Our must haves for any pet owner!

Hello there! If you've been reading for awhile you know I tend to have one of our fur babies (especially pics on Instagram) in photos quite a bit. We have three animals -- our two cats, Colby and Nya, and our dog, Peanut -- who tend to follow me around quite a bit. 💓

We of course love them beyond measure and don't know what we'd do without them. Even Colby, a cat we adopted when he was a feral kitten who tests our patience daily: 

He is sitting there staring at me as I type.

He is SO loving but also needs a ton of attention. And he lets you know if he's not getting it. ;)

Our other cat is sweet as can be and loves to cuddle. She's laying against my laptop right now because she 1. Has to be right next to me at all times 2. Loves being toasty warm: 

We call the cats the twins because they do everything the same -- and most of the time together. They also have very similar markings, just in different colors. It's actually quite weird. 

And our cuddle bug Peanut is the sweetest (to us) and would do anything to protect (just) us. His pastimes include sleeping most of the time and barking at all cars, people, animals, trucks, bugs, geese, airplanes and bikes that go by the house:

We adore all of our furry babes! Our house wouldn't be home without them. I've had animals my entire life so I consider myself a bit of an expert. I thought I'd share some of my favorite pet products with you today! (None of this stuff is sponsored by the way, just items that work really well.) 

The first item I've actually shared with you before. This stuff is called Furry Freshness and it is a MIRACLE in a bottle: 

You can see why I love it so much in that link above. It is amazing stuff -- if you have animals and carpet it is a MUST. This works for both dogs and cats and gets out pretty much any stain. AND no rubbing, no work!! 

If you don't use the Furry Freshness you'll want this -- before I found that spray I used this Spotbot Pet carpet cleaner (affiliate) all the time: 

Because that spray works so well I rarely use this for pet stuff anymore -- but it still works great for everything else! It works infinitely better than just patting or scrubbing by hand and is small enough that it's not a pain to carry around the house. (Instead of a big carpet cleaner.)

I don't even use cleaning solution in the tank -- I just spray the carpet and then put the machine (filled with water) on top. You push a button and it does all the work for you. LOVE. IT. 

The next one is for the cat owners -- we've tried many litter boxes over the years (I mean LOTS), but the one we keep coming back to is one of the most basic. I showed them to you in this before pic before I hid the boxes under that table: 

These covered litter boxes make it easier to keep the litter in the box...which is the hardest part. And some kitties tend to accidentally urinate outside of the box because of the way they position themselves, so a cover prevents that. 

These come with doors that help to keep any smells inside but I removed them. Our cats don't like anything in their way and we scoop the litter enough that it doesn't stink. 

I do NOT recommend the "Luuup" litter box. I don't usually mention products I've had bad experiences with but that one warrants it. The product doesn't work, they're crazy expensive and the customer service is horrible. They also delete anything other than glowing reviews on their site or Facebook page. OK, rant over. ;) 

You can see how I hid our litter boxes but still gave the cats access in this post: 

It's been working really well so far!

Speaking of litter, that's another product we've tested out quite a bit. My favorite is one we just started using this year:

The Clean Paws litter is the lowest tracking we've found. The pellets are slightly larger so they don't seem to get caught in their paws quite as much. It's still not 100 percent, but much better than any other brand we've used!

This isn't really a pet item but more of a method -- this is by far the most effective way I've found to remove pet hair from furniture:

I've tried many doodads over the years and the simplest solution is the best! It works every time.

The final pet item we love can be used for both cats and dogs. Our cats have a chronic problem with sensitive bellies -- they vomit often. We've visited numerous vets about it and no one can come up with an explanation, so we started trying solutions on our own.

One that seems to help is smaller food servings. This rotating food bowl only allows for small portions. You can see our bowls in the pantry:

You can set the timer so that the bowls rotate whenever you want. They are also great if you travel often -- at least shorter trips. I think there are six bowls inside? They take D batteries and the directions say they should last a year -- ours have been going strong for longer than that.

The smaller portions seem to help with their vomiting and if you have cats you know they tend to freak out if they don't have food. These allow for at least a little bit at all times. I refill them every couple of days.

Those are some of our pet must-haves! Do you use any of these? Any favorites I didn't mention that you can't live without? I'd love to hear what you love. :)

Some affiliate links included for your convenience!