Global Pet Expo is where the latest and greatest pet products hit the market so that your local pet stores can learn about them and make them available to you. It’s hard to imagine how huge 3300 booths full of products for pets is. Here’s a photo of one of the two massive halls that were full of everything you can imagine — and some things you can’t — for cats, dogs, birds, fish, pocket pets, and other pets, too.
Trends
The good news is that the cats area of the new product showcase was bigger this year than last year. Brands are hearing that cats are popular, especially with Millenials, and they are starting to add products for cats a little faster than before. There is still a lot more new stuff coming out for dogs than cats, but cats are starting to get more attention.
It’s also good news that there’s a shift in the cat food market toward more natural and eco-friendly products. Freeze-dried cat foods are starting to proliferate, and at this rate, it should be a lot easier for families to find food with better ingredients. There are also a lot more pet products overall being made with the environment in mind, using recyclable and biodegradable materials. An example are these catnip toys from Beco. They are made of fabric manufactured from recycled plastic bottles that can be recycled again.
The not-as-good news is that new products for cats seemed to be focused heavily on consumable products. I get that brands want to sell you something and then sell it to you again and again, but my cats can only eat so much cat food or poop in so much litter. I am always excited about new products for cat enrichment, and that isn’t where research and development seems to be focused at the moment.
Interesting Products
This Cat Craft cat tree with a built-in red dot caught my attention, and it would catch a red-dot loving kitty’s attention, too. Some families have a difficult time getting their cat to start using a cat tree, but a red dot winking on and off at various locations on the tree seems like it would help kitty get the idea that it’s a place for claws.
I was excited to see the Dr. Catsby’s bowl in person. It’s surprisingly deeper than it looks in photos, but the gentle, sloping shape keeps a cat’s whiskers from touching the edges of the bowl the way they do in regular bowls.
This piece of shrubbery is actually a cat tree, with platforms hidden inside the leaves that have holes so a kitty can hop up inside a private cat jungle. At first glance, I wondered how stable the tree would be, but it was actually impressively stable. Talk about a useful houseplant!
Our friends at Hauspanther introduced their first pet furniture line. The collection includes wall-mounted pieces (including one with storage!) and one that sits on the floor. Don’t they look like a great way to make extra vertical space in your home for your kitties?
Speaking of vertical space, the inventive folks at Katris are taking their tetris-shaped cardboard scratching blocks vertical, too, with new wall-mounting hardware. What a fun way to create a “stairway to cat heaven” on top of a high shelf or platform.
One of the most interesting sets of cat trees that debuted last year at Global Pet Expo was the modern-looking Vesper cat furniture. They have added more to the line, including a triangular kitten playground, new configurations of hiding caves and perching spots, and a smaller cube that you can connect with other cubes to make a custom configuration.
The colorful Kitty Kasas from the Arni Foundation were at Global Pet Expo for the first time ever. These were created for use in and sales support a central Florida animal shelter, so they have a great story as well as being really eye-catching cat cubbies.
Trixie Pet brought some serious cute to sheltering ferals or other outdoor cats with these multi-story at houses.
Sometimes I get really excited about part of a product that isn’t even its main functionality. The hydrophobic sand in this Kit4Cat home urine test for cats was something really intriguing. What a great way to get a urine sample from your cat! You can see how water is beading on the surface in the photo below. It turns out the sand has been around for quite a while, but I had never heard of it before!
There’s a lot more that I didn’t get pictures of to share with you. When I downloaded the photos from my phone and camera, I discovered that I didn’t really take photos in the booths where I was talking to pet food brands. I suspect that’s because when I got really excited about certain foods, I was so busy learning more that I totally forgot to pull out a camera. Social media fail, I know, but don’t worry, I’ll be sharing a lot more about some of those foods here soon.
Other Sights at Global Pet Expo
I had hoped to take photos of lots of kitties around the show floor, but I only found one! This adoptable rescue kitty was demonstrating how much fur the Furminator grooming tool can remove. You can just see the fluffy tufts of hair on the table by the kitty’s feet that were removed as he started to be groomed.
One of the fun things about attending Global Pet Expo is seeing fellow bloggers from far and wide. The final day of the event, flat Sugar the Golden Retriever, plush Oz the Terrier, Plush Ashton, and Flat Kilo took over the podium in the press room to hold their own press conference.
A press conference like that is sure to lead to world domination and to announce that they will be doing it all again this time next year. Until then, I hope you enjoyed a peek at the show floor!
Can you believe my human would rather go to publishing conferences than to Global Pet Expo? She has a couple this spring, so she couldn’t go to Global. My big dream is to be invited by a brand so that she HAS to go – and take me!
I would be like a kid in a candy store there!!! I think my favorite is that multi-story house for ferals…TOO CUTE!!!
It was great to see you at Global. Your post goes to show that it’s truly impossible to see everything at this show – I completely missed the adorable Trixie Pet houses!
It was so nice to see you at Global! Your post just goes to show that it’s impossible to see everything at this show – I completely missed the adorable cat houses by Trixie Pet.
Wow! Thanks for this great overview of the expo. We want the scratching post with the built-in red dot. How cool is that?!!?
One day our human will get to go to Global Pet and see everything in purrson. 🙂
OMCs what a fun fun and huge event. Look at all that stuff and you met some flats and some plushes!!
Hugs madi your bfff
Mommy said she wishes she had half a million. She’d spend it all on me. But remove TOE HAWKS! Not on your tintype!!
Wow! You found some great products for kitties for sure! I wish I had seen the outdoor cat houses for feral cats. You know our friend is taking care of a feral in her neighborhood…now her yard and screened porch…with a hope of getting that little kitty used to her so it will come inside the house…and that house would be perfect for the screened in porch, for now. I must remember to tell her about it. As always, it was great seeing you at GPE and we look forward to our collaboration coming soon!
Oz
I’m glad there were more cat booths this year. It looks like some cool new products will be coming out. We have one of those Dr. Catsby bowls to try out. 🙂
Looks like it was a great time! Of all that you shared, I think those cat toys that are recyclable are brilliant! The pet trees with the leaves look similar to the tree I have made by Pet Tree Houses (they are STILL my favorite cat tree bar none)
What I am deeply hoping, is that all of you who went, were able to convey the message to brands (and some of the agencies that represent the brands that have not gotten on board yet), with paying pet bloggers. There is no hesitation in paying lifestyle bloggers, but the pet brands and (some) of the agencies that represent them haven’t gotten the message yet. The more they hear it, the more they will hopefully get on board!
wow – that’s a lot of neat stuff. we love the recyclable cat toys. and the Kitty Kasas would be great for rescues and shelters since they would be easy to clean…..
Thanks for the great post. It was like being there without being there!
Pawsome to see you and it was the best press conference 🙂 Golden Woofs
I am glad cats are starting to get more attention.
guys….whoa……talk bout catz walkin inta a candee stor !!!! how awesum iz thiz; bet yur mom had fun !!! we R total lee lovin thoz shrubs !!! thanx two yur mom for sharin…..we will go snooze now….& dreem 🙂 ♥♥♥
The houses for ferals are so cute ! Global Expo sounds like a pawsome event, thank you for the tour ! Purrs
Awesome seeing you and we’re on the same page with a few of your picks. Ah, so many products, so little time…
That sure looks like a fun place to check out all the goodies!
Whoa! Look at all this stuff! We have the Kit4Cat that TW got at the vet last year. She doesn’t think I’d go in it cos I like my litter piled high. I LOVE the scratcher with the red dot.
That is one big expo!!
Oh my gosh, I LOVE that cat tree with the built in red dot. Rosie would go crazy for that.
Thanks for sharing with us that could not attend! We would love to volunteer as show cats for any vendors needing cats to try out their products.
Thank you for sharing these. I too had not heard of Kit4Cat.
Glad to hear there were more cat products.. hopefully it is a trend that will continue
Dad can’t wait till retirement so he can go fun places like this. We are really glad cats are a bit better represented but… Wish it was as much as it should be
Mom would absolutely love to attend the EXPO sometime. Thanks for showing us some really cool products. Love the Hauspanther product. Hope Kate will bring that and some of these others to the Cat Style lounge at BlogPaws. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona Astrid, Lisbeth an Calista Jo
Our mom was SO devastated she couldn’t go! It looks like it was full of cool stuff! Maxie says he NEEDS that scratching post with the red dot family hidden inside!