Over the last decade, two phenomena caught my attention. Design-oriented people had enough of the lack of style in typical baby and pet gears. We saw a new breed of products designed to fit into modern, hip décor.
I salute this trend. I am a cat lover and enjoy their company. One of the things my husband wishes to build for our cats one day is a cool wall step system for them to do their exercises. He is one step closer to get my approval with Itchy Knee.
Designers of Cat Gears
Itchy Knee is a small New York based company that designs and makes carefully crafted toys and furniture for pets and their owners. Their stuff looks great. I suspect my cats will enjoy them.
The two founders, sculptor and designer Lance Foley with architect Haruko Fukui designed hand craft products to stimulate cats to play, to move around and to relax.
Plush Cat Toys
The tweed Plush birds are too cute. These bird decoy can be perched just out of reach for some more athletic fun. Hand stitched in designer wools and cottons in a natural pewter or blackened pewter twigs. You can buy the plush birds without the twigs.
Cats typically got crazy for plush mice. Each Plush mouse is hand stitched in designer wools, cottons and faux furs and deliciously stuffed with certified organic catnip and fattened with poly-fill. The fabric collection is so vast that you can find one that match your décor.
For ages cats have been enjoying matatabi’s vine, leaves, and fruit. Matatabi is Japanese catnip that comes from the kiwi family. Itchy Knee imports organic matatabi logs. Great for chasing, chewing and just batting across the room, just toss a log to your cat and let the fun begin.
Floor and Wall Barrels
The wall barrel perfectly combines two favorite cat activities: climbing and hiding. The barrels are available in three dimensions: small, medium and large. If you do not have any available wall, a floor version exists. The floor version comes with a brushed or blackened steel floor stand.
The pet krinkle bag is the traditional bear skin rug for your cats. Cats and dogs can use as a bed, a toy or a warm hideaway. Available in three sizes to suit your pet needs. Bring the krinkle bag at a cottage so your cat can still have fun.
A Cat Tunnel
Finding the right spot for the litter box can be a problem. We dedicated an unused bathroom in our house to the cats. Since it is not a good use of space, we are exploring the idea of converting the bathroom into a large storage closet later. We wish to leave the litter box there because I believe it should be kept out of sight as much as possible.
The cat tunnel designed by Adam may be a fun way for our cats to get in and out of the closet. Instructions on how to build your own cat tunnel are published on Apartment Therapy New York.
Since I found no Canadian retailers, I am glad that report that Cheengoo is a US retailer willing to ship in Canada. Wonderful!
SOURCING:
+ Itchy Knee Plush Mouse at Cheengoo – price: $8 USD
+ Itchy Knee Plush Bird at greener grass design – price: $16 USD without twigs, $28 with twigs
+ Organic Matatabi at Orange Lola – price: $5 USD for 6 pack
+ Itchy Knee Black Wall Barrel – price: small $70 USD, med $140, large $210
+ Cat Floor Barrel lined with Faux Fur and beige corduroy exterior – price: $90 USD
+ Via Building a Cat Tunnel in Your Home AT:NY
+ Via Apartment Therapy New York
Ema Hoffmann
September 10, 2008 at 19:38OMG, is that a Twitter cat toy? 🙂
Funny enough, my cats prefer to go against everything I hold dear and instead of playing with all the trendy toys I bought for them, they prefer to play with hairpins and aluminum foil balls.
Sigh. I think I’ll start buying such cool toys for myself.