The cat-food dishes are shallow and trough-like so that kitties don't have to stick their heads into narrow openings and experience what the WetnOz folks have dubbed "whisker stress." This is a condition that is otherwise known as an upset state cats can reach if they get food on their whiskers.

The line emerged from Design Edge, a 16-year-old consulting company of designers and engineers. Design Edge has designed ice skates for Nike, canoes for Coleman, computers for Dell and more. And it wanted to create and market a product of its own.

"We spent six months researching markets where design had not yet fully infiltrated. One industry that kept popping up is the pet industry. It's been largely unchanged for 40 or 50 years," Kimbrough says.

Kimbrough shuns most pet-food bowl design, saying it mostly produces pieces that people would rather kick under the table than have on display when guests come over.