Princess Chunk- Highlights a "Growing" issue for Cats

Seems “Princess Chunk” is quite a celebrity. Cat owners and non-cat owners alike know all about this fat cat’s story. While the media has been taking the weird/funny angle to this story (which is partly), it appears many are ignoring the larger problem; Cats are getting unhealthily big. Princess Chunk (or is it Prince? I heard someone forgot to check) is just an example of a growing problem. As a cat furniture manufacturer, I hear about this issue more and more directly from cat owners. I get many inquires into the size of my products because of the concerns that their cat is just too big to fit. And I’m not talking about Maine Coons. These are average size breeds at an unaverage weight. This is leading me to make our products larger to accommodate these expanding cats.

We have some tips to keep your cat fit and trim in an old issue of our Vet Q&A. Please take a look here for some ideas to keep your Prince or Princess light on their paws, and healthy.

Kitt-In Box 2008 Pet Product News Editor's Choice Winner

I am happy to announce that the Kitt-In Box is a 2008 Pet Product News Editor's choice winner.
After 1.5 Years in development, working with customers and their cats, the hard work has paid off.
The Kitt-In Box is a great gift to cat owners who "have everything." There isn't a cat owner I know that doesn't know what's its like having their cat all over the computer when they type. It's something I went through with my cat, and after I started this business and spoke to cat owners, seems they had the same frustration. Not that we didn't appreciate our cats interest in what we were doing, it's just we're a tad better typists. ( Well for me.. barely!)

Check out the Kitt-In Box

New Parent Company-Sub Brands Established

RefinedKind Pet Products is now the parent company of our four brands, including our new brands The Refined Feather and The Refined Fin.

Happy Birthday... Us

The other day I had lunch with my friend Wendy Diamond, editor-in-chief of Animal Fair magazine During our chat she congratulated me for being in business as long as I have. Since, she said, most people in the niche pet furniture business don't last a year.

Well it’s been three years since we took this idea for luxury cat furniture and made it into a real business. Wow time has flown by, definitely with its ups and down. Manufacturing isn't easy. Plus we've noticed many new players in the market emulating what we do. However, with a commitment to innovative and attractive products, we've lasted.

It was 2005 when we started to market The Refined Feline and our two products: The Lotus and The Watchtower. The Watchtower design didn't last too long but The Lotus Cat Tower remains our top seller. Since then we've launched 4 cat products and 2 dog products... with more to come.

Overall it's been a great three years. We've met and enjoyed chats with countless cat and dog owners. We get letters and pictures thanking us for FINALLY making pet furniture that's actually attractive. They make our day.

Like any new business there has been a learning curve and as we are getting better at what we do, we are growing our product categories and lines. I hope you sign up to our newsletter to hear what new products we come up with in the near future.

Thank you for supporting us.

Josh Feinkind
Owner

New Web Site. New Features.

As a busy owner of a business, you get wrapped up in so many things and you sometimes don’t take a step back to see what you got. One day I looked over our web site and realized, wow we have a pretty ugly web site. It started out pretty nice. Nice clean design, simple to understand pages. However, after two years it appeared pictures were slapped on, text ran all over the place, and images were old. We needed a make-over.

We had a three prong strategy 1) Take better pictures 2) Clean up the site design and navigation 3) Add features consumers wanted.
So we hired a top photographer, a set designer, a pretty model, and recruited some friendly cats to reshoot all of our old products as well as our new products. We’re very happy how they came out. They definitely portray our products in a more luxurious light.

Our new site is easier to navigate, separating our product line from our other site’s features. Finally, we added an “Ask Our Vet” section. Our resident veterinarian Dr. Julie Pomerantz, takes questions from site visitors. Feel free to ask her questions of your own!

If you have suggestions on what else you’d like to see on our site, please let us know.

Product Review - Electronic Deodorizer for Litter Box

If on Family Feud 100 cat owners were asked what are the problems with their litter box, the top 2 responses I bet would be "The Look" and "The Smell."

Well with the Refined Litter Box we did something about the look. Hiding the litter tray in a cat accessible cabinet. However, what about the smell? So we tested a variety of plug-in deodorizers and found one that really works!

It's amazing how many products are out there, all with different technologies. UV, Ionizing, etc. We were specifically looking for a product that could be plugged in, safe for pets, small enough to fit in a bath room, and didn't mask odor with fragrance and instead removed it from the air.

After tests on the smelliest of litter boxes, we finally found a winner. The manufacturer didn't allow us to post the name of the product on our blog (some sort of liability issue), however they did allow us to sell their product. So, well, now we do. :)

Pros - It works. It really does. Not only near litter boxes but the air smells fresher bathrooms too - It's small and offered in two colors - It doesn't use a lot of electricity Cons - We wish the fan was quieter. It's not that bad, a slight hum, but slightly louder than others we tested. But of course, the others didn't work as well. - Need to place it near the litter box. But not too close. Urine crystals can form around the intake if placed right next to the litter box. Place it say about a yard away.

Overall we think it's a very good product. If you are interested, visit our site to make a purchase and test it your self for 2 weeks.. Don't like it? Return it for a full refund.

Click here to be sent to our order page

Pros

- It works. It really does. Not only near litter boxes but the air smells fresher bathrooms too
- It's small and offered in two colors
- It doesn't use a lot of electricity

Cons

- We wish the fan was quieter. It's not that bad, a slight hum, but slightly louder than others we tested. But of course, the others didn't work as well.

- Need to place it near the litter box. But not too close. Urine crystals can form around the intake if placed right next to the litter box. Place it say about 1 to 3 feet away.

Donations Have Been Made!

We recently sent out a survey to current customers and in return for their time we offered to make a donation to various animal shelters. We are happy to annouce that $500 will be divided up amoung a select few local and national shelters. This is on top of the nearly $1,000 of cat furniture we have donated to shelters nationwide this year.

A big thank you to our patrons and happy holidays!