new online pet community and interactive contest and receive the recognition you deserve.

Dog and Cat Lovers can join by uploading a photo of their cat or dog and answering a series of questions to create their pet’s unique personal story. ThePetStar.com creates a web page for each pet so that visitors to the site can “meet” him or her and cast their vote.

The site is of course for people crazy about their pets, and can get quite competitive. Each contest lasts three months and is decided by the number of votes received. The top pet in each category (dog or cat) receives an original portrait of their pet by well known San Francisco Pet Artist and co-founder, Rive Nestor.

In addition to the portrait, the top vote-getter overall wins a Pet Friendly San Francisco Weekend, which includes a two-night stay at the Diva Hotel in San Francisco (the Star is welcome), dinner for two at Moose’s, and a $250.00 shopping spree at The Urban Pet, which specializes in everything from jeweled collars and apparel to custom made pet furniture.

ThePetStar.com, is the latest venture of UDOGZ Designs, Inc., the privately held parent company of The Urban Pet and The Rive Nestor Gallery, San Francisco’s only Pet Portrait Gallery, both of which are located at 3429 Sacramento Street in San Francisco’s upscale Laurel Heights neighborhood.

Laurie Martin, COO explains, “As our business has grown, we’ve found that many people are just like us. They absolutely adore their pets and want gifts and online venues that help them indulge in and celebrate that love. We provide fun ways to do just that.”

“We provide lots of helpful ways to get votes,” explains Chris Carnes, CEO. When you enter the contest, we email you an electronic postcard with your pet’s photo and a link to their web page. You can forward the postcard to your pet’s fans, and they simply click the link to reach the page where they can cast their vote.”

“Also, on your pet’s web page, you can order gifts personalized with your pet’s photo, such as greeting cards, tee shirts, mugs, aprons, and tote bags. You can let the photo speak for itself, or you can add “Vote For Me at ThePetStar.com.”

“Then of course there’s always the old fashioned way of getting votes—pressing the flesh (or fur), introducing yourself to the people in your neighborhood and asking for votes. You can view running tallies at any time, monitoring not only the number of votes your pet has received and their ranking in the contest, but also the competition.”

“And, for local San Franciscans, visitors and computer neophytes we’ve made it really easy. An online kiosk is available at The Urban Pet. Its simple: Bring your pet in, we shoot the photo, you fill out the personal pet questionnaire and your pet’s web page is live. Let the voting begin!”

It’s not all business and profit, however. The Rive Nestor Gallery opened with a fund-raiser for the San Francisco SPCA, and has been involved in numerous fund raising activities for many charities supporting pets. 10% of all profits from gifts purchased at The Pet Star.com will go to Pets Unlimited, a non-profit veterinary hospital and shelter in San Francisco, CA. There is also a special T-Shirt that can be purchased on ThePetStar with all profits going to Save-A-Pet, a not-for profit, no-kill shelter in Palm Springs dedicated to finding loving, quality homes for each cat and dog in its care.

ThePetStar.com is headquartered on a 33-acre production and design facility in Petaluma, California where Rive Nestor creates her magical portraits. Nestor’s images are produced here as high-quality giclee prints as well as greeting cards, ornaments, and other gifts and are sold throughout the US in retail gift stores and on our website www.thepetstar.com. 2004 has taken us international with sales in Brazil and Japan and an upcoming feature story about us in Japan’s premier Dog Magazine, “Dog World”.

CONTACT: Rive Nestor, Artist and Co-Founder, [email protected], 415.602.5450

For online media information and photographs, go to http://www.thepetstar.com/mediakit.php

TheThe Pet Star.com is a global community of pet lovers and contest. ThePetStar.com combines 3 of the most loved past times: Pets, Art and the Internet. Combine that with America’s recent voting craze and you have The Pet Star!

# # #