Products

The Conscious Cat 2013 Holiday Gift Guide

Products| 5 Comments

The_Conscious_Cat_2013_Holiday_Gift_Guide

Welcome to The Conscious Cat 2013 Holiday Gift Guide – your one stop shopping solution for all the cats and cat lovers on your holiday gift list! The guide contains not only some of the best products for cats and cat lovers on the market, many of the companies featured are offering exclusive discounts to Conscious Cat readers.

You’ll find gifts ranging from cat furniture to toys to art to litter boxes, and more. You’ll be sure to find something to delight every kitty and every cat lover in your life. And by buying these products, you’ll not only get some really wonderful gifts, you’ll also support small businesses, most of them run out of the owners’ homes.Continue Reading

Review: Litter Lifter Litter Scoops

Products| 18 Comments

Litter_Lifter_scoops

Like most cat parents, cleaning the litter box is one of my least favorite chores. Don’t get me wrong, I do it diligently. Keeping the litter box clean is very important. Many inappropriate elimination problems are caused by a box that isn’t kept clean enough, at least, not from the cat’s point of view.

Since I work from home, I pretty much scoop as soon as Allegra or Ruby deposit something in one of our two boxes (especially if it’s in the one right outside my office). And you better believe I make sure I do a good job, because Allegra, our official box supervisor, always follows behind and makes sure I’ve done it right.

I have yet to find a litter box scoop that I really like. Continue Reading

CritterZone Air Purifier Now Available as a Travel Pack

Products| 4 Comments

Critterzone_air_purifier

I’m a big fan of the CritterZone Air Purifier. This small, efficient unit really gets the job done, even on tough urine odors. And I speak from personal experience: Ruby, who is a vertical pee-er, managed to get some urine even over the very high edge of our litter box one time. The carpet around the box was soaked in urine. After blotting up the stain, I put the CritterZone on top of the stain upside down, as recommended on the CritterZone website. About an hour later, there was not a trace of urine smell left.

Ruby

Ruby, looking contrite after her “miss”

Unlike other units, you also don’t have to replace filters, and it does not require frequent cleaning. You can read my full review of the Critterzone Air Purifier here.Continue Reading

2014 Conscious Cat Wall Calendar

Products| 0 comments

Conscious_Cat_Calendar

Back by popular demand! I’m excited to announce that our 2014 Conscious Cat Wall Calendar is now available for purchase!

Last year’s calendar was a huge success, and we think this year’s calendar is even better. Allegra and Ruby helped me pick out the photos, and they made sure that they received equal representation!

Tortie lovers, to my knowledge, this is the only calendar on the market that exclusively features tortoiseshell cats.Continue Reading

Animal Sympathy Cards from Portraits of Animals

Pet Loss, Products| 10 Comments

animal_sympathy_cards

“Each time I’ve lost a cat, I’ve gained something in my life—made decisions about my career, begun working in a new medium or style, found new friends. Perhaps the trauma of the loss caused me to see things from a new perspective, or it was a gift of gratitude from the cat I’d lost,” says animal artist and writer Bernadette E. Kazmarski.

She had determined years ago to design animal sympathy cards as most of the cards she’d received for her losses were not animal-specific, but wanted to make sure she had enough experience and perspective so she wouldn’t design something she’d later feel was incomplete or immature. One cat’s passing in 2009 gave her the space to follow through. As a fine artist as well as a commercial artist designing these cards was second nature. Continue Reading

Review: Handmade Cat Wand Toys from Design 4 Paws

Products| 7 Comments

cat_wand_toy

I’m always on the lookout for good interactive cat toys. They’re such a great way to keep your cats stimulated both mentally and physically, and they allow both you and your cats to get in on the fun. Since cats tend to get bored with the same old toys, it’s a good idea to have a variety on hand.

I was thrilled when Natalie Koukouli, the founder of Design 4 Paws, offered to send me a couple of her unique creations so Allegra and Ruby could test them. We received the Sofa Rod and the Ribbon and Circles toys, pictured below.Continue Reading

Review: Unique Natural Products Carpet Shampoo

Products| 3 Comments

cats_and_carpet_cleaning

My entire house is carpeted (with the exception of the kitchen and bathrooms.) The carpet in my living room, hallway, and upstairs bedrooms is off white. And it’s the original carpet, so it’s almost 40 years old. Between the home’s original owners and me, my carpets have dealt with a total of seven cats so far. Nobody who walks into my house believes me that the carpet is that old.

How I care for my carpet

I vacuum weekly, and for the first 20+ years that I’ve lived in this house, I’ve had my carpets professionally cleaned. I discontinued the professional cleanings a few years ago. Between Buckley’s heart disease, and Amber getting older, I didn’t want to stress them out by having to lock them into a bathroom for the time it would take to get the whole house cleaned. Allegra hates being locked up so much that she actually starts trying to dig her way out from under the door, and Ruby is terrified of the sound of the vacuum cleaner, so professional cleanings weren’t going to be happening any time soon at my house.Continue Reading

Review: Bird Catcher PRO and Super Guinea Fowl Feather Refill

Products| 8 Comments

Bird_Catcher_PRO

Interactive toys are a great way to keep your cats stimulated both mentally and physically, and a great way for both you and your cats to get in on the fun. One of Allegra and Ruby’s favorites is the DaBird – of all their wand toys, this is the one they most frequently want to play with.

We were delighted when Pets Can Play sent us two of their new Bird Catcher PRO toys, along with two 5-packs of their Super Guinea Fowl Feather Refills. I was pretty sure Allegra and Ruby were going to love these toys, but I was also curious how they would compare to the original DaBird.

The Bird Catcher PRO has slightly thicker and stronger pole than the original. It has a nice padded section at the end, Continue Reading

CarPET Scratch Stopper Review: Protection for Your Carpets

Products| 4 Comments

Carpet_Scratch_Stopper

Most cats don’t like closed doors. This is certainly true at our house. The only time I close a door is when we have a service person come, and I need to keep Allegra and Ruby safely out of the way. Unfortunately, Allegra in particular gets so stressed when she’s locked up, she starts to frantically claw at the carpet near the door to “dig” her way out of the closed room. As a result, the carpet near the doorway in the guest bedroom, where I tend to close the girls in when it’s necessary for their safety, is quite frayed, and ripped up at the edge.

Carpet_Scratch_Stopper

The CarPET Scratch Stopper™ is a heavy duty floor mat, similar to the ones you can get to put under a rolling chair in a carpeted office. The mat is cut to fit under a doorContinue Reading

Review: Chom Chom Roller Pet Hair Remover

Products| 17 Comments

Chom_Chom_Roller

When you share your life with cats, cat hair is a fact of life – and one that most of us embrace proudly. But it also means that most of us are constantly on the lookout for products that help us combat cat hair, whether it’s on clothes, bedding or furniture.

I was intrigued when a Conscious Cat reader told me about the Chom Chom Roller, and asked the company to send me one to review.

The ChomChom Roller is an internationally patented device that is said to pick up deeply embedded hair and fragments in sofas, carpets, car seats, beds, curtains and more. According to the manufacturer, moving the ChomChom Roller back and forth creates an electrostatic charge that attracts the hairs to the roller. Continue Reading

Review: Refined Feline Catemporary Castle from MyThreeCats.com

Products| 24 Comments

Refined_Feline_Catemporary_Castle_Review

Allegra and Ruby haven’t looked forward to a product review as much as they have to this one in a long time. They’ve been dreaming of owning one of these castles for almost a year, so when MyThreeCats.com offered to send us one, we jumped at the chance!

This artistic, colorful cardboard tower has multiple levels for climbing and perching. It is made of heavy-duty cardboard and supported by metal bars for added strength and stability, but yet, it’s lightweight enough to move from room to room fairly easily. It is designed to support cats weighing up to 25 lbs. Please note that this is the total weight it supports, so  two cats weighing a combined 25 lbs. could occupy the castle.

cats_with_box

Even though I’m pretty sure the girls can’t read, they seemed to know the big box was for them. Continue Reading