CAIRO: Omar has a beautiful and rare pedigree Cocker Spaniel called Spice. Spice has come of age to breed, so Omar uploaded a picture of his canine on a pet website (petsmarche.com) and soon after got many . er . marriage proposals for his best friend. The website was actually set up about five years ago as a collage project by Hesham El-Rashidy, computer engineering major at the Modern Science and Art (MSA) University. "I started it as a local network within the university, and it worked very well so I took the permission and took it onto the internet, he says. Pets Marché has other services like buying and selling of pets. It offers tips for animal owners like lists of vets and other pet services that may be helpful. A fun section of the website is the beauty pageant. Many pet owners put the best picture of their cats, dogs, birds, iguanas and members vote their favorite which gets to be on the front page of the website for the upcoming month. Yet pet mating is the most popular feature they offer, as finding a compatible animal for breeding is a problem every pet owner faces. The website is exclusive on the web for pet breeding internationally. "We did a patent on the site so no one can create a pet mating service online without taking our permission, says El-Rashidy. Now he has two partners, his brother Mohammed and friend Tarek Sikka. The website is non-profit so the three still have day jobs, and run this website as a hobby. They have just gotten permission to issue pedigrees for Egyptian dogs. This will enable them to take part in dog shows, which is also on the agenda for the boys. Coming up later this year they have organized a show for local and international dogs here in Egypt. As well as the website, Pets Marché also has a printed magazine entitled "Pet Post . It is a free publication available in many coffee shops and is sent directly to the houses of all members of the website. "We are trying to increase awareness through the magazine. Many people in Egypt have pets but they don't know how to treat them. If they are going to do it, we want to show them how to do it right. Check out the website at http://petsmarche.com/index.cfm
