Pet Project

It's a humid september morning, and 29-year-old Wendy Diamond is twirling in a winter coat of fuzzy faux-raccoon. "Can't you imagine people in Aspen loving this?" she chimes. Such are the dreams of the sales-spieling Diamond, a Cleveland-born dynamo with an idea for the times: a new magazine and e-commerce Web site for high-income, high-style animal lovers. (Aimed at those who might lavish a $200 designer dog bed on old Sparky.)

There are dozens of animal magazines, from the venerable Cat Fancy to the bimonthly Ferrets. But Diamond, backed by a secretive cadre of magazine moguls, is the first to cross-breed two American passions: celebrity and pets. In the first 108-page Animal Fair, Mariah Carey mugs with her Russell terrier, Jack, while Renee Zellweger gushes over her dog, Dylan. Riding the star power, Diamond has managed to sign Time Inc. to handle newsstand distribution, while pet chain Petco Animal Supplies Inc. will mail out some 300,000 copies of the quarterly directly to customers.