Many people see their pets as their children, so don’t be shy about including your fur baby (or reptile baby) in this season’s festivities.
Treats, toys, doggy beer, kitty wine, a new harness, or a new leash are some of the options that can be found in locally owned stores on the Central Coast. Here are a few options where pet parents can get their alternative kiddos a few gifts.
Tails
With Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo locations, Tails offers a variety of high-quality food, treats, and toys, but the highlight for Erik Purinton is the freshly baked cookies, he said.
The locally sourced cookies have a sweet potato-based batter mixed with rolled oats and a little bit of peanut butter and are topped with goat milk frosting, all of which are healthy and delicious for dogs, said Purinton, Tails’ general manager in SLO.
“We have our novelty gifts of pet wine or pet beer because we are in the middle of beer and wine country,” he said. “The beer is actually bone broth, and the wine is salmon oil, so it’s purpose-driven, it’s not just food and water coloring.”
Salmon oil is a great source of fatty acids, which are good for pets’ eyes, brains, skin, and coats and a driver for appetite because it’s stinky, and “animals love stinky food,” Purinton said. Bone broth is a wonderful source of trace minerals that pets can’t get from kibble alone, he said, and it also acts as a flavor enhancer and appetite driver.
Along with treats, Tails has a selection of toys, from puzzles to a new local brand, Ruffwear, which makes heavier duty toys, jackets, or harnesses for dogs that spend time outdoors or go hiking with their human family.
With the weather getting colder and wetter, Purinton also suggested that locals get some rain gear for their pets to keep them dry outside. The rain gear is machine washable, and Tails carries every size for dogs from chihuahuas to Dobermans.
“Most pet owners these days feel their pets are an integral part of their family. For most young professionals, these are their kids they come home to,” Purinton said. “Whether it’s a dog or a cat, you can actually see their happiness when you give them something they love, who wouldn’t want to make a [pet] happy?”
That’s FETCH!
It’s fun to give gifts to your pet, Linda Greco said.
“You come home at night, who’s there greeting you at home with a smile and their tail wagging?” Greco asked. “It’s a nice time to give love back to an animal that has done nothing but love you unconditionally all year long.”
At Greco’s store, That’s FETCH!, pet owners can find treats, toys, clothes (for both pets and their human counterparts), leashes, harnesses, collars, and other holiday-themed decor, she said.
For dogs, Greco recommended getting a rope toy because it acts like floss and helps with doggy dental care. They’re a great gift for a puppy because owners can stick them in water and pop them in the freezer—the cool toy is soothing while the puppy is teething. People can also use this same trick during the summer to help pets cool off during hot days.
For someone looking for treats, the store has a “barkery” where people can pick up dog cookies or doughnuts as stocking stuffers. All of the cookies are sourced out of a Florida-based company called Bubba Rose Biscuit Company, which uses human-grade ingredients and is very particular about what it puts in its products.
“We have kitty things, too; we’ve got some little candy cane treats for them from a brand called Yeowww! And they have a fantastic catnip that cats go crazy over. We’ve got a nice supply of different Yeowww! treats,” Greco said.
All of That’s FETCH!’s products can be gathered and put into a gift basket. People can also call ahead, give a price range, and Greco and her team can put something together for a pet lover or a fur baby.
Tropics Aquarium Professionals
For those who have a baby with scales, shopping might look a little different. Aquariums and terrariums don’t need harnesses and toys, but fish or reptile owners can still do something special for their pets, said Paul Schuldt, one of the owners of Tropics Aquarium Professionals in San Luis Obispo.
“I usually recommend sprucing up decor in a tank. Adding a new decoration into the reptile tank or fish tank acts as mental stimulation so they aren’t seeing the same thing all the time,” Schuldt said. “Many fish and reptiles have some levels of intelligence—some reptiles have high levels of intelligence. … Mixing things up is very positive mental stimulation, adding something to your animal’s environment or changing something occasionally so they have to think about things a little bit.”
All of the decor available at Tropics Aquarium Professionals—whether it’s a rock, stick, or hide—is treated so they’re safe to enter the enclosure or aquarium, Schuldt said. By using a stick or a rock that hasn’t been treated, pet owners could introduce mites or chemicals that are harmful to the animal.
As for other gifts, “Animals always have to eat, there’s always food choices,” Schuldt said. “Food and treats exist for reptiles like dogs and cats.”
It helps if pet owners are as specific as possible about their animal and its needs so staff can make the best recommendation, he added.
“Everything with keeping a captive animal comes back to mental stimulation and diversity. Providing diverse foods adds amino acids and vitamins. The more diverse you can be in their diet and environment, the more mental and dietary stimulation they receive,” Schuldt said. “The more mental and dietary stimulation they receive, it will be closer to what their existence in a wild environment would be.”
Tropics opened in 2004, and owners Schuldt and Lanor Messenger have more than 35 years of experience with reptiles, and all employees are highly trained to help with pet owners’ needs.
“Shopping small, local pet stores keeps us around and keeps the people who have the knowledge around longer,” Schuldt added.
Reach Staff Writer Taylor O’Connor at [email protected].
