The bath itself is rarely the problem. It is the ten minutes afterwards: a wet dog making straight for the nearest carpet while an ordinary bath towel, already soaked through, does very little about it. Microfibre changes that arithmetic, holding several times its own weight in water, so one towel finishes the job instead of a stack of them going through the machine.

The fibres are split much finer than cotton, which is why they lift water off a coat rather than smearing it about, and why the towel still feels light in the hand once it is loaded. That matters when you are holding a squirming spaniel with one arm. It wrings out and dries quickly between uses, so it is not still damp in the utility room three days later, and the paw-print motif makes it obvious which towel belongs to the dog.

• Highly absorbent microfibre
• Available at 35 x 75cm or 50 x 100cm
• Stays light in the hand even when soaked
• Soft against the coat and sensitive skin
• Wrings out and dries quickly between uses
• Brown with a paw-print design

On size: the 35 x 75cm towel is hand-towel sized and right for cats, puppies and small breeds. The 50 x 100cm will wrap around a medium dog but it is not a bath sheet for a retriever. If you have a big, thick-coated dog, buy the larger one and expect to need two of them on a proper soaking.

Who it's for: anyone drying a pet more than occasionally who is tired of sacrificing the good towels to the job.