Pet Tech & Gear

Krebs Recycle Climbing Rope Dog Leash Review

Our dog Porter is a big boy…at his last vet visit he weighed in at 95lbs! Before you start fretting about his weight, though, mid-90s is about the right weight for him, given his height and breed (labrador/chesapeake bay retriever mix). It does mean he can be a handful on his leash though. 90% of the time he is docile and happy to trot alongside us, but if he encounters a squirrel or one of the dogs he has decided are his nemeses, it requires lots of leash pulling and wrangling to keep him in line. We used a simple…

News, Outdoors

Kitty Cam? More Like KILL Cam!

Do you have a cat? We have two – an outdoor cat we’ve had since he was a few weeks old (and is now 12) and one indoor cat we inherited from my sister-in-law when they moved halfway across the country two years ago (supposedly a two-week babysitting … but I digress). Is your cat a hunter? Ours is – he regularly brings home mice and moles and rabbits and chipmunks and squirrels and birds and … you get the picture. To date, our biggest concern has been that he delivers these as presents to our dogs (12-pound Norfolk Terriers)…

Gear Bits

Synthetik Park’s Wall Aquarium Is Eye-Level Gorgeous

Watch how my thought process goes … 1. We have a Beta fish named Brad; he lives in a goldfish bowl that sits on our credenza, and every chance she gets, our cat Avah likes to drink water from his bowl. She’s not trying to eat Brad, or at least we haven’t seen her try, but she seems to love his fish flavored water. This bothers me, because she has been known to lap his water down to less than half a bowl when we have been away. 2. In order to really see Brad I have to bend down,…

Reviews

Pet Product Review: Booster Bath Mini Makes Washing Small Dogs a Breeze!

Washing a dog can can be an ‘adventure’ for everyone involved. If you have a small dog it generally means washing them in the sink – and getting water all over the counters and pretty much anything in the kitchen! If you have a larger dog you might use the bathtub – with similar results. Now there is a new product – the Booster Bath! We have two small dogs, so when the opportunity came up to review the ‘mini’ version of the Booster Bath we gave it a try! Read on to find out how things went and to…

News

Craig Turner Solves the Cat Pee Problem (and Yes, There IS a Problem)

I love my two (fixed) female cats, but for a while we had a third — a stray we named Bobby because when he showed up more than 3/4 of his tail was missing. That’s him in the picture above. Cute little guy, right? Unfortunately, something else wasn’t missing; he was still a fully intact male. We never leave our windows down, so we didn’t discover his disgusting habit of peeing in people’s cars until he had done it to my friend Lisa’s jeep and my cousin Dusty’s work truck. Bad kitteh. I don’t know about you, but there are…

News

Flush Puppies Let Your Doggy Be Green!

It’s the downside of having a dog. We go through bags like crazy cleaning up after him on walks, and it’s painful to see all that plastic build up in the garbage can at the end of the week. Flush Puppies claim to have a better solution though! According to their site: Flush Puppies doodie bags are 100% biodegradable and flushable. Yes, really… flushable. Made from Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) – a water soluble, eco-friendly, “green” alternative to plastic – Flush Puppies are specifically made to dispose of doggie doodie down the toilet. (It’s science, people – not voodoo!) Unlike plastic…

Gear Bits

GD Quickie: Torture Your Cat? There’s an App for That!

photo credit: Trish Hamme Off&On/FlickringSlowly/ThankYou When my Siamese cat Shika was alive I would often play with her by shining a small flashlight on the wall in a dark room. Shika, always on the prowl, would then try to swat what she thought was a fly. I thought it was hilarious… My spouse found it less so. Well fast forward to A.i. (after iPad) and there is a whole new way to “play” with your cat. And we aren’t just talking house cats. No we’re talking king of the jungle cats.

Editorials

Which Automated Cat Litter Box Is Better? CatGenie vs Litter-Robot

I’ve reviewed both the Litter-Robot and the CatGenie, two automated Cat Litter Boxes here on Gear Diary, and I’ve had several years to test each extensively. On top of that, when I started using the CatGenie, and it became evident that it would work out for me, I gave the Litter-Robot to my friends Steven and June; they have been using it since early 2009. Since reviewing both, I’ve received questions about how the two stacked up to each other, but none covered as many issues as a recent letter from Danielle.

Reviews

How Spike Brand’s Doggy Style Shampoo, Microfibre Towel and Jerky Treats Saved the Day

Kevin and I recently returned from San Francisco to find that Daisy Duke, our Great Dane puppy, had managed to pick up what seemed like thousands of tiny little ticks while being boarded at her breeders. We all live in the country and we’re having an exceptionally hot early summer after an extremely wet spring which followed a rather mild winter (are you still with me?), so I’m really not surprised that ticks are currently enjoying a population explosion. Daisy is treated monthly with Frontline, and her breeder had just bathed her with insecticidal shampoo before we picked her up…

News

SureFit Debuts “Auto Friends” Line of Products

I have a very large dog who loves car rides. He also enjoys rolling around in mud, swimming and refusing to sit still to be dried off, and of course, shedding the equivalent of 4 dogs worth of fur in an afternoon. So my backseat is constantly in a state of slight messiness. Then, of course, there was the time he ate a bag of mint Hershey’s kisses and decided they didn’t agree with his stomach as we were en route to the emergency vet. Trust me, the conversation you never, ever want to have with your partner is “Does…

News

Dog-e-Minder for the Absent Minded Pet Owner

I have mixed feelings about the Dog-e-Minder pet assistant. On the one hand, it looks like this device could be an invaluable tool for remembering pet medications – especially when they have to be administered more than once a day, or it could serve as a way to remember the last time you took your puppy outside during potty training. On the other hand, it seems like the type of person who needs help remembering when the last time they fed or walked their dog might be better off with a cat. Was that too judgmental? Anyway … The simple,…

Reviews

ScoopFree Ultra Self-Cleaning Litter Box Review

Editor’s Note: This is a joint review between Adrian and Jessica. Adrian’s comments will be in black, and Jessica’s will be in blue italics Multi-tasking seems to be one of my strong points…work 40 plus hours a week, chase around a toddler, coach high school sports, have a small business, and have family priorities that put me in and out of Dr appointments and hospitals at least once a week…so honestly what else can I add? Oh … let’s throw in mowing the lawn, maintaining the house, and helping my wife with the everyday chores (ok so I duck as…

News

$472 emergency pet evacuation vest is perfect for the crazy cat lady in your life

I’ve had a few cats and none of them seemed terribly fond of playing dress up. I can only imagine the fun you’d have trying to fit kitty into an emergency evacuation vest in the midst of fire, flood or other natural hazard. Seems like a portable pet carrier might do just as well. This emergency pet vest offers: * Japan Firefighting Association-certified flame-retardant jacket * Materials: polyester (base cloth), polyurethane (outer shell), fireproof acrylic (lining) * Heavy-duty carry handle, and double-duty strap/leash * Pet supplies: food bowl, muzzle, hermetically sealed odor control bag (for any items distressing the pet),…

Reviews

Fawski Feeder Review

There are close to a million choices when it comes to bowl feeders for your dog. Most are of the plain jane variety, either stainless steel or hard plastic. A few are ceramic and have painted designs on them. But what about those people who leave their dog’s bowls out all day and are interested in maintaining the overall look and design of their kitchen? Or those just looking for a way to make easting easier on their dog? The Fawski feeder might be just what you’re looking for.

Reviews

The FroliCat BOLT Automatic Laser Light Review

There aren’t many things more amusing than watching a kitten chase a laser pointer’s dot. Kittties are playful and energetic to begin with, but giving them an impossible to catch “mouse” creates a game which never seems to tire them. My cat Avah is two years old, and while she no longer has quite the playful moves she used to impress me with, she still shows moments of friskiness when a moth gets in the house or a string is dangling. We’ve played the laser pointer game before with comedic results, so I figured that she would be the perfect…

Reviews

CatGenie Self-Flushing Self-Washing Cat Box Review

Cats make great pets because they don’t require a lot of attention like dogs do. Just give them a bowl of food and a pan of litter, and they can pretty much take care of themselves. The only downside to having an indoor kitty is that we humans have to clean their ‘toilet’ for them. Not fun…

Editorials

Soft Claws for Cats: Doing the Humane Thing

When Sarah and I first got Avah, one of the conditions (beyond that we would take turns cleaning out her litter box in those pre Litter-Robot days) was that we get her declawed. My only justification looking back, was that we don’t have leather furniture, and I didn’t want our chenille sofas to be shredded by a claw-sharpening maniac. I asked our vet’s receptionist about it when I took Avah in for her first shots, and she asked me “front and back? or just front?” Doing both just seemed excessive, even though Avah is an indoors-only cat, so I responded…

Reviews

The Litter-Robot Review: Never Sift Through Your Kitty’s Litter Again

Of all the gadgets I have ever reviewed, I think that the Litter-Robot would definitely win the title of most offbeat, but it was well worth doing. I unboxed the Litter-Robot in late January, set it up, and then sat back to see whether Avah would accept this “spaceship” as her litter box. It will have been two months tomorrow, and we have both lived to tell about it, so that should immediately tell you that things went well. But let’s go back to the beginning…

Reviews

Unboxing the Litter-Robot

If you own a cat, then you know that there is one part of pet ownership that can suck the joy out of the experience. No, I am not talking about hearing your cat hacking up hairballs in the middle of the night while she is sleeping on the bed next to you (not that Avah ever has or ever would do that, mind you); I am talking about cleaning out the litter box.

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