6 ITG Curated Pet Products for Your Furry Family

May commences National Pet Month in the Unites States! The ITG team is full of pet lovers, so we’re celebrating by showing off our furry friends and sharing their favorite pet-friendly innovations! From dogs to hamsters, the ITG pets have curated a collection of products and brands integrating creativity and putting themselves into our pets’ shoes (paws) to create innovations pets really want! In this article, we’ll be covering six products with some specifically tackling pet wellbeing, to products not initially intended for pets!

1. FURminator: Undercoat deShedding Tool

Photo of a cute black, brown, and white dog sniffing the blue Furminator brush — *Myles Inspecting his FURminator!*

Any and every dog owner has dealt with some level of dog hair and shedding. ITG Facilitator Tyler Thompson, his dog Myles: the Shiba Inu and American Eskimo mix, are no strangers to heavy seasonal shedding - that’s why Tyler (and Myles) love the FURminator deShedder from Spectrum Brands! FURminator offers their product in a wide variety of sizes and coat lengths for a specialized tool made just for your playful fuzzball. While Tyler has tried other options to combat Myles’ shedding, in his words,

“I've tried the gloves that brush him out, but they never got deep enough. The Furminator gets at Myles' undercoat and has a handy release feature to easily remove the fur after each stroke. Myles still doesn't totally like the brushing process, but it definitely makes my life easier!”

2. Hyper Pet Boredom Busters LickiMat

Photo of a fluffy whit dog eating food off an orange mat

Photo of two brown Labradoodles — *Catherine’s Labradoodles: Walter & Millie!*

Pets. Love. Food. We’ve all seen our pets devour their meals in seconds, but eating too quickly can result in “bloat”, or gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV). GDV has the potential to be life threating, but worry not - Hyper Pets has a solution! Great for both cats and dogs; the Hyper Pet: Boredom Busters LickiMats are designed to not only keep your pets from eating too quickly, but also make them work for their food. Studies have shown that licking can release endorphins in animals to reduce anxiety and boredom - hence the name boredom busters!

We love that LickiMats are dishwasher safe with a “four quadrant” design for easy portion control. ITG’s Catherine Delmonico is a huge fan of this product and so are her labradoodles, Walter and Millie!

3. Niteangel Hamster Products

Photo of a hamster peeking out of a wooden box in its habitat

Photo of a hamster peeking out of a mug with Ideas To Go logos on it — *Pot Roast Enjoying his Morning ITG Brew!*

Marketing Manager, Sena Abernathey, and her hamster, Pot Roast, have an amazingly ethical brand to share called, Niteangel! Too often, hamster products manufactured by big box pet stores are made for aesthetic purposes and are unsafe or provide little enrichment for hamsters. Cages, wheels, and hamster food bowls are commonly created too small which can result in a variety of physical conditions and cage aggression. Niteangel tackles these issues with their innovative and well designed products that all follow the veterinary size recommendation to ensure the health of our fuzzy little friends.

Pot Roast’s favorite products are the Super-Silent Spinner Wheel and Vista Cage appropriately sized for hamsters as well as the Multi-Chamber Hideout and Acrylic Sand Bath which are great for enrichment!

4. SmartyKat Scratch Scroll

Photo of a brown tabby cat scratching a wave-shaped scratching toy with a feather coming off it

Photo of a white cat sitting on a wavy cat scratching toy — *Mila Looking Extra Ferocious on her Scroll!*

A staple for any cat owner is a cat scratcher, but sometimes cat trees are just too big. The SmartyKat Scratch Scroll loved by Project Manager Rob Gonzalez’s furry feline, Mila, takes up minimal space while still providing ample scratching surface. Not only is this scratch pad conveniently sized, but it’s also conveniently priced (and on sale for half off right now)!

There is no better way to keep your furniture safe and your pet healthy than by allowing them a designated scratcher. When cats scratch surfaces, it not only helps them relieve stress, but also helps them to shed the outer layer of their nails to keep them well groomed. For extra activity, there’s also an attachable feather for your cat to paw at to relive their boredom.

5. meowbox Subscription Service

Photo of a white cat snuggling with a banana toy — *Mila with her ‘meowbox’ Banana.*

Full of unique treats and toy; meowbox delivers a new themed batch of goodies to your doorstep every month (or bi-monthly) to make it feel like a holiday all year round! Each box comes with 5-6 new items for a very reasonable price with options to exclude the food for picky eaters.

Every theme is sure to surprise you, with some of the past themes being: Furst Class Flying, Houseplant Purradise, Catsronauts in Space, and Here Comes Santa Paws. This comes to us as another recommendation from Mila who loves to play with not only the exciting contents of the box, but also the box itself (of course).

6. World's Smallest: Stretch Armstrong

The last, and arguably funniest cat innovation comes from ITG’s Illustrator, Joe Sinness, and his cat Gary! Gary loves none other than Stretch Armstrong - the classically buff and stretchable retro action figure.

Photo of a smiling Joe Sinness with Gary the cat — *ITG Artist Joe with his Cat Gary!*

Gary loves Stretch Armstrong so much that Joe had to grab a second figure (definitely not due to Joe accidentally decapitating the first stretch with his desk chair). While not marketed as a cat product, it still makes our list to exhibit the useability of innovations even if they’re not being utilized with the intended purpose in mind! For only $10, this is the newest “cat toy” you need to add to your arsenal.

We love to keep our pets happy, healthy, and active with products that look out for them as much as we do. Hopefully our list will inspire you to try them out yourself or think up your own ideas for more ways to show your pets you love them a little extra this month!