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Pets At Home Red Gingham Lace Cat Collar
by ladyofcampfires
I've had both of my dogs microchipped and whilst I'm fully aware the day may come where I will be extremely thankful that I did this, I also feel extremely guilty for doing so. Both times I stood watching as two little puppies had a gigantic needle shoved in the back of their neck and I can still hear the cries and yelps of pain to this ... day. I keep saying I will get my three cats microchipped too but in all honestly, I don't think I will. I don't think I could handle that needle going into a much smaller kitty!
To be on the safe side though each of my cats wear a name tag with their name and my phone number engraved. In fact, thanks to very cheap prices on ebay, I have a whole stash of them just in case they ever get lost! For my cats to wear these though they obviously require a collar and all three of my lovely felines wear Pets At Home Cat Collar's.
The collars come in a wide range of different colours and patterns from the frankly ridiculous looking bright pink with diamantes to the more sensible plain black collar. I like to buy collars which 'go' with my cat's fur. Ollie, the big fluffy light ginger tabby, wears a pale yellow one with a white trim. Yuki, the dark grey tabby wears a black and white criss/cross type patterned collar whilst Meg, the black/white/ginger tortoise shell girl wears the collar displayed in the Dooyoo picture, a nice red and white gingham laced one. You'll also find these collars in every colour and pattern inbetween too so whatever style you wish for your cat to wear, you'll probably find it here.
The collars vary in price depending on style. The plain and simple collars, such as Ollies yellow one, are priced at £2. The ones with a nice pattern like Meg and Yuki's cost £3 and the (what I see as) awful ones completed with big plastic diamonds and the likes, are priced at £5. Currently these collars are on a three for two offer on the Pets at Home website too.
The collars come backed on a very pale yellow coloured sheet of cardboard. The Pets at Home logo is displayed on the top along with the name of the product and a little drawing of a partially unrolled ball of wall at the top for added decoration. Two holes, on midway down and one at the very bottom of the cardboard, are punched out which allows the collar to be attached. This open typed packaging allows you to fully see the collar before buying which I like.
The collars measure at 1cm thick and have an adjustable length of 21-34cm which I find to be a decent size range. All three of my cats are very different sizes with Meg being rather small, Yuki being around 'average' size for an adult male cat and Ollie being just huge (but not overweight I should point out)! The collar may be on the large size for small kittens but I think it'd fit most by the time they were big and old enough to be going outside anyway.
Adjusting the collars length is easily done simply by sliding back and forth the bra strap like plastic buckle. I find it doesn't provide too much resistance so you're not struggle to loosen or tighten the collar but it's strong enough for my cats not to be able to adjust the size just through wearing the collar.
As with (I hope anyway) all cat collars these are fitted with a safety fastener. Two bits of plastic which snap open should your cats get their collars caught. I find this fastener does pop open easily when forced but, again, isn't so weak that the collar does pop right off as soon as my cats get up or anything. Ollie and Meg have only ever had two of these each and that's simply because I replaced them through general wear and tear so they obviously stay on if the collar doesn't get caught. Yuki on the other hand likes to prove that these do come off if they get caught though as he's come home without his about five times now! However he does often try and get through the tiny bathroom window when it's only slightly open so he's obviously got a habit of going through spaces too small for him.
Each collar has a little silver bell attached to it which is another feature I like, there's definitely been a significant drop in the number of birds and rodents my cats bring back between them since they had a little warning bell attached! The bell is attached to the collar via a little loop which allows me to easily swivel it around if needed although rarely makes its way to the back of my cat's neck or anything. This little loop is also where I attach my cats name tag so these collars are perfectly fine for that purpose too.
The collars are really easy to fit, Meg always kicks up the most fuss when I put a collar on her and even she only takes about a minute to be fitted with her new collar which makes my life easier! Just remember to check the size of the collar! You should be able to fit two fingers between the collar and your cats neck and it should be checked regularly, obviously even more so if you have a growing kitten. These collars also come with a warning that they should be removed when using liquid flea treatments so the chemicals can't react with the material and/or buckle.
I personally find these to be really nice collars for my cats. They're reasonably cheap and, in my experience at least, last about a year and a half to two years before they need replacing through general wear and tear. There's plenty of designs to pick from they're generally of a decent quality with some nice and useful features. I can't fault them really!
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Pets at Home Play and Scratch Post
by Holland1
When my cat was a kitten I tried to get him using a scratch post....but to no avail. He just wasn't interested, despite me spending time on the floor with him, trying to demonstrate how to use it by scratching the post with my fingernails. Fast forward six years, and the arrival of a new sofa was the motivation I needed to try once ... more to get my cat to sharpen his claws on a scratch post instead of our prized possessions.
==The Choice==
After spending ages (and I mean, it took me longer than when I went shopping for my own wedding dress) perusing the options in Pets At Home, I decided on this one. The reasons were three-fold:
1 I didn't want to spend too much on an all-singing, all-dancing activity centre as such, in case he still didn't use it. I wanted to start with something basic so that if he used it, I could progress to a more complicated version
2 As far as basic scratch posts go, it was slightly taller, meaning he could have a good stretch without running out of post space
3 It had a pom pom hanging off the top, which I knew would catch my cat's attention, as he loves chasing after that kind of thing
==Construction==
The scratch post was so easily constructed, I managed to put it together myself. It literally has a diagram showing which piece goes where, and is simply a matter of screwing everything together with the screws which are built into each piece. There is the base, and the post itself is made of two different pieces to achieve the full height. Hence the fluffy bit in the middle, this is where the two pieces join.
==Design==
I was looking for something that wasn't too garish or intrusive, and this one just blends into the background in our dining room. The base of the post and pom-pom are made of a black furry material, and the post itself is off-white. This isn't too offensive, and I hardly notice it's there.
==In Use==
Admittedly, I did have to con my cat into using this to begin with, by frequently spraying it with catnip to arouse his interest. At first, this seemed to cause him to rub against the post, but after a while (and a little coaxing) he started chasing the pom-pom and realised that in doing so, his paws landed on the rough scratch post material. His eyes lit up as he went for it, tearing the post to bits. RESULT!
Although he doesn't use this every day, nor as often as I like, I do hear him having a good go at it every few days. This seems to be enough to keep him happy with his claw length, and so he has so far (touch wood) left the sofa alone. This is a great result for us, as he had practically destroyed our previous (leather) sofa, although I think it's partly to do with him not liking the fabric material. Either way, he uses the scratch post and I think this has to help in some way.
The best bit about the post is that it doesn't take up much room, yet is still tall enough for him to have a good stretch while using it. I know cats will often arch their back to stretch a lower scratch post (I see my mum's cats doing it), but mine is quite lazy so I feared if it was too short he would lose interest too quickly. I can't find the exact dimensions online, but I would estimate it at being around 60cm tall. The only downside is that the base isn't overly heavy, so sometimes it wobbles as he's scratching it. This can sometimes make him jump as he's a bit of a wimp, and so it stops him mid-scratching which is annoying as I'd like to encourage him to scratch as much as possible. I imagine most scratch posts would be the same, however, unless they have a lead weight at the bottom!
==Price and Availability==
I bought this from Pets At Home, where it cost £13. However, I would say the value of not having your cat destroy yet another sofa is priceless.
(Review may also appear on Ciao under the username Gingerkitty)
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