Price no object for pampering pets

From pet furniture and high-tech cat boxes to collectibles and custom doghouses, local businesses are catering to this growing market.

“We’re seeing that the demand is out there for higher quality, more (luxurious) products,” said JR Keller, vice president and co-owner of Pet Warehouse.

Home décor

At All About Dogs and Cats, 2632 S. Glenstone Ave., pet beds, car safety seats and strollers are joined by automatic watering systems and feeders, self-cleaning litter boxes and a variety of breed-specific collectibles.

“You’d be amazed at what is available, and the different styles,” said store owner Bud Addington.

In pet furniture, “there are different types of beds, even little canopy beds, that can be color-coordinated with the rest of the house,” he added.

For dogs, the hottest-selling furniture item is stair steps, which Addington said allow “a smaller dog or a dog that’s getting old and has trouble jumping to climb up and down on couches and beds.”

Also, “There’s tons of cat furniture available that cats can claw on, they can crawl in and they can sit on,” he said.

While “cheap-looking, brown carpet” used to be the standard in scratching posts, Pet Warehouse’s Keller said manufacturers now use high-quality materials, offering a variety of patterns, colors and features that result in a visually pleasing piece of furniture.

Although dogs and cats dominate the luxury market, fish and birds are moving up.

Aquarium manufacturers in general have embraced the home-furnishing aesthetic for stands and hardware, Keller said, but especially in the high-end market.

“We brought in an aquarium stand called The Tuscan, and it’s a very fancy piece of furniture,” Keller said, noting ornate scrollwork. It retails for $699.99.

Likewise, for owners of large birds, there are now many more options in cage design, color, finish and features, Keller said. And as options have increased, prices have shrunk.

“A lot of the manufacturing for metal cages is done in China now, and when that shifted, we saw a big drop in prices,” Keller said. For example, a large cage and stand – about 5 feet or 6 feet high – used to run $600 to $800. Now it costs $399.

Best of breed

In addition to furnishings and accessories for their pets, many pet lovers take delight in items about their pets.

At Reigning Cats and Dogs, 1335 W. State Highway 76 in Branson, “We’re noted for being very breed-specific, whether it’s your cat or your dog,” said owner Sheila Jackson.

Her wares range from hats, T-shirts, petwear and purses to jewelry, figurines, linens, pillows and coffee cups, featuring more than 70 different vendors and 217 breeds of dog and cat.

“The main emphases are really the figurines or the statues, from little bitty ones all the way to life-size,” Jackson said. The store also carries a variety of pet furnishings and accessories.

But significant changes lie ahead for the 15-year-old business Jackson purchased in 2003. Reigning Cats and Dogs is moving to Branson Landing, where Jackson plans to open March 1.

The move to the area’s premier retail destination will also add a new twist to the pet luxury market. Jackson recently agreed to add Komfy K9 LLC’s luxury doghouses to the store’s product lineup.

Mark Jones and Sam Lawson started Komfy K9 in July, building custom doghouses with heat and air, plus options ranging from laminate flooring to working windows. Prices begin at $600 and top out at $1,500.

While the concept is new for southwest Missouri, “My business partner’s father has been building doghouses in Phoenix for 22 years,” Jones said. “We brought the concept out here and did a couple of design changes,” one of which was to make the walls removable for easy cleaning.

K9 comfort

Komfy K9 has built 11 custom doghouses since its July startup, Jones said.

The typical doghouse includes heating and air, porches, interior lighting, vinyl flooring, choice of exterior wall and trim color, and choice of roof color. Upgrades include laminate wood flooring, ceramic tile, dormers, windows, shutters, red oak or cedar porches, and hanging door flaps.

“We have three basic designs that we use, but we will customize to a certain degree to try to emulate the customer’s home,” Jones said.

Dogs come in all shapes and sizes, and they build accordingly.

“The biggest house we ever did was 25 square feet – a pretty big doghouse – and it was for three dogs that weighed about 8 pounds apiece,” Jones said. “We also built a very large one – it was about 20 square feet – for two Great Pyrenees.”

The typical delivery time for a custom doghouse is four to six weeks, “because they are completely custom hand-built,” Jones said.

For now, Jones and Lawson have full-time jobs and Komfy K9 is secondary income, but Jones foresees bigger things.

“When it takes off – I’m saying when, not if – then we will dedicate 100 percent of our time to it,” he said.[[In-content Ad]]