Who this is, and what we promise.

The Modern Pet Home started on Pinterest, with pins about cat furniture that didn't look like cat furniture and dog crates you wouldn't hide in a spare room. The pins got saved. The questions that followed were always the same: does it wobble, does it smell, will it survive a big dog?

This site is where those answers live. Each guide covers one problem, explains why the usual products fail at it, gives you a checklist to buy against, and lists a few products that pass.

The honest-broker promise

Every product we recommend has its known flaw stated on the card, in plain words, next to the reasons we like it. Not in a footnote, not in a "cons" list padded with "a bit pricey." The actual downside: the post that frays, the base that's too narrow, the finish that shows every scratch.

If we can't name a real flaw, the product doesn't go on the page. That rule is the whole point of the site, and it's the reason to trust the picks.

How the site is funded

Some links on this site are affiliate links. When you buy through one, the merchant pays us a small commission and you pay nothing extra. That commission is how the site is funded.

It does not decide what gets recommended. Products earn a place by passing the checklist, and their flaws get stated whether or not the merchant pays us. If a better product has no affiliate program, it still goes on the page. Read the full disclosure for the details.

Who writes it

Joel Wood. I run Think X Design Media and I research and write every guide here. Each one starts the same way: reading the one-star and two-star reviews in a product category until the same failure shows up often enough to be the rule, then working out why it happens and what to measure so it doesn't happen to you. I don't accept products for review, and the known-flaw line on every card is mine, not the brand's.

Who runs it

The Modern Pet Home is owned and run by Think X Design Media, a small digital studio on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Questions, corrections, or a product you think should be on a list? Send us a message.

Photo credits

The photographs on this site are by these photographers, used under the Unsplash licence: Brooke Cagle, Roberto Nickson and Fabian Gieske (home page), Eric Han (cat furniture), Daniel Zopf (big cats), Karsten Winegeart (dog crates), Lucrezia Carnelos (living room), Ian Chen (litter boxes), Jamie Street (dog beds), Andriyko Podilnyk (walks and gear), Chewy (renting), marieke koenders (gifts), Raoul Droog (carriers and travel), Marjan Grabowski (cat doors), roselino rocha (bowls and feeding) Mushvig Niftaliyev (couch fabrics) and Ayla Verschueren (crate sizing), sarandy westfall (gifts for dog owners) and Dima Zimakov (gifts for cat owners). The white cat on the home page is by Eva Kubíčková on Pexels, under the Pexels licence. Thank you for making them free to use.