The Real Poop on Customer Service

As a three-cat household, we're very fussy about the kind of kitty litter we use. Most are either too chemical-y or too perfumed, or they simply don't perform well.

And our cats are equally as fussy and react badly to brands that are too gritty. They sniff, burrow, circle, run away, then circle back and fling it out of the box whenever we try one that doesn't suit them. One of the cats, who shall remain nameless, expresses her dislike by simply refusing to use it — and you can imagine how that scenario plays out. (Trust me, I would rather she fling clumps of the litter at the wall like her cohorts do.)

So there is great joy in Litterville when we find a brand that seems to suit everyone. So far, in the eight years of cat ownership, there's been just one that meets all the criteria: It absorbs odor, is not perfumed, is all-natural and even flushable, it's scoopable, and it's fine enough not to irritate delicate paw pads. It has the added benefit of being incredibly lightweight, so no one risks a hernia carrying it from the car to the house. It's also crazy expensive, but well worth it.

Imagine my displeasure, then, when during a recent shopping trip, all of the boxes of our favorite brand looked a little ... different. What was it? Oh, yeah, a big yellow sticker with those dreaded words: New & Improved! With visions of the Facebook timeline "improvement" in my head, I reached for one of the new boxes, and my worst kitty-litter fears were realized. The "new and improved" litter is heavier than the original. I jerked the box from the shelf and nearly crashed into a display of dog food when the weight of the litter pulled my arm toward the ground.