Sunday, August 31, 2014

Hartz Scoopable Paper Litter


One of the nice thing about fostering is that, because we rely on donations, we sometimes get to try new products.  I was in the shelter the other day and saw a bag of Hartz Scoopable Paper Litter, and I thought I would give it a try.



I know a lot of people have a problem with regular clay scooping litter, fearing ingestion of the clay and what that might do to a cat.  I personally don't have that fear. I don't like and thus won't buy scented litter, not only for the fact that those scents are all chemical and I fear what that will do to a cat, but also because cats simply do not like scented litter. I am always on the look out for a litter that might work better, and this was new so I grabbed it. I had very low expectations since it is from Hartz - one of my least favorite pet companies - but I figured it was litter so how bad could it be.

Well when I opened it, the scent was immediately noticeable and strong. I wouldn't say it was overwhelming, and as someone who is very sensitive to scents (many make me sneeze) I know I'm overly sensitive, but it was getting there.  I thought I'd leave the bag open for a few days and see if it dissipated.

Sadly, two days later the scent was as strong as ever, unfortunately I was out of regular clay litter and so I thought I'd put this in the foster kitten's litter box and see what happened.

Now I will admit the kittens had issues with litter box compliance up to this point for reasons beyond their control, but at the time I switched them over things were getting better.

The first night, we had one (#2) deposit in the box, and two deposits on the towels.  The next morning the box appeared to be unused, and the towel was.. well once again let me just say how much laundry I have been doing lately..  Because of this I needed to remove everything from the cage and set up new bedding for the kittens. I left the box outside of the cage while I did this.


A few minutes later Tucker walked over to the box, climbed into the big white box behind it, and settled down in the bed - it was oh so cute so I took a picture.


And darn it if that picture didn't look like Odilia at BlogPaws when she was poopin

Completely stolen from Riverfront Cats
 you should go visit them!
So I reached down and picked him up, and yes, he was European.. I grabbed some towels, muttered about even more laundry.. when I realized he walked over the litter box to get to the bed to go pee.  My husband even commented he was 'going in the box' and I had hoped that meant litter box compliance, then was struck by how cute he was climbing into the bed, then did a *headpalm* at the whole thing and THEN realized how much these kittens HATE this litter.

Boiled down:
Pros:
 * it is made of paper and not clay so I am assuming it is environmentally friendly.

Cons:
 * It is made by Hartz
 * It smells strongly
 * The shape of the pellets are similar to wood pellets - which most cats do not like using.
 * The kittens refuse to use it.

Well so much for that experiment. I have to wonder why they made the pellets so big. I think if they would have made them smaller it would have been better. Would it have helped litter box compliance or would the strong scent they put in it still have caused the kittens to go elsewhere?  I do not know.

Well this product gets a big ol "Nope" from me and the kittens.  Your experience may differ.



(if you couldn't tell, this is not a sponsored post, I just thought I'd tell you about something new I tried)


10 comments:

  1. My human refuses to have anything to do with Hartz, period. (The one exception being the bat toy that was Sparkle's favorite when she was a kitten.) The CWA has special writing awards with cash prizes offered by different sponsors - well, a couple of them are sponsored by Hartz, and she won't even enter them. They also sponsor a breakfast yearly at the conference which she refuses to eat. Can you tell she feels strongly about Hartz?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I saw that bag there but was hesitant to try it... Glad I did not now!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the review. We haven't seen that litter yet, and since we have some picky litter users here, we'll stay put. :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. We would never, ever use Hartz too.

    ReplyDelete
  5. We don't have that brand here, but we'll definitely take note of that.

    ReplyDelete
  6. LOL!!!! Thank you for the warning! We're not fans of Hartz here, either. I wish they made better quality and safer products but there's just been too much bad press and awkwardly made toys for us to bother with them too.

    ReplyDelete
  7. We don't have that brand here, but thanks to you, if it arrives one day in Switzerland, we won't try it ! Purrs

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ugh. Scented litter is the WORST. Thanks for the review, I know to avoid it. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I hate that moment when I realize the look of intense concentration on a kitten's face is "European". (The pictures of Tucker and Odelia are so cute!) Thanks for the review. I realize the trial wasn't under the most ideal circumstances, but your comments about the scent, size, and shape of the litter were very helpful because those things are always unappealing to my cats. I hope your little ones master the litter box very soon.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The head peep has discovered that scented litters are a migraine trigger, so we can't try that stuff, even if it's not Hartz. Thanks for the review. It's an interesting idea. We wonder why they felt the need to scent it in the first place.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...