According to the American Veterinarian Medical Association there are almost 62 million cats in America living in 37 million households! Those numbers would be much different if it wasn't for a young Michigan man trying to help a friend!
By: Robert A. Smith
You may not know it, but indoor cats are a relatively new phenomenon. Until the mid-20th century, most cats lived outside. That’s because what passed for home cat box filler was pretty dreadful stuff -- consisting of things like messy ashes or dusty sand. It’s why most people kept tabby outdoors.
SO HOW DID CATS COME IN FROM THE COLD?
Credit American entrepreneur Ed Lowe of Cassopolis, Michigan. In the late 1940s, he was a young WWII veteran working in the family business, which sold coal, sand and industrial absorbents to local companies.
One winter’s day in 1947, a friend, Kay Draper, told Lowe she was tired of the mess that ashes were making in her cat’s litter box and her home. She asked for some sand. Instead, Lowe suggested a bag of Fuller's Earth – a type of absorbent clay used by shops and factories to soak up oil spills.
Draper tried it, loved it, and returned for more. So did her cat loving friends.
THAT’S WHEN ED LOWE HEARD SUCCESS MEOWING
He packed some of the clay into five pound bags, labeled them “Kitty Litter, 65 cents” and headed for a local pet store. In one fell swoop, he not only invented a new product, he gave it its first brand name – one millions later saw on national TV.
But on that day, the pet store owner Lowe visited wasn’t impressed. With sand virtually free, he said he doubted anyone would buy the bags. “Then give ‘em away!” Lowe replied.
The store did. And like Kay Draper, its customers came back for more.
Ed Lowe knew a good thing when he saw it. The 27-year old quit his family business and hit the road to drum up interest in his branded product, Kitty Litter, hauling it to pet shops and cat shows across the country. Once he conquered pet stores, Lowe wanted to move into supermarkets. But pet stores balked. So he launched a second brand, Tidy Cats, for the grocery trade.
HIS INVENTION AND INNOVATION CREATED A MULTI-NATIONAL EMPIRE.
A multi-million dollar empire that eventually was selling 700,000 tons of litter annually. Company scientists worked continuously to upgrade existing products and develop new ones. Their product research effort included a “cattery” with 120 felines, a cat-care clinic, and an animal-behavior facility with 24-hour television monitoring of resident cats. He even appeared in some of his Kitty Litter commercials!
When Lowe sold the company in 1991, annual revenues exceeded $165 million. Today kitty litter is a multi-billion dollar product category and Lowe’s Tidy Cats brand is owned by Ralston Purina.
And that’s how cats became house pets.
LOWE’S LEGACY LIVES ON
Today, Ed Lowe’s legacy lives on in the Ed Lowe Foundation, a center dedicated to helping entrepreneurs and small-business people. It sponsors seminars, educational programs, and information support services. The institution is housed on a 2,600-acre complex on the grounds of Lowe’s family estate, outside of Cassopolis, Mich.
Ed Lowe exemplifies a Why Didn’t I think of That? Axiom. Find a new application for an existing product. He turned absorbent clay into Kitty Litter and brought cats from the alley into the home.
