A recent episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” highlighted “horrific” conditions in substandard puppy breeding facilities—and also noted that most dogs sold in pet stores come from puppy mills. What are you doing in response?  (Check all that apply.) Nothing—we don’t sell puppies. Nothing—the quality of our puppies speaks for itself. Focusing on customer education (signage about puppy sources, etc.). Checking our supplier list to make sure we don’t buy from substandard facilities. Changing suppliers. Other (please specify)

It’s hard to say enough good things about indulgent pet owners who are willing to whip out their credit cards for beauty and spa products, designer apparel and a whole slew of other upscale items that pamper pets. After all, they will help boost pet industry sales 5.6 percent this year to a record $43.4 billion, according to the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (Greenwich, Conn.).

Total pet spending was $41.2 billion in 2007, APPMA said.

The Hartz Mountain Corp. (Secaucus, N.J.) in March voluntarily recalled specific lots of cat vitamins made for the company by UFAC (USA) Inc. (Baconton, Ga.) due to concerns of potential Salmonella contamination in some bottles.

The recall included 739 bottles of Hartz Vitamin Care for Cats with lot code SZ 22771 and UPC 32700-97701. Normal testing by Hartz and UFAC did not reveal the presence of Salmonella in any Hartz products, but sampling by the Food and Drug Administration did.

he company recalled a different lot code of cat vitamins, also made by UFAC, last November due to similar concerns...

A wide-ranging bill that broadly defines “breeder” would prohibit certain breeding practices, set limits on the number of dogs and cats sold per year, impose care and facility standards, and spell out the information to be disclosed at time of sale.