It’s hard to imagine the word pretty describing cat litter. Necessary, yes. Utilitarian. Clumping. Odor-reducing. These all make sense to me. But pretty? I don’t get it.

Lille En, recently had a health scare–bladder stones. She’s recovered, thank goodness, but we need to monitor the ph of her urine. I think some of you are thinking what I was thinking: How the heck do we do that.? I am imagining handing the kitty a specimen cup.

At the vet, they remove urine directly from the bladder using a needle. Ewww and owww. An effective diagnostic but not one that you want to repeat regularly, especially with a cat who pees in her cat carrier on EVERY SINGLE trip to the vet.

Enter Pretty Litter.

Our vet recommended Pretty Litter as a diagnostic tool to monitor our cat. Just let that sink in. Pretty litter that’s a diagnostic tool. Mind blown. I can’t tell you how many times we have repeated the phrase, “Better living through science” over the past several months.

Pretty litter looks like white crystals and it changes color to indicate the ph of urine. It even shows blood in the urine, which would have helped us recognize our cat’s problem much earlier.

We had a feeling that one of the foods she is eating might be causing a problem and sure enough, we got an early warning from Pretty Litter.

We had to move the cat box into our bathroom when Lille En was sick and needed frequent bathroom breaks, and I can report that the litter seems to neutralize all odor. And as cat litter goes, it is pretty. It’s also pretty handy and pretty amazing. Cats are sensitive to changes, especially litterbox changes, so we made the switch gradually and have a second catbox with her regular litter available. After a month or so of Pretty Litter, she’s stopped using her old cat box.