Social petworking: how animals are logging on

Even four-legged social networkers struggle with broadband speeds. Photo / Getty Images

Does your guinea pig want to tell the world what music he likes? Does your cat need to share the story of her most embarrassing moment? If so, a new generation of internet sites – from Facedog to Fishbook – has been designed just for you.

Prudence from Edmonton has a lot to say for herself. "I like to stretch, jump around like a maniac, and chew on newspaper and toilet paper rolls," she says. She is quick, however, to qualify her last hobby: "The days of me trying to stick my head into them are over... because of a certain 'toilet paper roll incident'." She doesn't go into details, but given that Prudence is a Peruvian long-haired guinea pig, they're not hard to imagine.

No matter, she moves on, unhampered by a speech impediment, breezily announcing she likes to "eat rettuce and guinea pig pellets, drink water, grab rettuce from giant hand with lime green nail polish ... oh and I like to violently clean myself." Prudence is enjoying the luxury of Rodentbook – a social networking site for eloquent pets who want to move up the food chain.

Alexis Brett, Prudence's owner, is a 23-year-old graduate who has fully embraced the modern-day necessity of the documentation of a life online. Rodentbook is an application on Facebook and Brett is, of course, represented on Facebook (one of 175 million users worldwide).

It was therefore a natural step to give Prudence a chance to be uploaded too. "I love Rodentbook because it provides Prudence with a little space in the big scary worldwide web," she says. "It gives her a chance to talk about what she likes to do – eating and cleaning herself – and most of all, her favourite music."

Prudence does have an eclectic musical taste for one so young (she was born on 22 March last year): she lists The Beatles, Sam Roberts, the Flaming Lips, Vampire Weekend, LCD Soundsystem, plus ... And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead. Bratt has verified these choices by the amount Prudence jumps around when she hears certain tracks.

Five years ago, Prudence's existence would have begun and ended uncharted: now anyone, anywhere in the world, can click into the minutiae of her tiny life.

She has become an entity, with documented likes and dislikes, somehow more real because of her virtual status. And Rodentbook is merely a tiny strand on the worldwide web. It joins Horsebook, Dogbook, Catbook and Fishbook – not forgetting Ferretbook, a persistent pressure group, it turns out.

Geoffrey Roche had no idea about the world of ferret fans, until he launched the Dogbook application on Facebook a couple of years ago. "A bunch of ferret owners got together and bombarded me with requests for their own site," he laughs, "so I caved in."

Speaking from his base in Toronto, Roche now presides over some impressive numbers of people (or should that be animals) who use his applications: Dogbook – 2,268,238; Catbook – 841,488; Horsebook –75,692; Rodentbook – 6,133; Ferretbook – 1,589. It's a very international affair, but 50 per cent of horses who've signed up to network with equine friends live in the UK.

Roche suggests Princess Anne is there, but this is probably the kind of imaginative thinking that made him set up such a ludicrous – and brilliantly successful – enterprise in the first place.

How has he managed to tap into such a niche appeal? In the olden days, pets knew their place – outside in any weather, food from a tin twice a day. It's our shift in perspective – in the monied West at least – that has resulted in such humanisation of pets.

"The world has dramatically changed," Roche posits. "There are many 30-year-olds across the world who've decided not to start a family right away, so try having a dog or a cat to test the waters. That pet becomes very much part of their family."

Roche is well acquainted with the baby-fying of pets. "My niece came over for Christmas dinner," he says, "and was worried about getting home in time to take care of the puppy. On Christmas Day! It didn't used be like that; it's a changed society. Dogs in particular have taken over... now they're the pampered member of the family."

Of course, it isn't simply an altruistic desire to bring communities of animal lovers together that inspires Roche to keep going with his pet networking empire.

He already had an advertising agency, and says he was fascinated by the idea of becoming a publisher rather than purely an advertiser.

"It was a lark, but it was a business opportunity," he says. "Advertisers have the recognition that you can't find these kind of dedicated users or owners anywhere else because of the scattered media market. They are searching for the narrow market."

And that's exactly what Roche serves up to the advertisers who post banners on the Petbook applications. It's still costing rather than making money, but he's getting there, he says.

These behind-the-scenes logistics are of no consequence to Chips, who appears to use the networking tool to full advantage. A Syrian Hamster, he enjoys "running round and round and round and round and round and round in my wheel".

Yet what is interesting about Chips is that despite his OCD tendencies, he appears to be friends with species other than his own, thus using the virtual world to bypass tricky scenarios he might encounter in the real world.

This is evidenced by the messages on his "wall" – one from Mr Wiggles (a dog) and another from Niko, also a canine: "AHROO Chips: thanks for being my cool lil pal. I won't eat you so no worries. Have a great Easter."

A touching tribute to the diversity within the animal world. Meanwhile, Muffin, a horse from Hampshire, is equally busy. He's updated his status to say he's "looking forward to his birthday treat – teaching Mum how to speak 'horse'." He adds a jocular aside as a sign-off: "Hopefully then I'll get her well-trained enough to keep the treats coming."

He's almost 16, so probably gets away with a certain amount of cheekiness.

Anna Leach writes for Facedog, another pet networking site (pets are also subjected to the tyranny of choice) and is all too familiar with the concept of animals having human attributes.

"People who sign them up think their pets have distinct personalities," she says. Which is borne out, on the site, by the monthly pet horoscopes (for Leo pets this month: "You'll discover a recently arrived item of furniture is just about the most comfortable thing you've ever experienced"), and the questionnaire the "pet" must fill out.

"What do you most respect in your enemies?" is one question, or "What is your most unacceptable defect?" These soul-searching questions are perhaps a canny quiz to determine the wit of the owner – Facedog also has a facility whereby you fill in where you go for walks, and at what time of day.

The idea is to hook up with other dog owners – but you don't want to be stuck with a bore on your daily exercise, do you? On this assumption, the final "Who would you like to be?" profile question opens up a startling range of possibilities: what if you think your dog wishes he were the poodle next door? Does that say something about your state of mind? Is the next step Googling for psychologists who specialise in pets and their owners?

One small step, it can only be assumed. The virtual world is now our oyster (Oysterbook – coming soon), but watch out: as Florence the guinea pig makes friends with Muffin the horse, and geographical boundaries no longer count, it's not inconceivable that our pets will be using us to start their own revolution.

- THE INDEPENDENT