Pets in Paradise

Today dogs and their people share beds-or Fido reclines on his own monogrammed doggie bed-while the family feline dines on shrimp with crab aspic served in designer dishes. In certain elevated circles, pets host parties-including the popular "Bark Mitzvah"-staged and decorated by professionals and catered with gourmet pet treats. Some privileged pups are even undergoing cosmetic surgery, as owners assuage the guilt of neutering male dogs by having-ahem!-artificial replacements implanted.

Here in Southwest Florida, doting owners pamper their pets in all

sorts of extravagant ways. (We don't have Bark Mitzvahs but we do have extravagant parties.) Well-connected local pets dine on all-natural food, boast impeccable dental hygiene, attend day care, de-stress with massage or try acupuncture to relieve the pain of arthritis. Our pets also tap into the latest technology: Some have their own Web sites, while others star in the 24-7 Web cams at Pet Kingdom in Fort Myers (the Hamster cam is reportedly a late-night favorite with college students from all over the country).

How did we arrive at this doggedly slavish state? Blame it on the Baby Boomers. Blame it on people whose children are grown and gone, whose careers take them far from home or cause them to put off having families, or who simply take pleasure in indulging their animal companions.

Just how far will we go for the four-legged creatures we love? Here's a look at the lifestyle of Southwest Florida's luckiest pets.

PET PARTIES

For everyday fare, most Gulfshore pets get by just fine with grub from Publix or PetSmart (where chews and toys are cannily positioned at canine eye level). But for special occasions, they feast on treats from gourmet boutiques, like those that Vickie Betts offers at Dudley's Dog Bakery in south Fort Myers. In addition to a full line of cookies and pet birthday cakes, Dudley sells lots of ice cream to dogs in flavors such as Chubby Puppy (peanut butter) and Pawberry (strawberry).

Kristin Dinkel Brown of Fort Myers recently ordered a peanut butter cake bearing a likeness of her bullmastiff, Madeline, for the dog's fifth birthday party. Besides Madeline and her 10-pound mixed-breed cohort, Boudreaux, six other dogs attended, with owners in tow.

"The dogs had plain hamburgers for dinner, the birthday cake and Frosty Paws ice cream for dessert," says Dinkel Brown. Humans got hot dogs and cole slaw. To add to the festive mood, guests of both species received colorful leis.

Dinkel Brown's dogs also attended her wedding reception. Madeline wore a fetching flowered hat that tied under her chin while Boudreaux sported a bow tie. But they certainly aren't the only well-dressed pets in the region. Annabelle, a 7-year-old pug, wore pearls to her most recent social gala, Love a Pug O'Ween, held in February at the Old Naples home she shares with owners Karen and Steven Coplin. Her pug sibling, 4-year-old Elvis, was dressed as the King, naturally.

Coplin began the annual Pug O'ween event in 1998 as a lark, with 16 pugs and their people attending. Postponed until February this year because of 9-11, the party attracted 69 pugs along with enough people to raise $4,000 for the Collier County Humane Society.

One lucky woman won a $400 beaded pug purse donated by Saks Fifth Avenue. Judges named king, queen and princess pugs. Coplin concedes that pug owners tend to be obsessed with a breed often described as a lot of dog in a little package.

"People like to dress their pugs up," she says, and the party gives them a good reason to do so.

Doggie Duds

What's the fashionable pooch wearing these days?

Pearls, beads and trendy coats are all the rage.

Vickie Betts of Dudley's Dog Bakery in Fort Myers says that faux pearl

necklaces and red-white-and-blue-beaded collars make popular fashion statements. At the Critter Cafe in Marco Island, branklets--bracelets worn around the leg--are big sellers.

Jennifer Brisbois, a Fort Myers veterinarian who also practices animal

acupuncture, shares her Lehigh Acres home with her veterinarian husband,

Jeff Kue, a cockatoo, nine dogs and seven cats. Two of her dogs are clothes horses. Sparrow the schnauzer has a variety of collars to suit her moods while Wendy the Italian greyhound sports different coats depending on the weather.

"She has a purple Southwestern one for cool weather" that's a favorite,

Brisbois notes.

ANIMAL ESCAPES

Southwest Florida dogs now have two parks and a beach to call their own. Rover Run in Veterans Park in North Naples, Barkingham Park east of Fort Myers and Dog Beach between Fort Myers Beach and Bonita Beach allow dogs to break out of their everyday confines and run leash-free, communing with their peers. Another dog-friendly park is in the works at Cape Coral's Jaycees Park.

But sometimes a hound hungers for a getaway with more creature comforts. For that, he can check into The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, which pampers four-legged guests in much the same manner as it does bipedal ones. Customers with dogs "can expect a nice doggie dish for food and water in their rooms," says Fred Wass, the Ritz's front-desk manager. "They get a therapeutic dog bed and nightly turndown service." On the blanket, canine guests will find a freshly baked dog biscuit with recipe attached.

Well-traveled feathered friends might check into birdhouses made by Naples woodcarver Jim Abner. His most opulent creation, a 64-room model based on a European opera house, bears a price tag of $50,000.

JET-SET VETS

When veterinarian Jim Greene began practicing in 1968, his medical kit included two sulfa drugs, a couple of primitive antibiotics and an old Army X-ray machine.

"From 1970 until today, the field is 300 percent more developed than in the 100 years prior to that," says the director of the Emergency Veterinary Clinic in south Fort Myers. Pets now have access to virtually all of the technology and medical advances available to humans.

"We've finally admitted that the puppy dog who goes to bed with you each night and sits on the sofa with you is a much greater loss than the sister you see once a year, especially in single-person households," he says.

Each day in the emergency clinic's office, a different specialist-a dermatologist, ophthalmologist, neurosurgeon, internist or oncologist-sees patients. Nights and weekends, critical-care veterinarians treat all manner of animal emergencies. The clinic has artificial blood, intensive care units and magnetic resonance imaging machines. A typical emergency visit costs $270, Greene says, although many people pay far more.

The Well-Punctured Pet

Americans are clamoring for alternative medical treatments, and they want the same for their animals. That's why Cape Coral veterinarian Terry Melton decided to study acupuncture. "I was getting frustrated that traditional Western treatments weren't able to treat chronic conditions like renal failure and arthritis," she says. "I was looking for another way to help pets out."

Melton, who also incorporates Asian herbal remedies in her practice, has used acupuncture on her own dog, Scout, a rambunctious black cocker mixed breed with epilepsy. Regular acupuncture treatments allowed her to wean him off anti-seizure medication. Now seizure-free, he no longer needs acupuncture, either.

Paul and Virginia Healy of North Fort Myers tried acupuncture on their miniature poodle, Sugar, when the little white dog developed calcium deposits on her backbone and had trouble walking. Cortisone hadn't worked, and veterinarians told them a costly operation would have a 50-50 chance of success.

"Dr. Melton said we should give acupuncture a try before thinking of an operation," Paul Healy says. "We tried it and she has been fine ever since."

Five-year-old Sugar now travels back and forth to Cape Cod each year with her owners, gobbles up the cooked sweet potatoes, chicken and cottage cheese she's fed and leaps up on the family's king-sized bed to snuggle.

Paul Healy is thrilled. "Maybe I'll go back to the vet and she'll do something with my golf game," he says.

Mutt Massage

As anyone who's enjoyed a massage knows, an hour under the thumbs of a trained professional can rub out many of the stresses of the world. The lucky dog, cat or horse knows it, too.

Just what sort of stress does the family pet experience?

"Dogs rely on us to feed them, take them out, walk them. They're totally dependent on us," says Deborah Londeau-Sorenson, a trained animal massage therapist based in south Fort Myers. "If I were a dog, even with the best owner in the world, I'd find it pretty stressful. Imagine waiting at home to go to the bathroom and not being allowed to do that until someone got home."