I’m starting to wonder whether I’m a pet owner who’s denying my cats and dogs the finer things in life.

I had checked out of the online community for most of this week because of other commitments, so I spent a short amount of time this morning catching up on some articles. I noticed that several of the stories I landed on had to do with products designed for pets that are a little out of the ordinary.

Apparently our fuzzy kids are becoming increasingly important to the business community. Or at least to the people who are far more creative than I seem to be.

For cat owners, for example, they’ve developed an iTunes application that helps lure stubborn kitties out of seclusion with such sounds as birds, a can of cat food being opened with an electric can opener and other cats calling.

Apparently the few available reviews of “Here Kitty, Kitty,” developed by and available at CollegeKidApp.com, are positive, and it seems like a good idea to me. I can remember a few times when I would have tried just about anything to find my expert hide-and-go-seekers. One of my cats once, unbeknownst to me, ripped out the underside of a love seat and crawled up inside. I didn’t find him for hours.

For summer, businesses are turning to frozen treats for dogs. The Barking Dog Ltd. has come out with an organic frozen yogurt treat called “yöghund,” which seems to be quite tasty to dogs and even for the people who had tried a little bit. Available in blueberry and vanilla bean or banana and peanut butter, this hot-weather treat comes in biodegradable and recyclable cartons. The ad says it’s a “low fat yogurt with live and active cultures,” and I’d have to say it sounds like a product my dogs would like. Of course, it probably doesn’t beat going out in the car with Mom to get a real ice cream cone, but likely it’s a lot healthier.

Along those same lines, I ran across an article from the UK’s Daily Mail about a business idea from across the pond: a group there has developed the canine equivalent of the ice cream truck, and it’s just getting going this weekend at a dog party in a London park. The company name is K99, and the owners have developed ice cream for dogs that’s served up in cones. The dogs can come up to the truck’s window, just like a regular ice cream truck, and they may choose either gammon and chicken flavor (gammon is pork that’s been cured or smoked), or mixed dog biscuit. I’m not going to say that they’re flavors that I’d necessarily want myself in an ice cream cone, but the dogs seem to like them the best. What particularly pleased me about the product, however, was that the proceeds went to a good cause; the article stated that, “The ice creams are available for a 99p donation to Berkshire Search and Rescue Dogs.”

All of this got me poking around a bit more, and I discovered a product for both dogs and cats that helps with bad breath and with tooth and gum diseases, which many animals suffer from and are particular problems for certain breeds. The Tropiclean company has developed an additive for the water bowl that “reduces plaque and tartar” and is “supplemented with natural aloe and water.” By just adding it to your pet’s water dish, you can clean up bad breath and support oral health. The one review I read said the product worked wonders for her dog, who she said had chronically bad breath, and he liked the hard treats as well. Those contain parsley, dill and spearmint, but they are in a wheat starch base, so if your dog has trouble digesting that, you might just stick to the water additive.

One more product I ran into struck me at first as rather silly, but I quickly realized the value of it and am now actually considering it for my dogs.

Pupgearcorporation.com is selling “Paw-Pads,” which are adhesive stick-ons for your dog’s feet that keep him from slipping on slick surfaces. The ad says they are “lightweight, breathable, water and chemical resistant,” and the “medical-grade adhesive is non-toxic and hypoallergenic.” Given the age of my dogs and the fact that both are weak in the hind end, causing their back legs to slide out from under them and leave them in a splits position, I think it’s a great idea for older dogs. . . . well, as long as they don’t decide to chew them off once we stick them on.

Pet products obviously are a booming industry, and anything you’d want for a cat or dog is probably out there somewhere. It just makes me glad that my pets don’t have their own credit cards.

— Sue Novak is a board member for the Lawrence Humane Society.