PetSugar.com - Sugar Expands into the Pooch Domain

The Sugar Empire is ever expanding. Nothing to do with high corn syrup sweets, rather everything to do with the San Franciscan Mark Sugar whose eponymous Sugar inc. has recently latched on to PetSugar, a site which deals with girls and their pets. The site's got the usual blend of celebrity pics and gossip, from the animal angle of course, as well as handfuls of tips, reviews, news, and social engagement. You've got pet of the week, canihasacheezburgerieseque pet polls, out and about, elaborate profiles, and of course, pet peeves. Besides all that there's the gratuitous Brands section where they tout Kiehl's new doggy line (yes the stuff is expensive enough for regular humans, but dogs apparently get to be spoiled too), Florida parks, and Petco chow deals. Apart from the consumer side, you have your social networking features—forums, blogs, the pet channel, and games. For the launch, PetSugar is giving away $500 Petco gift certificates. The site is part of the larger Sugar network, so PetSugar members will see plenty of other sweet content.

"TeamSugar is the place for you to meet friends, discuss the latest gossip, share online shopping finds, dish on fashion, learn beauty secrets, swap delicious recipes, blog about your day and much, much more. There are currently 34,118 people online."

Mark Sugar has an ever-growing and ever more popular kingdom. PetSugar no doubt will gain plenty or members purely through the network's influence. It's got the staple features of other Sugar sites, which girls and women who like to call themselves girls seem to lick-up like non-fat, sugar-free ice cream after a bad date.

With the abundance of pet oriented sites, will PetSugar be able to succeed? Is this nothing but trivial fluff that will only attract casual users?