I’m one of those people who always wants more animals around. Dogs, cats, bunnies, birds, hamsters, guinea pigs, goats, horses, the list goes on and on. Don’t worry, I only have three cats, but I try to get my animal fill by luring wildlife closer to home. Thanks to bird feeders, bat houses, and carefully chosen plants, you can have a little wildlife sanctuary in your own backyard.
After the jump, a round-up of some products that make it easy to bring the great outdoors closer in.
After posting about pet dishes found on Etsy, I found that, in the world of dog and cat bowls, there are more design variations for our pets’ meals than there are for our own! Pet dinnerware comes in all shapes and sizes — round, square, foldable, heightened — and in a variety of materials — stainless steel, porcelain, or glass.
If you’re shopping for a new dish look for one made of a non-porous material, such as those just mentioned. Avoid plastic. Yes, I know there are tons of cute ones out there, but it easily harbors bacteria, which can then lead to health issues. One of the most common ways bacteria can attack is through painful pimples around your pet’s mouth. Yup, your dog can get zits. Another reason to avoid plastics: they can also hold quite a few toxins that can leak out into foods or water.
Here I’ve rounded up a sampling of some of the more interesting serving dishes out there that are also safe for your furry companions. You’ll notice there are a few raised bowls, as well as wall mountable feeding stations. These are great for any pet’s digestion, but they’re especially helpful for dogs who may suffer from bloat.
The Temple Standing Feeder, $90 and up
I was introduced to the cat hammock years ago when doing kitty rescue work in Brooklyn, New York. A fellow rescuer took in one of my rescues while I was on vacation and when I came back I found Gizmo (the big boned dude in my sisal cat scratcher post) sprawled out on a little hammock within a small dog crate—cat condos, as they’re called, are great when socializing street cats. Her DIY cat hammock involved old pillow cases or strips of fabric tied to the sides of the crate, but the cuts in the fabric that allow you to tie the hammock to the crate tend to rip further and further under a cat’s weight.
After my husband and I threw down 600 bucks on a new couch we knew we had to do something about the cats. Since kitten pie was out of the question, we thought to invest in a scratching post that was so enticing, even the couch would no longer appeal. Unfortunately, when I went to the pet store, the sisal cat scratcher I’ve always wanted was priced at $70. Um, no. Sorry. Luckily, a few days later my husband came home with all the ingredients to make the ultimate sisal and carpet cat scratcher. Here’s how we did it.
A few years ago Victoria Smith started silkscreening reproductions of the British World War II era motivational poster “Keep Calm and Carry On” and selling them on Etsy. The prints became a huge hit and seemed to show up in every home I went to or looked at on interior design sites.
Since there’s nothing worse than a one-hit wonder, Victoria recently released a new poster, this time aimed at dog owners.
Her 11-by-14 inch prints are hand silkscreened in jet black ink with the saying “Please Let me be the Person My Dog Thinks I am.” Boy, how many times have I worried about this very sentiment when our pup was alive!
[via Dog Milk]
Our cats are indoor only. They have been since I rescued them off the streets of Brooklyn. With things like traffic, feline leukemia, and rat poisons it’s just too scary out there, even for street smart kitties. Every time I host an outdoor BBQ at my apartment I plaster the back door with signs warning partygoers what would happen to them if they let any of the cats out.
Perhaps the sign below would have been much more appropriate.
Sarah Fortman, an animal lover with radical cat tattoos, had this beauty made by the California-based Made for Glory Signs. Derek McDonald and Scott La Rock (how awesome of a last name is that?) will custom build and hand paint any sign you want.
[Image by Sarah Fortman]
Well hello there! I’m Sonia and I’m the newest recruit to ReadyMade’s gang of bloggers. I’m a self professed cat lady, but as you can see from the photo above, I do like me some doggies too. In December of ‘09 my best friend and I launched our own pet blog where we could wax on and on about pets. Through the countless hours of “research” I’ve done for Pawesome, I’ve come across quite a few creative and unique ways people live with and celebrate their pets. I’m hoping to share some of those projects and ideas here. If you have any pet projects you’d like to share you can email them to me and your creative juices just might get the spotlight on Inside, Out.
When I’m not writing I sell t-shirts to help animals in need. You may recognize that sweet mug above, not mine. That’s Lulu, famed tripod of the I Heart Tripods charity shirts.
It’s awesome (or should I say, pawesome!) to meet you. Hope we can all geek out on furry, feathery, and scaly things together.
love + licks,
sonia
Chris Gardner lives and makes things (music, art, furniture, dinner, messes) in Columbus, Ohio. He contributes to the home-design community Curbly, and also runs ManMade, a DIY and handmade site for the postmodern male.
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Garth Johnson and Claire Joyce are a pair of artists who are renovating and decorating their first home, a 1905 Victorian in Eureka, California. They would like to share the joys and frustrations of home-ownerhsip, and to hear about the same from you. See Claire's art here, and get more of Garth on his blog, Extreme Craft. Claire and Garth's home-owning adventures to date are collected at Keeping Up With the Johnsons, also on ReadyMade.
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Sonia Zjawinski is the co-founder of the pet site Pawesome. She's been obsessed with animals ever since she could grab hold of her parents' first cat, Pimpek. When she's not wrangling cats or training dogs she's writing for Unpluggd, Wired, the New York Times, and ReadyMade.
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Megan Jeyifo is a twenty-something married who loves black coffee, chaotic thrift stores, picking up new crafts and putting them down after 25% mastery has occurred, repurposing castoffs, the back porch, her dog, the Midwest and letters on real pages. She writes the blog Urban Casita and lives in the great city of Chicago.
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