The sisal covered shelves are staggered and look like they’re well placed for cats to climb up. (I’ve seen plenty of cat trees where the shelf placement makes it really hard for cats to actually use the tree.) The shelves aren’t terribly deep, in order to give the cat tree a slim profile, but they are 14 inches long, so there is a fair bit of room for your kitties to hang out. I don’t know how well it will work for a scratching post given the orientation of the shelves.
The Climber is spring mounted, so you won’t damage your door putting it up. There’s an extension kit for longer doors. And, your door stays full functional. Clever, clever! (via apartmenttherapy)
Love the oven mitts and the total commitment to the song and video! (Mean Kitty’s human, Cory “Mr. Safety” Williams, gave him his own channel on Youtube where you can see more of the kitty, Sparta.)
Check out this brilliant Do-It-Yourself Green Roof Veranda (less a house and more of a covered deck.) It has thorough instructions and lots of helpful photos with notes. You can do this! If you use pressure treated lumber, make sure you get a safe version, or use naturally rot-resistant wood like cedar or cypress, or use plastic lumber.
I really like this design! It has a good over-hang so your pup will be well shaded and the floor is well away from the drain holes in the roof, so your pup will stay dry too. The elevated floor will keep your pet cooler and keep them away from bugs. You can easily put a blanket or a pad on the floor to give your dog more cushioned spot to hang out. And the Green Roof Veranda will look great in your garden.
As I said in the post on the green roof dog houses you can buy, the Green Roof Veranda won’t save the planet by itself, but it can start the conversation, it can serve as a small scale trial for a larger green roof, and it can give your dog a comfy place to relax when she’s outside.
Now you can buy an eco-friendly dog house for your pup. The Green Roof Dog House(via Inhabitat) from Sustainable Pet won’t save the planet by itself, but it could get the conversation started, be a small scale trial for a larger green roof, or, at the very least, provide a cooler place for your dog to hang out.
I don’t think cats or dogs should just be left outside, but even pets who spend most of their time indoors may need some shelter from the heat or rain when they are outside. A house with a green roof would work great and look nifty too.
The houses are made from cedar, not pressure treated wood, so your pets won’t be exposed to toxic chemicals. They also use zero-VOC paint (no emission of Volatile Organic Compounds), water-proof with beeswax, and the plants for the roof will be customized for the area you live.
It’s that time of year again when we seem to have more fur coming off our pets than staying on them, so I thought I’d run this post again on one of our absolute favorite grooming tools.
The Furminator is great! (Though the name is kind of goofy.) I used to use a shedding rake, but the Furminator gets out so much more fur, it’s amazing. This video gives you an idea of how well it works.
It doesn’t cut hair or damage the top coat in any way. It just really gets the shedding undercoat and hairs. You can see in this slow-motion video that it isn’t cutting the coat.
The “comb” is made of closely spaced, pointed teeth and because they are so closely spaced they don’t hurt the animal’s skin, but are able to get deep into the coat. It’s the v’s formed by the teeth that catch the loose fur. You can see them by clicking on the thumbnail.
Saffron loves it. I don’t use it on her undercarriage where there is much less fur and her skin is visible. And I hold her skin taut where it’s looser, like around her neck. As with any grooming tool, I’m careful around her hips and spine. Sage loves the Furminator too, which means fewer hairballs. It’s hard to believe how much fur it gets out of their coats, which means a lot less fur around the house and filling up vacuum cleaner bags. Raven’s coat lays very close to her skin and she doesn’t like to be groomed with anything. According to The Furminator FAQ, there are some breeds of dogs they don’t recommend using it on:
American Water Spaniel
Bedlington Terrier
Bichon Frise
Chinese Crested
English Setter–depends on the coat
Flat-Coated Retriever
Glen of Imaal Terrier
Havanese
Irish Water Spaniel
Japanese Chin
Komondor
Lhasa Apso–depends on coat
Lowchen
Maltese
Pekingese–depends on coat
Poodle
Portuguese Water Dog
Puli
Saluki
Shih Tzu–depends on coat
Silky Terrier
Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier
Tibetan Spaniel–depends on coat
The Furminator comes in different sizes—I got the Medium. Starting with the Medium and on up, you can get replacement combs—screws hold them in place. It’s hard to imagine needing one though. They come with a guard to protect the comb when not in use. Ours came with samples of Furminator shampoos and conditioners. They didn’t seem remarkably different from other good shampoos and conditioners (Note: I am not connected to the Furminator company.)
The sisal covered shelves are staggered and look like they’re well placed for cats to climb up. (I’ve seen plenty of cat trees where the shelf placement makes it really hard for cats to actually use the tree.) The shelves aren’t terribly deep, in order to give the cat tree a slim profile, but they are 14 inches long, so there is a fair bit of room for your kitties to hang out. I don’t know how well it will work for a scratching post given the orientation of the shelves.
