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It Was 45 Years Ago Today

Tom Mazorlig//September 12, 2016//

It Was 45 Years Ago Today

Tom Mazorlig //September 12, 2016//

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Welcome to our 45th Anniversary issue! It’s quite a milestone for a magazine to still be going strong after 45 years. It’s also a milestone I share with Pet Age, as I’m two months older than this publication. According to tradition, the gift for the forty-fifth year is sapphires. I’ve always been more partial to emeralds, but if you send us sapphires, I won’t say no.

For this issue, we’re bringing you a detailed feature on some of the developments and trends of the last 45 years in the pet industry. I interviewed some industry veterans to get their input on the major changes in the pet world. We’ve also created a timeline of some of the most significant pet industry events.

The anniversary story includes some of the best and most interesting—in some cases bizarre—covers from our back issues. We even found the cover of the very first issue. I’m not going to say much about that cover, except that I’m proud of how far our cover design has come.

There are also some old ads, article headlines and some random facts about the pet industry of 45 years ago. I’m particularly fascinated by how easily available monkeys were. When I was growing up, our neighborhood pet store had a monkey in the window. I really, really wanted it, but now I know that monkeys make terrible pets for most people. I don’t believe in overly restricting the ownership of various animals, but it really is for the best that some animals are difficult to get.

I hope that our now middle-aged magazine (and its middle-aged editor) have brought you and your business valuable insight and information over the years. I hope that Pet Age makes you better at whatever you do in the pet industry. If that is the case, we’d love to hear about it. Please leave a comment on our Facebook page or tweet to us to tell us why you enjoy Pet Age or how it has helped your business. We’ll share some of the best comments on our social media page in an upcoming issue.

Thanks to all of our readers and advertisers for supporting Pet Age for almost half a century. Thanks to the entire pet industry for being such a friendly and supportive environment. I hope that we’re all around to enjoy the next 45 years.

Tom Mazorlig