Toy brands are increasingly building out celebration and seasonal lines, such as birthday toys, holiday toys and “gotcha day” toys, as a way to give pet parents and pet professionals a small way to mark a milestone. For boarding facilities, these are an easy, low-cost way to add a personal touch to a guest’s stay, whether it’s sent home as a keepsake or used to celebrate during a pet’s visit.

“Toys are a fun gift that pet professionals can send home with kitty to remember their stay,” says Kris Kaiser, brand manager of Yeowww! Catnip. “Catnip in particular can ignite spontaneous parties long after their birthday is over.”

Another trend gaining traction is remote-controlled and automated play equipment that lets a cat chase, stalk and pounce without a person actively involved the whole time. This is a meaningful shift for boarding settings, where staff are often managing multiple cats at once and can’t dedicate one-on-one playtime to every guest at any given time.

“For boarding and daycare facilities, automated toys are the perfect enrichment tools,” notes Meghan Wolfgram, creator of SwiftPaws. “They keep cats mentally stimulated and physically active even in a kennel or condo setting, which helps reduce stress and boredom during their stay.”

Convertible, dual-purpose cat furniture is another trend worth watching; think pieces that serve one function most of the year and transform for a season or occasion. For facilities with limited storage, furniture that pulls double duty is easier to justify than a single-use seasonal item.

“The idea started out of an accident,” begins Stephen O’Neill, inventor of the Cat Christmas Tree, a year-round cat tower that transitions to a seasonal cat tower Christmas tree. “We had a broken cat tower while watching two kittens destroy a Christmas tree. That’s how the idea was born.”

With multiple cats cycling through shared spaces, litter performance is a constant operational concern. Recent trends are leaning heavily into alternative materials, like tofu, plant-based wood, corn and scented silica gel crystals. Each promises some combination of better clumping, less dust or stronger odor control.

For facilities managing anxious or newly boarded cats, litter designed to keep hesitant cats reliably using the box is a particularly useful development.

On the operations side, bag-based, odor-barrier litter disposal systems are trending as a way to speed up routine scooping in high-volume, multi-box environments. Another emerging innovation is plant-based sticky wipes as a quick, chemical-free way to lift pet hair and dust off hard floors between guests.

“For fast clean up, you really need odor-barrier film bags that hold a lot of litter,” explains Tom McConnell, founder and CEO of Red Rocket Pets. “It has to be easy to carry the litter to multiple litter boxes, which makes routine disposal simpler in busy boarding and daycare facilities.”

Slow feeders and lick mats continue to expand beyond the “cute toy” category into behavior management, turning mealtime into a calming, engaging activity for anxious or food-motivated cats during a stay.

“Boarding and daycare environments can be incredibly stimulating for cats, so we believe enrichment should be an important part of helping them feel comfortable and engaged during their stay,” says Justyne Bastone, founder of Ollie B. Good. “Products should turn everyday feeding into a more enriching experience by encouraging natural licking, foraging, and slower eating behaviors while providing mental stimulation.”

The trends emerging reflect the shift that cat care is moving beyond the basics of food, litter and a place to sleep toward enrichment, wellness, play, personalization and products that support the emotional wellbeing of the cat. For pet care professionals, the takeaway is simple: Cats are catching up, and the businesses that catch up with them now will be better positioned to meet the next generation of cat owners.

Mary Tan is a pet writer who loves to focus on cats. She is a former television broadcast journalist who once focused solely on hard news and crime investigations but is now living the dream of covering felines. She lives in Buffalo, Minn. with her Schnoodle, Freddie, and three rescued kitties, Farley, Franklin, and Fleur.