Green Tree resident Charles Dinovitz is used to getting raised eyebrows, jaw-drops and occasional snickers when he first tells people about his new company.

After all, it's a business that heavily relies on how often the family cat does its, ahem, business.

On Jan. 2, he and his brother, Mark Dinovitz started Kitty Litter We Deliver Inc., a Scott-based service that sells and delivers cat box litter to cat owners throughout Allegheny and Butler counties.

The company caters to those who know too well the physical strain and inconvenience of carrying 20-to-40-pound bags, pails or boxes of cat box filler from store to home.

Alice Beeler, of Kilbuck, who owns three cats, is among them.

"I was so tired of lugging those heavy pails around. You have to lift them up to get scanned at the register, put them back into the cart, then lift them again into your car trunk. It's a lot of work," she said. "The service is one of the best things I ever came across."

The company gets one or two calls a week from people who, after reading its advertisements, "ask if the service is 'for real,' " Charles said. "Then they either sign up or say, 'I don't have a cat. I just wanted to know if you were for real.' "

Charles, 39, is company president and manages daily operations, while Mark, 38, a former Venango County resident who lives in Olean, N.Y., is the self-dubbed silent partner.

The service is a sideline to their full-time jobs. Charles, who is self-employed, creates and markets discount cards for fundraisers and corporate programs. Mark is a sales manager for a Yellow Pages company.

They started the kitty litter service for two reasons: First, to fulfill their late father's dream of having his sons go into business together; and second, they knew there was a great need for it.

Cats have surpassed dogs as the most popular pet in the United States, and nearly 34 percent (or 38.4 million) of U.S. households own at least one cat, according to a 2007-08 National Pet Owners Survey conducted by the American Pet Products Manufacturers Association. To Charles, this meant about a third of Pittsburgh-area households may be buying cat litter and finding the chore as cumbersome as he did.

"Many times at the supermarket I've had my cart loaded up with groceries, had two kids with me, and then I'd get to the kitty litter aisle and have to throw two 40-pound bags into a cart that really didn't have room for them," he said.

Following the scent of potential profits, the brothers pounced on a nine-month market and product research effort, helped by friends in the advertising field. They found other stores, Web sites and individuals that delivered litter, but it was always with inflated prices, hidden charges, delivery fees or minimum-order requirements.

"That's not what we wanted to do. We wanted to sell litter at comparable retail store prices and deliver it to customers for free," Charles said. "We're the only one that we know of doing it in the country."

The brothers tested litter samples from 20 manufacturers in the United States, Canada and China. The acceptable ones had to also pass muster with Charles' cats -- Harry, 7, a black mutt, and Athena, 9, a calico -- to ensure proper clumping, low dust levels and the like.

They chose Easy Clean brand litter, produced in Canada and mined in the same places as Tidy Cat, Fresh Step and other major brands.

Customers call or place orders online for any of four types of the scoopable, premium clumping litter: unscented, unscented with baking soda, meadow fresh scent, and low-track. Prices (not including tax) range from $12.99 for one bag to $10.99 per bag for orders of five bags or more.

Deliveries are made every four to eight weeks. Ordering once to try the product is doable, too.

High gas prices are a concern but factored into their business plan. "We are slowly growing a business. We're prepared to lose money for a while," Charles said.

The company won't start turning a profit until it reaches the 1,000-customer mark, a goal the brothers hope to reach by year's end. The service now has more than 200 customers who include professionals, retirees and those with disabilities. The brothers also have received requests to franchise from people in New Jersey and Oregon.

Mary Holmes, a corporate controller in Monroeville, has large quantities of the company's litter delivered to the garage of her Richland home while she's at work. It's purrfect for her lifestyle, she said, which includes raising a small child and caring for many cats.

"I used to do separate grocery store runs to buy litter," she said. "Now it's one thing I don't have to worry about in my hectic life."

Kitty Litter We Deliver Inc. can be reached at 412-429-0548 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or at www.kittylitterwedeliver.com.