10 Smart Products People Buy for Their Cats

Photo: Sammy loves his kitty chaise; he just wishes he had a bigger one.

In May 2009, I wrote a blog post entitled, "Useless Stuff People Buy for Their Cats." Since then, the market has been flooded with a plethora of new, useless cat merchandise (Look for "Useless Stuff II" coming here soon). However, there are also some wonderful products that enrich my cats' lives and mine, too. Here are my Top 10 favorites:

• Drinkwell water fountains. Cats normally don't drink a lot of water. But cats with Feline Lower Urinary Tract Disorder need plenty of it to flush out bacteria that can lead to infections and life-threatening urinary tract blockages. Two of my FLUTD cats just will not drink out of a bowl. Their favorite "fountain" -- the drippy faucet in my bathtub-- was not good for my pipes or for my water bill. (After the plumber left, Henry sat in the tub for hours just staring at the faucet and willing it to start dripping again.). Drinkwell's basic model fountain with adjustable water flow is well-priced, dishwasher safe and easy to assemble and disassemble. The splashing noise is kind of soothing. I think of this as what HGTV calls a "water feature" for my home.
  


• Corrugated Cat Chaises. These ecologically friendly, corrugated cardboard cat beds/ scratching posts are just a riff on the scratchers that have been available for years. Cats adore the chaises for snuggling and napping as well as scratching. Sprinkling the chaises with the little packets of catnip included in the package makes it a double happy. I have a cat chaise in every room in my house, and flip them over when one side gets worn out. We are not as thrilled with the emery board version which is supposed to wear down kitties' sharp claws. My cats rub their faces against anything with cat nip on it. Ouch!
  
  
• Prescription Heartworm/Flea Drops. Cats hate the smell, but not as badly as they hate flea collars, dips, shampoos, and powders. Advantage Multi or Revolution prescription strength flea meds also offer protection against ticks and heartworms. Get a vet-recommended product appropriate to your cat's weight and age. Be leery of over the counter drops. They are less expensive and also less effective; some have nasty side effects. Do indoors cats need flea/heartworm prevention? Absolutely! Fleas can travel into the house on your clothes and can also come in through cracks in the foundation, floorboards and plumbing. My vet says many cases of feline heartworms he sees are in indoor cats.
  


• Urine marker removers. Almost every cat is going to miss the litter box at one time or another. You won't be able to miss the unmistakable lingering odor, especially in humid weather. There are a lot of "stink remover" products; some stink worse than the cat urine does. The best ones contain enzymes that attack and break down the organic matter in the urine or spray making it less pungent and less likely to reactivate. Now I should warn you these products remove odors well enough to fool your nose, but not always your cats' more sensitive sniffers. Cats will often re-mark a treated area. Invest in the economy size and treat affected areas frequently until the cat loses interest. and you can no longer smell it. Nature's Miracle, Simple Solutions and Anti Icky-Poo (dumb name, smart product) are some of the better brands out there.
  


• Cat nip mist. Most of my cats adore cat nip, but the dried herb loses its potency over time, and it makes a mess. Who wants to be sweeping that stuff up all day long when you can mist a spray infused with cat nip on kitty chaises (see above) and pet toys with the same desired result: kitty bliss.
  


• Fat Cat brand cat toys. Most pretty little cat toys disintegrate after five minutes in my household. Fat Cat products are durable, witty, and fun (cats love that crackly noise inside not to mention the cat nip). Most can even hold up to a run through the washing machine. Spritz them them with cat nip spray afterwards, and they are as good as new. For best results, don't buy the toys with attached feathers, ribbons and doo-dads; they just don't hold up as well.
  
  
• Cat calmant. Many cat owners sing the praises of Feliway pheromone spray and room diffuser for calming aggressive and territorial behavior in multi-cat homes. I'm not one of them. It's expensive as hell, and my cats fought and sprayed just as much with it as without. On the other hand, a few drops of homeopathic Calm Down ($9.99 a bottle at Pet Smart) in their drinking water or food does seem to settle them down a little but not to the point where they are zombies. There are no chemicals in it; it's made from all natural flower extracts. Is it just the power of suggestion? Don't know, but I sure like the price! Unfortunately, it looks like this brand has been discontinued at Pet Smart and at some online suppliers like Amazon.
  


• Furminator cat brushes. We are approaching the time of year, when everything in the house, including me, wears a fine down of cat hair. Those info-mercials don't lie: This is the best cat brush in the world for removing undercoat hair. You may be shocked the first time you use it and see just how much hair comes off your cat. Don't be scared; you won't wind up with hairless cats like Rachel's Mrs. Whiskerson on Friends.
  
  
• Pet hair rollers. I have one of these in every room of my house, my car, my office and my purse. All rollers are not created equally. My favorites are the Evercare which are high-quality, thicker and stickier than most and therefore pick up more hair per swipe so you don't use as much. The runner up is the classic 3M by Scotch which also comes in nice, thick rolls in a variety of sizes. Downside: Sometimes the layers stick to each other and don't peel away evenly. Budget rollers, available at discount stores, cost about a third of the price of the name brands, but also tend to be poorly made (the tape roll comes off the roller when you try to get a good grip on it) with fewer -- and thinner -- sheets and less "stickiness" so you will go through them faster thereby eating up any cost savings.



• Environmentally friendly clumping cat litter. The first "natural" cat litters were horribly expensive, hard to find, and, with limited clumping ability, not very scoopable. Choices have multiplied and improved over the last couple of years. Now your kitty can go green in litter made from unscented pine, corn, wheat and recycled newspaper. Prices have come down as well although most are still a few dollars more than regular clumping clay litter. I'm still seeking the "perfect" litter, but I have found some brands that I -- and more importantly the cats -- like including Exquisicat corn-based clumping litter carried by Pet Smart and the multi-cat version of Swheat litter. I'm also very fond of Dr. Ellsey's cat attract products though they are not all natural and very expensive. After one try, I took a pass on the recycled newspaper and pine pellets. My cats hate the feel of them underfoot, and they are not scoopable. The clumping version of Feline Pine (which is actually made from the guar bean) is very soft and the cats seem to like that, but it tracks badly and larger clumps disintegrate during scooping .

Is there a product that makes your life with cats easier? Please share in the comments section. Here at The House Where the Black Cat Lives, we're all about making life with cats as pleasant as possible.