The best gifts for pet lovers

Welcome to the holiday gift guide extravaganza day 5! If you need to catch up, be sure to go check  out the other days’ reviews and giveaways: play, eat, eco-friendly, and gifts that give back!

Today is all about YOU, the fabulous human holding the leash (or scooping the litter box). These are my SEVEN pics for the best gifts for pet lovers! PSST!!! There three more OMD! exclusive discounts in this post… read carefully!

The Company of Animals Green Interactive Feeder

This one may seem like an unconventional pick for the person, but hear me out… Emmett GULPS his food. Like, one big inhale and his bowl is empty. We use a variety of slow feeders, but he’s still fast. I worry about bloat, of course, but he also starts to hyperventilate and has, on occasion, thrown up. Yuck. Therefore, this is the perfect gift for me because it slows him waaayyyyy down. He has never taken as long to eat as he did with this. I could even walk away and pour myself a cup of coffee instead of monitoring his usual kibble-shotgunning. Plus, it’s dishwasher safe, so I can toss it in with the rest of the herd’s bowls. If you have a food gulper, this is the must-have pet product for safety and peace-of mind! To buy: $26.45 for the dog Northmate Interactive Feeder* (there’s also a cat version available, which I’m definitely getting for Newt)

Shaggy Chic Apparel

If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind gift for a pet lover (or yourself) you have to check out this online boutique. The T-shirts feature dogs in unique, modern, almost hipster-ish designs. Their collection includes a mix of funny, festive, and a little ironic. I ADORE the “I kiss my dog on the lips” shirt in French. One of the cutest in the collection is the Kid’s POV, which includes artwork drawn by a 10-year-old kiddo. Plus, with holiday purchases, a portion of sales will go to Don’t Forget to Feed Me, a non-profit pet food bank in Texas. Love them all? You can join their T-shirt-of-the-month club to get a new one each month – another gift that keeps on giving! To buy: visit ShaggyChicApparel for styles and options… And!! An OMD! exclusive: get 25% off with discount code DOGSRULE at check-out

Mountainsmith K9 Cube

My love for this product knows no bounds. If you ever go anywhere – road trips, camping, over the river and through the woods – you will love this, too. Neatly contained in a cooler-sized carrier is a PVC-free, PEVA-lined food container and two collapsible water/food bowls. It’s divided on the inside so you can stash toys or chews alongside the food container. There are side mesh pockets for small accessories, like printouts of vet records if you’re traveling, calming treats, or small toys. It has both handles and an adjustable shoulder strap. This thing holds a ton. I only wish we had it when we went on Emmett’s road trip – but it’s coming with us on the next one, for sure. The perfect gift for your road-tripping friends! To buy: $59.95 from Mountainsmith

RUHA custom leather collar

So, our dogs probably don’t care what their collars look like… but we do! These RUHA collars are fantastic. From the brand, “Our leather is 100% full grain, vegetable tanned cowhide. The color is dyed on both sides of the leather as part of the finishing process. This process leaves the leather free from harmful toxic chemicals in compliance with California and US Environmental Regulations.” When you visit their webpage, you walk through a series of steps to fully customize your collar. And they are so spot-on with their customer service! I entered a typo when I made Cooper’s, and they called to let me know that they were correcting it! The hardware is rustproof stainless, and there are a variety of widths, colors, designs, and finishes to choose from. I love that all the contact information is engraved right on the collar – several years ago, Emmett’s tags fell off while out for a walk, so it’s great to know that the collar provides the vitals in case of emergency. To buy: Small Dog Collar $28, Medium Dog Collar $29, Large Dog Collar $32, Extra Large Dog Collar $36, all on RUHA.com PLUS!! An OMD! reader exclusive discount: use code ruha20 for 20% off AND free shipping

Solvit Deluxe Tagalong Pet Bicycle Basket

Earlier in the week I mentioned that we were trying to include small dog products as well, and here’s another awesome one! This I had to send to a super adorable small dog and her human from Cindy Lu’s Muse. From Cindy Lu’s person: “I can tell you the basket is THE coolest thing ever. It’s got pockets for storing/carrying stuff, water bottle holder, a sturdy short strap that you hook your dog’s leash to — even a padded bottom and a detachable sun shade. We should all ride in such style!!” Sounds pretty fab to me. Little dogs sometimes can’t keep up or go the distance, but for folks who love to ride their bike, this would prevent the little one from being left behind. To buy: $80 visit Solvit to find a retailer near you

5-Meal Automatic Pet Feeder

This is a peace-of-mind gift. At least for our lifestyle, but I can see this being a life saver for people who, for instance, work rotating shifts. Have you ever been stuck in traffic… or a meeting went waaayyyy late… or any of the zillion other things that can happen to us to make us run behind or get home late? When I took Emmett to his very first oncology appointment, I had no idea that it took all. day. I didn’t have a dinner plan for the rest of the herd because I had planned to be home mid-day. An automatic feeder would be such a relief in those out-of-your-control situations. Even beyond that, though, it has a rotating tray attached to a timer, so you can put controlled amounts of food in each section. This would’ve been perfect when Coop was a puppy and we were trying to get him to gain weight. Or, you can use it to reward your pet while you’re away at work. I can see so many uses for this, but those uncontrollable situations definitely make the top of my list!  To buy: $59.95 at PetSafe

CritterZone

See it plugged in in the pic above? You hardly notice it! Another one for me to rave about! Is it weird to be in love with an air freshener? Actually, it’s an “air naturalizer” and it works by charging air to clean itself. I don’t know if that summarizes it well, but go read about the technology for the full scoop. One thing I was concerned about at first was that it might be one of those ozone products, which are supposed to be very bad for pets. From the website: “The CritterZone isn’t an ozone generator OR an ionizer. What it does is reactivate indoor air by creating active ingredients that give the air the ability to clean itself, just like the sun and wind does for outdoor air.” I plugged it into the wall between our dining room and living room about 24 hours before we had twelve people over for brunch. By the time our guests arrived, the dog smell was gone. And here’s the thing: I’m a diligent (John might say obsessive) house cleaner. But the reality of a house full of animals is that there is fur and dander and yard dirt and that corn chip smell they get when they’re asleep and so on. It’s just what happens. I haven’t turned our Critter Zone off since, and I think the whole downstairs is pretty much odor free. Now I just need one for upstairs. And my car. And John’s car. It’s small enough for a stocking stuffer, but I think this is a MUST-HAVE for every pet owner! To buy: $99 at CritterZone* PLUS an exclusive $10 off if you use promo code OMD

And now SEVEN of you have the chance to win one of these perfect presents! This is a Rafflecopter giveaway. The widget should load below in a few seconds, or if you’re reading via email or feed, you may have to click the link. Winners will be drawn and notified on Friday, November 28. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Don’t forget to come back tomorrow for another day of gift recommendations and giveaways! (Hint: It’s a day for our feline friends!)

Disclaimer: We didn’t receive any compensation for this guide, though some of these brands sent products for our consideration. Not all made the cut! The ones here are ones we really, truly love. Any link followed by an asterisk (*) means it’s an affiliate link – you won’t pay a single extra penny if you purchase through those links, but OMD! will receive a tiny bit of commission, which we use to offset the costs of producing this guide! Questions? Send me an email: info {at} ohmydogblog {dot} com.