Best Prime Big Deal Days Sales on Pet Products

The PetSite 3-in-1 is multifunctional, easy to assemble and fold, lightweight, and sturdy. It’s also really versatile for travel. It serves as both a car seat and portable carrier, complete with a carrying strap. It has a maximum capacity of 33 pounds, so you could potentially fit two small animals, and the mesh top makes it easy to keep an eye on them. Our evaluator reported that it was easy to assemble, and the stroller moved easily, even on bumpier surfaces.

It’s now back to within just a few bucks of the lowest price we saw this summer, and with the weather cooling off in many areas, there’s no better time to take your less mobile pup (or, if you’re like me, your cat) for fresh air and sightseeing.

The Pet Gear Happy Trails Lite is a solid pick. It’s easy to assemble, and the no-zipper functionality on the canopy gives quick and easy access to your pet. True to its name, the Happy Trails Lite is incredibly lightweight at just 11.5 pounds, which makes for very easy transport by car. From start to finish, this pet stroller earned high marks for ease of use, from assembly to popping it into the trunk to storing it under a bed. The mesh design and paw rest give your pet plenty of visibility, but our evaluator said that it’s not the roomiest. It’s rated for pets up to 25 pounds, but it might still be cramped.

On the higher end is a stroller we dubbed the most luxurious in recent evaluations. The HPZ Pet Rover is the most stylish, heavy-duty option in the mix. And while it certainly did its job, providing a smooth and comfortable ride, we found that its weight made it more difficult to store and transport. The pros of this product go to its sleek design, and the automotive-grade rubber tires made for a really nice strolling experience. It receives high marks for its reversible, adjustable-height handlebar, which is a nice addition for multiple-pet parents, and the reflective material for safer nighttime strolls. There’s storage underneath and three pockets to carry all your extras. If you’re looking for a heavy-duty pet stroller that looks great, provides a very sturdy ride, and can be used as a car seat or carrier, this might be a great option.

“I have two of these, and they’re great because they encourage the cats to drink more water,” says Amanda Arnold, senior manager of business analytics at CR. “Cats notoriously don’t usually drink enough water, so having these helps keep their water cleaner and the kitties healthier!” The fountain comes with a filter inside and is dishwasher-safe.

“I have a deep fear that my cat doesn’t drink enough water and will end up with kidney issues,” says Stephanie Davis, a senior marketing manager at CR. If you’re a cat parent who shares that concern, a water fountain may be the answer. “She won’t drink still water from a bowl and wasn’t keen on one other fountain before this—the filters are also easy to change for this one—but she loves this one for some reason.”

Joe Novotny, a CR marketing associate, recommends this cat water fountain from Petlibro. “The pump has a five-level filtration system, a translucent container for seeing when water is running low, and comes with a cleaning brush as well,” he says.

The Petlibro One RFID Smart Feeder was the fanciest automatic feeder we evaluated (it came with great advanced features like a customizable LED screen), and it was on point with food measurements and schedules. But adult or small-dog-sized kibble got clogged in its chute.

The PetLibro automatic pet feeder was easy to use and has an app that makes setting schedules and dispensing food a breeze. It dispenses accurate amounts of dry food for dogs or cats and has a voice recording feature that allows you to call your pet for meals.

This automatic feeder allows pet owners to schedule up to three meals a day, in any desired quantity, says Amanda Arnold, senior manager of business analytics at CR. The device has a maximum capacity of 26 cups and can be programmed to give out meals as small as 2 teaspoons. Psst! Act fast, this one’s currently on sale for 60 percent off its original price.

Pair this lickable food mat with a delectable treat to keep your kitty content and happily occupied. CR’s Mary Beth Quirk spreads Churu purée treats on the mat with the spatula provided and attaches them to her cat Frannie’s food tray with the suction cups on the bottom. “She’ll spend minutes on end cleaning out every nook and cranny, leaving me to work in peace,” she says. 

A CR writer, Jodhaira Rodriguez, also sprang for a lick mat as a means of feeding her cat, Frank, his wet food, while making sure he doesn’t munch his meals away too quickly. For his dry food, she opted for this puzzle, which he loves. “It really slows him down and keeps him busy for a while,” she says.

CR’s Lauren Kiesel has a 6-month-old cockapoo who loves these bully sticks. The high-protein springs are meant to occupy pups as they gnaw their way through the treat. “The curliness makes it easier to grasp, longer to eat, and fun,” Kiesel says.

The Chuckit Classic is ideal for dog owners who are searching for a low-tech ball launcher. It requires no setup and still allows you to get involved in a game of fetch, but takes your natural throwing arm to the next level. The plastic handheld launcher comes with one fuzzy 2.5-inch tennis ball that is stored in its “claw,” which keeps a solid grip on it so that it doesn’t fall out. When you’re ready to play with your pup, you treat the launcher like it’s an extension of your own arm—pulling it back and then launching it forward to release the ball from the claw. 

One of the nicest things about this launcher is that you can retrieve balls (including saliva-coated slobbery ones) with the claw itself so that you never have to touch the ball with your hands.

A comfortable bed for your pet that can add a fun pop of color to your space sounds like a win-win. CR writer Jodhaira Rodriguez recommends this cat bed, which her cat Frank “barely fits in (because he is a very big boy that I am way overfeeding), but I find him here every time I come home.”

“I succumbed to Instagram ads for this impossibly fluffy cat bed, and it did not disappoint,” says CR health and science writer Catherine Roberts. “I can’t speak to the anti-anxiety claims, but both our cats love it and play subtle mind games over which one of them gets to claim it for days at a time. I also got one for my friends’ very picky cat, and she turned out to love it, too.” This cat bed is available in four sizes and five colors. “I prefer the unicorn rainbow ice cream color. I wish they made it in human size,” says Roberts.

Casper, the same company that sells mattresses, designed its Casper Dog Bed, which is typically $139 to $249 depending on size, with two layers of foam construction (including memory foam), a soft nylon-polyester-olefin cover that fits tightly over its rectangular cushion, and raised bolsters around all four sides. While our first impression of the FurHaven bed was “soft” and “cozy,” this pick has a sturdier and more structured appearance and feel. The cover is removable and machine-washable and comes in three sizes to accommodate dogs up to 90 pounds. (We wish it were offered in a larger size to suit really big breeds.) Casper offers a 30-night risk-free trial and a one-year limited warranty, so you have the option of returning the bed if your dog doesn’t take to it.

Lauren Kiesel, a senior user experience researcher at CR, tried this Tangle Teaser pet brush on her cockapoo (a cocker spaniel and poodle mix) puppy. She found the brush to be gentle, and the shape gave her different grip options as she maneuvered around her pet. It handled basic brushing with ease, but she had to use a sturdier wire brush to tackle more intense matting.

Even CR writer Lisa Fogarty’s curly-haired labradoodle, Blake, is a fan of the Tangle Teezer Detangling Brush. In fact, she found that Blake reacted with excitement to being brushed. According to Lisa, the brush is easy to hold, and its width is helpful in detangling her pup’s fur quickly.

If you can have only one pet hair removal tool in your cleaning toolbox, this is the one. The ChomChom was a favorite with our at-home evaluators and the best-performing option in our formal lab tests. What sets it apart is that it’s the only tool that gathers and picks up all the pet hair it touches. After just three forward and backward swipes, our velvet and linen-polyester pillows were left almost completely free of hair, minus a few stragglers. It was the best tool on carpet, too, even though crouching low to use it wasn’t the most comfortable position. No other tool left it as hair-free as the ChomChom. One evaluator who has carpal tunnel syndrome noted that this tool required significantly less pressure to work, which meant that her condition wasn’t aggravated as it was with a few of the other pet hair removers we tried. It’s also worth noting that three of our at-home evaluators liked this tool so much that they bought it for themselves post-evaluation.

Stainless steel litter boxes have grown popular recently, thanks largely to the nonstick material that is much easier to clean than other traditional litter boxes. I personally own a stainless box for my cats, and it really is a simpler process to get everything disinfected when I change out the litter. And our evaluator had a similar experience, saying it only took a few swipes with soap and water and a generous rinsing to get it shining like new again. The one thing I will say is the sound of your cats digging around is much different (and much louder) when they’re scratching metal versus plastic.

Overall, this Kenmore Intuition BU4050 bagged model is a strong performer that’s also budget-friendly. It has a lift-away feature for portability, suction control, and a small powerhead that’s powerful enough to pick up embedded dirt from carpets. Another plus is the hair eliminator feature on the brush roll that’s designed to prevent hair entanglements.

The Analan Mini Pet Hair Remover is a triangle-shaped device with three unique, ridged sides, and it performed very well in our evaluations. The rubber material created a static attraction with our velvet pillow, allowing it to pick up all the cat hair we applied to the surface. But this was the only surface where it picked up hair. On the polyester-linen blend pillow, it bunched up the hair in easier-to-pick-up piles. Ditto for the carpet, where it did a great job of gathering up the hair in neat piles, but we did notice some redepositing of hair on subsequent swipes as it became stuck on the ridges. The hole in the center of the triangle allows for a comfortable grip. Because the ridged surfaces are so small, cleaning a large area, like a whole upholstered couch, takes a significant amount of time.

The Vet’s Best Toothbrush & Enzymatic Toothpaste Kit includes a triple-headed toothbrush with a unique design. Instead of brushing your dog’s teeth back and forth and from front to back, you insert their teeth into the brush head and brush up and down or side to side while three rows of bristles encapsulate the teeth to provide three-dimensional brushing. If you’re new to this design, it could take some getting used to (for both you and your dog). The toothbrush comes with its own toothpaste, which we didn’t evaluate. 

The Cube, whose price has dropped $13 in the last month or so, is not specifically intended for pet tracking but to help people keep track of a range of possessions, including cars, luggage, and kids’ backpacks, as well as pets. That puts the Cube at a disadvantage as a pet tracker, despite its competent core tracking abilities. The device is relatively large and heavy, but most dog collars won’t fit through its thin slots, so you need to purchase an add-on collar clip for $25. More significantly, the app lacks pet-specific features like fitness and activity tracking and a light beacon for spotting your dog at night.

On the other hand, it does let you set a home “safe zone” and virtual fence and emits a fairly loud sound alert. It’s also very solidly constructed, creates detailed and easy-to-read location histories, and, like the Link, is capable of delivering high-temperature alerts.

The Link pet tracker has a very bright light for spotting your dog in the dark. And unlike some other models, the app’s activity tracking features differentiate between minutes spent walking and running. That can be a useful feature if you want to make sure your dog gets some high-intensity exercise each day. It also monitors ambient temperature to alert you if the environment is too hot or cold. But the app doesn’t record or map its location history, something that many other trackers do.