Cold cat food straight out of the fridge is just unacceptable for most moderncats. Now you can easily warm up kitty’s morsels with some Italian style. The ET (or eco-thermic) bowl, from Italian pet design company United Pets, is a stylish and functional little product. Simply fill the lower compartment with hot water to warm food in the upper bowl. The ET bowl comes in three sizes and a variety of hip colors and patterns.

Available in the U.S. via Petego.

The Tartolo can lid from United Pets helps you keep extra cat food fresh, while adding a little Italian design to your kitchen. The plastic lid has inner grooves that create an air-tight fit on standard size pet food cans. The lid is dishwasher safe and comes in a variety of fun colors.

Available from Pet Ego.

Brand new from housewares company Dexas, Popware for Pets offers some innovative pet feeding products with terrific space-saving features. This is their new raised pet feeder, with collapsing bowls and folding legs. It folds to only 1.5 inches, making it very easy to store.

The feeder comes with two collapsible bowls (also available separately) and is dishwasher safe. Popware for Pets is so new, that it’s not yet available, but when it is, you will find that it comes in some great color combinations including brown & turquoise, brown & pink, and gray & dark blue. Look for it this summer at your favorite pet boutique.

Last week at the pet expo I met the owner of Petego, a Chicago-based company that distributes a number of different lines of pet products, all designed and made in Italy, which–as should be expected–represent some of the very best designs in the pet products industry.

One item that caught my attention is this elegant little cat food bowl called Earshot from the United Pets product line. It is made from double stainless steel and is hand welded and hand polished to a mirror finish. The sleek form has just the right touch of kitty character to bring a smile to your face each time you refill the bowl.

Available in two sizes directly from Petego.

This is one of the most beautiful pet designs I have come across. It is the Guzel water bowl by designer Timotheos Leahy. The central bulb is filled with water and automatically refills the dish as your cat drinks. The bulb holds enough water to refill the dish two or three times. What cat wouldn’t love drinking from this elegant form?

Designed for Gaia & Gino, it appears that the Guzel bowl is not yet in production, but I hope it will be soon.

Via Apartment Therapy.

Let kitty dine in style with this beautiful stoneware bowl imported from France. The Gargantua Cat Bowl has a sloping rim to keep food in the bowl plus it has a finger cutout on the bottom that makes it easy to pick-up. The black glazed interior and matte beige exterior are the perfect neutral combination for a modern kitchen. The bowl is dishwasher safe.

Available from Rose and Radish.

Does your cat eat too fast, and then, well, you know…it’s time for the urping kitty sign? Finally, there is a solution, the Brake-Fast pet bowl. Designed to slow down speedy eaters, this bowl has three molded bumps on the bottom, making it harder for kitty to gulp his food. The bowl comes in three sizes, the smallest size is appropriate for cats.

Available at Amazon

Add a touch of playful Italian style to your cat’s next meal with the Tigrito cat bowl from Alessi. The molded plastic form holds two polished stainless steel bowls. This little cutie comes in grey, blue, or yellow.

Available at Amazon

This streamline, Asian-inspired pet feeder would be the perfect addition to any modern kitchen. Created by the modern-design-loving pet owners at Trendy Pet, this bowl set is slightly raised, promoting better posture while eating, resulting in better digestion. The base is made from a water resistant, easy-to-clean material that supports two square ceramic bowls.

This sexy set of bowls–one for food and another for water–was designed by Richie Tanaka for the Turkish product design company Gaia & Gino. The “Twins” bowl set is made of glossy melamine and comes in black & white or all white.

Bring a little modern flair to your kitchen with this fun ceramic cat bowl and vinyl feeding mat from the oh-so-hip product designers at George. The retro-mod graphics will add a splash of color to kitty’s dinner and the mat makes for easy clean-up.

It’s very important to provide cats with plenty of fresh water and — as cat owners know — felines can be quite finicky when it comes to their water supply. The Catit drinking fountain is a great way to encourage your cat to drink more water. This fountain recirculates water like other pet drinking fountains, but the Catit moves the water over a large dome, adding oxygen to the water for fresher, better tasting water. The fountain eliminates stagnant water making it more inviting for pets to drink.

The Catit fountain runs on safe, low-voltage AC power and is energy-efficient. It also has a replaceable purifying filter that collects hair and food and absorbs other impurities found in tap water. The fountain holds 3 liters of water, reducing the need to refill.

Getting kitty to drink more water will promote her health and well-being by supporting proper kidney function and decreasing the likelihood of urinary disease.

Buy the Catit drinking fountain now at Amazon

At long last, Danish pet product designer and manufacturer The Pet Project has updated their web site and included a list of US retailers, plus more information about the company and their six beautiful, modern pet products. The designs first appeared back in 2005, but the company web site contained minimal information until now.

The line includes two pet caves (the wood veneer Eddie’s Room shown above and the geometric Lulu’s Hideaway pictured below), two beds (one made from acrylic and another from chrome and what looks like felt), a scratching board, and a gorgeous china and wood feeding dish. The line will be making an appearance at the New York International Gift Fair in February.

This sculptural double feeder, designed by Jon Wesley Rahman of Holden Designs, combines molded plywood and stainless steel to create a beautiful object that also provides health benefits for your cat. Raised feeders aid digestion by preventing the physical stress that can be caused when pets eat in a bent over position. This is the smaller version of the Holden double feeder, which would be suitable for cats.

The feeder holds two dishwasher-safe stainless steel bowls. The bent plywood base is covered in hardwood veneer with a walnut or cherry finish and water-resistant outer laminate. The feeder and other pet products from Holden Designs are available at designpublic.com.

This beautiful feeding dish by designer Karim Rashid, cleverly integrates a handle into the sculptural, organic form. The ceramic Yum Bowl is microwave safe and has a non-skid bottom. Available in two sizes. The Yum Bowl can be purchased at Cheengoo Boutique.

The product development team over at Wetnoz International did some excellent user research when developing the Fat Cat feeding dish. They actually noticed that feline feeding has a few challenges of its own, including “whisker stress” caused when a cat’s sensitive whiskers rub against the sides of a regular-shaped feeding bowl. The wide, shallow shape of the Fat Cat dish is designed to accommodate a cat’s whiskers, reducing whisker stress. The dish is also raised on sleek rubber feet, bringing it to just the right height for a cat to dine from. Raising the dish helps to reduce stress that can be caused by eating from a lower position. Made from premium grade stainless steel, this glistening cat dish will look great in a modern kitchen and, with proper care, will withstand years of use.

The light-carrying properties of acrylic make it one of the most spectacular materials for use in modern furniture and interiors. One of the first companies to design modern pet furniture using acrylic was London-based Wowbow. Their elegant Loulie Cat Tower is a cube made of 10 mm thick acrylic, that supports a memory foam cushion covered in faux suede and topped with 3 inch sheepskin. Could you ask for a more perfect perch?

To accompany the cat tower, Wowbow designed Skritch, a beautifully simple scratching post. The sisal tube mounts to the wall with an acrylic frame that practically disappears, transforming the scratching post from an eyesore into a streamlined sculpture.

Wowbow’s Mija bed and Mija dining table also make excellent use of this stunning material. Both are available in smaller sizes, suitable for cats.

All of Wowbow’s products are handmade in the UK and the company donates a percentage of profits to benefit animal welfare organizations.

One of the first companies to start creating modern cat products was San Francisco-based Everyday Studio. Founded in 2004 by designer Susan Kralovec, Everyday Studio is a design company specializing in the development of intelligent consumer products. They started by tackling one of the most necessary items for the modern cat household, the scratching post. The result is the Cat Tree, a sleek, geometric piece that works perfectly in a modern environment. The Cat Tree has a sturdy metal frame that holds the cardboard insert securely in place. It can be easily mounted to the wall or used on the floor.

Next, they created a streamlined pet dish suitable for cats. Two removable stainless steel bowls rest in a durable frame made of either steel or crystal clear acrylic. Raising the bowls off the floor makes it easier for cats to reach food and water, plus it transforms this everyday object into a pleasant addition to the modern kitchen.