Scratching posts from the pet store are so 2016. Instead, Ikea hopes to elevate animal accoutrements to a more contemporary status with its new line of furniture and accessories for cats, dogs, and whatever other domestic creatures might crave their own custom-made lounging areas. Mashable reports on the "Lurvig" collection ("Lurvig" means "hairy" in Swedish), which launched in US and Canadian stores in October, per a company rep. The catalog section dedicated to "our four-legged family members" lists the items created by "pet loving designers with support from trained veterinarians … so you and your pet can enjoy your home together."
For cats, that means cozy-looking cat houses (some more traditional, some built in the Ikea style), an aesthetically pleasing scratching mat to wrap around table legs, and a minimalistic litter tray. Dogs' tails, meanwhile, may start wagging at the sleek pet beds, mini-sofas, and $1 flying discs for playtime. One of the execs who helped work on the project tells Fortune it's "quite important" for Ikea to feature pet furniture that's as appealing as the chain's human products, and that pet products one can find elsewhere are "quite ugly." Customers will spot the Lurvig line in Ikea locations in three other countries as well: Japan, Portugal, and France. (More Ikea stories.)