Hello everyone!

It is an open secret that I have a soft spot for animals, especially dogs and I mean every breed of dogs out there regardless of their perceived popularity (I think Pugs and Bulldogs are absolute darlings – who’s with me?!). Personally, I have an adorable furkid that I co-own with my boyfriend – a brown fluffy Pomeranian whom we named Chubs (pronounced ‘choobs’ and yes I know my phonetics, thank you very much) or also known as Choobi (which coincidentally sounds the same as ‘趣味’ (chu bee), or ‘cute’ in Teochew), Choobi-boobi, Greedy Choobi, Lazy Choobi or Hum Ji Kia (Hokkien for ‘coward’) because he is agoraphobic (i.e. having intense anxiety and fear of unfamiliar environments) and is extremely terrified of long, upright objects such as brooms and spray canisters. Majority of his nicknames were derived from a particular manner he behaves and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why he is called as such… because he practically shows it anywhere, even towards the new feeding equipment we have gotten for him from Kohepets!

You see, we have kept Chubs for more than five years (this lovely boy is turning six come June) and we thought it was about time he received some new accessories as those he currently had were pretty much worn out and not functioning as well anymore. Normally, in order to get food and accessories for Chubs, we would have to head outside to the nearest pet shop to find what we need among the sea of merchandise in the store. We have no issues commuting for at least 20 minutes to get there (as we don’t drive) but the problem arises when there is a mammoth bag of purchases to lug home. In cases like this, we would would have to hire a cab home or opt for the home delivery service provided by the pet shop to get the products sent to me (often because we plan to go elsewhere after that). Either way, that costs additional money on top of what we have already paid for our purchases. Sometimes we may even have to leave the shop empty-handed because the items we want are out of stock! Can you imagine our frustration when that happens? 😡

But we’re relieved to know that there are now more convenient alternatives of meeting our pet needs, with one being Kohepets Singapore – online pet shop that has a range of over 6,000 pet products from many popular brands such as Wellness, Addiction, etc. In all honesty, despite the business having established in 2011, we were not aware of their existence until very recently. We would have probably saved ourselves all the hassle (and the cab fare) if we had known about them earlier because they provide free delivery for purchases over $60 within TWO working days – one of the lowest on the net (second lowest, in fact, if you’re wondering) as told by Google. A surcharge of $8 is applicable for orders below $60 but still, you can’t find anything lower than that. Just do a search if you don’t believe me 😉

Also, while other online pet shops work around a specific schedule to deliver to different locations in Singapore, customer convenience is of paramount importance to Kohepets as they make best efforts to schedule the delivery to your preferred date and time. I received a message from the deliveryman twice on the day of delivery – once hours prior to his arrival to confirm the time of delivery and again minutes before to inform that he was reaching my unit. I appreciate these updates as mostly no one is around in the living room to receive the parcel so I would need to inform my parents beforehand to stand by (and y’know, home is where the bra isn’t, so… 😳 ).

Kohepets boasts an extensive collection of products so understandably we had a painful shopping experience. They have SO MANY interesting and innovative products that we had never seen in local pet shops. We wanted to get them all but could not. After much deliberation and squabbles over what to add to cart with our limited budget, we settled on the following four items for Chubs:

#1 Ferplast Gro 5955 Medium Slicker Brush with Button (S$23.60)

This is a dream come true not just for Chubs who wails at the slightest pain, but also for me as his daily groomer. It makes brushing Chubs’ fur extremely easy and fuss-free. Usually I would need a comb to remove the fur from the brush (I learnt this method during my days as a groomer assistant) but this just does the job with a press of the button at the back of the handle. This brush comprises two layers. The bottom layer pushes the upper one to dislodge the fur from the bristles. If you don’t want to remove them with your fingers, just push the button quickly a couple of times and the accumulated layer of fur should fall off neatly on its own.

Do note, however, that the bristles are quite sharp so be really gentle when brushing your furkid, especially on the delicate skin of the underbelly. Not used to the slightly pricklier sensation initially, Chubs winced a little at the first attempt but he has gotten accustomed to it now. Kudos to my brave boy!

Chub’s verdict:

 

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#2 All For Paws Chill Out Garden Fountain (S$38)

Connect this to any garden hose and your dog shall have access to fresh water around the clock at the push of the paw! It comes with rubber on the lever so paw doesn’t slide off when your dog is drinking the water.

But I must have gotten too carried away while shopping for Chubs that I had forgotten about his fear for anything that spurts water (or basically anything that requires him to work because he’s such a lazy fella). I would think this would make a great addition to your garden or balcony (anywhere away from areas you don’t want to get wet) especially if you allow your large dogs to roam freely around the compound of your house. Even though the description of the product says that it is suitable for all dog sizes, I doubt small dogs would be able to drink from the fountain with ease due to their shorter height and much inferior strength.

Chubs’ Verdict:
 (because he is a hum ji kia)

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#3 Petmate Pet Cafe Waterer 5.6L (S$33)

Since his puppy days, Chubs has been drinking water from hanging water dispenser but I had come across articles mentioning that such drinking bottles “require considerable effort from the animals, and are inadequate in quenching their thirst”. In the words of animal activists, this is animal cruelty   I’ve always wanted to get a drinking bowl for Chubs but not being at home most of the time means I wouldn’t be able to replenish his water until I come home past 11 p.m. Plus, Chubs drinks like his water supply would be terminated within the next second.

Noticing that Chubs’ bottle dispenser tended to get stuck on several occasions (thus, preventing water from flowing out), we decided to pick this item up in hopes of giving Chubs a more comfortable life (and also because this would give me a peace of mind when I go abroad next week). You thought it would be a simple process to get him to drink water directly from the bowl, right? WRONG! True to his apprehensive nature, this brown hum ji kia was so threatened by the size of the water container that he did not dare to go near it (he’s not a rescue or abused dog so I don’t know why he’s like that?!). He had to be slowly coaxed by us and although he was visibly VERY thirsty (as he kept going to where his bottle dispenser used to be and it went on like this for days), he just refused to drink from the bowl! We had to lured him to the bowl by smearing some water around the edge but it took some trial and error to get there (with the help of some treats thereafter as well). Slowly but surely, Chubs began to drink the water, albeit in a very uncomfortable position.. like this:

But after that day, he reverted to his normal cowardly self again which I later realised was because of the “blop” sound the dispenser makes whenever it replenishes the water in the bowl. OH MY GOD he is afraid of the sound *roll eyes*

Another concern for having a drinking bowl is that it increases the exposure of the water to dust, fur and possibly creepy crawlies and hence contaminates it a lot quicker than when it’s kept in a bottle. I had to keep ensuring that the water was clean because I didn’t want Chubs to be drinking dirty water. So yeah, a food for thought if you’re intending to get this!

Chubs’ verdict:
 (ONCE AGAIN, because he is a hum ji kia)

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#4 AiKiou Junior Interactive Dog Feeder (S$23.90)

While we certainly feel blessed to have a dog that is not picky with the food he eats, he tends to gobble his food too quickly to the extent of not chewing before swallowing them (we don’t know what caused that sense of competition in him, though) and we are afraid this bad habit may cause some digestive issues in the future. So this dog feeder is a must-have for us. We actually bought another slow feed bowl with those complicated ridges in it before but the plan failed because Chubs’ tiny snout was able to reach the small openings without difficulty!

This feeding bowl, however, has a unique rotating lid that conceals the 6 sections of the bowl where the food can be found. The dog is expected to turn it by sticking its nose into one of the gaps to retrieve the food and it is supposed to slow down the speed at which your dog eats while it tries to unveil the next section. HAH, let’s see how you’re going to escape this time, Chubs!

According to the manufacturer, dogs love searching and they enjoy finding their own food. But not Chubs. He sniffs around the bowl but is too lazy to rotate the lid on his own. He would stare at us with his greedy eyes until we relented and turned it for him *sigh* -_- So much for an interactive dog feeder… Chubs must be mocking us in his mind. “LOL JOKE’S ON YOU SILLY HOOMAN MAKING YOUR LIVES MORE MISERABLE”

Nevertheless, it did slow down Chubs’ eating pace although he wouldn’t be able to get to the other five sections easily without our help. We removed the lid in the end and turned it into a regular feeding bowl because Chubs is uniquely lazy. We do recommend this dog feeder if your dog loves to sniff and dig around the house. This will leave your dog thoroughly amused, we’re sure.

Comes in blue, green and pink 😉

Chubs’ verdict:
(BECAUSE HE IS LAZY)

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Even though Chubs doesn’t appreciate the stuff we’ve picked out for him (we really think they’re awesome), we feel that any other dog owners would benefit a great deal from them (that is, if you dog isn’t as chicken-hearted as mine).

For more time-saving pet products, do check out Kohepets! If you’re unable to find what you’re looking for, simply feedback to the team behind Kohepets via their Contact Us page and they will try to source them for you. They have also started a series of four giveaways (see picture below) on their Instagram & Facebook so be sure to participate if you wanna give your furkid a yummilicious Christmas treat! 😎

Thanks for reading! ❤

Products mention are available on Kohepets website. Free local delivery applies for orders over S$60.

This post is brought to you by Kohepets and co-written with alphonsus.