Greenfields

Greenfields is a Dutch pet care brand, part of Orange Pet Brands in Rotterdam. The range splits neatly in two: grooming products for washing and combing a dog, and bio-culture sprays for cleaning up after any pet. Greenfields say their shampoos are produced in the Netherlands and are paraben-free, biodegradable and pH balanced, with a perfume free from declarable allergens.

Which Shampoo

• Puppy Shampoo (250ml): The mildest liquid in the range. Also the one to reach for with an adult dog that reacts to everything else.
• Shampoo and Conditioner: The everyday choice. Both jobs in one bottle, in 250ml or 400ml.
• Aloe Vera (200ml): For a coat that has gone dry and dull and skin that is tight and flaky.
• Curly Coat (250ml): For poodles, doodles, bichons and anything woolly that knots at the roots.
• Spray and Go (250ml): A no-rinse dry shampoo for travel, for between baths, and for a dog that cannot be bathed just now.

The Shampoo Bars

Two solid bars, the Puppy and the Sensitive, sold with no plastic around them. Greenfields say one 70g bar replaces three bottles and lasts up to sixty washes. Both are vegan, pH balanced and made without preservatives, which means they need to dry out between baths rather than sit in a wet dish.

Detanglers

One for dogs at 250ml and one for cats at 200ml. Both are leave-in sprays: spray, wait a minute, comb out, no rinsing. They loosen knots that have already formed -- they do not stop new ones, which is what regular combing is for.

Cleaning Up: Which Spray

• Urine Destroy (400ml): Urine specifically, on carpet, wood, tile and fabric.
• Stain and Odour (400ml): The general one -- urine, faeces, vomit and trodden-in food.
• Cat Litter Spray (400ml): For the litter tray itself, activating as the cat uses it.

All three carry bacteria and enzymes rather than perfume, so they break the smell down instead of covering it. That also means bleach and disinfectant will stop them working, and an ammonia-based cleaner is worse than nothing on urine -- ammonia is part of what urine smells of, so to a pet you have just marked the spot again.

Training And Deterrent

• Training Spray (400ml): For furniture, shoes and skirting a pet is chewing, or a chair you want it off.
• Stay Away Spray (400ml): For the flower bed, doorway or bin that passing animals have claimed.

Both are worth being realistic about. A deterrent works on some animals and not others, it fades, and outdoors it washes off in the first rain. Neither addresses why the behaviour is happening -- boredom, teething, anxiety, or a cat simply needing somewhere it is allowed to scratch.

Good To Know

• The dog shampoos and the dog detangler are for dogs only. They contain essential oils and fragrance, and several oils that are harmless to dogs are not safe for cats. The Cat Detangler Spray is the cat product in this range.
• Greenfields describe their perfume as free from allergens. That refers to the declarable fragrance allergens, not a promise that no animal will react -- stop using anything that leaves skin red or itchy.
• Most dogs need a bath no more often than every four to six weeks. Washing more strips the oils that keep skin comfortable and can leave a dog itchier than it started.
• A shampoo cleans; it does not treat disease. Broken or weeping skin, bald patches, a smell that returns within days of a bath, or constant scratching all need a vet.
• A housetrained pet that suddenly starts going indoors should see a vet before you assume it is behaviour. Cystitis, urinary infections, bladder stones, diabetes and kidney disease all cause accidents, and a male cat straining without producing urine is an emergency.
• Keep all of it away from children, out of eyes and ears, and stored somewhere cool and dark.