By Molly McLaughlin on July 30, 2011 in
Ever wish you could play Angry Birds with your dog or cat? Or get a portrait of your beloved pet? Perhaps you're worried that your cat gets bored while you're at work or you're tired of losing dog toys at the lake. The solutions to all of these problems - and much more - were on display at the National Pet Home Décor Showcase in New York City. It was like no other trade show I've ever attended. Here's a taste of what we found - plus a photo gallery of the range of products available, from floating dog toys to catnip.
Fun for dogs and cats
Art-casso demonstrated its Pup-casso paint kit for dogs. With it, your dog (along with your help) can create a painting on a canvas. It's not as messy as it sounds. The kit comes with three canvasses, three sets of paints, and perhaps most importantly, three paint shields. (There's also a free dog toy.) To start your project you place the paint on the canvas, tape the shield over it and let your dog get to it. (You can see samples in the image gallery below.) Cats can get in on the fun with the Kitty-casso kit.
Hartz caught everyone's eye with its Angry Birds toys for cats and dogs. The founder suggested that it's a good way to get off the iPad or smartphone and give your pet some quality time. Toys include plush birds and pigs that make the in-game noises (the pig is especially funny) as well as pull toys, catnip heads and more. The Angry Birds toys will be in stores in October.
Premier Pet Products had a range of goodies such as a PogoSplash line of floating toys, FidoFleece parkas for pups, and jingle bell collars for the holidays. Play-n-Squeak unveiled a new line of interactive cat toys, including a set of light-up toys for nighttime. Frolicat showed off its cat toys, including Twitch, which has a mode for when you're not home. You place the Twitch on a table or shelf using its suction cup. When you activate "play while you are away" mode, the Twitch will automatically turn on every few hours and swing a toy around. The company also had Bolt, a laser toy that gives your cat a moving target to chase around and pounce on.
Food and grooming
FURminator had its line of grooming products on display: shampoos and deshedding treatments and the FURminator deShedding Tool. Professional groomer and co-founder Angie Porter spent years trying to find the best deshedding tools and eventually decided to create her own (with help from her husband).
Wellness pet food was on hand showing off its latest selections, including a line of dog food for small breeds and cat food for picky kitties. See our reports on cat food and dog food for recommendations.