When Jade Lenzo was getting ready to bring home her kitten, Bella, for the first time, she set about preparing the place for the little ragdoll cat. Lenzo already had the essentials, but top on her list was a scratching post.
"I began my search with a few thoughts in mind," she says. "It had to look good in our modern home, be well made with quality materials, be safe for cats and be reasonably priced."
What should have been a simple task brought nothing but disappointment. She found nothing in the stores she visited, Lenzo says, but cheap and tacky stuff "made out of carpet that was secured with staples." Certainly nothing that fit the sleek lines and soft curves of her decor.
Lenzo, who lives outside of Perth, Australia, turned to the Internet and eventually found exactly what she was looking for at a California-based company called Five Pet Place.
The company, founded by Michael Ostrofsky, was created to appeal to clients just like Lenzo — people who love their pets but also their decor, who don't want to see a plastic litter box in the bathroom or a garishly colored carpet-clad scratching post.
While Ostrofsky has found a niche, he is by no means alone. According to research by the American Pet Products Association, about 62 percent of households in the United States own a pet; that's roughly 377 million dogs, cats, birds, fish, reptiles, horses and other animals. Back in 1994, we spent $17 billion on our animal friends. In 2012, it was more than $52 billion.
Pets and the stuff we buy for them have become such a huge market that, according to the association, big-name retailers — including Old Navy, Paul Mitchell and Harley-Davidson — are branching out to add pet products to their traditional lines.
It is now fairly easy to find fancy clothing, jeweled collars and leather-accented carriers with built-in iPad pouches. But the furniture — the everyday items that fill conspicuous spots in our homes — is another story. And some people aren't willing to settle any longer.
