FDA starts pet health and safety widget

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says it has started a pet health-safety widget to provide timely, user-friendly, public health information.

The FDA said the widget is a portable application embedded in a Web page that can be copied onto any other Web site or blog.

"Our new pet health and safety widget provides users with information to help (people) in managing their pet's health," said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the FDA's principal deputy commissioner.

The widget will include topics such as how to report a problem with pet food, purchasing pet drugs online and caring for a pet during a disaster. The widget allows users to access content on the FDA's Web site without having to leave another site or Web page.

The FDA said the widget has two tabs -- one titled "tips" and, the other, "updates." The tips tab highlights pet health and safety articles. The updates tab provides up-to-the-minute recall notices and veterinary drug news for consumers.

The widget is available at www.fda.gov/PetHealthWidget.