Burt's Bees Cat Wipes vs earthbath Cat Wipes: Which Cleans Better

Two packs of cat wipes sit on the folding table in my spare room, and only one of them gets picked up on an ordinary Tuesday. Here is the short answer: for the everyday pass that lifts dander, loose hair and general staleness off a coat, Burt's Bees for Pets unscented dander-reducing cat wipes are the ones I reach for. For a mat that has already formed, or a spot that needs real moisture to work loose, the earthbath cat wipes in the other pack do more per swipe. That is the split, and the rest of this is how I got there.

My house has two cats in it and neither of them asked for any of this. Juniper is 7, a long-haired Maine Coon mix around 14 pounds, and she grows mats behind her ears and on her back legs no matter how faithful I am with a brush. Pip is 4, a short-haired cat around 9 pounds, and he treats a bath like a personal insult. I have been using the Burt's Bees wipes for about three months, a few times a week, mostly on Juniper's hindquarters and paws, and on both coats before my sister visits, since she is mildly allergic and notices. They replaced most of the baths in this house. I bought a pack of earthbath wipes to see whether the other brand deserved the counter space.

	Burt's Bees Cat Wipes	earthbath Cat Wipes
Wetness out of the pack	Damp, not dripping. A short coat dries in about two minutes.	Noticeably wetter, with more slip on the cloth.
Wipe size	6.8 by 7 inches, printed on the pack.	Felt smaller in my hand, so I used more of them per session.
Scent	Unscented, no fragrance in the formula.	Mild. I could not smell anything on the coat ten minutes later.
Loosening a mat	Lifts surface hair. A tight mat behind the ear still needs fingers first.	The wetter cloth softened the mat faster in my one test.
Everyday dander pass	Took dust and loose hair off a hindquarter in about a minute.	Left the coat damp enough that I followed with a hand towel.
Drying time on the cat	About two minutes on a short coat. The cat stays put.	Five minutes or more. Pip left mid-pass twice.
Best for	A few maintenance passes a week on a coat that is otherwise healthy.	Already-formed mats and spot cleaning on a cat that tolerates handling.

Three months in, a 50-count pack still lasts me three to four weeks, and I have never needed more than one wipe per cat per session.

How I Tested Both

The method was not fancy. I kept both packs open on the craft table, used one brand on a given evening and the other the next, and worked the same areas: Juniper's hindquarters, her back legs, the flat of her chest, and Pip's coat from shoulders to tail. Same towel, same window light, same order of operations. I timed nothing with a stopwatch. I did pay attention to how long the coat stayed damp to the touch, because a cat who feels wet gets up and leaves, and a wipe you cannot finish is a wipe you wasted.

The first week I did this badly. I started with a dry washcloth, which is what I had always used for a quick cleanup, and it did nothing except push dust around Juniper's hindquarter and leave her coat looking dull. That is why the wipe question even came up. On the first evening with both packs open, I did Juniper's left side with Burt's Bees and her right side with earthbath, same towel, same ten minutes, and then felt both flanks with the back of my hand. The Burt's Bees side was dry to the touch in about two minutes. The earthbath side was still cool and damp at the five-minute mark, and she got up before it finished.

What I watched for: how wet the wipe came out of the pack, whether one wipe covered a hindquarter and a front paw, whether the coat dried before the cat decided she had somewhere else to be, and how the mats behind Juniper's ears behaved afterward. Those mats are the real test in this house, and they are the reason I bother comparing at all. I also looked at the boring things, like whether the pack sealed back up and whether the wipe tore when I pulled it out one-handed with a cat under the other arm.

Two limits up front. This is two cats in one house over three months, not a lab. And the messes were ordinary: house dust, litter dust on the back paws, a bit of dried food on Pip's chin, the general oil that builds on a coat between baths. I did not test either wipe on anything dramatic. I would not expect a wipe to handle that anyway, and if I told you one did, you should ask me what I was selling.

What Neither Wipe Will Do

Neither pack replaces a bath, and I want that said plainly because wipes get oversold on the shelf. A cat who has gotten into something greasy, or who has a genuine skin problem, needs water and a vet, in that order. Neither wipe removes a tight mat. Neither one does anything about shedding except pick up the hair that has already let go, which means the brush still does the real work and the wipe gets the credit.

In my house a wipe is the thing that buys me two more days between baths, not a replacement for them. It is what I use on Juniper's hindquarters after she has been on the window ledge all afternoon, and on both cats before company. That is a smaller job than the packaging implies, and both brands imply more. Read the directions on either pack and you will notice they promise a clean coat, not a handled mat or a solved skin issue.

There was a week in January when Pip got into a saucer with oil in it and came away with a patch on his chin. I tried both wipes on it, one on each of two evenings, and neither one cut the grease. The Burt's Bees wipe lifted the surface and then dried. The earthbath wipe left the patch damp and spread it wider before it dried. What finally worked was a warm damp washcloth with a drop of dish soap, rinsed twice, and then a dry towel, which is exactly the answer no wipe package is going to give you.

Where Burt's Bees Wins

The everyday pass is where Burt's Bees Cat Wipes separate themselves. The wipe is 6.8 by 7 inches, which is enough cloth to do a hindquarter and a front paw without folding it into a wad, and it comes out of the pack damp rather than wet. On a short coat it dries in about two minutes. On Juniper's long coat it takes longer, but she stays put long enough for me to finish, and that is the only metric that matters once you have a cat on a towel.

I counted one week to be sure I was not imagining the size difference. In five sessions I used six Burt's Bees wipes total, and one of those wipes did Juniper's left hindquarter and her left front paw with a fold in between. With the earthbath pack, the same five sessions took nine wipes, because the cloth felt smaller in my hand and I reached for a second one before I had finished a back leg. That is not a knock on how well the earthbath wipe cleans. It is the reason the Burt's Bees pack lasts three to four weeks in this house while the other pack went faster.

The formula is the other half of it. Colloidal oat flour and honey, made without fragrances, sulfates, colorants or harsh chemicals, with directions I would have written myself: back of ears to tail, avoiding the eyes. Unscented matters more than I expected. Pip will tolerate a surprising amount until something smells like a salon, and then he is gone and I am standing there with a used wipe. Three months in, a 50-count pack of Burt's Bees lasts me three to four weeks and both coats look conditioned rather than stripped.

Where earthbath Wins

The mat behind Juniper's ear is where earthbath earns its place. That wipe comes out of the pack much wetter, with more slip on the cloth, and the moisture softened the mat faster than the Burt's Bees wipe did. I still worked it loose with my fingers first, the way I always do, but I spent less time on it afterward and Juniper complained less. If mats are your main problem rather than upkeep, that difference is the one you will actually feel in your hands.

The wetter cloth is also better on a specific soiled spot: a bit of dried food on a chin, litter dust worked into a back paw, the grubby patch a cat gets on the back of the leg. It gives you something to work with instead of something that dries mid-pass. The trade is drying time. Pip walked off in the middle of a pass twice, and I finished both of those with a dry hand towel. If your cat tolerates handling, that trade is worth making. If your cat is Pip, it mostly is not.

How One Pack Fits a Normal Week

A normal week here looks like this. Monday and Thursday I do a quick pass on Juniper's hindquarters and back legs, one wipe each time, because that is where the coat holds the most undercoat and it is where she sits. Tuesday or Wednesday I do Pip from shoulders to tail, which he allows if I keep it to about a minute. Saturday, if my sister is coming, both cats get a full pass and the pack goes back in the top drawer of the craft table when I am done.

The Saturday pass is the one I plan around. My sister is mildly allergic, so both cats get the full route: Juniper from the back of the ears to the tail, then her paws, then Pip from shoulders to tail with a fresh wipe. That is three wipes for two cats, and I pull one out, close the pack, and turn back to the cat. If I leave it open to the air, the next wipe comes out drier and I have wasted one. The whole thing takes about six minutes, and then the pack goes back in the top drawer of the craft table where the brush and clippers live.

That works out to four or five sessions a week, one wipe per cat, maybe six wipes total, which is why the 50-count pack lands at three to four weeks. I fold the wipe once for a short coat and use the flat of it on Juniper's longer coat, working in the direction the hair grows, back of ears to tail and away from the eyes. None of that routine is difficult. The hard part is having the wipe within reach before the cat decides she has somewhere else to be.

Who Should Buy Which

Buy the Burt's Bees wipes if your job is maintenance: a few passes a week on hindquarters and paws, a coat refresh before guests, a cat who will sit for ninety seconds and then wants down. They are also the better pick if scent is an issue in your house, either for the cat or for a person visiting. And if you have a long-haired cat who mats behind the ears, this is the pack that handles the ordinary days so the mats do not get started in the first place.

Buy the earthbath wipes if you are already behind on mats and need something wet enough to soften them, or if you spot clean rather than do full passes and can follow up with a towel. Some people will simply prefer the wetter cloth, and that is a fair reason to choose it. If you want one pack for both jobs, the Burt's Bees pack covers more of the week and the earthbath pack covers the harder ten minutes. I keep both in the drawer, and I would keep both again.