Silly toys; serious money
Global Pet Expo 2008, held last month in San Diego, attracted more than 750 companies touting their products -- and the new cat toy, Fling-ama-String (demonstrated in the video above), was among those chosen best in show.
Each year at the expo, sponsored by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association (APPMA) and Pet Industry Distributors Association (PIDA), awards are presented for the best new product.
Fling-ama-String is basically a length of string attached to a battery-powered conveyor belt. It's $24.95 and is sold here.
Moody Pet is also the maker of the Hummunga Tongue, a ball with a giant rubber tongue attached -- so that when your dog picks up the ball ... well, just watch the video at the bottom of this entry and see.
At the end of the show, pet companies donated enough pet products and food to fill four trucks, which delivered the goods to the San Diego Humane Society and SPCA. The APPMA said the estimated value of the donated products is over $200,000.
Tongues were also wagging about new figures released from the APPMA during the expo, which revealed total pet spending in 2007 was $41.2 billion, close to double the $21 billion Americans spent a little over a decade ago in 1996.
Comments
The interesting part about the stat where spending on pets has doubled is that the number of pets has remained relatively the same. That means that twice as much is being spent on roughly the same amount of pets.
Gotta give props to the pets
Posted by: Ty Brown | March 11, 2008 2:25 PM
You can also get those fling-a-ma-string things at Dogma in Canton if you like that whole instant gratification thing.
Posted by: Jeff | March 11, 2008 5:01 PM