A California pet lover has founded an internet radio station designed to ease the lives of lonely dogs and cats around the world.
Styled as "the radio station all pets prefer",
DogCatRadio.com goes out live 17 hours each day from a van in the car park of a Los Angeles recording studio.
DJs speak to pets directly, and ask "pet parents" to send in pictures.
Founder Adrian Martinez, 34, says the station aims to keep pets company while their "parents" head out to work.
DogCatRadio's daily play list ranges from the soothing sounds of wispy Irish singer Enya to Elvis Presley's classic anthem, Hound Dog.
In between tracks, Mr Martinez and his fellow DJs offer practical advice to pet owners, plus a liberal sprinkling of the station's signature sound - barks and miaows.
Housebound hounds chewing their way through the family furniture come in for an occasional ribbing.
Mr Martinez, an independent record producer, hopes that many of his audience will be listening in while at home alone, albeit with a little help from their human friends.
"My cat, Snickers, asked me to do it," Mr Martinez told the New York Times.
Faced with a nervous, restless cat at home one day, Mr Martinez discovered that Snickers calmed down almost as soon as he turned up the background music a little.
Quickly realising how happy Snickers was with a regular slice of 1980s rock, Mr Martinez set up DogCatRadio to spread the message.
"I wanted to do something for the pet community," he said.
The station, which claims 8,000 listeners each week through its website, currently makes no money.
But the US pet industry is worth an estimated $35bn (£19.7bn) annually, and Mr Martinez eventually hopes to attract advertising.
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BBC NEWS
Published: 2005/11/02 17:03:13 GMT
absolutely ridiculous! These are the same pet-owners who will buy a designer doggy-coat and a diamante collar for their pet but they don't know what distemper is or that spaying reduces cancer for them! It's all show and it's for the owner not the animal! I bought a bed for my baby-rabbit today and it was from the pound-shop! These people know nothing about what animals really need! It's all for show or to make money or to make themselves feel interesting! Instead of playing stupid songs with an animal in the title they'd be better off actually reading up on animal behaviour or health issues! Idiots! 