When I was three, my mother learned the hard way that her kid had sensitive skin. They were out of our regular laundry detergent at the store, so she brought home some Tide, that chemical cornucopia in the blaring orange box. She did 5 loads of laundry and bundled me into my winter snowsuit. 5 minutes later, she found me wiggling on the floor like a caterpillar trying to escape the chrysalis. “What are you doing?” she demanded.
“ITCHY!!” I wailed. So she unwrapped me like a teeny angry mummy, revealing me covered from neck to ankle in an angry red rash. To this day, I can’t walk down the laundry aisle without holding my breath.
Needless to say, I am very sensitive to chemicals. I don’t like harsh synthetic scents, overpowering cleansers, or heavy duty oxidants. I try to use natural cleaners wherever possible, because they don’t seem to cause as much collateral damage to the family.
I realized shortly after bringing my first adopted dog home that I needed to try and accord the pets the same respect as I did myself. If a whiff of Windex in enough to send my olfactory receptors into a tizzy, imagine what it must do to a dog? Fortunately, there is an ever growing number of companies who agree and are making products that are safer for everyone. They work just as well, they smell better, and I’m not as worried about anyone burning a hole in their esophagus if they happen to lick the floor afterwards.
I recently received a set of cleaners from the Aussan Natural Pet Care line, and I’m happy to have them in the house. Here’s all the garbage they DON’T have:
alcohol, ammonia, artificial fragrance, bleach, chlorine, formaldehyde, fumes, dye, phtalate, petrochemicals, phosphate, sodium lauryl sulfate
That makes me happy.
The Aussan pet care line consists of 4 products:
- An all purpose pet cleaner
- 3 different odor eliminators: Dog Odor Eliminator, Cat Odor Eliminator, Small Pet Odor Eliminator
Since you all remember the bobcat incident from last week, I’ll tell you that as predicted, Apollo went into a tizzy later that day and sprayed the front door (though in this case, I’ll give him a pass.) I’ve been using straight vinegar and water to clean, but this time around I used the Aussan All Purpose Pet cleaner and followed that up with the Cat Odor Eliminator.
The cleaner has a very mild herbal smell- it contains citric fruit extract and lemongrass oil, which is great for those who recall that cats find those smells slightly aversive, making it a mild deterrent. Score!
The Odor Eliminator (all three version smell the same) contains eucalyptus oil, peppermint oil, and vanilla bean oil, which gives it a very nice, calming smell. I don’t know how to explain the difference between a natural herbal smell and a chemical-ly one, but if you’re sensitive to smells you know exactly what I mean. I sat there and huffed the stuff with my nose to the bottle, which for the record I have never once in my life managed to do without passing out with a grocery store cleaner.
(I even used it on my yoga mat, which is high praise considering I spend an hour at a go with my face pressed to it. If only I could surreptitiously bring it and spray it on that hairy old guy who’s always sweating in the corner.)
And the end result: No cat pee smell. It worked very well. And as far as I know Apollo has yet to re-mark. Halle-frickin-lujah!
Aussan is providing a giveaway to you guys as well. If you’d like to try out the line, leave a comment below with which product from the Pet Care line you’d like to try, and who is the stinky problem-maker. I’ll pick one person at random to receive the product of choice! Contest open until April 11, midnight PST.
*Remember my internet will be spotty while I’m in Peru, so there is a likelihood that the winner won’t be chosen until after Easter. But it’ll be worth the wait!
I’d love to try the Dog Odor Eliminator for my stinky but oh-so-lovable old guy, Moose. He is a 14-yo lab that yes, has an odor problem. He is allergic to EVERYTHING (airborne and food) so it’d be nice to try it on his dog bed.
The fact that this stuff worked so well with Apollo speaks VOLUMES! Yay!
My three chinchilla girls, Chimichanga, Chipotle, and Bella, could definitely use the Small Animal Odor Eliminator! (Two rescues and one that I just couldn’t resist at the pet store…) Of course the Dog formula would also come in handy with two boxers and the Cat formula for the three cats… all rescues. 🙂 No bobcats here, but Crookshanks occasionally marks when one of the neighborhood toms comes around.
I’d like the all-purpose cleaner. I still have a few spots on my carpet from both Sophie and Bailey from when we moved into our “new” house two years ago. In the meantime. Oscar gets big ol’ muddy pawprints on everything.
Hope you have a blast in Peru!
Oh, I would love this for little “stinky” dog mishaps! I use vinegar but would love an all natural and nice smelling alternative!
I’d love to try the all-purpose cleaner. I have 2 dogs and a cat, and I would definitely use it for cleaning cages or the litterbox.
I would love them all, but probably would have to go with the All Purpose Cleaner, since we have both cats and a dog;)
Ooh – I’d love to try the Cat Odor Eliminator for my cat, Tini (aka Martini). He occasionally thinks outside the box, and not in a good way! He gets crystals, which we’re treating, but for whatever reason, he decides the couch or rug is much nicer than the nice clean litterbox standing right next to it!
Would love to try the cat odor eliminator. Our senior kitty seems to be developing some incontinence issues as she ages, so we’re finding more and more little surprises these days (yes, the vet did check her out and she may be developing IBS) 🙁
Ooh, that cat odor line sounds perfect for me! Our cat Tom hasn’t sprayed yet, but the bathroom that his litter box is in is RANK! I don’t know what is up with this cat, but it smells worse than anything. I’d probably use it to clean around the litter box and hope that that would dissipate the smell.
Would love to try the cat odor eliminator. The male of our four cats sprays in different areas and I keep looking for the right answer to this problem. If this works, I would certainly buy it. Thanks for the offer——
Would love to try the All Purpose cleaner, to clean up the muddy paw prints without aggravating my sensitive skinned Am Staff/Boxer mix, Ruby. Her brother Boss isn’t sensitive, but he likes to get muddy 🙂
I’d love to try the All Purpose cleaner….none of my cats are particularly stinky, but sometimes they manage to be stinky all the same.
I’d love to try the Dog Odor Eliminator for my soon-to-arrive puppy! (we know how much we’ll be needing it)
Would love to try the cat odor eliminator. We have four cats and the one male sprays in different areas of the house. Would love a product that works to removes this odor and leaves a nice scent.
I would love to try the Small Pet Odor Eliminator. My son has two rats in his room and although he cleans them daily, the smell! Oh, the smell! And, unfortunately, although they as cute as can be and I love holding them, I have discovered that I’m allergic to them. Cats, and now rats. I’ve cleaned their cage with vinegar and that helped for awhile, but the vinegar smell was a bit overpowering. So, yes, please – Small Pet Odor Eliminator.
I’d love to try the cleaner! I’m sensitive to chemicals and scents, so finding something I can use for cleaning up after my cats, Chaos and Mayhem, is always a challenge.
I would love the cat odor spray. My poor Mini has skin issues, raw, irritated, inflamed skin which when it bothers her she licks and licks until its raw and bleeding. She also suffers from chronic sinus infections and often pees on the couch and floors when not feeling well. I also let this slide as she is not feeling well. I have been looking for a product that is easy on HER skin and my nose (as I get headaches easily). This would be a perfect product!!
Would love to try the all purpose cleaner. This line sounds great – hope I can find it in stores soon!
What amazing products! I would love to try the all purpose pet cleaner. Between Amy (our foster failure pit mix) and Luke (our super energetic lab/poodle mix) cleaning in our house occurs quite frequently. Would love an all natural product like this that I could feel good using!
Best wishes for your upcoming trip 🙂
No one actually is spraying (thank god) but my boy that has Cancer is starting to find alternative more convienient places to go instead. There is never more than 2 pads and a poop in a pan at any given time with the rest usually empty but he has just found it ‘better his way’. When I shine the light at night, there are a million “Rain Drops” in front of all the pans from when they get out a drop or two drips off onto the carpet. SO… I would love to try the Cat Odor Eliminator
I’d love to try the An all purpose pet cleaner. My darling rescue cat, Weazer, sometimes forgets where her box is. We’re trying to come to an agreement and a way to clean the carpet.
The all-purpose cleaner sounds awesome! I have a dachshund that sometimes has an anal gland expression issue at the worst times, so this would be great. I’m trying to be as Green in my life as possible, so something all natural would be fantastic!
These products sound fantastic! We could use both the Dog and Cat Odor Eliminator at our house. Tucker (the dog), no matter how much I work with him, still feels the need to sneak into the kids’ room once in a blue moon and pee in their closet. I’ve baby-gated their door but 5 and 7 year olds don’t always remember to keep the gate closed. Pee happens, I guess. And Skittles (the cat) is my 13 year old picky puss, who will pee right outside her litter box if it isn’t exactly perfectly perfect according to her exacting standards. I’ve got a mat down to keep the urine from getting on to the carpet, but she likes to move the mat aside before doing her business, of course. Cats – gotta love ’em.
I would like to try this product. Do I send and address?
Hi Mary-
All you have to do to enter for a chance to win the free giveaway is leave a comment (which you already have). If you win, I contact you through the e-mail address you used when you left the comment. If you would like to buy the product, the info is on the website!
I’d like to try the all purpose pet spray http://www.aussannatural.com/product.aspx?id=32 because I have dogs and a cat. Sometimes it’s a cat hairball, sometimes a dog doo-doo. All three are guilty!
I’d love to try the all purpose pet cleaner. I have had hives for 6 weeks (never had allergies and am concerned about chemical sensitivities – finally had to resort to steroids to knock them down and will see if they come back when I get off them) and am therefore revamping our cleaning and household product lineup…the dogs usually get better treatment than we do, so it’s super cool to see all natural products designed with pets in mind!
I would love the Cat Odor Eliminator to eliminate litter box odors!
i think the All-Purpose Pet Cleaner sounds good for our snake cages
great review on the Odor Eliminator,i would use it around our cat Boxy’s box
I would love to try the All-Purpose and/or the cat cleaner. My husband does most our cleaning, and he uses all-natural stuff wherever possible. Especially with things like toilet bowl cleaner, we try to use pet-safe (our male cat while totally lovable isn’t the sharpest tack in the drawer; we once caught him about to stick his face in some bleach, so we’re super careful with chemicals and cleaners). I bet he’d love this stuff!!! Our cats don’t mark or spray, but he is a “kicker” in the litter box; we have the tallest sides I have found and he still kicks stuff all over the floor around it, and unfortunately at the moment it is on carpet :-(. We have to clean the carpet every time we clean the litter box…..
After reading one of the other comments, I realized this would probably be great for our hairball problem also…..
I would like to try the all purpose cleaner and are dog who is a medium size mix and thinks he is a lap dog is the stink eaglesforjack@gmail.com