Global Pet Expo, the pet products trade show in Orlando last week, is a great place to see the newest trends in products for pets.
Cool Trends
Technology for Pets
You probably don’t think of technology as being something for pets, but just like the hot item for humans last Christmas was wearable technology, it has arrived for your cats and dogs, too. Some of these wearables track your cat or dog’s activity level throughout the day while others use GPS to help you locate your pet. Some of the GPS units can alert you if your pet goes beyond a set area around your house so that you know if they get out. One system for dogs combined technologies, with the wearable device tracking activity levels throughout the day, allowing the system to make recommendations about the amount of food necessary based on the day’s activity level… That system could even measure and feed the adjusted amount when you approve it using your smartphone.
It was encouraging to see that a few of these products were actually cat-sized and one even started because the company owner lost a cat. Products like these are always going to end up a dog-first market overall, but it’s interesting to see cats included in a lot of the development and marketing for this technology.
Increased Food Sourcing from the USA
With the public becoming more aware of unsafe imported food in the market, a number of pet food companies are making a big effort to find sources in the US for their ingredients. Some who can’t are making a real effort at being transparent about sourcing for proteins like rabbit and lamb that can’t be found in quantity in the US so that you can read the label and see exactly where they come from. For all of us who read labels, this is good to see.
Environmental Consciousness
From cat beds made out of recycled industrial tubs to biodegradable dog poop collection gloves with webbed fingers, it’s clear that companies have heard the concerns of families with pets about being ecologically friendly and leaving a minimal environmental footprint.
Other Sights
There were pets around the expo hall, many of them adoptable cats and dogs provided to exhibitors by local rescue groups. A few of the vendors who sell homes and enclosures for chickens had chickens on hand, too.
One very special chicken traveled all the way from near Houston, Texas: Sweet Heart, the paralyzed chicken, who has her own wheelchair.
Several animal behaviorists made appearances over the course of the show, and one of them was the well-known cat behaviorist, Jackson Galaxy.
We had the opportunity to talk to Jackson during Global Pet Expo, and next Thursday, we’ll feature that interview. Be sure to stop by then to hear what he said about his line pet products, the Jackson Galaxy foundation, and about his music.
