Field Notes from the Panel

Stainless steel high wall cat litter box
Litter Box Smell: What Works, What Doesn't
The box material, the scoop, and where the box lives matter more than any spray. A no-nonsense list. Leer más...
Golden Arc Ceramic Cat Water Fountain with a slender golden spout
Why Your Cat Barely Drinks Water, and What Actually Helps
Moving water, bowl placement and material make a bigger difference than most people expect. A short, practical guide. Leer más...
Blossom Cloud Cat Tree in blush pink in a small, bright living room
How to Choose a Cat Tree for a Small Apartment
Height matters more than footprint, scratching surfaces beat carpet, and a few other things we check before a cat tree earns floor space. Leer más...
What "Passing the Panel" Actually Means
"Six-cat tested" sounds like a tagline. It's actually a process, and it's more boring than it sounds. Every product spends at least a week in the house before it's ever listed. Not a photoshoot, not an afternoon — a full week, dropped into normal daily life with normal cats who have no idea they're reviewing anything. We're watching for a few specific things: does it get used without coaxing, does it hold up to actual claws and teeth and body weight, does it still look and smell fine after a... Leer más...
Why the Litter Box Didn't Make It
We listed a litter box once. It looked great in photos — high sides, a clean modern shape, the kind of thing you'd actually want sitting in your living room. We also thought it was metal. It was not metal. It was plastic with a finish that photographed like metal, which is a problem for a box that's supposed to feel sturdy and resist smells and odour and wasn't actually built for either. So we pulled it. Not deleted — we don't like pretending things never happened — just taken... Leer más...
Meet the Panel
Before anything goes up on this site, it has to get past six cats who did not apply for the job and do not care that there's a brand riding on their opinions. Here's who you're actually shopping against: Nami — the first to investigate anything new, the first to lose interest in it Angie — unreadable. Will sit on a product for an hour and still reject it. Peachy — soft touch. If Peachy likes it, we double-check with everyone else. Sunny — the optimist. Approves almost everything, which... Leer más...