I have worked diligently with our suppliers to find better pricing on tons of items, just so we could pass them along to you. Sometimes it was a matter of finding a new supplier altogether. In some cases is meant buying in larger quantities so we could obtain a higher purchasing level discount. Either way, it all adds up to significant savings for you and your beloved pets.

The cost of just about everything goes up every day. We recognize that budgets are limited and times are tight for many. You still want your furry family members to have the very best, and we’re here to help with that. Petwerks works hard for you, and we are different. How?

First off, we don’t sell junk. There are a lot of manufacturers out there that make things for bunnies that have never even lived with one, much less have any idea what a bunny actually needs. And, there are retailers who will carry whatever their distributors tell them to. We live with bunnies every day whether they are our own bunnies or foster bunnies that we take in and adopt out when we find the right match.

As a result, all of the products we carry have to be good enough to use with our own furry family. If they don’t like it, won’t use it, or we locate a design flaw… we don’t carry it. You can rest assured that the items selected are in their best interests as well as yours. We are extremely selective about what companies and products we work with.

For instance, if a supplier can’t (or won’t) tell me what type of wood is in a chew or toy – we don’t carry it.

If the manufacturer is not ethically and environmentally conscious, then we don’t support them. This means that even though there may be a company out there that is making some good products, we can’t support them if they also commercially breed animals for the pet market. With shelters and rescues bursting at the seams with wonderful pets looking for homes, and small responsible breeders that care for their bunnies, supporting a mass market commercial breeder by buying their products just doesn’t make sense to us.

If we can find a US made version, even if it is more expensive, we will support our American brothers and sisters. If there is an option for an environmentally responsible alternative…that’s the one we choose. After all, we AND our bunnies all need a safe and healthy environment in which to live.

We strive every day to find or build the best products for your family and at the best possible prices. Luckily, we have found ways to go even farther so you get the BEST QUALITY on the BEST PRODUCTS at the BEST PRICE from the BEST PET COMPANY anywhere! 

All of this hard work has paid off, for your benefit. At Petwerks the SUMMER OF SUPER SAVINGS has just begun!

Visit the site to find new lower prices on almost ALL products at petwerks.com.

While Scot and Brian are here full time, I work for Petwerks part time in the evenings, on weekends and most Fridays (I work "four tens" Monday - Thursday at my other job). Last week, Scot had me working all day taking photos of a bundle of new products! Here are just a few of my favorites. I'll share more via tweets and blog posts later on.

See all of our new items on the New Products Page. Or do some bargain shopping on the Clearance Page!

In the past twenty years of living with house rabbits, a lot of things have changed in the world of rabbit food, and there are reasons for this. Twenty years ago, it was considered pretty impressive for a pet rabbit to live to be five or six years old. Prior to this, most rabbits were kept outside and fared less well in terms of longevity. Lack of specialized veterinary care, the view of rabbits as somehow less deserving of basics such as veterinary care, and low rates of spay/neuter also contributed.

By bringing rabbits into our homes, we prolonged their lives. Now it isn’t uncommon to see pet rabbits living well past their tenth birthday. As a result, it became necessary to provide them with more proper nutrition for long range health. This resulted in new formulations of rabbit foods. Foods were developed that were high in fiber and made with timothy hay to provide better nutrition.

Still, there are a lot of really unhealthy foods on the market for pet rabbits. As a fan of cereal…all kinds of cereal…I liken it to choosing between Lucky Charms and Cheerios, both of which I like greatly. They both have healthy oat bits, but Lucky Charms wanted to jazz it up a bit and added sugar in the form of marshmallow pieces. Sure, we like the marshmallow bits, but they don’t provide any real health benefits for us. In fact, just the opposite is true.

The same is true of lots of rabbit foods on the market. To ensure a long and healthy life for our pets we need to be giving them the healthy alternative. After all, they are hopefully going to be with us for a very long long time.

While an adult who knows better may be able to discipline himself to eat ALL of the Lucky Charms, a child might just pick out the marshmallows and leave the part with actual nutrition. So it is with rabbits.

Here’s some food tips to get you going toward the optimum diet of a small ration of pellets, unlimited hay and a variety of fresh veg:

• Choose timothy based foods for rabbits over one year of age.
• Avoid foods with unhealthy seeds and snack bits in them. Instead, you can give them the occasional treats while bonding/playing with your bunny!
• Feed in small amounts daily while giving them lots of varieties of hays to eat and some fresh veg daily.
• Look for protein levels around 14% to 16%.
• Look for fiber levels at 16% to 25% or  more, as bunnies need lots of fiber.
• Change bunnies slowly over to a new food, they need time for their gut to adjust. (See the tips below.)
• Don’t be swayed by tags like ‘gourmet’ or ‘complete’ or ‘supreme’ on the bag…check out the ingredients and analysis.

Tip for changing bunnies over to a new food

Mix their foods together, in the following ratios, so they are less tempted to pick one out from the other:

• For the first week: ¾ current food, ¼ new food.
• For the second week: ½ current food, ½ new food.
• For the third week: ¼ current food, ¾ new food.
• For the fourth week and beyond:  all new food.

Simple as that!

Tweet Something About Petwerks and Win!
Help us spread the word about how awesome Petwerks is! Tweet something about Petwerks (be sure to type "@Petwerks" as part of it) and you'll be entered to win one of these adorable little porcelain handpainted bunny bowls. They are small, perfect for a dish of soy and wasabi, a place to set your rings at night, or just a cute little piece of decor on your desk. Follow us on Twitter and then say something -- maybe recommend one of your favorite products, post your favorite BunFun photo, or just let us know how long you've had your Bunny Abode House Rabbit Condo!

Keep Your Buns Cool in the Summer
Rabbits do not fare well in the scorching summer heat. Take a moment to review your rabbit's location, lifestyle and routine to identify in advance if you'll need to make accommodations to beat the heat this summer. The House Rabbit Society has the definitive guide on how to play it cool this.

Bunny Tones
By lovely serendipity, a love of buns, design and color came together when I found this, a color palette called "bunny tones" by design seeds, a color palette site.

Rabbit Pellets in the Garden?
Yes, rabbit poo makes a great fertilizer! Gardeners have reported "amazing" results once they started adding rabbit poo to their gardens thanks to its abundant nitrogen and phosphorous. What better way to recycle; it's the ultimate organic fertilizer!

Some say the results of the litter box are not too "hot" to use without composting, unlike most manure based compounds. While most put it directly onto bedding plants and ornamental, many recommend composting to avoid possible pathogen problems if used in the growing of food -- or maybe it's just the squirkyness of not wanting to mix POOP directly into the vegetable garden! If you have bunnies, they can help your garden grow! (But don't let them around it, because they'll just eat it down to the ground, as you may well know if you have wild rabbits in the area!)

And perhaps the best silly captioned pic ever:

More at my favorite way to waste time online: http://icanhascheezburger.com/2007/06/21/i-no-can-has-cheezburgr/

Thanks to Mandy B. for sending in these pics of her little trouble makers.

Click thumbnail above to see full image.

Now the story...

The first one is Rowdy jumping in a bag I use to bring hay in the house so I don’t get it everywhere. [The 2nd is] of when BunBun jumped in the tub I keep their hay in. I let her into the garage while I was getting hay. I walked inside to put it in their cage and when I went back into the garage, I couldn’t see BunBun. I called her name, and slowly she raised her head and peeked over the edge at me.

Thanks! You're our winner, and to say thanks we'll send you a gift basket! Would YOU like to win? Then whip out your camera, or scroll through your iPhoto library and send us a high quality, clear photo of your furkids doing something silly, or just looking like the sweet angels they are. If we use your photo, you'll get a prize!

And there's more chances to win! See the "Online Fun" section above. (Because I know you skip to the end to see the Gallery of Beautiful buns. Don't tell me you don't!)