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A sifting scoop for removing pet waste from litter in a litter box having a handle carrying a sifting cup having a mouth wider than a downstream pet waste retaining pocket formed by the cup. The handle overlies the sifting cup providing a waste shield. The handle includes a grip attached by a bridge

A sifting scoop for removing pet waste from litter in a litter box having a handle carrying a sifting cup having a mouth wider than a downstream pet waste retaining pocket formed by the cup. The handle overlies the sifting cup providing a waste shield. The handle includes a grip attached by a bridge to the cup that provides a hand guard and scoop hanger with the grip serving as a leg when the scoop is stood uprightly on a pedestal formed by a cup endwall. The cup has a first sifting portion formed in a litter-engaging surface on the side opposite the handle with the sifting portion formed by a plurality of elongate slots that are wavy or S-shaped extending longitudinally in the direction of scooping. The cup has a second sifting portion having slots in the end wall inline with litter being scooped.

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1. A sifting scoop comprised of a handle carrying a sifting cup formed of an endless sidewall having a mouth at one end, a perforate bottom at an opposite end, and a perforate sifting region formed in a granular material contacting face of the sidewall opposite the handle that is disposed toward gra

1. A sifting scoop comprised of a handle carrying a sifting cup formed of an endless sidewall having a mouth at one end, a perforate bottom at an opposite end, and a perforate sifting region formed in a granular material contacting face of the sidewall opposite the handle that is disposed toward granular material in a container during sifting, wherein the granular material contacting face has a generally flat central section adjacent the mouth and extends from adjacent the perforate bottom to adjacent a scoop tongue that forms a leading scoop edge extending along the mouth adjacent the perforate sifting region guiding granular material into the sifting cup onto the perforate sifting region downstream of the mouth during scooping and sifting, and wherein the endless sidewall necks down toward the perforate bottom generally imparting a funnel shape to the sifting cup such that the mouth is wider than the perforate bottom. 2. The sifting scoop of claim 1 wherein the handle is attached to the sidewall adjacent the mouth opposite the scoop tongue with the handle extending alongside the sidewall generally parallel to the sidewall from adjacent the mouth toward the perforate bottom, and wherein the outer scoop tongue extends outwardly beyond where the handle attaches to the sidewall. 3. The sifting scoop of claim 2 wherein the sidewall has a pair of imperforate transversely curved sides respectively extending alongside the perforate sifting region between the perforate sifting region and an imperforate portion of the sidewall extending from one imperforate side to the other imperforate side opposite the perforate sifting region that is disposed between the handle and the perforate sifting region. 4. The sifting scoop of claim 1 wherein the perforate bottom comprises a pedestal upon which the sifting scoop is uprightly supportable on a flat surface. 5. The sifting scoop of claim 4 wherein the handle defines a leg that engages the flat surface when the sifting scoop is uprightly supported on the flat surface helping to keep the sifting scoop upright. 6. The sifting scoop of claim 1 wherein the sifting cup comprises a hand shield preventing a hand grasping the handle from coming into contact with granular material during scooping and sifting of granular material, the hand shield comprised of an imperforate portion of the sidewall opposite the perforate sifting region that is disposed between the handle and the perforate sifting region. 7. The sifting scoop of claim 6 further comprising a hand guard attaching the handle to the sidewall adjacent the mouth. 8. The sifting scoop of claim 7 wherein the hand shield comprises an imperforate portion of the sidewall extending opposite the perforate sifting region that is located between the handle and the perforate sifting region. 9. The sifting scoop of claim 1 wherein the perforate sifting region is comprised of a plurality of spaced apart and non-straight sifting slots that each extend longitudinally from adjacent the mouth toward the perforate bottom. 10. The sifting scoop of claim 9 wherein a plurality of the sifting slots is wavy or S-shaped. 11. The sifting scoop of claim 9 wherein a plurality of wavy or S-shaped sifting slots are elongate and disposed side-by-side. 12. The sifting scoop of claim 11 wherein the plurality of the sifting slots each have a width greater than a width or diameter of a plurality of grains of granular material for which the sifting scoop is used to sift. 13. The sifting scoop of claim 12 wherein the granular material comprises pet or animal litter, the granular matter contacting face comprises a litter engaging face, and the perforate sifting region is comprised of elongate slots having a slot width wide enough for litter to flow therethrough while retaining clumps of pet waste in the sifting cup. 14. The sifting scoop of claim 1 wherein the first perforate sifting region is generally horizontal during scooping and the perforate bottom is disposed at an angle relative to horizontal during scooping and in line with the flow of granular material being scooped into the sifting cup. 15. The sifting scoop of claim 14 wherein the perforate bottom is oriented generally perpendicular to the perforate sifting region. 16. The sifting scoop of claim 15 wherein granular material comprises litter in a litter box and the perforate sifting region and perforate bottom are configured to separate unspent litter from pet waste clumps in the litter that are retained in the sifting cup after scooping and sifting. 17. The sifting scoop of claim 1 wherein the handle comprises a bridge attaching the handle to the sidewall adjacent the mouth of the sifting cup defining a hand guard adjacent the mouth. 18. The sifting scoop of claim 17 wherein the handle, the bridge attaching the handle to the sidewall, and an adjacent portion of the sidewall extending alongside the handle comprises a hanger. 19. A sifting scoop comprised of an endless sidewall defining a sifting cup having (a) a mouth at one end, (b) a perforate bottom opposite the mouth, (c) a longitudinally extending elongate handle disposed alongside a longitudinally extending imperforate portion of the sidewall, (d) a longitudinally extending granular material contacting face formed of part of the sidewall opposite the imperforate sidewall portion, the granular material contacting face having a longitudinally extending generally flat central section adjacent the mouth extending toward the perforate bottom, the granular material contacting face comprising a perforate sifting region extending from adjacent the mouth substantially to the perforate bottom, and (e) a pair of opposed longitudinally extending sides formed of corresponding portions of the sidewall with one of the sides extending between the granular material contacting face and the imperforate sidewall portion and the other one of the sides extending between the granular material contacting face and the imperforate sidewall portion, wherein the sides converge toward one another from adjacent the mouth to adjacent the perforate bottom such that the mouth is wider than the perforate bottom and the perforate sifting region is wider adjacent the mouth than adjacent the perforate bottom. 20. The sifting scoop of claim 19 wherein the perforate sifting region is comprised of a plurality of spaced apart generally longitudinally extending elongate sifting slots formed therein. 21. The sifting scoop of claim 20 wherein each one of the plurality of longitudinally extending elongate slots extends from adjacent the mouth to adjacent the perforate bottom. 22. The sifting scoop of claim 21 wherein the handle is interconnected to the imperforate portion of the sidewall by an arched bridge forming a sifting scoop hanger upon which the sifting scoop can be hung, wherein the arched bridge comprises a hand guard disposed adjacent the mouth preventing granular material from contacting a hand grasping the handle during scooping and sifting of granular material, and wherein the imperforate portion of the sidewall disposed between the handle and the perforate sifting region comprises a hand shield disposed between granular material entering the sifting cup and a hand grasping the handle also preventing the hand from contacting granular material during scooping and sifting of granular material. 23. The sifting scoop of claim 19 wherein the granular material contacting face has a scoop tongue forming a leading edge of the sifting scoop that extends transversely along the mouth and wherein each one of the plurality of longitudinally extending sifting slots extend from adjacent the tongue toward the perforate bottom. 24. The sifting scoop of claim 23 wherein the handle is attached to the sidewall adjacent the mouth opposite the scoop tongue with the handle extending alongside the sidewall generally parallel to the sidewall from adjacent the mouth toward the perforate bottom, and wherein the outer scoop tongue extends outwardly beyond the handle in a direction opposite the handle. 25. The sifting scoop of claim 24 wherein the granular material contacting face has a transversely extending elongate imperforate margin extending longitudinally from the scoop tongue to an adjacent end of each one of the plurality of longitudinally extending elongate slots. 26. The sifting scoop of claim 19 wherein each one of longitudinally extending converging sides is imperforate. 27. A sifting scoop comprised of an endless sidewall defining a sifting cup having (a) a mouth at one end, (b) a perforate bottom opposite the mouth, (c) a handle having a hand grip disposed alongside and generally parallel to a longitudinally extending imperforate portion of the sidewall, (d) a generally longitudinally extending granular material contacting face formed of part of the sidewall opposite the imperforate sidewall portion, the granular material contacting face comprising (i) a perforate sifting region extending from adjacent the mouth to adjacent the perforate bottom with the perforate sifting region comprised of a plurality of generally longitudinally extending elongate slots, and (ii) a generally flat central section extending from adjacent the mouth toward the perforate bottom, and (e) a pair of opposed longitudinally extending sides formed of corresponding portions of the sidewall with one of the sides extending between the granular material contacting face and the imperforate sidewall portion from adjacent the mouth to adjacent the perforate bottom and the other one of the sides extending between the granular material contacting face and the imperforate sidewall portion from adjacent the mouth to adjacent the perforate bottom, wherein the sides converge toward one another in a longitudinal direction from adjacent the mouth to adjacent the perforate bottom such that the mouth is wider than the perforate bottom and the perforate sifting region is wider adjacent the mouth than adjacent the perforate bottom. 28. The sifting scoop of claim 27 wherein each one of the plurality of elongate sifting slots extends generally in a longitudinal direction from adjacent the mouth to adjacent the perforate bottom. 29. The sifting scoop of claim 28 wherein each one of the plurality of elongate sifting slots is not straight. 30. The sifting scoop of claim 29 wherein each one of the plurality of elongate sifting slots is wavy or generally S-shaped. 31. The sifting scoop of claim 27 wherein the perforate bottom is comprised of a plurality of elongate sifting slots. 32. The sifting scoop of claim 27 wherein each one of longitudinally extending converging sides is imperforate. 33. A sifting scoop comprised of an endless sidewall defining a sifting cup having (a) a mouth at one end, (b) a perforate bottom opposite the mouth comprised of a plurality of slots formed therein, (c) a handle having a hand grip disposed alongside and generally parallel to a longitudinally extending imperforate portion of the sidewall, (d) a generally longitudinally extending granular material contacting face formed of part of the sidewall opposite the imperforate sidewall portion, the granular material contacting face comprising (i) a perforate sifting region extending from adjacent the mouth to adjacent the perforate bottom with the perforate sifting region comprised of a plurality of generally longitudinally extending elongate sifting slots that each extend from adjacent the mouth to adjacent the perforate bottom, and (ii) a generally flat central section extending generally longitudinally from adjacent the mouth toward the perforate bottom, and (e) a pair of opposed generally longitudinally extending imperforate sides formed of corresponding portions of the sidewall with one of the sides extending between the granular material contacting face and the imperforate sidewall portion from adjacent the mouth generally longitudinally to adjacent the perforate bottom and the other one of the sides extending between the granular material contacting face and the imperforate sidewall portion from adjacent the mouth generally longitudinally to adjacent the perforate bottom, wherein the sides converge toward one another in a generally longitudinal direction from adjacent the mouth to adjacent the perforate bottom such that the mouth is wider than the perforate bottom and the perforate sifting region is wider adjacent the mouth than adjacent the perforate bottom, and wherein the perforate bottom is generally flat comprising a pedestal upon which the sifting scoop can be uprightly stood.