Purr-fect pet presents

No "family members" need feel left out -- especially when there are such great gifts these days.
By Steve Dale

Each October a new trend emerges at the annual Backer Christmas Trade Show for pet products in Rosemont, Ill. Recent ones include New Age products and gifts for pets other than cats and dogs. This year, it's all about keeping your beloved companion busy while you're away -- think occupational therapy for pets. Here are some of the gifts that caught my eye:

An entire line of these "therapy" products is called Busy Buddy, a variety of rubber toys for stuffing treats or kibble inside. The idea is for your dog to labor to get these goodies while you're away from home. Busy Buddy Twist and Treat, for example, resembles a flying saucer; twist open to the width desired, making it more or less work for your pooch.

You also can give the gift of the world's first certified-kosher Hanukkah Doggie Treats ($7 to $12). The all-natural ingredients are "approved by top breeders and the Almighty," as well as the Chicago Rabbinical Council. Available at select pet stores and at kosherpets.com (954-938-6270).

For more canine occupational therapy, meet a cuddly plush pooch called the Talk to Me TreatPup. He can talk -- and amazingly, he sounds just like you. You tape a message for your dog using the recorder on the treat-dispensing ball inside the TreatPup's tummy. So, when your dog is home alone, he can hear your voice say "You're a sweet doggie" as he energetically shakes the pup for the treats to tumble out.  "They're dental treats," says company vice president Rod Herrenbruck. "So when your dog kisses you, his breath will be minty fresh."

In addition to pouring kibble or treats into these boredom-buster toys, try a sort of Cheez Whiz for dogs called Kong Stuff'N, except this paste is peanut butter- or liver-flavored.

Doggles eyewear appeared on the market several years ago but now features a new interchangeable lens system. Ken Di Lullo, director of Doggles, claims that military dogs in the Middle East wear these to keep sand out of their eyes and that vets recommend them for canines with cataracts. Also new this year are sunglasses for dogs. "As soon as you put the shades on these dogs, they have a new attitude, because they know just how cool they look," Di Lullo says.

Tabby needs some entertaining, too. So, while you're doing a crossword puzzle, your cat can keep mentally active with the Peek-A-Prize Toy Box. It's a wooden box filled with "mouse holes" along the top and sides for Kitty to poke his paws inside to move toys and treats.

The Panic Mouse won the American Pet Product Manufacturers Association Best New Cat Product award the last two years. This year's version features a plastic Garfield the Cat with a pole that waves in various directions. The prize at the tip of the pole is a toy for cats to snatch that the manufacturer says is a mouse but that looks more like a spider. No matter -- cats love it because the movements are random. You can set the speed using a timer.

It's also important to play with your cats, so here's a great toy for just that purpose. It's a Swizzle Bird Teaser. No, wait. Is it a snake? It's both. At the end of a pole is a 3-foot-long piece of soft and easy-to-latch-onto material that mimics a snake, with feathers at the end.

Don't forget your other pets. Hamsters, gerbils and mice can celebrate Christmas in a Critter Clubhouse, furnished with orange-scented straw bedding. In a rodent version of Trading Spaces, critters can rearrange their edible home by snacking on it.

Polly Wanna Piñatas are 8 inches high and packed with fun. "Birds are turned on by color," says Vickie Canepa, president of Fetch-it Pets, "and even more excited when those piñatas are broken into. It's a bird treasure -- banana chips, raisins, papaya and pineapple."

Contributing Editor Steve Dale last wrote about when to get a new pet after one has died.