The quickest costume is the one that goes on in a single movement, and a cape is exactly that. This one drops over the head and settles across the back, with nothing to fasten round legs or belly and nothing to buckle under the chest. For a cat, or for a dog whose patience for dressing up runs to roughly ninety seconds, that speed is the entire point: you get the photograph before anybody loses their temper.

The stretch matters more than the print does. A stiff cape stands proud of the shoulders and slides sideways the moment the animal moves, whereas a stretchy one follows the body and stays roughly where you put it. It is offered in small, medium and large, all in black, and the web is printed onto the fabric rather than cut out of it, so there is no open lacework for a claw to hook into. That sounds like a small distinction until you have spent a minute unpicking a back foot from a novelty cape.

• Stretch fabric that follows the body rather than standing off it
• Web pattern printed on, not cut out, so nothing snags claws
• Three sizes: small, medium and large
• Black only
• Goes on over the head in one movement
• Suits both cats and small dogs

On sizing: small, medium and large is the whole of the guidance we have, and there are no chest measurements in centimetres to go with the letters. Capes are for short supervised wear only, never for a pet left alone or let out into the garden.

What the options mean. Sizes run from S to M — £10.99 for the smallest, £11.99 for the largest.

Who it's for: owners who want a Halloween photograph without a wrestling match, and cat owners in particular, whose window of cooperation is measured in seconds rather than minutes.