Litter: Please weigh in on your faves and non-faves

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Martica and Fred

Martica and Fred

Member Since 2010
Hi
Since my Fred died I have become involved in cat rescue and I volunteer with Anjellicle Cats Rescue in New York City. Last year the group saved over 700 kitties, most of them from the kill shelter, the ACC in NY. What I do for our group is give cat-care seminars to all of our fosters and adopters. It is a requirement that they attend this seminar so that we are all on the same page and they are updated on the latest in kitty nutrition and health and other topics.

So that brings me to litter. We recommend not using clumping clay litter because of the possible health issues associated with the clumping agent. We are recommending using more natural types. I would love to get feedback from all of you as to what kinds you use and why you like it, or what kinds you hate and why.

Prior to my doing this work--and not knowing much about litter, I used Fresh Step with Fred. Non-clumping and I changed the whole shebang every week and often used a bag liner in the litter pan.

Fresh Step nonclumping:
PROS: Seemed to be pretty good with smell
CONS: Not sure, hard to tell iwth just one cat, but you do have to change it all after a while

After Fred died and I got more cats I started using Petco clay clumping. It was OK, but the clumps did break and get the pan and scooper dirty and it was super heavy.

Petco Clay Clumping (the cheap refillable kind in the bins)
PROS: Slightly less expensive, clumps well
CONS: Crumbles, sticks to pan and scooper, so not all that clean, possible health issues with the clay

I currently use World's Best Cat Litter.

World's Best Cat Litter
PROS: I have to say it seems to truly be 'world's best'. It's light, makes PERFECT clumps, never crumbles or sticks to the pan or the scooper. So it feels like it's always clean once you scoop your lumps out. Very easy to scoop since it's so light. You can get to the bottom of the pan and lift it out and never break a clump.Its light colored so you can easily spot the boo boos and scooop them out.
CONS: It has a strange corn smell that you have to get used to and cat be a little dusty, although not as dusty as I hear some people complain about, in my experience. I know that Dr Lisa is concerned about the dust in this kind, and a woman I know told me that her 2 cats got asthma from this litter...I've tried the lavender smelling one, not crazy about the smell and not sure cats need lavender perfume in their litter--not natural. I tried the multiclumping vs. the regular and for some reason I forget now, preerred the regular to the multicat.

I also have recently tried Blue Quick-Clumping Walnut litter. I current have 3 litter boxes and one has the walnut and the other 2 have the World's Best.

Blue Quick-Clumping Walnut litter
PROS: My cats definitely prefer the walnut--not sure why but they absolutely use that box the most. And I have switched boxes and placement so I know it's the litter, not just the preferred box or preferred spot for the box. For a teeny bit of waste it handles smell ok.
CONS: I hate this stuff. Maybe for one or two cats it's ok, but it doesn't NOT clump well at all. And it doesn't clump before the pee gets to the bottom of the pan so it sticks to the bottom of the pan and then you can't scoop cuz it's all tiny pieces of it that fall thru the scooper. (I do have a smaller strainer I use to get smaller pieces but there are simply too many with this litter to find.) Also it stick to the pan and the scooper, so feels very messy and dirty. Also it's so dark you can't find a clump or the dirty bits or poop that easily, it all blends in. My cats like it which is why I'm keeping it for the time being.

Newspaper kind (forget the name)
PROS: I used this when one kitty I rescued was neutered, better for infection apparently.
CONS Hated it. You can't tell what pellets are dirty and which are not, so hard to scoop. Didn't do much for odor and didn't clump. Felt dirty.

I would love all of your two cents on any other litters that you feel are great, or terrible. Please make sure to give the pros and cons.

thanks!
Martica
 
I will never use anything but clumping. Like Dr. Lisa, I really don't feel that there are any other sanitary options out there. Right now I'm using clay because it is the cheapest and gets all of the clumps out. I use Arm and Hammer Super Scoop (unscented) but I'm considering trying a few more as sometimes it cakes to the bottom of the pan and then crumbles and I have to dump it all out.

I will never use a non-clumping litter again. This includes clay, pine, corn, newspaper, all kinds. Just like you would not want to keep using a dirty toilet week by week, your cat does not want to keep using a litter box soaked with urine and full of feces. It is very unsanitary and can get smelly with a lot of cats. It was also extremely hard on my back to dump out 20 pounds of soggy litter, and very wasteful.

I've tried other types of clumping litter (non-clay) and I found they are crumbly or don't hold all the wetness together and I get left with a box of half damp, stinky litter.

WBCL is just too darn expensive for me and I'm not comfortable with having a diabetic cat on a litter made of corn. We've had instances on here where the cats were consuming the litter and it was affecting their BG. Dr. Lisa and a quick Google search also revealed that many, many cats have had severe respiratory issues because of it. If you're comfortable using it and can afford it, go ahead, but I can't :lol:

Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat litter seems to be very popular and is what Dr. Lisa uses, past all her experiments. I think it will be the next I try.
 
Thanks for your comments Ry. One thing I have to say about WBCL is that it's more expensive if you just compare pound for pound--BUT the clay is much heavier so you actually get 2.5x MORE than the clay. So, in fact, you get much more litter and it's cheaper. LEt me explain:

I was buying a 30 lb. jug of Petco clay. I got it for about $15-$18 for each refill, depending on if I got it on sale or not. I had 3 of the containers and would refill them.

Once I started buying WBCL, I empty the bag into the Petco Containers (easier to stack, etc.) And one huge bag of WBCL which costs around 30 or so (I forget now) will actually fill nearly 3 containers--or 90lbs worth of the clay. So it's cheaper even though if you just compare 30 lbs vs 30 lbs it doesn't appear to be so. Because WBCL is so light, you get much more volume in that pound.

I've found it's clumping ability is amazing and it doesn't crumble and all the other litter seems to remain pristinely clean. You don't waste any extra because all you do is remove the clump.

I use the hooded pans with no door and the dust doesn't seem like a big issue to me, although I know that's a concern. But the concern with the clay is the Sodium Bentonite that clumps it and the dust in the clay is Silica dust which is not good for the lungs. There are lots of concerns over this Sodium Bentonite and serious intestinal issues when ingest...unclear how bad though.

I buy WBCL in the biggest bags so it's cheaper and wait till it's onsale at Petco--and use my discounts I get with their saving card and also you can get coupons on this site http://smartsource.com/smartsource/inde ... U3JAAR6CCY You just choose the CATEGORY PetCARE and the brand Worlds Best Cat Litter. Currently there is a $5 off coupon till Aug 08, for any size bag--which is a great savings...and apparently they always have a $3 coupon.

For the more expensive stuff, including the food, with a little extra effort--buying in bulk, coupons and sales, I think it's usually easy to make them as cheap as the cheaper products.

Thanks so much for your feedback. Would love some more from others!
 
Pricing in Canada is very different. WBCL is over 40 dollars a bag PLUS 12% tax. It's insanity. It's also really hard for me to get huge amounts of litter home - I take the public transit and between Petsmart it is a good 25 minutes of walking with a 40lb bag of cat litter on my back. :shock:
 
I use clumping Feline Pine. When I first started, the texture was pure sawdust and I loved it. The husband, not so much, because it tracked like crazy, especially with longer haired cats. The box is in the basement and we would find litter all over the house. It clumped really well and odor control was great.

They recently "improved" it. True, it doesn't track much more than a clay litter now, but it doesn't clump nearly as well. Its much heavier than it was before and the texture is rougher. The odor control is still good, so I live with it.

I stopped using clay litter a few years back because Ru was grooming all of the fur off her legs and chubby tummy. I was worried that the clay was irritating her skin, but nope. She still does it. :roll:
 
Was also a big fan of Feline Pine until they "improved" it. They used to see two types, the sawdust kind in smaller boxes, and the pellet style in large bags. The pellet style is awful. Doesn't clump well at all. The sawdust type was perfect, IMO. The improvement was that they combined the two types. Yay. Not it clumps less efficiently, and most times the pellets won't fit through the holes in the scoop, so I end up throwing away perfectly good unused litter every time I scoop the box. What they did was reduced the manufacturing process by eliminating grinding up much of the pellets to dust. So it costs less to make, but that savings isn't reflected on the shelf at the store. Weasels. This is my last box of Feline Pine.

WBCL - love it, except for the cost and it's hard to find large packages here. Clumps terrific, controls the odor well too.

I just bought a new one, made by Tidy Cats, called "Pure Nature" and I think it's my new fave. New product, so there are $2 off coupons on the bags. Clumps well but not as well as WBCL. It is corn, pine, and ceder. I like the smell of ceder, so that works for me. Controls the odors and doesn't track too much either. Large bag (12 lbs) sells for just under 12 bucks, so pretty costly, but it looks like a bag will last a while in a two kitty household.

I do have one box on the screened porch that I use clumping clay litter in. I won't use it inside the house because of the tracking problems. But for a deck floor with spaces between boards, not a problem (unless the insects under the porch don't approve). Cheap too.

WILL NOT USE - any type of non-clumping litter, especially clay.

Have not tried the newspaper styles (one is called Yesterday's News) but after reading here, I don't think I'll bother.

Carl
 
I've always used Scoop Away clumping. It's on sale pretty often and a 42 pound bag will last a few months (for my civies anyways). I currently buy a bag from BJs for about $13. Sometimes Target will have a box with two 24 pound boxes inside for $10. It's a bit dusty, though. It clumps well and takes care of odors.

I think I tried Cats Pride and Fresh Step years ago with my previous cat. I don't think either clumped very well.

I've heard of people using wood stove pellets and even horse bedding (or something that horses use) as cat litter.
 
I used the paper pellets for a week after Midgie's surgery (a different brand than Yesterday's News but the same idea) and I haaaaaaaaate it. It controlled to odor as long as the wet pellets didn't hit air. The second they would scratch in the litter and expose a wet spot from earlier, yeowza! :shock:
 
Dr. Elsey's. Nothing else will do! Once I learned about it from Dr. Lisa and tried it, well it is virtually dust free and so easy to use. And it lasts longer than anything else I've tried over the years. When I injured my leg and DH had to clean the litterbox (which he hates to do), he asked what kind of cat litter that was as he thought it was great. Now that's an endorsement :-D

Also, Dr. Elsey's really stands by their products. In the past 4 years I've been using it for Niko, every bag had the same great quality except for one bag which had a few quarter sized pieces in it. I phoned them to tell them and they said that was unusual but had occurred a few times and they'd just send a coupon for a new bag plus a coupon to try their respiratory relief.
 
I used to use Tidy Cat clumping, and then they changed it to these bigger crystals in it and each grain was so much sharper and bigger that it didnt clump as well and hurt my feet. I then used Kitty Diggens (sp?) from Walgreens (us drugstore) which I really liked, but then Walgreens near me started not carrying it hardly at all, I had to beg them to order it, and instead had more Tidy Cat, which cost more :roll:

Soo after trying a variety ( arm and hammer too smelly bad tracking/ Petco clumps fell apart, worse tracking and its BLACK, and store farther away/ Scoop away, unscented my A--.. yuk. Nothing I hate worse than the word unscented on the box or bottle and finding out its not true/ Oh and some discount cheap litter at Pet Club that I cant remember the name. You cant beat the price but there too the clumps fell apart after a while and tracking.)

They all track but some are worse than others.

OOOO almost forgot, I used the clumping Feline Pine when Conor had I-131 and had to flush the litter, and it worked ok, but the clumps did break up, and the stuff is like feathers! Its ALL over the house in seconds. Conor would NOT use the pellet Feline Pine.

Finally I went to my local store that I get my food at, and asked if they have any litter besides the "name brands" and she pointed me to "Integrity Pet Products clumping litter" I hadnt gotten litter there before because Walgreens litter was cheaper so I thought! My bad!
http://www.amazon.com/Integrity-Clumping-Cat-Litter-Lb/dp/B007OXMX38?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20
very surprised to find it on Amazon :o and I get 40 lbs for 12.95. it tracks but not as bad as some of the above mentioned litter but its finer grained so it doesnt hurt me.

Now..at the shelter we dont use clumping unless we have a litterbox avoidance kitty...and 9 out of 10 of those cats prefer the clumping when offered. We did try the Cat Attract too, and that cat did use that box well. Tidy cat non clumping for the general population, its fairly dusty but ok.

We used to use Newspaper Pellet litter for kittens under 2 months old, and for spay neuter area, but had some significant numbers of kittens that would not use the pellet litter so now all kittens get clay Non clumping unless we see that they are eating it, which hasnt happened yet. Dont want to start them off with a litterbox issue!
 
I use clumping as well and really couldn't imagine using amything else. My old cat was very particular about scents and preferred Arm and Hammer unscented, but I didn't like how it stuck to the bottom and once that happened the whole thing was just toast. (Did make it last a little longer before that happened by spraying the box with Pam, great tip!)

So my new cat, who his old owner said had litter box issues, has used his box perfectly with Cat Attract. It doesn't stick or clump and I'm really happy with it, but it's spendy, 17 bucks for 20 lbs. Worth it, though, as far as I'm concerned.

I have a really sensitive nose so anytime I've tried things like Feline Pine or anything where I'm not scooping the clumps of urine OUT, I have still been able to small the lingering odor. Instead, using clumping and cleaning 2-3 times a day has worked well for me.
 
I currently use tidy cats. It's alright, almost completely dust free, which is why I switched. Every time I used arm & hammer litter, I'd have to go use my inhaler because there'd be a lot of dust. But it clumped well and stayed generally scent-free. Another thing I disliked about arm&hammer is that Tip would always get clumps on her feet and Christmas would track it all over the house.

Desperate for some asthma relief when cleaning the litterbox, the next thing I tried was Cat's Pride litter. That was just as dusty, in my opinion, had an odd scent, but clumped as well as arm & hammer. Because of the smell, the cats showed their distaste for it by going outside the litterbox. That was even with slowly switching over. That didn't last long.

The final one I tried was Tidy Cat's. The 24/7 performance one I get has virtually no dust, so a thumbs up from me there. No more inhaler right after cleaning the litterbox. :) But it doesn't clump well, and does have a scent. Knowing my cats only like arm&hammer scent(what little one it had), I found this litter deoderizer from arm&hammer at walmart and after I'm done cleaning, I lightly spray the litter with that, it doesn't make it clump up, and they can't tell the difference.
 
I use Swheat Scoop, natural clumping litter made from wheat enzymes. I used to use Arm & Hammer uscented but noticed it left a fine dust on everything in the laundry room, EVERYTHING, and my cat’s fur smelled of it deep down – always. So I began thinking, if it is leaving this dust in my laundry room, what is it doing to my cat’s poor lungs? I switched when one of my cats developed what we thought was asthma, but later (unfortunately) turned out to be cardiomyopathy. I am completely happy with the Swheat Scoop and wish I had discovered it years ago.

The Swheat scoop is clay free and chemical free. It does not contain silica dust or any chemicals and is biodegradable. It does not clump as hard as clay, but clumps enough for you to easily scoop out the mess. The KEY is to maintain a 3” level of litter in your box at all times. If you don’t, it sticks to the bottom. That is very important to remember.

I love the fact that the litter is flushable. That makes cleanup very, very easy. It covers litterbox smells very well in my opinion though I do scoop it twice a day (always have). My laundry room no longer smells like litter, nor do my cats. The box looks small and costs around $11; but for some reason it lasts twice as long as the Arm & Hammer did. It is lightweight, but fills a very large litter box.

The box says “This package can take care of one cat for more than a month with regular cleaning.” I have two cats, and one of them is diabetic so I use about 2 boxes a month. They also provide a money back guarantee, so if you don’t like it, you can send them your proof of purchase and your receipt and they will refund your money. The box says "New & Improved" though not sure what the difference is from the old version. If your cat is allergic to wheat though, then this brand would obviously be a non-starter.

PS: I do not use a hooded litter box as I think that increases the likelihood of dust getting in your cat's lungs, plus it intensifies the smell for the cat. Again, I have not had any problem with smell using this litter and an open litter box.
 
I switched from Fresh Step to Tidy Cats clumping last year when I bought the house. Tidy Cats (I foget the type but it's got the blue top) is less dusty but not completly dust free. I scoop every night and I think it clumps pretty well (except when someone pees against the side of the box). We have trash pickup twice a week, so I take out the "poops" twice a week. I use a bucket that is double bagged for my scoopings. I also use one of those air fresherner things with the beads to help with the smell. I have developed my mom's sensitive nose, but I usually smell the beads before I smell litter.
 
I had a friend pick up a 40lb bag of Precious Cat for me - it was $18 or so. I will try it out and let you know what I think :)
 
Has anyone tried those crystal cat litters? Do they work as well or better than regular litter?
 
squeem3 said:
Has anyone tried those crystal cat litters? Do they work as well or better than regular litter?
Click to expand...

Our shelter used to have a cat behavior hotline and so many litterbox avoidance calls were from people using the crystal litters, and many of them solved the problem by switching back to clay. I think that just like the pellets, the crystals dont feel good on the cats feet. Some of them are really sharp! Some are rounded and bounce all over, and other companies solved the rolling problem by making them angular and they HURT your feet (without shoes obviously!)

There are exceptions to every rule of course ;). I think some of them work by absorbing the urine into the crystals so you are not removing it, rather just remove poop and replace the crystals after a certain time.
 
I've never used the crystals before but my friend swears by it. She likes how she can just pick out the poop and flush it and thinks the crystals absorb the urine.

I smell pee whenever I go over there and it just gets stronger and stronger until you get to the bathroom where the litter is. I don't think the odor absorption is quite what it promises!
 
I use the Purina Breeze (slotted cat box with desiccating clay pellets), and I love it. I've been using it for well over a year now, and Bandit likes it just fine--we've never had any litter avoidance, and it produces FAR less waste than clumping litter. I know Dr. Lisa does not recommend the slotted boxes, but I've been nothing but pleased with how much cheaper, easier to clean, and less wasteful the litter system is compared to clumping litter.
 
I also use the Breeze litter box system. I got it for Blackie when his CRF was causing him to urinate such a large quantity that his feet would get wet in the litter. Then I got another one for our civie that lives in our home office. The Breeze system is great because you don't have litter tracked everywhere and there is zero dust. Once in awhile one of the kitties will kick the pellets out, but it's easy to pick up. I buy the pads from subscribe & save on Amazon and pay less than $5 per packet of 5. And one pad will last more than a week. I replace the pellets about every 2 or 3 months.

I do have a regular litter box in our basement and use Arm & Hammer Essentials. And I have to vaccum up the litter every week. I love the Breeze!
 
Dr. Elsey's. Nothing else will do!
Click to expand...

This. Absolutely.

We used to use Tidy Cat scoopable, switched to Fresh Step when it was on the recommended list for the automatic boxes. I got SO sick of the dust!! Once we got up to 4 cats, the automated litter boxes couldn't handle it and they were getting mudded up and burning out so I took them out and went back to regular boxes. Up to 5 of our own, plus 2 fosters and the dust created by the Fresh Step and Tidy Cat was driving me insane.

So I was standing at PetSmart reading labels for about 15minutes and the manager came over to see if she could help me. I told her my issues - no odor, no dust - and she said a gentleman that fostered extensively with one of the local rescues used Dr Elsey's Precious for the no/low dust and he wouldn't use anything else, bought it by the pallet.

I immediately noticed a difference in the odor. I have a keen sense of smell and could usually smell the box that was outside my bathroom door while I was getting ready unless it was really fresh. I couldn't smell it anymore unless someone wasn't burying. The reduced dust was very noticeable. After I had been switched for about a month my cleaning people asked if had been dusting myself because she wasn't finding hardly any dust anymore.

It is a bit more expensive. But I think we use less because we aren't changing out the boxes as much because of the smell and it isn't all going into the air in dust particles, the weight is actually in litter!
 
We have used every kind of litter. Our fav by far is the crystals. Cleanest, least smelly. The cats prefer it, too. I used the Breeze system when there was excessive urination due to the diabetes, but now that it has cleared up, we are back to the crystals and it is so much better.

The reason the Breeze system was helpful was because we could just keep changing the pad due to the excessive urine, not the entire thing, which was the least time consuming and least costly.. But it is great how the crystals dry up the pee (and the poop to a degree) and you can just flush the poop away and the pee smell is non-existent.

For 2 cats, we get 10 days out of an 8lb bag. Not bad.
 
Ry & Scooter said:
I had a friend pick up a 40lb bag of Precious Cat for me - it was $18 or so. I will try it out and let you know what I think :)
Click to expand...

I'm kinda liking the Precious Cat so far! First thing I noticed is it is extremely low dust - practically no dust. I ran my hands through it and there was no dust or residue at all. This is really a big bonus IMO - the dust buildup in the bathroom from the Arm & Hammer was a little gross and although I leave the window cracked in the bathroom all day, the air still smelled of kitty litter. It clumps very nicely too - nice solid clumps and they don't break apart when you scoop them. I do like it and would recommend it, but at $18 a bag it's a bit much... and very hard for me to get a 40lb bag home on the bus. We'll see how cost effective it is in the long run, and if I can get some coupons I will stock up. :smile:
 
MelanieP and Ninja said:
I use Swheat Scoop, natural clumping litter made from wheat enzymes.

The box says “This package can take care of one cat for more than a month with regular cleaning.” I have two cats, and one of them is diabetic so I use about 2 boxes a month. They also provide a money back guarantee, so if you don’t like it, you can send them your proof of purchase and your receipt and they will refund your money. The box says "New & Improved" though not sure what the difference is from the old version. If your cat is allergic to wheat though, then this brand would obviously be a non-starter.
Click to expand...

It is actually new and improved!

Late last year when Sneakers was DX'd I put in a litter pan to keep an eye on her and to check for ketones. I did the clumping clay- tracked ALL over the house- I was even sleeping in it :shock: :? . Then I heard about WB and tried that out- sticker shock! But a whole lot better, didn't track all over the house like the clay.

I got asked to test two kitty litters, saw-dust style, one each week. One heavily scented (almost didn't use it b/c it was so bad) the other more cedar scented. They clumped okay, but fell apart easily and- as Sneakers was unregulated- didn't last the whole week and was horrible to clean up afterwards because it got stuck to the bottom. I didn't know what it was as they didn't send a name/brand with it because it was a blind survey/test. After that I was going to get another WB but saw the Sweat Scoop- cheaper that WB (what isn't?) and I realized THAT was the litter I had just been testing! The new and improved was definitely better than the one I bought from the store. I went back to WB until I found the Breeze system a few months ago. The initial cost was $29.99 on sale and came with everything needed.

WB is $40/big bag- lasted 3 weeks tops- tracked 15-25%
Sweat Scoop- $20/big bag- lasted 2 weeks- but tracked 25-35%
Clumping clay- $14/large bucket- lasted a week- tacked 50% all over

Breeze-
pellets- change once a month- $8
pads- bought on Amazon- $4.87/pk of 4- change out every 2.5/3 days (1 pk/2 wk)
So, say $18/month and very little tracking? And now that she is getting regulated she is peeing less, so less pads are needed.

I'll stick with the Breeze.
 
Been using Arm & Hammer multicat for about six months - tried it cause it was cheaper than tidy cat and Romeo was urinating ALOT (exactly how/why we took him to vet and discovered his diabetes...). After his doagnosis, and reading about 'bad' dust from clumping litters, we decided to try the 'smart litter box' (it's a safflower seed litter coupled with a box that drains into a collection tray). Anyhow, ants discovered the litter within 8 hours, and both cats hated the box... Back to Arm & Hammer multicat and love the way even the bottom of the box deposits stick together.
 
I use WBL. I switched years ago when Punkin started having asthma-like attacks from the clay litter we were using.
I do like the regular the best, but will buy the multi-cat if the store is out of regular.

I tried just about every 'natural' before WBL- Feline Pine, Swheat Scoop- you name it, we tried it. The cats were not amused. And they let us know it too. :roll:

Everyone was/is happy with WBL. I have tried the Blue Walnut litter (well, mixed it in with WBL to see how the Cat Crew would react). I liked it, but it tracks more than WBL.

I may have to try Dr. Elsey's. I didn't even think of corn litter and a diabetic cat. :shock:
 
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