Best Early Black Friday Deals on Pet Products
Save on great gifts for animal lovers this holiday season
By Anna Kocharian, Samantha B. Gordon
Whether you're looking to upgrade your pet feeder or you need a better vacuum to deal with your cat or dog's shedding, the last thing you want is to spend your money on something that doesn't work.
From lab-tested pet cameras to accessories like pet hair removers and booties evaluated by editors in their very own homes, we'll make sure you get the best deals on high-quality pet essentials from now through Black Friday and the rest of the holiday season. We're keeping an eye on all the best deals for everything we test, so check back here often for the latest.
Looking for more early Black Friday sales? Check our Deals hub .
Automatic Pet Feeders
PetLibro Granary Smart Feeder
The PetLibro automatic pet feeder was easy to use and has an app that makes setting schedules and dispensing food a breeze. It dispenses accurate amounts of dry food for dogs or cats and has a voice recording feature that allows you to call your pet for meals.
PetLibro One RFID Smart Feeder
With a customizable LED screen and RFID technology that locks the bowl lid so that food won't be dispensed until you program it, this smart feeder takes a high-tech approach to feeding your dog or cat. You can set schedules via its app and it offers a voice recording feature to call your pets to meals.
Pet Hair Remover Tools
Analan Mini Pet Hair Remover
The Analan Mini Pet Hair Remover is a triangle-shaped device that has three unique ridged sides, and it did very well in our evaluations. The rubber material created a static attraction with our velvet pillow so that it was able to pick up all of the cat hair we applied to the surface. But this was the only surface where it picked up hair. On the polyester-linen blend pillow, it bunched up the hair in easier-to-pick-up piles. Ditto for the carpet, where it did a great job of gathering up the hair in neat piles, but we did notice some redepositing of hair on subsequent swipes as it became stuck on the ridges. The hole in the center of the triangle allows for a comfortable grip. Because the ridged surfaces are so small, cleaning a large area, like a whole upholstered couch, takes a significant amount of time.
Poop Bags
Amazon Basics Dog Poop Leak Proof Bags With Dispenser and Leash Clip
These budget-friendly bags come in a pack of 300. They're durable and include a convenient dispenser with a hook. Even better, these poop bags were our top editor's choice in our evaluations.
Earth Rated Dog Poop Bags Guaranteed Leak Proof and Extra Thick Lavender Scented
Environmentally conscious pet parents don't have to compromise on quality for sustainability with Earth Rated poop bags. These bags are made from 65 percent certified post-consumer recycled plastic, saving 5 million pounds of landfill-bound plastic each year, according to the brand. They felt thicker than other bags our evaluator tried and held up exceptionally well while picking up pet messes on concrete, grass, and gravel.
Dog Shoes
Qumy Dog Shoes
These adorable dog shoes will keep your pooch's feet protected from the snow, rain, and hot pavement. They have a rubber sole with grips and adjustable fabric fasteners with reflective strips, making them safe on nightly walks.
CovertSafe Dog Boots
These stylish dog boots feature a waterproof design to keep their paws dry in puddles and traction at the sole for safer walking and protection against hot pavement. Choose from eight sizes and five colors.
Furbo Pet Camera
In evaluating the best pet cameras, the Furbo dog camera was our editors' top choice, thanks to its aesthetically pleasing design and camera with a wide viewing angle. The ability to choose a voice prompt for the treat toss is a bonus. The device's basic app features include live view, toss treats, talk to and hear your pet, and get barking alerts. The Nanny cam subscription includes cloud recording, advanced barking alert, Doggie Diary (a video summary of the day that you can choose to save to your device), activity alert, selfie alert, and person alert. And yes, you can still use the Furbo if you have a cat.
Wyze Cam V3
This is a great low-cost option to watch your pets from a distance. The Wyze Cam V3 has a nice, wide viewing angle, and with a magnetic base and optional mounting equipment, it's easy to set it up where you need it. The basic features that come free with the service provide motion-trigger alerts, sound-triggered alerts, and 12-second video clips. There's a 5-minute "cool down" period, which means that when there's nonstop motion, the camera will capture only one 12-second event video every 5 minutes.
The Wyze Cam Plus plan is either $1.99 billed monthly or $15 billed annually ($1.25 per month). That plan comes with a slew of other features, like video fast-forwarding and pet and person detection.
TP-Link Tapo Wire-Free MagCam C425
The compact, battery-powered TP-Link Tapo MagCam C425 performs well in our tests and offers local storage via microSD card (up to 512 gigabytes; sold separately). The "bullet-style" camera features person detection, pet detection, vehicle detection, monitoring zones, color night vision (even when the built-in spotlights are off), a built-in siren, and voice and app control via Amazon Alexa and Google Home/Assistant. Best of all, you don't need to sign up for a subscription to use any of these features. TP-Link also sells a $40 solar panel that can be connected to the camera to keep the battery charged.
Pet Beds
Frisco Elevated Dog Bed
Elevated beds are ideal for puppies or the destroyers—the dogs who would otherwise rip up beds, says Cathy Madson, a certified dog trainer with Preventive Vet . The Frisco Steel-Framed Elevated Dog Bed isn't warm, fuzzy, cozy, or any other word you'd use to describe a plush mattress. But it will put up a solid, sturdy fight against those dogs we know and love who are out to destroy the universe with their teeth and paws. It's durable and easy to assemble, and the cover can be removed and washed, so you don't have to deal with slobber and fur buildup.
Casper Dog Bed
Casper, the same company that sells mattresses, designed its Casper Dog Bed, which ranges from $139 to $249 depending on size, with two layers of foam construction (including memory foam), a soft nylon-polyester-olefin cover that fits tautly over its rectangular cushion, and raised bolsters around all four sides. Whereas our first impression of the FurHaven bed was "soft" and "cozy," this pick gives off a sturdier and more structured appearance and feel. The cover is removable and machine washable and comes in three sizes to accommodate dogs up to 90 pounds. (Note: We wish it was offered in a larger size to suit really big breeds.) Casper offers a 30-night risk-free trial and one-year limited warranty, so you have the option of returning the bed if your dog doesn't take to it.
We've seen this bed sell as low as $95 before, and while we can't guarantee it'll dip in price again, it's a possibility.
Pet Water Fountains
Catit Flower Plastic Cat Fountain, 100-Ounce
"I have a deep fear that my cat doesn't drink enough water and will end up with kidney issues," says Stephanie Davis, a senior marketing manager at CR. And if you're a cat parent who shares that concern, a water fountain may be the answer. "She won't drink still water from a bowl and wasn't keen on one other fountain before this—the filters are also easy to change for this one—but she loves this one for some reason."
Vacuums for Pet Hair
iRobot Roomba i4+ Evo
The affordable iRobot Roomba i4+ EVO features brushless rubberized rollers that do a solid job of picking up pet hair around the house. It's stellar at cleaning bare floors and very good at cleaning edges on both carpet and bare flooring. This robotic vacuum is a great option for homes of any size because it navigates in a grid pattern and keeps track of the spots it has or hasn't cleaned.
Kenmore BU1018
While upright vacuums excel at cleaning carpet, the Kenmore BU1018 actually does a bit better on bare floors, which makes it a good option for handling hardwood floors, among other types of surfaces. And if you have a pet, it's a great pick. This wallet-friendly vacuum also has nice extras like a HEPA filter and a full-bag indicator, and it weighs 21 pounds, which makes it easy to move about.
This isn't listed as a sale price at Acme Tools, but you'll spend up to $70 more at other retailers right now.
Kenmore Intuition BU4050
The budget-friendly Kenmore Intuition BU4050 performs well when cleaning bare floors, which makes it ideal for kitchens, bathrooms, and hardwood spaces. This upright also does a solid job at removing embedded dirt from carpets. It comes with an air power brush and a wide upholstery tool and has a lift-away feature for portability and suction control. Another draw? The hair eliminator feature on the brush roll is designed to prevent those bristly entanglements.
Black+Decker Flex BDH2020FL
With a built-in hose, the compact, cord-free Black+Decker Flex makes it easy to suction up debris in hard-to-reach places, like under a car seat or behind your washer. It earns a stellar rating for cleaning edges and tight spaces. It also comes with a rubber pet-hair attachment that helps remove more hair because it doesn't stick to the rubber and goes directly into the suction tube. The dustbin is slightly difficult to remove, and you might have to reach inside it to eject all the gunk when emptying this model over a trash can.
Tineco Pure One S11
The Tineco Pure One S11 cleans impressively in all our major tests and has many features. An LED panel shows how much battery life you have left as well as the suction level, which varies when you switch from bare floors to carpet. A sensor detects the amount of debris and adapts the suction power accordingly. If you're so inclined, you can connect to a Tineco app that indicates cleaning performance, such as battery life, on your smartphone. In CR's tests, it ran for 22 minutes per charge when using both the high and low settings.
This vacuum is $10 more expensive than last month, so the price may drop again during the next big sale.
Safety Gates
Cumbor Auto Close Safety Baby Gate
A baby gate may be earmarked for kids but can achieve the same results for pets, especially when it comes to keeping them away from certain areas of a home. The Cumbor Auto Close is the top-rated baby safety gate in our tests. It's made of steel and can be pressure-mounted or installed more securely using optional cup hardware. Among other pluses, it offers easy one-handed operation and a 180-degree swing. It's very easy to install and received top scores in security and convenience as well.
This gate is back down to the low price we saw in July.
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