As you can imagine with seven resident cats at Casa de Gato, as well as the fosters, we go through a lot of litter. Years ago I heard of a family with multiple cats who used child wadding pools for their litter boxes. At the time I only had two cats so I still used actual boxes, but as the family grew so did the number of boxes and it just got a little ridiculous. We bought a pool and haven't gone back. It does take a little more planning on our part because we can only replace our boxes for a few months out of the year, but that has yet to be a problem.
The bad part of using wadding pools is scooping the entire box. You can't really just sit in front of it and scoop, you have to move around and reach..etc. Again, not that big of a deal, but it is just a little harder. I am very fortunate that my husband does this job for me as I have a dust allergy so I like to do what ever I can to make it easier for him.
When I saw a product called PoogoStick, I thought it sounded awesome and I contacted the company.
It was the first time I reached out to a company to see if they would send a product to me to try. They were a little uncertain about how that would work being a new company which was a little funny since it was the first time I asked, and we muddled our way through it. They thought it would be better to send it to me a little closer to the time that the product would be hitting the mass market, and I sat back and waited. A box showed up a little while later with out notice that it was sent, so it was a nice surprise.
We do like it a lot. The "Squeeze, Scoop and Release" feature make it really easy to scoop out the waste and dispose of it. It is really nice that we can stand up and get through the whole box. There are a couple of downsides to it for us. The tines aren't as study as we would like; our cat's stool is small and hard (thanks to eating a raw diet) and it tends to get wedged in between the tines. The push plate should take care of that, we found that it wasn't strong enough to push the stool that was wedged in there. If the spring was just a bit stronger it would have been a total winner. I have a feeling that if you were using it for a standard litter box, you wouldn't have this issue since you would generally know where the stool is and you could get under it and keep it from getting stuck in the tines. I give this product three out of four paws.. The PoogoStick is available exclusively at PetSmart.
While talking to my husband about the PoogoStick and his impressions of it, I wondered if the Litter Lifter scoop would be better for him. I got several for free when I attended BlogPaws 2013 and so I gave him one of them and he told me he finds this to be the best option he's tried.
Some of the scoops we have tried. |
The nice thing about the Litter Lifter is tines are actually triangle shaped, so the litter just naturally flows through the scooper while you are scooping in a box and when you pick it up.
There are several sizes of Litter Lifters, so you are sure to find a size you like. I gave one to a friend who volunteers at my local shelter keeping their little retail shop full of things to sell that might make the shelter some money. She loved it so much she immediately contacted the company to see if they could work out a deal and now they are sold at our local shelter!
I had to use the litter lifter for a while to find a 'down side' to it. I always like to find a down side, because I personally learn more about a product reading the negative reviews.. I find all glowing reviews read like a press release and I don't trust them as much. Anyway, the only down side to this scoop is that if you have a cat that has diarrhea, the triangle tines tend to make it break up much more so than the flat tines of a regular scoop and it makes a mess.. but seriously, this is the only 'bad' thing I have to say about it You can find it for sale in Petco and many online locations
I did receive both products for free, but the reviews are 100% my own opinions on the products.
Thanks for the reviews. I have loved the Litter Lifter for a long time. I refuse to use another brand of scooper now.
ReplyDeleteThe folks at Katnip Lounge use wading pools too. I'll have to make sure they see these reviews!
huh - good to know. I swear if we had room I would upgrade to one of those pools (and honestly, I have thought it would be a good idea too for moms with tiny kitts to keep them all contained - but that's another story).
ReplyDeleteThat's a good review! We were given a Litter Lifter and we're sure it would work great...if we used clumping litter.
ReplyDeleteThose really were good reviews and you covered things quite nicely MOL! There are 7 of us here too (no fosters 5though) and we only used the Litter Lifters too!
ReplyDeleteIt seems the mom is always scooping litter. We pay her back by using the box right after she is done to show our appreciation. And sometimes, she isn't done when we climb in to have a "go".
ReplyDeleteThose both sound great! We actually have the Litter Lifters here, and we agree ... they are wonderful. :)
ReplyDeleteA pool? I imagine I'd find a dog rolling in it... after he finished snacking out of it.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking a pool would be a great idea for containing the litter box in the foster room right now. The kittens could pile all of the litter into the pool instead of throwing it out in mounds upon the floor.
The mom says she would love to have small pool for us to use, but there isn't room for one. Oh well, we like our regular boxes. Good review!
ReplyDeleteWe love our litter lifter too. (well okay actually MOMMY loves it) We haven't converted her to the pool since there are only 3 of us, but she'd bet a certain Katnip Lounge would be interested!
ReplyDelete