Top 10 Strangest Pet Products

Stacy Mantle

12 years ago

There were hundreds of thousands of products at the event, but we did manage to pick out a few of our favorite “huh…” products. Here they are in no particular order:

1. StudStopper

This is just a strange and in our opinion, an irresponsible product. It’s touted as a vet-approved (?!) method of “non-surgical neuter” of your pet. Let me be very clear about this: This is NOT a substitution for neutering your pet and it should never be used as a form of “birth control.” I suppose if you are a breeder, you may see a purpose for this product. But, I’m a rescue girl and do not see any real purpose. Quite frankly, I feel bad for the dog who has to wear it.

2. Puppy Bumpers

I actually liked the idea behind this product. While it is strange, it does serve a valid purpose. Puppy Bumpers are collars your small dog or cat (if you had a very understanding cat) would wear to keep them in a patio area. The over-sized collar is designed to keep them from slipping through the railings and from what I can tell, it does exactly as it’s advertised. In all, we found it to be cute, practical and works well for pet parents with small dogs.

3. Condiments for Pets

There were several condiments for pets that were called Petchup and Meowstard , which are made by the folks at Petchup. “Why would pets need condiments,” you ask. Well, we asked them the same thing and here was their answer: “Petchup is made with 22 vitamins, minerals and nutrients that are important to the health and well-being of your pet. Petchup products are also a sauce, which is added moisture for those pets in especially dry regions such as Colorado, Arizona, etc.”

There you have it – straight from the source!

4. Chicken diapers and aprons

I thought these were interesting products and while we all shared hours of laughter making Chicken Diaper jokes over cocktails, we can tell you that they really do serve a purpose. The diapers are designed for those days you want to take your chicken for a walk without hauling around a scooper. They also help prevent “bumble foot” (which is a real thing). Bumble foot can cause death in chickens and occurs when they injure a foot, then walk around in their waste. Chicken diapers would obviously help catch that waste so the chicken doesn’t have to walk around in it. Their other products include the Birdy Bootie (which is a giant shoe for hens) and the Hen Saver Apron/Saddle, which is an apron for chickens. (Yes, you read that right.)

Cocks are known to harass chickens, pulling out their feathers and creating problems with infection. The aprons are designed to prevent injury and the chickens actually looked quite comfortable wearing them!

5. The neigh station

If your horse gets bored hanging out in the stall, this may be just the product for him! The play station is designed to hang outside of your horses stall and give him something to play with (namely a giant doll named Steve). See for yourself with this talking horse video that is a must-see: http://youtu.be/116uM_hEs7Y

6. Good dog bone fastener

While we look at this product and consider it to be rather medieval and somewhat terroristic in nature, others look at it as resolving a problem.

Apparently some people have issues with pets pushing bones around the living room. Our solution to that problem would be to buy a bone that your dog can handle comfortably. But I suppose someone will see this product as a better solution.

Now, our dogs would just pick up the entire mat and carry it away, then chew through both the fastener and the bone. I guess those with smaller dogs who like bigger bones may find it more useful.

7. Optivisor from Optivue

This seemed like a very strange product when we first saw it. It’s a plastic shield designed to protect a dogs vision from what I could only assume was activities like sledding or when you’re standing in a shop welding or hammering or sawing – but really, I would hope that the dog wouldn’t be standing there with you. After a closer look, we learned that these shields are valuable for dogs after facial or eye surgery, blind dogs, or search and rescue dogs. I’m not really sure what else to say about this product…

8. Shake Trainer

This is a new product from Dean & Tyler that takes the “pennies in a can” idea to a new level. It’s called the Shake Trainer and I think it’s really just a reinvention of the “loud noises scare dogs” training method.

The theory is that when your pet starts barking, or jumping, or any other negative behavior, you shake the can to startle them into stopping the behavior. I’m sure there are some trainers who will have something to say about this. I’m staying out of what I’m sure will become an argument.

9. Animal Planet Dog Costumes

This was a set of products that bordered on the amazing/crazy categories. I can promise you that this Halloween, we will be showing off these incredibly detailed costumes and I already have them planned out: Cheiss will be a lion, Brock will be a shark, Bree will be a stegosaurus. It’s going to be awesome…

RAWR!

10. Tracerz

Tracerz from InnovaPet are scent-based location markers designed to help blind pets with navigation through a home. I think this is a pretty neat product, albeit a little strange, merely because I’m not sure how you would go about training your blind pet to navigate. The stickers allow your pet to create a scent-based map in order to more easily navigate the home. What I don’t know is how they are scented, what they smell like, or how a pet will know that this his or her new map. But I’m sure we will understand more after we have had a chance to look at them in detail. The scent markers retail at about $19.95 per pack of 20. You can learn more InnovaPet.com.