Review: PFAT Food Storage Bag

This review has been a long time coming!  Outward Hound makes some great affordable pet gear and about 2.5 years ago we were preparing to take 2/3 of our canine crew across country on a road trip.

We were still feeding kibble at that time and I didn't want to take up valuable space in the car by bringing a whole air tight food container which would be mostly empty by the time we drove back home.  (This was close to 2 weeks away from home and we took Pepe & Zoey back to IL and IA while we visited family and attended a wedding)

I stumbled across Outward Hound's PFAT (Pest Free Air Tight) bag and thought what a perfect solution.  I wanted something that could keep the kibble safe during our travels, easy to carry as we bounced around, didn't require using and throwing away food storage bags, and best of all - the size of the bag diminishes each day kibble was eaten allowing for valuable SUV room since we were bringing a lot of stuff back home with us.

The PFAT bag may not be optimal for everyday kibble use, but it's great for storage and traveling.  Our pups eat homemade raw 6 days a week and the 7th day is usually Honest Kitchen prep or kibble.  I want them to be able to handle kibble for when we go on vacation and someone else watches them, or in the case of another fire evacuation and needing something super easy and convenient. 

One of the best things about this bag is how it's designed. When you're ready to close it up, you can squeeze as much air out, then roll the sturdy top seams down and buckle the ends together.  This helps to keep the food fresh and essentially making the bag into a purse, you could throw on your shoulder or carry by the handle.  Again, super great for traveling, camping, any K9 adventure that awaits!

The PFAT bags come in 3 sizes and we purchased the medium which holds 20 lbs pounds of kibble- more than what we needed in the 2 week time we were on the road.  For now, I have the PFAT bag inside a reused kitty litter tub for extra protection since we only need to feed kibble 1 day a week at most. The bin is kept out of the way in the laundry room and pulled out as needed.

All in all, a great purchase and this bag could be used for so many other purposes besides kibble. Chicken feed, bird seed, or even long term food storage for you zombie apocalypse preppers!

Review: Cardinal Auto-Lock Pet Gate (Model MG-15)

Right off the bat, I'm gonna say it - I love this gate!  

We've had this gate since we bought our house in November of 2013.  One of the things I liked most about our house was that there was a perfect doorway to put a gate up to keep the dogs out of the kitchen when I was cooking.  When we were first married, we were renting a huge house that had an awful kitchen floor plan and there was no way to gate the dogs out without blocking off half of the main floor.  We had our friend's mastiff living with us for over a year and he liked to lay in the middle of the floor of the kitchen, and I was always having to step over him when I cooked.  So I was thrilled when our new home had a good layout for easily blocking the dogs out of the kitchen.  I started shopping for semi-permanent gates that wouldn't be an eyesore but also wouldn't kill my wallet.  I originally found the Cardinal gate on Groupon - a site where I like to go look for some good deals.  The problem with Groupon is you often don't know the quality of the item and you don't know exactly when it'll be shipped to you.  I decided to take a chance on this gate.  At the very worst I knew I could return it.

I was so pleased when we got the gate set up!  It does require wall anchors to keep it securely in place but other than those, it came with everyone needed.  The width is adjustable and the vertical slats keep seasoned gate climbers on their side of the gate. (Yes, Zoey was once a gate climber!)  The auto-lock means that you can swing the gate behind you and it will lock into place - you don't need to stand there to lock it.  

When we received the gate, the instructions stated to install it 6" above the floor.  It didn't say why, so we left the 6" gap on the bottom which you don't want to do if you have little dogs.  They can sneak underneath if they're small enough.

We've now had this gate installed for 2.5 years and it is still working beautifully and looks just as good as day 1! 

It is available on Amazon and extensions are also available if you need a little more width.

Review: Kyjen Slo-bowl

I purchased the Kyjen Slo Bowl 2 months ago after our American Staffordshire, Sarge, had gotten to the point of eating his food too fast.  He was finishing 1.5 cups of food within 45 seconds and that was just too quickly for my peace of mind.  Having been a vet tech for a number of years and seeing my share of emergency visits of dog's who were bloating (gastric dialation and vovulus syndrome),  I will prevent bloat in any way I can.

Slow-feeding bowls have been around for years and the designs keep getting better and better.  I have heard of people using tennis balls or a large rock in their dog's food bowl, but in our case Sarge is tennis-ball OBSESSED and I think putting any non-edible object in a dog's food bowl is irresponsible.  Why not invest $10 in a bowl specifically designed to slow them down and possibly save their life?

We've had the Kyjen Slo-bowl for 8 weeks now and Sarge's 45 second meal has now turned into 4 minutes!  Success!  When we first started using the bowl, meal time was closer to 5 minutes but I expected the time would speed up a little after Sarge got used to eating around the obstacle course.   What I like most about this specific design is that you can contain all the food right in the middle of the bowl, or really spread it out allowing for a much longer meal.  During meal time, the bowl does get pushed around a few inches, but surprisingly moves much less than his previous bowl which had a rubber ring on the bottom to help prevent wayward bowls.  These bowls are also top-rack dishwasher safe and BPA-free!  This particular one is said to hold up to 5 cups of kibble, but these bowls do come in smaller sizes as well, so I would check all shapes and sizes out to pick one that would suit your pet's needs best.  One of my pet parent's has the Flower bowl and even has hers elevated on top of a milk crate.  These bowls are larger, but can still be placed on top of a bin or stool if you are wanting to elevate it.

I ordered mine through Amazon for only $10, and you can choose from the different bowl shapes and sizes.  Overall, I would definitely recommend the Kyjen Slo-bowls and would certainly get one again if needed.  If your dog is a hungry hippo, check these out!