Cat Litter

[lute]

Now I'm freaking out about cat litter. What is a good kind? I'm using my hamster bedding right now until we can get to the pet store. What is a good cat litter? Are there dangerous cat litters? What is best to reduce smell in a small area? I clean the litterbox several times a day. What is the best for not tracking it around?:confused: I've never had an inside only cat before.

[krazyaboutkatz]

I've tried pretty much everything under the sun. I'm very sensitive to the scented litters and so are my cats so I have to use unscented litters. I've also found that the clumping litters are best because they remove all of urine. I've been using Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat Clumping Litter for several years now and it clumps very hard and is pretty good with odor control too. You can buy it at Petsmart. Since my cats eat a high protein diet they do make very stinky stools so when it's fresh it does smell a bit so I always keep some Oust on hand to help clean the air. I also scoop 2 times a day.

Many people here love Fresh Step or Arm & Hammer. Yes, they clump well but they are just too heavily scented for my nose and my cat Sky is also very sensitive to this too. Just try a brand and see what works for you. Do you know what kind of litter your cat was using before? Good luck.:)

[aTailOf2Kitties]

I use Tidy Cats. It's the least dusty that I've found. There are several varieties for different levels of odor control. I'm sure others here use some of the more eco-friendly type litters like Yesterday's News or the pine pellet kind.

I haven't had any luck with keeping them from tracking any brand of litter though. I've put mats and such in front of the boxes, but they just jump over them.

[moosmom]

I've been using Feline Pine for years and love it. I have 5 cats and 3 LARGE, LONG Rubbermaid bins, instead of litterboxes. Much more cost effective and there's no silica dust that can affect my cats respiratory system. I've tried every single cat litter on the market and have always gone back to FP.

[Freedom]

I use Tidy Cats. Target will have the 35 lb box on sale every 6 weeks or so. Way back when, my first kitty, Mr. Amber Cat, refused to use anything BUT Tidy Cats, and even though he's been gone 8 years I still stick with it.

[Craftlady]

I've used Fresh Step, Cats Pride and Special Kitty.

Special Kitty is my go to choice. Less dusty then all rest and comes in pretty good size boxes, price is good. It tracks but just couple steps from the litter box itself, which I can deal.

[Freedom]

Oh BTW, one kitty, one box, you should be able to scoop once every 24 hours with no problems for either smell or cleanliness for the cat.

Once you have her on a good food, she will have less "waste," too.

[Freedom]

Hmm, Special Kitty is a clay litter, not a scoopable one? Not sure I would like that.

[mrspunkysmom]

I've been using Feline Pine for years and love it. I have 5 cats and 3 LARGE, LONG Rubbermaid bins, instead of litterboxes. Much more cost effective and there's no silica dust that can affect my cats respiratory system. I've tried every single cat litter on the market and have always gone back to FP.


Same here. for Feline Pine. As I am gone all day, the scoopable litter is not an option. Spunky also pees in a corner of box, so the clumps adhere to the plastic. Feline Pine is the way to go.

I have 4 litter boxes, 2 are very large, 1 with high back and one large box.

[catmandu]

We are using Green Kitty which was on at the Food Basics at 15.4 pounds for two dollars.
It is 70 percent more bio degrable and we like that and it is a good litter too, and thatwas a great price. Sad to say it was a one time deal and I am not sure where I can find any more.

[lute]

Thanks for all the great options. I'm really leaning toward the feline pine and clumping litters. I think her previous owner said she was using just clay litter. I was on catchannel.com last night and was reading that clay litters were bad for their respitory system. That's what got me all freaked out about the litter. I've always had primarily outside cats that would come in to visit sometimes. They hardly had to use a litter box. I never thought much of "what" the litter was made of.

I almost always have the box clean as soon as she gets done as my fiance and I have a very small place and her "gifts" smell up the place quite quickly. I'd like a flushable litter since her box is right by the toilet and i just scoop it drop it in the toilet and im done cleaning.

[moosmom]

I switched to FP when my RB Mollie Rose was diagnosed with kitty asthma, kitty allergies. It helped alot.

Because my living space is so limited, it's alot easier than 1 litterbox per cat. 3 large bins equals 1 box per cat.

[luckies4me]

If you want clumping litter my recommendation to you would be either Swheat Scoop or World's Best. These are natural, green cat litters. You can also flush them down the toilet which makes scooping litter simple if your pan is located in the bathroom. Swheat Scoop smells just like bread when your cats pee, since it's made out of wheat. Feline Pine also makes a scoopable formula as well which works very nice. All of these are a lot better on our environment than other litters as they are naturally biodegradable and don't harm our environment. They also form very solid waste nuggets that are easily scooped out of the box. They don't crumble etc.

[lute]

A litter that smells like bread...that's awesome! Now they need to make a litter that smells like fresh baked cookies when they poo. ;)

[cassiesmom]

I like Tidy Cats clay. I don't like the supermarket generic-- too dusty. I'd use Feline Pine or Yesterday's News regularly if I could afford it.

[mruffruff]

Special Kitty is a clumping litter. But most litter should NOT be flushed. It will clog up your pipes and cost a plumbing bill. And that is very expensive!

I use Arm & Hammer for multiple cats for six indoor boxes and Special Kitty for the 6 outdoor boxes.

[Cataholic]

I use World's Best, and truly believe it IS the world's best. This stuff has NO dust, clumps great, and makes scooping easy. It is more expensive on its face but I use and lose less litter.

[Catlady711]

I use Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract clumping litter. It clumps up pretty good but it is a bit dusty.

I have also used Arm & Hammer Multi Cat clumping litter that did a great job on odor control, and was less dusty, but tracked more and didn't clump as solid.

[phesina]

We use World's Best too, for the same reasons Cataholic does.

[Moesha]

How does World's Best do for odor control? Where can you purchase it?

[jennielynn1970]

I go to walmart and buy their "MIMI LITTER" . It's silica crystals, and it works like a charm. Dries out the pee and the poo.... no litter to really scoop until you go to empty the whole box in a couple weeks. I use 5 boxes and empty them once a month. The one downstairs I empty every week or two because everyone LovES it, lol.

[Moesha]

Our local paper mailed out free samples to everyone today. I happened to be flipping through the coupons and came across one for a free bag of World's Best cat litter. Just go to this website (www.buythebestrial.com) to print the rebate form.

[moosmom]

Cat poop should NEVER be flushed down the toilet. Not because it may clog your plumbing, but because cats poops can contain Toxoplasmosis and can get into our water system, spreading the disease.

[phesina]

How does World's Best do for odor control? Where can you purchase it?

It does quite well for odor control, because I never smell anything from it, poop or pee (unless Elmer has JUST done one of his really stinky-poops, but once it's covered up it doesn't smell any more).

Smaller, pet-specialty stores, the kind of places that carry the "organic" and "holistic" and "grain-free" foods, usually have it. I'm seeing it more in bigger places like Pet Supplies Plus and Petsmart now, too.

[Cataholic]

@moesha....I think it works well with odor. I have two boxes in my bedroom and unless Cali has done something special, its all good. I do follow the 30 day and pitch all, and scoop twice upstairs and once downstairs.
With the coupon....and it is actually a rebate...use only WB and no other kind in one box. I think you will like it,aside from price.

I wonder why you can't flush cat pee or poop down the toilet with scoopable litter. Doesn't the water filtration process remove disease?

[luckies4me]

World's Best and Swheat Scoop and safe to flush down the toilet. They will not clog your pipes and are made to flush. They are expensive, but they work very very well. I don't think I'll ever use anything else. It is def worth the cost. As far as flushing the litter goes, most everyone has already been exposed to toxoplasmosis. Most people however are immune. I can guarantee that almost everyone who has been around cats their whole lives already has it in their system. I didn't bother wearing gloves when changing litter when I was pregnant as I know I've already been exposed. It is already in our water, so flushing cat feces down the toilet isn't going to harm anything. :) There are tons of stray/outdoor cats who poop outdoors, so when it rains that infected water travels in our sewers etc. Every once in awhile we check blood for toxoplasmosis at work. It's interesting. Even with my Lupus, and having done chemo it hasn't affected me.

People who need to worry are those who have a slim chance of every being exposed to it. This includes vegetarians and vegans, and people who have never been around cats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxoplasmosis
"Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii.[1] The parasite infects most genera of warm-blooded animals, including humans, but the primary host is the felid (cat) family. Animals are infected by eating infected meat, by ingestion of feces of a cat that has itself recently been infected, or by transmission from mother to fetus. Although cats are often blamed for spreading toxoplasmosis, contact with raw meat is a more significant source of human infections in many countries, and fecal contamination of hands is a greater risk factor.[2]"

"Transmission may occur through:

Ingestion of raw or partly cooked meat, especially pork, lamb, or venison containing Toxoplasma cysts. Infection prevalence in countries where undercooked meat is traditionally eaten has been related to this transmission method. Oocysts may also be ingested during hand-to-mouth contact after handling undercooked meat, or from using knives, utensils, or cutting boards contaminated by raw meat.[15]
Ingestion of contaminated cat feces. This can occur through hand-to-mouth contact following gardening, cleaning a cat's litter box, contact with children's sandpits, or touching leach, and can survive in the environment for over a year. It is, however, susceptible to high temperatures—above 66 degrees Celsius (150 degrees Fahrenheit), and is thus killed by thorough cooking, and would be killed by 24 hours in a typical domestic freezer.[16]"


From the CDC website http://www.cdc.gov/toxoplasmosis/
"Toxoplasmosis (Toxoplasma infection)

Washing vegetables thoroughly before eating them and cooking meat to recommended temperatures are just a few ways to reduce risk of toxoplasmosis. (Photo courtesy of USDA)
Toxoplasmosis is considered to be the third leading cause of death attributed to foodborne illness in the United States. More than 60 million men, women, and children in the U.S. carry the Toxoplasma parasite, but very few have symptoms because the immune system usually keeps the parasite from causing illness.

However, women newly infected with Toxoplasma during pregnancy and anyone with a compromised immune system should be aware that toxoplasmosis can have severe consequences for them."

http://www.cigna.com/healthinfo/tn7481.html

[krazyaboutkatz]

Well I know that in CA we are now forbidden to flush cat poop down the toilet. I've never done this any way. Stickers were put on flushable litters saying that if you live in CA to not flush cat poop down the toilet.

I was thinking about using Swheat Scoop in my litter box in my bedroom and I even bought 2 boxes of it. I decided to return them after reading that many people found bugs in the litter. Some opened it up and moths flew out. Some found beetles probably flour beetles. Some found worms. Some even found maggots.:eek: One lady had stored the boxes in her closet and later found maggots in there and she didn't put two and two together. She said even after 8 weeks she still had a problem. She later realized that it came from the litter. This made me not want to even open the boxes so I returned them. I've had bug problems in my condo in the past and I sure don't need to have any more in the future.

[luckies4me]

Ewww. Gross. I've never had a problem with it before. Weavels don't bug me though. They don't harm anything. Maggots on the other hand...I don't think I'd want to deal with those. I just love the litter though. Right now I'm using world's best. I love the wheat because it just has such a pleasant smell to it. :)