Kitty Litter Reviews

[krazyaboutkatz]

I used to use the Petco brand of clumping litter and it was okay but very dusty. Then I decided to try to use some of the more natural types of litters like World's Best, Swheat Scoop, Feline Pine, Yesterday's News, and a brand of the pearl type. I didn't like any of them and the cats weren't too happy either.

A lady at work recommended Ever Clean and I tried it and really liked it. My cats also love it and now they all bury their poops. I mix the unscented with the scented because the scented is a little too strong and the unscented used alone doesn't keep the odor under control. It also clumps very hard and they don't break apart. It's very expensive at Petco and Petsmart so I buy it at Pet Club. They have it on sale once a month so I stock up on it then. I also never have to throw away the entire box of litter. I just add more as I need to so it lasts a long time too.

[slick]

I use cheap Clumping Litter on sale. $6.00 CDN for a 20 kg bag - that's about 50 lbs. My cats have always used it and I'm afraid to change now. Sure it's dusty, but I just dust more often. Sure it isn't flushable, but I just double bag it and put it down the garbage chute every day. Works for me. If you scoop often enough, there is very little smell.

[catcrazylady]

After trying many many brands we now only use Fresh Step. Best odor control and clumping that I can find.

[catmandu]

The best Litter,I ahve found is Pestell,which,is hard to find! Or The excellent Pet Valu Clumping,which is cost effective,too!

[moosmom]

Since I had a problem with the ammonia odor, I've switched to Feline Pine. It works great!! It's pellets are compressed sawdust. You put 1" in the box and clean out the solid waste daily (I check the boxes 2x a day with 8 cats/boxes). The urine is absorbed by the pellets and there is absolutely NO odor whatsoever. The stuff lasts in the box for approximately 4 weeks. I've kept track of the stuff by writing on the litterbox in wipeoff pen exactly when I completely changed the litter. Once it turns to sawdust, you just toss it out and start over. There is no tracking and it doesn't stick to the bottom of the box like most clumpable litters do. I swear by the stuff. My cats like it too. It's $7.99 for a 20 lb. bag. I've tried the cheaper brand of the same thing and believe me, you get what you pay for.

[lexibent]

I like fresh step, too. I've switched to clay litter because it's a lot cheaper than the clumping and seems to last longer. I've found fresh step is cheapest at Costco and Sams Club. I also buy the huge bags of Arm and Hammer Baking soda and mix in a cup or so with the litter. Seems to take care of the odor pretty well.

[Equus217]

Thanks everyone for all your feedback! I went out last night and bought a box of Fresh Step with the Crystals and I noticed a difference immediately with odor control. A bunch of you recommended that Feline Pine, I haven't seen that around here but I'm going to keep my eyes open for it, and maybe try a mix of the two to reduce tracking.

I was worried about the tracking cause we just moved into a new house (new carpet!), but after smelling "world's best cat litter" for the first week I couldn't take it anymore!

I may have to vacuum more frequently, but at least I can have people over and not skip the kitty room on the tour!!

[lizzielou742]

I am currently using a mix of Swheat Scoop and Arm & Hammer Super Scoop, but after reading this thread I'm going to try Fresh Step.

For tracking, because both of our litterboxes are on carpeted floors (due to major lack of tiled flooring in my apartment), I have a little mat I picked up at PetSmart in front of each box. It works great - I'd say it catches 90% of the litter off their paws. Each time I scoop out their boxes, I pick up the little mat and shake whatever it caught out, back into the box. Any litter it doesn't catch, along with any litter they throw out of the box via vigorous digging (which usually isn't much) gets Dustbuster-ed up every 3rd day or so. The feel of them (kinda like a horse's curry comb is the best way I can think to describe it) could bother kitties with sensitive paws I suppose, but Tito and Sophie don't mind at all. They generally are not picky cats about anything - food, litter, whatever. Anyway, you can see the litter mat here. It comes in different colors. Mine are blue.

Catnapper - that article you posted recommends completely changing all litter and disinfecting the litterbox weekly. I must admit I only do that about once every 4-5 weeks. Am I the only one guilt of this? I hope not!

[lizzielou742]

Originally posted by Lanman
For us it's Ultra Pearls. Best that I have found for oder control.

A great big WELCOME to PT, Lanman!!! Tell us about yourself and your pets, if you'd like!

[NKBurlington]

This is good timming because this topic has come up on another board that I visit.

I recently switched to Sweat Scoop but at $13 for a 14lb bag, that's a big expensive. We used to use a clumping litter from Costco which was about $8 for 50lbs!

On the other MB, it was mentioned that clay litter, especially clumping litter, is bad for cats and causes resperatory problems. Does anyone one know if this is true?

I'd like to go back to the cheap stuff, but only if it's safe. I might like to try Fresh Step as well since it's receive such great reviews here.

[Equus217]

Originally posted by lizzielou742
Catnapper - that article you posted recommends completely changing all litter and disinfecting the litterbox weekly. I must admit I only do that about once every 4-5 weeks. Am I the only one guilt of this? I hope not!

what? You don't do this every day?!?

just kidding of course....this is usually a monthly thing for me too. I usually wash out the litterbox and the garbage cans on the same day...keeps the house smelling a whole lot fresher!!

Every week? Whew! I hope I'm not a bad kitty momma because of this!

[Lanman]

Thanks for the welcome. We have two indoor cats and one outdoor cat. Our outdoor is 17 years old and has developed some pretty bad bathroom habbits so he is not allowed indoors anymore. He still gets a lot of attention. He was my wife's cat long before I came a long so he has seniority around here.

We have a one year old black cat we adopted from the shelter. He was brought to the shelter in pretty bad shape and I'm a sucker for hard luck cases. He was brought in with several siblings but he was the only one who survived. He has worked out very well for us. A wonderful cat we named Charlie.

Our second indoor cat we brought home three weeks ago. He's a 3 month old Bengal. He is a handful of fun. I've always wanted a Bengal, and my wife finally agreed to let me get one. I hope we know what we are getting into . The little loud screeming fireball is named Denver.

We have seperate litter boxes for our two indoor cats. I clean them daily and I change the litter weekly.

[lisalee]

I've tried many different litters. I used to use TidyCat, but with Sash's constant sneezing it was too dusty, I then tried Swheat Scoop, also too dusty even though it claims to not be. World's Best I found I didn't get my money's worth since they say to only change it once a month although I felt the need to within two weeks. I've now been using Yesterday's News (unscented, softer texture) for a long time now, it's definitly the least dusty. I change the entire box once a week, I'm very fussy about my boy's box.

[lisalee]

Oh yes, I also used Feline Pine for quite sometime. I really liked this and only needed to change the box approx. every 20 days. I found this litter to be the longest lasting in between cleaning times. I stopped because Sash was still sneezing up a storm and I thought the pine scent was probably too strong for him.

[NoahsMommy]

We use Fresh Step too.

The makers of Ever Clean and Fresh Step are the same...its just more $$ for the EC. I prefer that, but its too expensive around here.

We...and by that, I mean I , scoop each night before bed and add a few cups of new litter a couple times a week. Each month, I empty and clean the boxes and put new litter in all of them.