The body of the Torus water bowl from HeyRex is a hollow reservoir that holds your dog's drinking water and also serves to weigh the bowl down to prevent it from sliding and tipping. This design, along with the rounded shape, makes it difficult for a dog to pick the bowl up and move it as well. 

There's a removable knob on top that opens into the bowl so you can fill it with water. The knob also has two options. You can turn it one way to lock the water inside while you move the bowl or for traveling, and turn it the other way to release the water for your pet to drink. 

The water entry site features a place to insert a small, replaceable carbon filter, which is a nice addition to the product. These filters last one month. I use filtered water to fill the bowl, so I haven't replaced the filter, but I do appreciate its usefulness. 

Ever wondered what would happen to your pets if something unexpected happened to you? I’m a born worrier, so this question is a no-brainer for me – yes, I worry about that. It’s upsetting to think that my dogs and fish won’t be cared for should I have an accident or otherwise be unable to tend to them in the case of an emergency. 

No matter what type of pet you have, it needs care and attention. But what if something makes you late getting home, or there’s an emergency and you won’t be able to come home at all? What if you can’t even communicate to your circle of friends and family that your pet needs your care?  

Enter CheckMyPets.com. The service this website offers ends worry for worriers like me.

I remember what happened to pets when 9/11 happened here in NYC. People who lived below 14th Street (hundreds of thousands of people) were not allowed to cross a barricade to go home. People who said that they had to retrieve a dog were allowed to go with a police officer and had five minutes to retrieve the dog. If they had a cat, bird, fish, or other animal, they were not allowed to cross the barricade. People who lived closer to the 9/11 site weren’t allowed to retrieve their dogs at all. 

I think about this sometimes because my apartment in NYC is very close to Times Square. I think about what would happen to my animals should I be prevented from returning home. This is why I have two neighbors who are authorized to enter my apartment and care for my pets. On 9/11, cell phones didn’t work across NYC because the cell towers had been on top of the World Trade Center. What if I couldn’t reach my neighbors to ask them to tend to my animals because my phone wasn’t working?CheckMyPets.com can reach out to my helpers for me.

If you just wanted an email to go out in the case of an emergency, you could set it for late in the day, maybe just before you go to bed. If your helpers receive the alert email, they will know that something has happened to you and you’re not tending to your pets for whatever reason. You never know, this service could even help a person in a medical emergency. Here’s an alert that I set – if I don’t click the email I receive by 9 pm, my helpers will get this message an hour later: 

“If you are getting this email, it means that there has been an emergency on my end and my pets aren't being cared for, for whatever reason. Please check in on me and my pets. Thanks!” 

I thought of another application – pet sitters. Set your tasks such that the pet sitter always receives an alert email for a walk or feeding. Sure, sending an alert doesn’t guarantee anything, but at least you’ll know that your pet sitter is alive and able to respond to an email, presumably then able to care for your pets.

CheckMyPets.com offers a little bit of peace of mind for both myself and my pets. There’s a monthly plan for $5.95 a month, or a yearly plan, which comes out to $4.95 per month, and you can cancel the yearly plan for a refund of the months you didn’t use. For me, you can’t put a price on peace of mind. Totally worth it.

Check them out on Twitter @checkmypets and Facebook.  

I have to admit (as I’ve admitted in prior reviews) that I don’t bathe my dogs a lot. This isn’t because they don’t become dirty, or that they don’t emit a distinct doggie odor, because they do. It’s because they hate baths, and I hate to see their pitiful eyes looking at me from beneath a stream of water, eyes that seem to say, “If you truly loved me, you wouldn’t be doing this.”

Because of this too-far-in-between bathing schedule, I’m always looking for products that can freshen up my dogs easily between baths. Recently, I found The Total Pet Spa bath-less cleaning system. Anything “bath-less” catches my attention.

This product takes the canine “bath wipe” to another level. Most bath wipes are made from thin material similar to that of a human hand wipe. The Total Pet Spa’s wipe pads are made from a material taken from the cosmetic industry, so they’re thick and plush and don’t tear while in use. The pad is very moist and doesn’t dry out while you're using it.

And to take the bath-less idea one step further, The Total Pet Spa’s cleansing pad is easily attached to a hand grip and used similar to a brush, but gentler—even dogs who don’t like to be brushed will not balk at being stroked with this product.

There’s also a brush attachment made from plastic with large, blunt bristles for the comfort of the dog. I tried this product on all four of my dogs—two white Schnauzers, one mixed breed, and one Poodle—and all of them readily accepted both the brush attachment and the cleansing pad attachment. Pearl, the mutt, usually runs and hides when I break out a brush; she has very cottony fur that tangles easily. Using The Total Pet Spa brush, she lay down on her belly and enjoyed the attention—she must have thought it was spa day and time for a massage! 

I used the first cleansing pad on one of the white Schnauzers, Delilah, who is notoriously a brat about being groomed. She’ll even nip at the brush. She enjoyed being wiped down, and after a few minutes the pad became black with dirt. I hadn’t realized how filthy she was! I turned the dirty side of the pad over and used the clean side, only to pick up more dirt.

I’m very chemically sensitive and can’t use products with too much scent, so I was worried about having a reaction to the cleansing product inside the pads. They are supposedly “unscented,” but they do have a fresh scent, and I didn’t react to it at all, so I’ll be able to continue to use this product. Actually, I won’t unless I get another set—my mom stole it from me to use with her dogs! 

Once you purchase the set, which comes with the hand grip, a brush attachment, a pad attachment, and three pads, you have to continue to purchase the cleansing pads from the company, which is fine for me, considering that I wait even more time between baths. My dogs are happy about that! The pad attachment has a kind of springy feel to it, so it contours to the dog's body, making cleaning that much more comfortable. 

Disclaimer: I may have received products and/or compensation for this review. I only review products I like, so this review reflects my honest appraisal of this product. 

At $39.99, The Total Pet Spa system isn’t cheap, but if you use it twice a month for a couple of years, you’ll be paying about $1.64 cents per use (including cost of the replacement pads). Considering the cost of good dog shampoo, and the fact that most people use way more shampoo than needed per bath, that’s pretty economical. Plus, imagine that your mother-in-law calls and says she’ll be coming over in ten minutes—and your dog looks and smells slightly homeless. A quick brush up with the Total Pet Spa system and Fido will pass for squeaky clean. Well worth it. You absolutely can use the system every day, however, because it's gentle on the skin and coat. 

There is a tiny bit of a learning curve for using this product, so watch the videos on their site (or below) for directions. Believe me, once you know how to put the pad onto the product and change out the pad attachment to the brush attachment, it's very easy. 

Paws up for The Total Pet Spa bath-less cleaning system! Saving dog owners everywhere from embarrassment and saving dogs from the dreaded B-A-T-H T-I-M-E.

From the Total Pet Spa website:

The Total Pet Spa is a revolutionary way to clean your pets without water. The unique hand grip is easy to hold and features a unique bristle texture that both massages and cleans your pet. This hand grip includes a cleaning pad that locks gently inside the grip, trapping fur, dirt and other particles that are commonly found on pets. The cleansing pads are thick pads made from material that’s utilized in the cosmetic industry. Each pad contains five times the solution as the standard pet wipe. The solution included in these cleansing pads is unscented and is made from natural ingredients. Say goodbye to fur on your clothing or unpleasant pet odors without a bath! The Total Pet Spa allows you to save time and money. This patented product removes germs and odors with ease. It is a simple and comfortable hand grip that any pet owner will love. The Total Pet Spa comes with: • Contoured Hand Grip • 1 Arched-Bristled Brush Attachment • 1 Patented Lift and Cleaning Attachment • 1 Starter Pad Pouch (3X).