Pumpkin Spiced Tidy Cats? Really???

It's not as if I'm immune to the pumpkin spice thing that has become so central to autumnal bliss. I mostly don't do lattes, so it's pretty much a matter of indifference to me when Dunkin (or is it Starbucks, or is it both?) brings it back.

But I do like pumpkin. I do like spice. And I love those tiny Trader Joe's Hold My Cones, and the pumpkin ginger version, which they have in the fall, is pretty darned delish. (It's not my favorite Hold My Cone seasonal flavor. That would be peppermint, which comes out for the holiday season. Still, pumpkin spice is pretty yummy, too.)

And I do like when the tiny little pumpkins (or pumpkin-like gourds) appear in the grocery store, so I can buy one to put on my kitchen windowsill. 

And I like spices. I make apple crisp with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. I have a spicey Christmas cookie recipe. There's a spicey, peppery chicken that I make. I have a big hunk of ginger in the cabinet that I grate a bit of when I make peanut sauce. Etc.

So, yay, pumpkin. And, yay, spice.

But does everything have to be pumpkin spice?

A quick google revealed pumpkiny spicey goods beyond my imagining. Coffee-mate. Jell-o. Oreos (a true desecration!). Cheerios. Peeps. Bailey's Irish Cream. Marshmallows, almonds, yogurt. 

You name it, someone has pumpkin spiced it up.

Most of what gets pumpkin spiced up is edible or drinkable. Or is a Yankee Candle. But I've seen cleaners, including laundry detergent out there.

Not that I'm opposed to cleaning aids that smell nice. I'm a sucker for Mrs. Meyer's All Purpose Cleaner - Lemon Verbena. The Geranium isn't bad, either. And I like dishwashing liquid that's lemon-y or orange-y. 

It's just that everything really doesn't need to smell like pumpkin spice. And including in that everything category, I'd put Tidy Cats Kitty Litter.

I'm sure that if I had cats I'd do pretty much everything in my power to keep my house from smelling like I had cats. I might draw the line at trying to toilet train the critters, but I'm sure I'd be there several times a day with my turd scoop, and pretty much changing the litter out daily.

But I can't see wanting the litter to smell like things I might eat or drink. Like those Trader Joe's spiced Hold My Cones. 

I get that product managers for consumer goods are always trying to come up with brand extensions, where they make marginal changes to the core product to get people to buy more, hopefully without cannibalizing sales of the core product. It makes me crazy. How many versions of M&M's do we need? And as far as I'm concerned, having too much choice is not a good thing. It's exhausting. One of the reasons I like shopping at my little indie neighborhood drugstore is that they only have a half-dozen or so toothpaste options. Unlike CVS, where there's a seemingly infinite variety that makes my head hurt. 

But I really do get it.

What I don't get is pumpkin spice kitty litter. 

Because I don't have a cat, my opinion really doesn't count here. But if I did have a cat, I can't see buying this. And I really do want to know: does it do anything for the kitties?