Sticky litter! Best/different kinds of litter for shugga kitties

I am not the best cat mom. I am busy and do my best for my diabetic old man. I'll give him a shot every couple days when I remember, but his sugar doesn't shoot up too high regaurdless (atleast not as high as it was when we first tested him)

He's living outside now because he's an a**hole and was an outdoor cat previously. The litter boxes from our other cats have improved DRASTICALLY. I do know that when there is sugar in the urine it makes the litter sticky. It's terrible, right now there's a slick of wet clay that he turned it into from the normal litter, I can't even scoop it out.

My question is, has anyone had any luck with specific brands or kinds of litter? Crystals, pellets, shreds?

Help! It will be only for him so if it's on the expensive side, so be it...

 

Do you still test him? Kinda sad hes outside.
Far as I know non clumping litter? If hes got enough sugar in his urine he must need insulin. If hes an outside cat does he come in to do his business? I'm confused .

 

Are you testing his BG at home then? How do you know his level is not going up without daily insulin? A diabetic cat needs to be on insulin daily. Twice a day actually every 12 hours. What insulin is he on btw?

I use Okocat for long hair cats but I’m also confused as to what you need. You mean something that he doesn’t drag outside of the box? If there’s sugar in his urine, he needs more insulin than he’s getting right now. He could develop a lot of other related health issues like neuropathy, where he won’t even be able to go into the litter box.

 

being outside with neuropathy isnt good . He wont be able to escape predators. Unless I'm misunderstanding.

 

I do test him at home. Putting him down isn't an option and neither is giving him away. I am trying my best. The outside part was of his choosing. He was an outdoor rescue and just recently started peeing on us, the furniture and also pooping. I took him to the vet and there was absolutely nothing wrong with him it's behavioral. There was nothing else I could do. We have a sunporch that he is enclosed in at night, he has a warm sweater and we are getting him a heated cat house. I brought him in for 10 minutes yesterday and he pooped on my floor. I know I need to be better about testing and shots. I was wondering if anyone had success with the unconventional litters, the pellets, crystals, or shreds that Ive seen

 

Completely understandable. I didnt mean to sound judgmental. Just trying to understand.
When Trouble had cement shoes from sticky litter. We changed to the non clumping BUT it wasnt fully resolved until his numbers came down some. So you may have a problem. Hold on for more advice. Ive heard of Walnut litter but have no experience to share about it.

Hold on for more replies.
jeanne

 

Is he not in much anymore? I wonder if just him coming in stressed him out and made him poop, like a one-off thing.

I didn't deal with sugar litter box pee much simply because Panic was indoor-outdoor and went outdoor most of the time BUT I did switch her to wood burning pellets. No clumping, easier clean-up, way cheaper. $5 for 40 lbs at Tractor Supply. Never going back to clumping litter again!

 

I got sick of cement paws and tried crystal litter and loved it. Not only is it lighter than clay litter, you just have to scoop the poop and "stir" the crystals which absorb the smell and let the fluid evaporate (urine is mostly just plain water)

Not all cats will like it though. I used a very small crystal litter that was like sand on the beach but different brands have different sized crystals.

One bag is supposed to last 1 cat, 1 month and if stirred regularly, I found that was pretty much true (although I have big litter boxes that require more than 1 bag to fill so it was more like 1 1/2 bags)

When it can't absorb any more you dump it all and start with fresh....and it's still a lot lighter than clay (and when you've had multiple back surgeries, light is better!)

 

I learn something new everyday here! THANK YOU Chris!

 

Elizabeth, you have me intrigued about the wood burning pellets. I've got a Tractor Supply near me. How do the pellets work? Can you provide a link to the ones you buy?
And also, I've noticed since Emma's numbers have gone down that the litter is not sticking as badly. I just emptied out everything, cleaned the boxes and put in all brand new. I'm interested to see how the used litter turns out this week.

 

Sure! Here's a link - https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/product/wood-fuel-pellets-40-lb
You want to make sure they're just general wood pellets - anything that mentions it being for cats is going to be way more.

The pellets absorb the pee then turn to sawdust. No pee smell whatsoever.

And actually here's a video that got me to try it if you want to see, she goes into detail. The only thing I disagree with is she says you can't smell the poop , it just smells like fresh wood. LIES. It smells like poop! XD So I just remove the poo as soon as I smell it. I also don't really bother sifting it - I just wait until everything's turned to sawdust. Admittedly though I have indoor-outdoor kitties so they rotate whether they go outside or inside.

 

Thank you so much!

 

I also have pine pellets and they have made such a huge difference! super easy to clean, lighter, hardly any tracking around the house, and theres no pee smell you get with clumping litter. Even when you have a whole bin of pee filled sawdust, it doesn't smell. Unfortunately for me there's no tractor supply nearby so it ends up being just as expensive as clumping litter with shipping, but I don't see myself turning back.