PetLvr Reviews: Electronic Catmouse Litter Odor Eliminator
(4 votes, average: 3.25 out of 5)
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Welcome to PetLvr Reviews, a new series here at PetLvr - The Blog, where we take a time-out to look at some interesting and (not-so-interesting) pet related products. If you would like your product reviewed by us, please check out our “About Product Reviews” page.
Electronic Catmouse Litter Odor Eliminator
With 13 rats, a cat, a dog, and a hedgehog in a 900 square foot house, smell builds up fast, no matter how often I clean. In addition, the Swheat Scoop litter I use clumps well and is safe to ingest, but its odor control just doesn’t match that of a scented litter. I won’t use scented clay litters for my pets’ health, but even with daily scooping I find myself holding my nose near the litterbox. So, when I received the Electronic Catmouse Litter Odor Eliminator for review, I wasn’t expecting the palm-sized gadget to make a huge difference.
Boy, was I wrong! It turns out the Electronic Catmouse lives up to every marketing blurb on its packaging. Within a few hours of installing the Catmouse and turning it on, the litterbox odor had decreased noticeably. The device also operates silently when deodorizing. In fan mode, it makes a quiet whirring noise. I was thrilled with the results in terms of odor elimination.
That’s not to say that the Catmouse is entirely without problems. The sticky-backed velcro included to mount the device wasn’t strong enough. After a couple of days, the Catmouse started falling down, and I had to use a small nail and the plastic peg included for more permanent wall-mounting. For those living in apartments with strict rules about holes in the walls, this could be bothersome.
I’d also rather see a battery-powered model than the plug-in. The Catmouse works best when mounted above the litterbox, because the ions it uses to remove odors are heavier than air. That means there’s a dangling cord for a curious cat to swat and potentially unplug the device or pull it off the wall.
This also makes it difficult to use the Catmouse to deodorize the area around small animals’ cages, since they may pull cords into the cage and chew. However, given the device’s warning not to inhale its activated oxygen and negative ion emissions for an extended period of time, I wouldn’t recommend permanently mounting it above a pet’s cage anyway. Chances are it would be perfectly safe, but I’m not volunteering my pets to be the first to test that theory!
One handy extra feature of the Catmouse: It can also serve as a therapeutic pheromone diffusion fan. You supply the pheromones, but the gadget comes with a fan function and a package of wicks for use with the fan. The jury’s still out in the pet world on the effectiveness of pheromone therapy, but in my opinion pheromone products like Feliway certainly won’t hurt your cat, and I’ve heard a few anecdotes indicating that they can be remarkably effective. If you’re planning a move or have a pet showing signs of stress, pheromone therapy may help. If not, hey, you’ve got a handy litterbox deodorizer, and the only wasted money is on the bottle of pheromone product!
Overall, for $39.99 online or at Petsmart, the Catmouse is a good buy for cat owners and anyone with a particularly stinky spot of 50 square feet or less in their home (teenage sons don’t count as stinky spots). I’ll likely give a few to cat owners on my gift list this Christmas. It’s a unique gadget that does exactly what it’s designed to do, and that gets it top marks in my book!
Photos taken with my IPEVO PoV web camera, reviewed previously.
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This sorta feels like a paid advertisement.
Comment by TeleSpy on September 22, 2008 1:17 pm
TeleSpy (interesting name!),
I assure you, the only paid ads on Petlvr are, well, the actual ads! I’ve been pleased to receive many products that I like a lot for review– and a couple I wasn’t thrilled with. Petlvr reviews, like all reviews, may be positive, neutral, or negative, at my sole discretion. Petlvr receives no monetary compensation for reviews.
-Jelena
Comment by Jelena on September 22, 2008 1:56 pm
This product does nothing more than masking the odor problem. It won’t actually get rid of the odor source so it is just a waste of money. As you said in your review it deodorizes the area around the litter box. Pet owners want something that removes the odor, not cover it up. If you eliminate the odor at the source you won’t have an odor problem.
It even has a warning to not inhale the emissions it is putting into the air. hmmm? So you can’t be anywhere within 50 square feet of this product for any length of time.
My recommendation is a true “odorless” odor eliminator that is actually made to eliminate and not cover up your odor problems.
The product above will not remove your odor problem just cover it up at best.
If it comes with a warning it is not 100% safe.
Just 2 cents from an expert.
Comment by Travis on October 28, 2008 12:03 am
Hi Travis .. thanks for your comment. What do you mean by being “an expert”? Have you purchased this product and used it yourself with your own cats?
HART
Comment by HART (1-800-HART) on October 28, 2008 2:39 am
I am an expert in the odor elimination industry. I have helped hundreds of consumers with their odor problems in the past 5 years online. I know what works and what does not through trial and error and testing.
It is physically impossible for this product to eliminate odors. It cannot remove the odor source and will only mask the odor problem by changing what the air smells like, much like worthless air fresheners and deodorizers like febreze.
Just like your review says it decreased the smell, it does not say it eliminated the smell. Unplug this little gadget and what do you have? Urine Odors!
The companies that put these types of products out take advantage of the consumers naivety by leading them to believe it will actually eliminate odors.
Comment by Travis on October 28, 2008 11:20 am
My wife lives for Febreeze and with our two Papillons, we spray our furniture and also add the powder to the carpets before vaccuuming.
I mean - c’mon! You have to be naive to believe anything will eliminate odors for perpetuity. Even your product you are linking to.
Comment by HART (1-800-HART) on October 28, 2008 1:38 pm
PS: to Travis .. perhaps your product is different from all of the gabillions of products out there that but if you want us to review your product, you should check out this page http://www.petlvr.com/blog/about-product-reviews/ .. We’d love to give it a chance.
Comment by HART (1-800-HART) on October 28, 2008 1:41 pm
@Travis - Do you actually know anything about this product at all or do you just like trolling random websites? I have no idea how well this product works but I’m more willing to take the reviewers opinion over yours. You should try offering some proof of why this product won’t work and tell us what will. That’d be helpful.
Comment by Jack on November 5, 2008 12:21 pm
I’ve tried reading the product website and honestly it’s pretty crappy and doesn’t instill great confidence, but I’ve read other reviews that say positive things. Anyways, from what I can tell it seems like the CatMouse is like a mini Ozone machine. If that’s the case then yes it will destroy odors. I worked for a Restoration Company that would regularly use ozone machines to get rid smells from protein fires. Ozone isn’t good to breath, but the CatMouse is so small that you’d probably have to lock yourself in the bathroom with it on for a few hours to actually hurt yourself. Well hope that’s helpful.
Comment by Jack on November 5, 2008 12:28 pm