This April, we celebrate April Fools Day, Passover, Holy Week, Eid al-Fitr, Earth Day, and two holidays dedicated to the importance of picking up pet waste. Yup, that’s right, we have two holidays in the month of April dedicated to picking up after our pets. In honor of National Poop Scoop Week, established by the Association of Professional Animal Waste Specialists (aka aPaws,) we’re gonna share our favorite tools for picking up poop. As pro dog walkers and pet sitters, handling poop is our specialty!
Best Poop Bags
Having poop bags on hand is pretty central to our jobs as pro pet sitters and dog walkers. We, therefore, place large orders from GreenLine Pet Supply regularly. GreenLine Pet Supply is a Chicago-based pet supply company that makes eco-savvy products. They make products for those of us that want to make the best possible choices when consuming plastics.
GreenLine’s poop bags come in small packages and big boxes. No matter how you order them, GreenLine’s poop bags truly degrade in landfills, which is unlikely with many other brands. You see, the landfill environment doesn’t allow for light to penetrate other materials therefore they cannot biodegrade. The plastic used by GreenLine in manufacturing their poop bags has been designed to degrade even with little to no light or oxygen exposure. Learn more about the poop bag dilemma, as they call it, here.
The good folks at GreenLine also make poop bag holders in two different styles. Our favorite is their banner bags. They are made from festival banners that usually promote booze companies or event dates and are often trashed after the festivities are over. GreenLine’s founder, Jennifer Blaese, goes to festivals, markets, etc. to recycle these banner bags and make them into handy and attractive poop bag holders. Need a gift for a pet-loving friend? Check out GreenLine’s bundles. They are the perfect practical and thoughtful gift idea. We still get excited when we receive a shipment from GreenLine Pet Supply!
Best Litter Box Scoopers
You’d think the market would be full of perfectly made litter box scoopers that catch all the little clumps as well as the large nuggets and twigs in litter boxes. Yet, the more we use litter box scoopers, the more we realize that there is still a ways to go in designing the perfect litter scooper for standard clumping litter. While we wait, we have discovered the following litter scooping product that is worth a mention.
While the slots are a bit wide for our taste, this litter scooper by Petmate comes with a handy storage compartment where scoops can be kept between uses. The cat scoop holder catches excess litter and hides nasty scoops between washes, keeping our floors and views clean. Plus it’s free-standing and can be placed in or near a litter box for handy access. The scoop itself is high quality, tough plastic, and has a long handle. It’s a pretty good tool for scraping, digging, and scooping. To get the greatest benefit of this tool, however, you might want to invest in one for each of your litter boxes. Otherwise, you’ll be walking with the scoop and holder from box to box. Up to you!
Best Poop Scoopers
Having a yard where dogs can do their business between dog walks is kinda nice, especially when it’s rainy, cold, or snowing out. Yet, those droppings, for lack of a better word, need to be managed. If you’re not using a poop bag to collect your pet’s waste immediately after they eliminate, you’ll need to scoop the yard at least weekly, more often when it rains. You can also hire a professional pooper scooper here.
If you’re poop scooping on your own, there are many tools that will make your life easier. Our recommendation is to stick to a rake type poop scooping system. Avoid those that look like a claw and close around the poop. Cleaning the claw-looking poop scoopers is gross. You can much more easily spray down a rake and pan like this one. Scoopers made of metal are likely the best option for outdoor poop scooping. Metal won’t hold on to smells or bacteria as easily as plastic will. Of course, no matter what material you choose, make sure you keep it away from your pets until it’s clean.
At Shoreline Happy Paws, we stay on top of the latest pet products and love to bring them to you. If you run into a pet-related conundrum and want to find the perfect product to address it, we’re happy to help. And, if your pet needs care from a professional, loving, and dedicated team, we’ve got you covered there as well.
To learn more about our dog walking, dog hiking, and pet sitting services, contact us at info@cthappypaws.com or by phone at 860-964-0464. We proudly serve Old Saybrook, Essex, Ivoryton, Centerbrook, Deep River, Chester, and environs.
