Take Paws The official pet travel blog of GoPetFriendly.com

All Pet Toys Come From Heaven

And a little slice of that heaven can be found at West Paw Design in the hip town of Bozeman, MT.

Between our time in Cody, WY and our visit to Yellowstone National Park (come back tomorrow for post!) we cruised up to Bozeman to visit this GoPetFriendly Facebook friend.

West Paw designs and manufactures its own brands of high quality dog and cat bedding, toys, and apparel. All the work is done in Bozeman (i.e., made in the USA). We were treated to a fascinating tour by Ryan Buck, the company’s Marketing Coordinator.

The company makes both plush and “hard rubber” (made from Zygoflex®) toys. Ty loves plush toys … Buster loves to destroy Ty’s plush toys. So we focused on the latter. These toys are made of non-toxic, 100% recyclable materials. The bright colors make them easy to spot in water, grass, and snow. Oh yeah, their durability is backed by a 1-time product replacement.

Zisc, Hurley, Huck, Tux and Bumi dog toys.

Rows and rows of dog toys!

Did I mention beds? Yes West Paw also makes beds. Ty applied for a 24/7 “testing” job but couldn’t bring himself to climb out of the first one he tried! The beds (and plush toys) are stuffed with IntelliLoft®, a fiber created from 100% post-consumer recycled waste.

A bale of IntelliLoft®

Bed fabric ready to stuff and assemble.

The sewing area.

Stocking up for the holidays.

At the end of the day, I am not sure what impressed us more about West Paw – its product quality or its environmental conscience. West Paw really knows how to reduce, reuse, and recycle. Examples:

• That IntelliLoft fiber? So far its use has diverted over 4 million plastic bottles from our landfills.
• Their products are guaranteed to be free from harmful levels of more than 100 substances including phthalates, pesticides, heavy metals, and allergy-inducing dyes.
• Their recent facility expansion reused the original back walls of the building, reclaiming 175 tons of concrete.

Another reason we like West Paw is because it’s a small, privately owned company – not some division of a large pet industry conglomerate.

Amy, Buster & Ty with West Paw's Ryan Buck.

In an age of disposability, West Paw products will stand the test of time. It was pretty apparent that the people at West Paw love what they do. Thanks for your hospitality! Buster and Ty give your toys and beds two duclaws up!