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Help Your Apartment Pets Get Along Together

Joseph Coupal - Thursday, April 28, 2011
Help Your Apartment Pets Get Along Together

Can cats and dogs live together in peace? Could your cat get along with another cat?

Whether you’re blending households with a roommate or partner who’s bringing a pet or adopting another animal for your current menagerie, you will have to figure out how all these creatures will share space. You may need to play guidance counselor for your furry friends, and we’ve got some tips to help you get started.

When You Can Choose Your New Pet
If your current pet is an older one, consider how it will feel about having a young puppy or kitten underfoot. Youngsters can often make an older pet feel young again. On the other hand, if your current pet is a real curmudgeon, you might want to avoid a young animal that may make it crankier. In either case, don’t leave old and young pets alone together until you see how they get along together.

Consider how different breeds might get along. If you are looking to adopt a new pet, you might be successful in choosing its characteristics and temperament based on the new pet’s breed. Also, if possible, make a point to spend some time observing the new animal before you adopt. It’s a good idea to try to match energy levels and easygoing natures to difficult ones, though the truth is that chemistry between animals, like people, is fairly unpredictable.

If you bring together two or more dogs or cats of different sexes, make sure they are all spayed or neutered so you don’t end up with a litter on your hands!

Making Introductions
Whether you are inheriting pets from a new roommate or a significant other or bringing a newly-adopted pet into your household, the way the animals meet could have a lot to do with how they end up getting along. For dogs, meeting in a neutral location, such as a park that neither one has been to before, is a great way for them to get to know each other without territorial disputes. Be sure the dogs are each on a leash and handled by a different person, in case they have to be separated.

Watch the animals’ body postures. If there is teeth-baring, deep growls, or stiff-legged stances, separate them, encourage them, and then reintroduce them. Once the dogs are in the same space, use plenty of positive reinforcement with each one to encourage them to get along.

With a Cat in the Equation
Cats, typically temperamental, can become even more so around dogs or other cats. Before introductions happen, keep the animals in different, but nearby, rooms so they can get used to the smells and sounds of the other. After a few days, let them share space in small bursts to see how they get along.

You may discover that a cat ends up claiming a certain part of the apartment for its own, at least initially. Keeping the dog’s bowls and the cat’s bowls, litter box and scratching post in separate places should help give your persnickety kitty the space it needs.

No matter what combination of pets you try to unite under a single roof, make patience and gentle support your priorities. Your new animals will need to adjust to new humans and a strange apartment, as well to their peer critters, so give them a chance to be scared and uncomfortable while they settle into their new home. In most cases, with time, animals that initially can’t stand to be in the same room together end up becoming good friends – or they at least learn how to tolerate each other.

Apartments in Raleigh, NC

Healthier Living with an Apartment Pet

Joseph Coupal - Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Healthier Living with an Apartment Pet

When you’ve got a pet, you benefit from the unconditional love that your furry friend showers on you. Research shows that besides making you feel warm and fuzzy, the love you experience as an animal owner can actually lead to better health for you, too. Read about these benefits here in these tips for healthier living with a pet in your apartment.

Health Benefits of Pets for All Ages
As a source of unconditional love and comfort, pets just make us feel good. When we dote on these lovable buddies, our brains release powerful mood-enhancing chemicals like serotonin and dopamine, which make us feel calm and happy. Some of the benefits of living with a pet include lower blood pressure, an immunity boost, and a healthy dose of social interaction.

Fido, the Fitness Coach
One reason why life with pets leads to healthier living is that pets encourage us to get up off the couch and get physical. It’s easy to forget about exercise or make excuses not to go to the gym, but when your beloved pet is demanding playtime, it is hard to say no. Whether you’ve got a cat who likes you to toss her feather toy across the floor to chase or a dog who begs you for walks, spending time with pets helps you get healthy amounts of physical activity, as well. In this way, Fido or Kitty can become your unexpected fitness coach.

Allergy Fighters
There’s also research to indicate that living with pets in an apartment can help children overcome sensitivity to allergies. While the traditional school of thought was that allergy-prone families should avoid having furry pets, current studies show that children who grow up in homes with pets end up decreasing their chances of developing severe allergies or asthma. It turns out that exposure to these animals helps children develop a stronger immune system against allergens.

Friend (or Date) Magnets
Regular social interaction is another cornerstone of healthy living, and owning a pet is a shared experience others enjoy relating to. Dogs are like friend magnets because they are cute and are such great conversation starters. It’s nearly impossible to take a dog to the park without having someone ask to pet the animal or inquire about the breed. These social exchanges can mean a lot when you are looking to make new connections with people, say, after a move to a new city. And if you’re a little on the shy side, walking a dog can really help you break out of your shell.

Pets and Unconditional Love
Because dogs and cats encourage physical activity and social interaction, it’s not hard to see why life with pets can lead to healthier living. For the chronically ill, these benefits are just the tip of the iceberg. For those who may be dealing with a health crisis, living with a pet can be a big mood booster. That’s because caring for a pet takes the focus off of one’s own troubles. In fact, studies show that AIDS patients who live with pets are less likely to suffer from depression, and those with high blood pressure who live with pets are more likely to remain calm in high-stress situations.

Pets, then, are like powerful non-prescription medicine — not to mention that having a snuggly pet curl up next to you nightly can make you feel loved and needed. It seems amazing that something as simple as scratching your dog behind the ears can make you feel so good, but the simple truth is that living with pets is a meaningful way to help improve your overall sense of health and well-being.

Apartments in Raleigh, NC

Creating a Work-Life Balance

Joseph Coupal - Monday, March 21, 2011

If achieving a “work-life balance” were easy, there wouldn’t be so many articles and advice books on the subject. But what does it mean to achieve a “balanced life?”

When you are able to maintain balance, you don’t feel as if your life is overwhelmed by any one task. You’re not spending so much time working that you don’t know what your non-work self is like, and you’re not constantly stressed by an unmanageable to-do list. You feel that you are actually living, rather than just rushing through the days.

Here are some suggestions on how to bring your life more into balance.

Prioritize sleep, exercise, and eating
When many responsibilities all call for our attention, it becomes easy for us to allow some of our most basic and healthful needs to be downplayed. Proper sleep and exercise help ensure our bodies are operating at full capacity, and they leave us feeling more relaxed as we live out each day. Pay attention to your body’s needs and rhythms, and honor them as best you can.

Prioritizing eating and the food you choose does not necessarily mean that you have to spend more money on food, or even force yourself to eat more healthily. It does mean being mindful of what and when you are eating. If you know you spend four out of five work lunches wolfing down something at your desk, allow yourself the freedom of a planned lunch out. And if you’re going to eat ten Oreos in a row one afternoon, make sure you enjoy them.

Identify and rethink your coping behaviors
If you’re very stressed, chances are you’re using something - maybe shopping, alcohol, or those Oreos - to help you feel better. While coping mechanisms are understandable human traits, you may want to think about alternative healthy activities that would allow you to relax without potentially draining your budget or leaving you feeling poorly.

Maintaining balance in your life means being aware of the things that stress you and attempting to change them or cope with them before you feel compelled to resort to behavior that will be counterproductive to your well-being. Instead of spending money, for instance, focus on another activity you enjoy. Instead of drinking or eating more than you will enjoy in order to relieve your stress, take the time to figure out why you would want to do those things in the first place.

Schedule time for quiet
Whether it’s prayer, meditation, yoga, writing in a journal, or just sitting and paying attention to your breath, having a few protected minutes of quiet in your day can be healing and revitalizing. Invest this time in a restful activity — watching TV, checking Facebook, or playing video games may not work as well for helping you feel more balanced.

Figure out what you can let go of
If you are simply trying to cram too much into 24 hours, you may need to cut some activities out of your packed schedule. It may not be obvious at first what you need to drop. Some experts recommend tracking your time; others, tracking your moods. Has one of your friends turned into an emotional vampire? Is that side project that once seemed so exciting now exhausting? Is your Saturday night out leaving you feeling bleak on Sunday? An honest appraisal of the events and relationships in your life may help you prioritize and potentially change some of them for the better.

Assess the “work” part of the work-life balance
Keep in mind that taking steps like these to improve your work-life balance may not go far enough to mitigate the negative effects of a job that is simply not suited to your personality, no matter how much that job pays. If you can’t leave a job that you find awful immediately, then make yourself a promise that at a definite date in the future - three months, six months, a year from now - you will re-evaluate your options. Write down your escape plan, as if you were formalizing a contract with yourself. If you find you have trouble clearly evaluating all the pieces of your life, you might want to consult a therapist, spiritual leader, or trusted friend to help you talk it all out.

Whether you “live to work” or “work to live,” you can always strive to streamline your life and make all its pieces work together more smoothly. Balance is an important goal for being happy with the things you have to do, as well as the things you want to do - and may help you deal with the difference between the two.

Apartments in Raleigh, NC

Blogging is the New Journaling

Joseph Coupal - Saturday, March 19, 2011
Blogging is the New Journaling

Do you like to keep a journal as a record of your life experiences to help you remember and catalog the fleeting thoughts of daily life? How would you feel about sharing those thoughts or observations with others?

If this interests you, you might wish to start your own online blog, which is like a journal that you compose in cyberspace.

A blog can be a place to share your expertise or interests, collect your thoughts, or even market a business. Read on for reasons why creating a blog might be for you.

What will your blog be about?
If you decide to start a personal blog, the sky’s the limit in terms of what you can write about. In keeping with the old axiom to “write what you know,” sharing information or insights about your everyday experiences is a great way to start blogging. Linking your observations to facts and information that can educate and entertain others is a bonus that will likely keep readers coming back.

Whether you choose to write a food blog, a travel blog, a political blog or one about garden gnomes, you may very well find an appreciative audience interested in what you have to say.

For business sites, of course, blog topics should relate to the product or service being promoted.

Which blogging site will you choose?
There are a number of different interfaces you can use for your blog.

Blogger, now a Google property, was one of the first blogging sites. Tumblr has a simple, yet sophisticated format, and Posterous makes setting up a blog quick and easy. WordPress themes allow for a very smooth, professional look.

LiveJournal, as the name implies, has a more personal than professional approach. Like a MySpace for the blogging world, LiveJournal’s focus is on community and groups gathered around shared interests. Its options allow users to make their journal as private or public as they like. Diary.com is a similar option that also lets you sync with task, calendar and social media applications.

A live journal…and more
Blogging began as a way to expand a personal Web presence by talking to friends and strangers about what you love - or hate - in a ‘dear diary’ style. With a blog, you can get personal in a timely way, updating it whenever you want. You can create an online journal that just might become “appointment reading” for friends and fans.

Fame can be achieved through blogging. In 2003, a frustrated temp, Julie Powell, decided to cook the 524 French recipes in Julia Child’s book “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” in the span of one year - and blog about the experience, at the same time. Her Julie/Julia Project project gained a large following and was adapted into a 2009 major motion picture, called “Julie & Julia” - the first time a blog had been brought to the big screen.

Powell’s blog ultimately had a dual purpose: it was both a personal expression and a professional outlet for her as a writer. This is common: a popular blog may take the form of a professional (or intentionally unprofessional) observation about a person’s experience in his industry or a citizen-journalist’s update on a particular subject.

Though the blog - and its new media cousins, Facebook and Twitter - have institutionalized the habit of sharing personal information with scores of complete strangers, the most-read posts of today are either truly informative or else very funny, offering readers tips, insight or humor that they can’t get anywhere else. And as businesses make blogging a part of their marketing plans, it seems everyone is bidding for the most eyes.

Perhaps you don’t care about publicity; you may just have something to say and don’t really care how many others will read it. Either way, if it’s time for you to blog, there are more ways to do it quickly and easily than ever before.

Like a pen-and-paper journal, a blog is the perfect venue for stream-of-consciousness creative writing and sharing about any number of topics - for all to read and share. Choose your blog host, your topic, and your style - the only limits are the time and energy you find to post what you have to say!

Apartment Homes Raleigh NC

Help Your Online Resume Help You

Joseph Coupal - Thursday, March 17, 2011
Help Your Online Resume Help You

Posting your resume online can assist you in your job search by making your unique qualifications known to thousands of employers who scour the Web for job candidates. But simply posting an online resume won’t get you hired. Find out how to leverage your online resume to help you find the job you’re looking for with these tips.

Why should you have an online resume?
Online resumes are fantastic job search tools because they’re efficient. Just think how long it would take for you to mail a copy of your resume to every potential employer - the time and expense would be staggering!

But with an online version at the ready, you can distribute your resume to hundreds or even thousands of potential employers and networking contacts quickly - and that’s an important advantage. In a job search, speed counts.

Online resumes are also convenient. Let’s say that you start your job search by informing all of your friends and contacts that you’re on the lookout for a new job. That’s a great beginning-of-job-search strategy, but your friends aren’t going to carry around paper copies of your resume with them everywhere they go. If a friend has a contact with a potential position for you, however, that friend can easily share the link to your online resume with a potential employer. Online resumes really can help your contacts help you.

Online resume tips
Once you realize how important it is to have an online resume, it’s good to know how to make your resume stand out in a crowd. Start by making sure that your online resume is filled with strong keywords. If you post a resume to a large job board like CareerBuilder.com or Monster.com, you should know that employers search for candidates on these sites by scanning resumes for keywords, specific search terms that illustrate the qualities and skills employers want. If you want to work as a software engineer, for instance, then a few good keywords to include in your online resume might be:

  • Master’s degree
  • Linux
  • Software design
  • Algorithms
  • Network security

These terms are good keywords because they are specific to a software engineer’s job. Remember that employers will be looking for different keywords applicable to skills required in their industries. If you have created a well-crafted resume, the right keywords should be there.

Keep in mind that you can do more with an online resume than simply post it on job boards. You can attach the link to e-mails for quick responses to job inquiries or for dispersal among networking contacts. (If the print version of your resume has fancy formatting, you may need to convert your resume to plain text format so it is easily readable when copied and pasted into an e-mail.)

Remember to keep your online resume current. You should always keep your current resume online so that it accurately reflects the breadth of your skills and achievements. Certain job board sites also push newly-updated resumes to the top of the heap for employer searches - another reason why keeping your current resume online is a plus.

Get the most mileage out of your online resume
In addition to keeping your resume current, you can help make your online resume work for you by maintaining active status on social networking Web sites where you post your resume. Each time you update resume information on one of these sites or interact with other uses in some way, the site informs all of your contacts that you’re active. LinkedIn, for example, does this via a weekly newsletter; Facebook uses a live feed. If a former coworker repeatedly sees your name in her weekly LinkedIn newsletter, for instance, she’s more likely to think of you when she hears of a job opportunity. In this way, networking sites like LinkedIn, Plaxo, or Facebook keep working for you even when you are not actively job searching.

An online resume really can be a tremendous asset to a job seeker. Follow some basic guidelines to keep your resume current and well-written, and you may dramatically increase your chances of finding employment.

Apartment in Raleigh, NC

Network with Neighbors in Your Apartment Community

Joseph Coupal - Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Network with Neighbors in Your Apartment Community

Why not try your hand at social networking in the apartment community where you live? You’ll find the returns may not only enhance your day-to-day life, but might benefit your professional one, as well.

Meet your neighbors
In our fast-paced lives, the days of front porches and sidewalk strolls have mostly passed away. We need another way to meet our neighbors. With busy schedules and few organized ways to meet, it’s no wonder that online social networking has become the way to connect — to folks both faraway and next door.

A social network that includes the residents of your apartment community is a great way to meet and share with the people you live close to. Like a neighborhood association, social networking within your community presents a chance to get to know your neighbors and discuss apartment living issues.

Discover professional opportunities
Business and social networking have become so intertwined that it’s now relatively easy to connect what you do with who you know. Sometimes the best business connections are the ones made casually and personally, and you might discover some great professional opportunities through social interactions with your neighbors. Connections to a business, for instance, can be made through chit-chat around the pool or via a posting of your product or service on your social networking venue.

Share information
Social networks can be used by residential groups to share information about the community, coordinate get-togethers, help residents find repair assistance, discover new businesses in the area — even monitor weather concerns and neighborhood watch issues. With an online neighbors’ network, you’ll likely be better informed about what’s happening around you, and you may discover new ways to get involved.

Neighbor networking sites
Facebook is, of course, one of the most popular social networking tools around. On the site, you can create “members-only” groups, where membership could be set up and limited to residents of your apartment community.

You might also look at other sites designed to unite a very specific population - the people you live near. OneTwib lets you see other users in your area via a virtual map. You can say hello, exchange information, buy or sell things, or offer services. i-Neighbors is another site that includes discussion groups, bulletin boards and photo albums.

Social networking can make friends out of virtual strangers, and help connect you to your neighbors, as well. You may discover that online social networking is another great way to feel at home in your apartment community.

Apartment in Raleigh, NC

Explore Your New Community Through the Internet

Joseph Coupal - Saturday, March 05, 2011
Explore Your New Community Through the Internet

So, you have moved to a new community that is unfamiliar to you, and you want to learn about your new neighborhood. Why not start your search by going online, right from your apartment?

Take a look at these suggestions for learning more about your new community through the Web.

Search for what interests you
The Internet has a wealth of resources waiting to connect you with the world right outside your apartment community. Think about the things that interest you: maybe you enjoy eating out in restaurants and going to movies?

Sites that focus on specific activities are great for expanding your awareness of destinations in your neighborhood. You can look to the Web to help you find, say, a Southwestern restaurant in your neighborhood, or find a theater and check the times on the new movie you want to see. For information about restaurants, for instance, check out Urbanspoon.com. You can even make online reservations at many eateries via sites such as Opentable.com. You can find local theaters and movie times on sites such as Fandango.com or Moviefone.com. Once you get used to it, looking for local attractions and events via the Web becomes as easy as clicking your mouse.

Google it
Don’t forget about one of the most versatile tools on the Internet: Google! Google is a first-class ticket to seeing the world online. You can find maps to destinations, in many cases with pictures of the actual places you want to visit. You can easily search by key words and categories, and get suggestions from Google about searches that others have made using similar phrases. One search to try is to enter your city, region, or neighborhood by name and see what comes up for you. You may discover a regional publication that serves your area with a blog about your favorite pastime and where to pursue that activity near your apartment home.

Find friends in your neighborhood
Some Web sites are designed to bring people together. You customize these sites for your city or area simply by entering the city’s name in the search field. Meetup.com, for instance, can be used to set up group events between like-minded people who live near each other and are interested in similar activities. On that site, just click “find a group,” then enter the activity that interests you, along with your location. You can then browse through a multitude of groups that have formed because of a love for music or flower arranging. Diving into the diverse opportunities found on pages like these may lead you to discover resources and opportunities in your community that you had no idea were available.

It’s not all fun and games
Your neighborhood may very well have a presence on the Web. Search by name for state and city government sites to learn how to conduct official business or where to find important services. Community-based sites are great online places to learn about your neighborhood and stay abreast of community news.

Of course, it is especially important in new surroundings to familiarize yourself with services you may need some day, like the location of the hospital nearest to your apartment. Of more daily assistance, you can find online services that will suggest different routes for getting to places, or you can check the current traffic on your favorite commute path. Maps and travel schedules for rapid transit can typically be found online, as well.

The people have spoken
One of the most useful and exciting features of the Web is its ability to bring people (and their opinions) together. Sites such as Yelp.com give people community forums where they can share their experiences of visiting stores, restaurants, nightclubs, and other services. You can benefit from all this information, but, as with everything you read on the Web, use your own judgment: a few negative comments, no matter how strong the objections, do not necessarily mean that an establishment should be avoided. Look for a general agreement over a series of postings, and notice if you tend to agree with certain commentators who post frequently. You may even decide to join the fray and offer your own online feedback.

The power of the Internet to help familiarize us with our world is one of its great achievements. It has rapidly become quite common that any place we might want to visit now has two locations: one on a street somewhere, and one on the Web.

Bookmark your favorite destinations on the information highway and check in with them regularly — it’s the easiest way to stay informed about what’s going on and to explore the world where you live.

Apartment in Raleigh, NC

Renting with a Pet: What to Ask Your Apartment Manager

Joseph Coupal - Friday, February 11, 2011
Renting with a Pet: What to Ask Your Apartment Manager

Oftentimes, our furry friends make the best roommates. But renting with pets can be challenging. Some apartments don’t allow pets, and pet deposits can be expensive.

Ask the right questions before you move, however, and you can be sure to find a pet-friendly apartment.

Are pets allowed?
Question one in your pet-friendly research is probably the most important: Does your prospective apartment community allow pets?

If so, are there restrictions on species, size or breeds? Before you fill out an application for an apartment, be honest with your future landlord or apartment manager and tell them about your pet. Also, ask about the amount and the conditions of the pet deposit.

Is this a pet-friendly rental?
An environment that welcomes pets in apartments is not only tolerant of them, but also offers structural aspects that work for four-legged residents. Stairs, for instance, can be hard for some dogs to climb, especially small or older ones; a ground-floor unit might be preferable. Hardwood floors look great and make clean-up easier, but carpet is softer on dog and cat paws and dampens the sound if you have downstairs neighbors.

Some apartment communities offer a dog-walking area and clean-up stations, so tour the facilities to check for yourself. Find out if there are dog parks nearby or if there is a doggy daycare in the area in case your dog needs some extra attention during the day. Also, get a feel from your landlord for the number of pets in the apartment community and for other residents’ tolerance level when it comes to pets.

Renting with pets needn’t be fraught with stress and secrecy. Get the right details during your apartment search for a pet-friendly rental to share with your furry, feathered or scaled companion. If you are up front with your apartment manager and ask the right questions, you will have a better chance of finding a new apartment in which both you and your pet can be happy.

Apartments in Raleigh, NC

Avoid These Apartment Pet Owner Mistakes

Joseph Coupal - Thursday, February 10, 2011
Avoid These Apartment Pet Owner Mistakes

Just because you’ve decided to become a pet owner doesn’t mean you know all there is to know about taking care of a pet - yet! There are a few other things to consider to ensure that you, your pet and your apartment home all fit together well.

Don’t be the pet owner who makes the common mistakes: read on and prepare yourself to give great pet care.

Getting a pet before you’re ready
In some ways, deciding to be a pet owner is similar to deciding to become a parent.

In both cases, you’re taking on the responsibility of being the sole provider for a living thing who will depend on you for everything. Your schedule won’t be completely your own anymore when you have a pet to walk and feed. You’ll need to be prepared financially for veterinarian bills, food costs and the expense of dog training and boarding when you’re out of town.

Be sure you’ve considered all the angles before you bring a furry friend into your life. A rash decision could lead to a bad situation for both of you.

Choosing the wrong pet for you
When selecting a pet, you should consider how well it will match your personality and the size of your home. Some pet breeds make better apartment pets than others. If you like a low-key home atmosphere and would prefer a pet happy with confined spaces, then a high-energy Jack Russell terrier, hound dog or retriever would not represent the best choice for you, for instance. There are a number of online sites that can help you identify just the right kind of dog or cat for your lifestyle.

First and foremost, you’ll want to make sure that you live in a pet-friendly apartment before you opt for pet adoption. Check with your landlord to make sure pets are allowed.

Not pet-proofing an apartment
In the excitement of adopting a pet, some new owners forget all about preparing their home for the new addition. Like a child, a pet can get into any and everything. Puppies like to chew and will eat all kinds of things left around - edible or otherwise. Garbage needs to be secured, as well as anything else your pet may chew. Secure heavy items that a puppy or kitten could knock over and electrical cords they could get wrapped up in. Balconies can also prove to be dangerous for your young pet. Without proper precautions, your apartment pet could hurt itself or destroy something you care about in your apartment.

Skipping obedience training
Some pet owners grow tolerant of their pet’s foibles or believe they can train them on their own. As pets grow older, however, it becomes harder to break bad habits. An untrained apartment pet may cause problems for you. (An incessant barker could disturb the neighbors, for instance.) An untrained pet will also be a problem at dog parks and pet daycare facilities. Failing to train your pet early may very well negatively impact quality of life for both of you.

You can avoid the pitfalls of many pet owners by thinking ahead and planning for all the details that owning a pet involve. This planning process will help ensure you make the right decisions for a furry friend who is counting on you for its happiness and well-being.

Apartments in Raleigh, NC

Pamper Your Apartment Pet

Joseph Coupal - Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Pamper Your Apartment Pet

Finding the perfect roommate can be challenging, but if your roomie has four legs and eats out of a bowl, then you’ve surely found a friend for life. All the more reason to pamper your apartment pet with the finest luxuries around!

Check out these pet-pampering supplies that will truly show your BFFs (Best Furry Friends) how much they mean to you.

A better bed
You probably spent hundreds of dollars on your own mattress, so why not pamper your pet with the finest bedding around? Invest in a luxurious dog bed for Fido to relax on. The bonus is that he’ll love it so much, he might actually stay off the sofa. Feline friends need a special spot too, so go all out with a hiding hut that gives Princess her privacy.

Homemade treats
Pets spend all day dreaming about treats, so make it worth their wait by feeding them healthy homemade snacks. Pet supply stores stock many varieties of high-end treats, but there are also custom bakeries like Fuzzy Butz that provide baked goods for pampered animals. You can also channel your inner baker and make your own homemade treats for the hound you love. There are dozens of recipes available online – you can even buy specially-shaped dog bone cookie cutters.

In-home grooming
Getting groomed can be stressful for pets. The good news is that mobile grooming services are available in nearly every town, visiting pets at home and leaving them looking super spiffy from the comfort of their own apartments. Companies like Fritzy’s will come right to your door to wash and dry your dog or cat lickety split. Who knew looking good was so easy and convenient?

Spa Day
Everyone loves a day at the spa, so why not treat your pup or kitten to a little pampering? Pet spas have become quite popular and offer a multitude of services such as grooming, teeth cleaning, massage, gourmet meals and photo sessions. Most pet spas also provide overnight boarding, so you can treat your pet to a weekend getaway at the local pet resort the next time you go out of town yourself. They’ll have so much fun living in the lap of luxury that they might not want to come home!

Fashion forward
Grooming and spa treatment sure do make a pet feel good, but what about looking good? Don’t be afraid to deck your dog in the latest finery: pet fashion is a hot topic these days, and you could easily spend more on your furry friends’ duds than you might on your own wardrobe. Hot items include custom jackets, booties, collars and leashes and fancy costumes.

Pet supplies have skyrocketed to a new level of chic, making it easy to pamper your apartment pet. Step up your pet care and your loyal friend will be all the happier. Treats like these will help ensure your pet runs to you every time you walk through your apartment door!

Apartments in Raleigh, NC


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