Cement paws and automatic litterboxes

[Bash’s Mom]

Hello!
My Bash is suffering from the unfortunate cement paws. Its not every day, but just about. This morning was the worst I’ve seen - both paws just completely caked and toe beans spread apart. Luckily (odd word to apply to this situation, but here we are) I could tell it was still warm so it had just happened and he wasn’t like that for long. But still. Broke my heart. And he of course isn’t a fan when we have to stick him in the sink and clean him off. He lets us, meowing the whole time of course. I think he knows he’s going to feel better once we’re done, so he tolerates it lol. He is a wonderful kitty

Anyway.

I’ve seen a few recommendations for wood pellet litter and other types. Has anyone tried these with an automatic litter box? I have a littermaid, which he likes because it means it’s clean all the time (even though recently that’s not only been because of the litterbox, but also me scraping it out every day, but I’ll happily do it), so I’d like to not switch boxes if I don’t have to (I’ve read a bigger box can help, so that’s plan B).

Other question, regardless of box, any particular litters that worked well for you? I’ve done some reading of old posts, but opinions may have changed. Bash has short hair, so it’s really only his feet and hocs (he’s fighting some neuropathy right now as well which definitely doesn’t help) that are catching everything.

 

[Billy Burke]

We had this issue for a couple weeks with Simba because of how much he was peeing and we had been using an arm and hammer clumping litter. We switched to I think Fresh Step maybe? I know it said Low Tracking on the box and we've been having better success with this. I made a bath with a few inches of warm water and had his paws in it for 15 minutes or so which loosened everything up and his paws are like new now with nothing stuck in them anymore. I've also been cleaning his litter box daily though too so it's likely a combination of both the litter and more frequent cleanings. But the cement paws seem gone for now... So hopefully this did the trick. Best of luck.

 

[Judy and Freckles]

We use wood pellets (the kind used for wood pellet stoves). It's cheap, compostable, no odor, no cement paws. Anything that doesn't clump is not going to work well with an automatic litter box, except the turds will still be picked up. We were going through an enormous amount of litter that I almost needed to get a second job! I think these pellets are better than clumping clay anyways as I think if a cat inhales the clay dust, wouldn't there be clumps forming in their little lungs?

 

[Tomlin]

We use Dr Elsey's and have cats with long hair. It’s been over 13 years with no cement paws or issues with the litter sticking to them . We have regular boxes and Litter Robots and it works magnificently in the robots with no issues.

 

[Panic]

Seconding what Judy and Freckles said. I wish I had switched to wood pellets sooner; a couple months ago I sent my girl to a friend's while I went out of town. Not even counting the feet clumping, my friend after only two days said they were out of litter which should have lasted her well over two weeks. My girl does her business mainly outside so I had no idea. I have never used an automatic feeder but when you use wood pellets the pee essentially turns to sawdust so you need to have a sifting litter box. Buy the pellets at Tractor Supply or a hardware store, we got a 40 lb bag for $5 and we don't have to change it out near as much as clumping litter. Only downside I can think of is when they poop you really want to get it out of there asap, it's pretty stinky lol.

If he has neuropathy you could get him a shorter box as well so he doesn't struggle climbing in.