The Best from SuperZoo

As I mentioned yesterday, Flippy and I spent the day at the SuperZoo expo.  It’s a “pet retailer” convention, but the displayed products could appeal to pet groomers, vets, vet techs, gift shop owners, and pet retailers.  Of course, almost every vendor had a product to appeal to a pet owner, so we were in our glory.  For the most part we were treated very well by all the exhibitors, although one or two lost interest in us when they found out we “only” did Internet marketing.  Generally speaking though, the exhibitors were VERY Internet savvy, and most companies had great websites and great domain names.  We’re impressed by stuff like that.

I thought I’d make a list of the most impressive products we saw, for those of you who weren’t able to attend.  I also want to be able to thank the exhibitors who were extra-nice to us, and post some photos of some cool stuff.

  • I know we’re supposed to buy “home grown” products, but WOW, bird cages manufactured in China are really, really inexpensive!  We saw huge, gorgeous cages which would provide a macaw with plenty of wing and leg room, and they were selling for $375, including shipping.  If we’d gone to the convention with more money, we would have come home with new cages for our entire flock.  I can’t say whether or not these companies will sell directly to the consumer, but if you need inexpensive cages, it doesn’t hurt to ask:  Sunlight Cages, and Dawel import cages.  Caution, icky websites ahead.
  • My “most fascinating item of the entire convention” award goes to a company called (appropriately) Fascinations.  They have a product called “Antworks”, which is a high-tech ant farm.  The ants live in a gel-substance which they can eat, drink, and tunnel in.  There were a number of different ant farms on display, and each ant colony built its own special pattern of tunnels.  It was really cool.  The company also has kits for raising praying mantis, ladybugs, and butterflies.  They had a huge praying mantis on display, although I felt sorry for the crickets it was dining on.
  • The “most bizarre thing I’ve ever seen” award goes to Pet Spa.  I can’t think of how to describe this except to say it’s like a combo washer/drier for dogs (and cats, I guess).  You put your pet in what looks like a big microwave oven, you push some buttons, and your pet is put through an automated wash/dry cycle.  It will cost you around $25000 to put one of these in your home (they’re intended for groomers or vet’s offices), but if you’ve got some extra cash, why not?  I think I’d be inclined to use it myself rather than letting the pets hog it.
  • I’ve talked before about wanting to have some chickens, and I think even Nancy was sold on the idea when she saw the adorable “Chick-n-barn” by Ware Manufacturing.  Unfortunately, the Chick-n-barn isn’t pictured on the website!  I think it’s a fairly new product, so I’ll have to scan my photo of it.  I’ll try to come back and add one.  It will make you want chickens, too!
  • My favourite packaging was from Petcurean pet foods.  I know packaging is a superficial attribute, but let’s be honest—aren’t we all guilty of occasionally buying an item because it just “looks cool”?  Happily, I think they offer a decent pet food underneath the package.  And they’re Canadian!
  • I’ve already placed an order for Petrotech Odor Eliminator because I was so impressed by the demonstration I saw.  The product I ordered is a mist which I can spray in the litterbox occasionally to neutralize the ammonia smell.  I’m extremely diligent about litterbox cleanliness (each of the three boxes in our house is cleaned out at least twice per day), but the boxes occasionally still “have a smell”.  The Petrotech product is odor-free and seems to destroy the cat box odor rather than just masking it.  I don’t want to be spraying harsh perfumey things around the pets, so this seems to be a perfect alternative.  Here’s a little tip for you:  you can buy two cans of Petrotech odor eliminator for just $9.99 if you shop through Jeffers Pet (just do a search on the site for “Petrotech").  It’s a great price because the manufacturer sells the product for $12.95 PER CAN on their own website.
  • Thank you to the very nice woman at the Bell Rock Growers booth for the free samples of pet shampoo, and the bag of Pet Greens.  This is fresh “cat grass” you can grow at home for your cat (or bird, or rodent), and you grow it in the bag it comes in.  No pots, no mess—just open the bag, add the included seeds, water, and you’ll have fresh greens in about a week.  I’m excited to give it a try.  Our cats seem to have some hairball issues and I hope this will help.
  • I also want to extend a very, very sincere thank you to the woman running the booth for Zuke’s pet products.  She was very friendly, very informed, knew her products and their ingredients, and had a really cute rescued Chihuahua with her smile She very generously gave us samples of a variety of Zuke’s products, and we’ve already done some taste tests.  Our dogs say every single Zuke’s product is to die for (their own words, seriously), including the Hip Action snacks with Glucosamine & Chondroitin, and the Chicken Flavoured Mini Naturals.  We haven’t tried the Z-Ridge Dental Health Bone yet, mostly because we were too exhausted to try to break it in half last night.  We were also given a number of snacks for the cats, but unfortunately our cats are sort of weird about “soft snacks”.  They’re suspicious of them, yet they’ll eat anything crunchy.  Pet cats all over the world are dreaming of getting soft and chewy snacks, but not ours.  So, they weren’t wild about the Natural Purrz to eat, but they did love the way they smelled.  So, it shouldn’t reflect badly on the product, we just have weird cats.  Happily, the product is all-natural and free of additives, so once again the dogs are willing to do more than their fair share and to eat the cat snacks, too.  Such selfless dogs we have.
  • This is the best dog house ever: cedar cabin dog house.  I’d buy two for Dante and Eli, but I don’t know if the wood would stand up to the constant dryness of our yard.  If they could make a dog house from plastic lumber I’d definitely want a couple of them for our guys.
  • If I was a dog, this is what I’d want to eat: Evangers Dog Food.  Look at their hand-packed specialties—it looks like food for people!  I’d eat it!  Whole fish, whole chicken thighs, chunks of beef… I saw their display and immediately wanted to grab a fork and dive in.
  • Okay, one last thing:  for the person who has everything, including a poop fetish, it’s the Dog Poop Calendar.  Guess what our vet is getting for Christmas this year?!

I’ve missed some people, but that’s enough for now.  I’ll come back in a bit and post some photos!

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 09/22 at 02:47 PM

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  1. Holy crap that a poop calendar actually exists!  That is insane.

    When the dude and I were last in Texas visiting his dad, we picked up a huge cage for one of our birds.  It was wicked cheap and had been great for the last two years.  I was telling the dude just last night that we should see if his dad could pick up another one when he comes here for Thanksgiving.  Then this morning, I see the very same cage listed under “Sunlight Cages”.  What a coincidence!  (That website was the ugliest website that I have ever seen, by the way!)

    Those cedar dog houses are beautiful.  I would be afraid that our Border Collie would eat it though.  Oh and that ant farm was some cool beans too!

    Posted by Expat  on  09/23  at  03:50 AM

  2. Lots of people seem fond of the ant farm—perhaps we’ll give them to all the nieces and nephews for Christmas.  My brother-in-law doesn’t like “pets”, but really, how much mess could a few ants make?!

    Posted by Leigh-Ann (aka Mudpuppy)  on  09/27  at  08:28 PM

  3. lol, the ant farm thing sounds pretty crazy.

    Posted by Katy McNiel  on  07/21  at  05:25 PM
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