Trends in Cat Products
While there are numerous new trends in dog toys (at least going by what I saw at the Global Pet Expo), the cat world is still sorely lacking in novelty.
The vast, vast majority of what I saw at Global (and this hasn't changed much over the past few years) for cats fell into one of three categories: toss and bat toys (usually variations on toss-able fake mice), inexpensive wand toys (the kind that look like your child won them at an arcade - you know, where you earn tickets and can redeem them for cheap toys?), and assorted cat furniture (I happen to LIKE cat furniture, but these are sorely lacking in the elegance that it always seems to me that cat furniture needs to possess).
All that being said, there were several new "themes" that I saw emerge at this year's show (I use the word "theme" instead of "trend" deliberately because I think these concepts are still relatively new, and I cannot say with certainty that they will catch on - although I hope for cats' sake they do!) 1) Electronics - The newest (and in many cases the most interesting) new cat products were not human powered, but battery powered.
I believe, for example, that self-cleaning litter boxes are here to stay.
These litter boxes automatically sweep the litter every time a cat exits, moving the waste into an isolated container until the human comes along and empties it.
There are some real benefits to these litter boxes, especially for multi-cat households.
The downside is that there is usually only one type of litter that will work with each box, and cats can be picky about their litter.
Electronic toys are also becoming more popular.
Laser toys (where cats go absolutely nuts chasing a red dot) have been around for sometime, but there are definitely some marked improvements.
Several companies for example have laser pointers where the base is large enough to sit on a counter and all you have to is flip a switch.
The laser randomly shines around the floor and wall, and turns itself off after a set amount of time.
This is a wonderful concept for people who have cats who like to play at odd hours (or who need to distract cats who insist on sitting on their keyboard every time they sit down to write a blog posting).
Human powered and cat powered toys are not going anywhere fortunately.
Interactive play promotes bonding between cat and human, and is also a lot of fun.
However, it's nice to have options! 2) Quality Cat Furniture - Yes I know I ranted at the beginning of this post about the lack of quality cat furniture.
Apparently, a few smaller pet product vendors feel the same way I do.
Although we saw our share of cheap cat furniture, there were some really exquisite ones at the show.
From cat trees to scratching posts, more smaller suppliers are working on offering cat trees, beds and scratching posts that are appealing to the cat and extremely pleasing to the human eye.
What would you like to see different or new in the world of cat toys?
The vast, vast majority of what I saw at Global (and this hasn't changed much over the past few years) for cats fell into one of three categories: toss and bat toys (usually variations on toss-able fake mice), inexpensive wand toys (the kind that look like your child won them at an arcade - you know, where you earn tickets and can redeem them for cheap toys?), and assorted cat furniture (I happen to LIKE cat furniture, but these are sorely lacking in the elegance that it always seems to me that cat furniture needs to possess).
All that being said, there were several new "themes" that I saw emerge at this year's show (I use the word "theme" instead of "trend" deliberately because I think these concepts are still relatively new, and I cannot say with certainty that they will catch on - although I hope for cats' sake they do!) 1) Electronics - The newest (and in many cases the most interesting) new cat products were not human powered, but battery powered.
I believe, for example, that self-cleaning litter boxes are here to stay.
These litter boxes automatically sweep the litter every time a cat exits, moving the waste into an isolated container until the human comes along and empties it.
There are some real benefits to these litter boxes, especially for multi-cat households.
The downside is that there is usually only one type of litter that will work with each box, and cats can be picky about their litter.
Electronic toys are also becoming more popular.
Laser toys (where cats go absolutely nuts chasing a red dot) have been around for sometime, but there are definitely some marked improvements.
Several companies for example have laser pointers where the base is large enough to sit on a counter and all you have to is flip a switch.
The laser randomly shines around the floor and wall, and turns itself off after a set amount of time.
This is a wonderful concept for people who have cats who like to play at odd hours (or who need to distract cats who insist on sitting on their keyboard every time they sit down to write a blog posting).
Human powered and cat powered toys are not going anywhere fortunately.
Interactive play promotes bonding between cat and human, and is also a lot of fun.
However, it's nice to have options! 2) Quality Cat Furniture - Yes I know I ranted at the beginning of this post about the lack of quality cat furniture.
Apparently, a few smaller pet product vendors feel the same way I do.
Although we saw our share of cheap cat furniture, there were some really exquisite ones at the show.
From cat trees to scratching posts, more smaller suppliers are working on offering cat trees, beds and scratching posts that are appealing to the cat and extremely pleasing to the human eye.
What would you like to see different or new in the world of cat toys?
