Low/dust free litter at affordable price?

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ja9390

ja9390

Member Since 2016
Does anyone use a low dust/dust free cat litter? Had a convo with our vet over the phone today regarding Diegos asthma and she thinks he will improve with the removal of the clay cat litter we are currently using. She also suggested he may have a food allergy, suggested a diet with rabbit in it, but kept my budget in mind and wants to experiment with one thing at a time.

What does everyone else use? She said to definitely start him on the Albuterol once a day. I mentioned my fear to her about him becoming resistant and she did say there is an injectable bronchodilator she will prescribe which will provide a rescue treatment when he gets really bad. Her goal is to take away his triggers so that he may not even need to be on long term, daily medication.
 
I stopped using the clumping clay litter about 6 years ago and I'm so glad I did. I have three litter boxes for my two cats, and they're all the Purina Breeze boxes. We use the breeze pellets and pads in the two upstairs boxes (the ones my younger cat typically uses), and Feline Pine pellets in the downstairs box that Bandit typically uses. The Breeze pellets are completely dust free and awesome. The bottom of the box is slotted, and the pee gets absorbed by the pad in the tray. You change the pad once a week (per cat) and the pellets once a month. The one caveat is that it's not so good for runny poop, which is why we keep Feline Pine around for the other box (Bandit is on immunosuppressants and will sometimes catch a stomach bug and has what I call "Kitty Poop Explosion Disease").

We still use the slotted Breeze tray with the Feline pine (non clumping), but we don't put the pad in the tray. When the cat pees in the pine litter, it turns to sawdust, and you sift it down into the tray through the slots. When the tray is full (typically every other day or so at my house), I dump the sawdust out. With the Pine, you don't have to change out the pellets once a month like you do with the breeze pellets, you just add more in the box as needed. You are dealing with sawdust, but it is nothing like the clay dust that's in clumping litter--it's heavy and falls right to the bottom of the box, so it doesn't get inhaled or leave residue on anything like the clay does. You can also use the Feline Pine in a regular litter box, but I prefer the slotted box because you can keep cycling through your pellets for less waste, the box stays cleaner, and is easier to clean, in my opinion. I think Feline Pine makes a slotted tray type litter box for their litter also that you can buy (I already have the breeze boxes which is why I use those). There are other brands of pine litter out there, but in my experience Feline Pine is by far the best for odor control. Our boxes are right out in the open (one in the dining room, one in our only bathroom, one in the bedroom), so it's very important to us that they are always clean and don't smell at all, and don't track dust all over our house.

As for poop, with both boxes you just scoop and either flush it or dispose of it in something like a Litter Genie (our pipes are sensitive in our new place so we've used a Litter Genie since we moved).
 
Hmmm the breeze box looks like something I may look into. I used feline pine in the last and liked it but the scent of pine is so darn strong I worry it will only aggravate his little lungs. What about those crystal things? The bags of crystals that you change (supposedly) once a month per cat are very cheap. I don't think they're scented and they're certainly dust free, but I've never used them
 
I wouldn't use pine litter if it has any scent of pine. Fritz has asthma and I use the wheat litter no dust. I also use disposable litter box as soon as Fritz goes I remove nothing ever stays in his box.
 
ja9390 said:
Hmmm the breeze box looks like something I may look into. I used feline pine in the last and liked it but the scent of pine is so darn strong I worry it will only aggravate his little lungs. What about those crystal things? The bags of crystals that you change (supposedly) once a month per cat are very cheap. I don't think they're scented and they're certainly dust free, but I've never used them
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There is a $7.00 off coupong if you are interested in the breeze box http://www.tidycats.com/products/br...tent=litter-tidy+cats-may-email-breeze+coupon
 
I love Dr Elses non scented litter--the few times I had a different one they got a UTI-
bad thing is it is not very affordable
maybe @scoobydoox can find a coupon:cat:
It does clump great and lasts a long time.....
 
We use Arm n Hammer naturals. It's made from ground corn cobs. The first day you change a new box, the scent is pretty strong, but it goes away pretty quickly. It doesn't start to stink, it just stops smelling like scented litter.
 
I use Blue Walnut litter. I wouldn't say it's dust free, but a lot less dust than Clay or Wheat-based litters. My one cat is very particular about litter and he approves of it. I buy it off Chewy.com at it's cheapest price.
 
I tred both the wheat and walnut litters and they were a no go for m cat. He has very fuzzy feet and there was litter dust everywhere. The walnut was worse because there was brown litter dust everywhere! ;) If your cat doesn't have long hairon his feet it might not be such a problem. The crystals are pretty dusty when you first put it in.
 
Yeah, he has long hair in between his toes. Years ago when I used fresh step clumping it was hell because there were fine little granules of cat litter EVERYWHERE. I will try the crystals for now, keep considering the breeze, and keep googling alternatives. I've even heard of people using chicken feed as a cat litter. Most of the fancier ones are nearly $1 per pound or more, and when you consider he pees lakes every day...that's a tremendous expense. I was paying $8 for a 50 lb bag of the clay litter from SAMs and was going through a bag in no time. $27 for a 25 pound bag of something my cat will pee on is outrageous to me. I'll fill a box with aquarium gravel if worse comes to worse but I know I can't pay that much for litter.

For the breeze, do you HAVE to use those specific pads to absorb the urine? Could I theoretically put nothing in there and just dump and bleach the tray every day like one of those hospital bedside toilets?
 
ja9390 said:
I've even heard of people using chicken feed as a cat litter.
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I use chick crumbles as litter for Leda, it's not as dusty as clay, is cheaper than just about any litter, and I can compost it (as long as I keep it away from our ducks, who would probably eat it cat pee or no). When I first tried it Leda even took a bite to see if it was eatable (apparently it wasn't that great, he only tried it twice).
It doesn't clump that well however, and may be dustier than would be best for Diego.
 
Madrona and Leda said:
I use chick crumbles as litter for Leda, it's not as dusty as clay, is cheaper than just about any litter, and I can compost it (as long as I keep it away from our ducks, who would probably eat it cat pee or no). When I first tried it Leda even took a bite to see if it was eatable (apparently it wasn't that great, he only tried it twice).
It doesn't clump that well however, and may be dustier than would be best for Diego.
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I will try this. I imagine I'll need to have one box with the breeze pellets and one with regular litter in case somebody has diarrhea or something--hopefully they go in the regular litter. It sucks because feline pine is dirt cheap but the pine oil in the pellets will be way too abrasive for him.
 
ja9390 said:
I will try this. I imagine I'll need to have one box with the breeze pellets and one with regular litter in case somebody has diarrhea or something--hopefully they go in the regular litter. It sucks because feline pine is dirt cheap but the pine oil in the pellets will be way too abrasive for him.
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Just be sure to get non-medicated chick crumbles. And you can buy in smaller sacks in case he doesn't like it.
 
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