The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

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I’m going to assume that at least some of you are curious about the new face appearing in the upper left. I’m Tom Mazorlig, the new editor-in-chief here at Pet Age. I’m excited to be working at this successful magazine that covers the industry I’ve been involved with for my whole life.

Like most of you, I grew up with pets. I was born into a family that had dogs, cats and parakeets. I always had a deep interest in animals and convinced my folks to let me have rabbits, ferrets, hamsters, fish and lizards. Lots of lizards. Yes, I’m a reptile guy.
After college, I spent several years breeding corn snakes, king snakes, bearded dragons and chameleons. I worked as an editor of pet care books at TFH Publications for a total of 14 years, and I helped manage the livestock for a reptile wholesaler for several years.

Currently, my partner and I share our home with two rescued cats, four snakes, three tarantulas and one lizard. That number of pets could rise at any time.

But this letter isn’t just about me; it’s about Pet Age.

Fittingly for this time of year, our cover story is all about gifts, so turn there first for last minute shopping and shelf-stocking ideas. We cover giving gifts to pets—which has become a huge trend—along with giving gifts to pet lovers.

This is also the season of community and camaraderie. This issue we feature a more than usual number of events that Pet Age attended. I was thrilled to attend the Better With Pets Summit and the NYC Re-Tails & Sales Expo myself and bring the highlights of those events to our readers. Our Community section has images of a number of other events Pet Age staff attended. The contacts you can make at these events are so valuable, I really encourage retailers to get out and go to a few.

It’s also time to start looking ahead. We’ve got some new things in the works for Pet Age in 2015. I think (and hope) you will find the new content interesting and useful. And despite my personal love of snakes, lizards and spiders, I promise that Pet Age will continue to cover the entire pet industry. And whatever winter holidays you celebrate, I hope you and your loved ones have happy ones.