PrettyLitter is an American pet wellness company based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, that produces lightweight crystal-based cat litter that is designed to react to a cat's urine to indicate potential health problems by changing color based on the

acidity An acid is a molecule or ion capable of either donating a proton (i.e. hydrogen cation, H+), known as a Brønsted–Lowry acid, or forming a covalent bond with an electron pair, known as a Lewis acid. The first category of acids are the ...

alkalinity Alkalinity (from ) is the capacity of water to resist Freshwater acidification, acidification. It should not be confused with base (chemistry), basicity, which is an absolute measurement on the pH scale. Alkalinity is the strength of a buffer s ...

or the presence of blood in a cat's urine. PrettyLitter also produces health-focused cat food. In May 2021, PrettyLitter was acquired by

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

for a reported $1 billion.

History

PrettyLitter was founded in 2015 by Daniel Rotman who graduated from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, and received his master's degree from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

where he was a Fellow for the

Center for Public Leadership The Center for Public Leadership (CPL) is an academic research center at Harvard University that provides teaching, research and training in the practical skills of leadership for people in government, nonprofits, and business. The center works to ...

. Rotman has previously worked for the U.S. Congressional Chair of the

United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affair ...

. The idea of PrettyLitter was born after the passing of Rotman's cat, Gingi, where he discovered there were no at-home tools to help detect cats' potential health issues. In 2015, PrettyLitter participated in the '' Startup U'' competition led by a 7-week reality television series that premiered on

ABC Family American cable television, cable and satellite television network Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes dur ...

from August to October 2015. As one of the finalists for Startup U, Rotman officially started PrettyLitter from his apartment after completion of the show in late 2015. It is reported that

acquired PrettyLitter for more than $1 billion.

References

External links

Official website
{{Mars, Incorporated Pets Companies based in Los Angeles Mars, Incorporated Manufacturing companies based in Los Angeles Animal food manufacturers Veterinary companies of the United States Cat food brands