Litter reviews

Robyn5678

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So over the past few months I have tried several litters. Thought I’d share my thoughts on them in case anyone cares haha. I have 4 cats and these were used in multiple litter boxes.

pretty litter
Pros: loved the small grains, easy to scoop
Cons: stunk within a week even with daily cleaning, tracked everywhere! Expensive

fresh step crystals
Pros: easy to scoop, with daily scooping
Cons: if you missed a day the pee would puddle and be so overpowering, stepping on them barefoot was painful like glass, fair amount of tracking, expensive

Dr elsey sensitive paw
Pros: good clumping tho if you scoop too soon, they crumble a bit
Cons: same as pros

worlds best cat litter
Pros: none
Cons: disgusting! Barely clumped, it stunk, tracked everywhere

arm and hammer slide
Pros: didn’t stick to litter box
Cons: the pee clumps were lick sludge, tho they did come out of the box and left it clean. However it stuck to the scoop.

Naturally fresh walnut
Pros: good odor control and clumping
Cons: dusty

naturally fresh mixed with Everclean
Pros: nothing sticks to the litter box, easy to scoop, great odor control.
Cons: still a little dusty but not like using each separate

Littermade mixed with tidy cat red cap
Pros: good clumping
Cons: I dislike the smell of tidy cat, it’s scented.

I still want to try mixing the naturally fresh with dr elsey because so far they are my favorites.
 

lunaleopard

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Wow, you really did some research! I tried crystal litter once for my cats, I also hated it. Arm and hammer and tidy cats have a terrible smell, and tidy cat tracks everywhere! Scoop away is the best in my opinion, though it can be a little dusty. I have been concerned about the dust level recently. I wonder if the cats ingest a lot of it over years of use and what this does to their digestive tract.
 

arr

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I use the unscented Tidy Cats Free and Clean and am very happy with it. I too couldn’t stand the smell of the regular Tidy Cats.
 

maggie101

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Great reviews!
I agree 100% with worlds best. I have only tried a few of the pine but did not like,tracked bad. I thought Dr elseys was hard/heavy to scoop but worked great. Slide is my litter choice now. I use wipes and a metal scoop
 

Margot Lane

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Thanks SO MUCH for these reviews. Genius idea, mixing them. My cat is tolerating unscented Okocat, which I think is a slightly lighter weight version of Dr. Elsley’s, but Zorro says he doesn’t like having to clean it out from under his claws. …Please keep us posted on the mix results!
 

maggie101

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I also bought okocat. One of my cats does not like itand it doesn't work with this special mat I bought helps with tracking.
 
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Robyn5678

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Wow, you really did some research! I tried crystal litter once for my cats, I also hated it. Arm and hammer and tidy cats have a terrible smell, and tidy cat tracks everywhere! Scoop away is the best in my opinion, though it can be a little dusty. I have been concerned about the dust level recently. I wonder if the cats ingest a lot of it over years of use and what this does to their digestive tract.
I’ll have to add scoop away to my list to try!
 
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Robyn5678

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I use the unscented Tidy Cats Free and Clean and am very happy with it. I too couldn’t stand the smell of the regular Tidy Cats.
I’ll add to my list to try! Since I have 3 cats that share 3 litter boxes, I need one that clumps hard and fast. Seems like once one goes, they all want to go. They do use all 3 boxes
 
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Robyn5678

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Great reviews!
I agree 100% with worlds best. I have only tried a few of the pine but did not like,tracked bad. I thought Dr elseys was hard/heavy to scoop but worked great. Slide is my litter choice now. I use wipes and a metal scoop
With dr Elsey’s multi cat, I did find that one a bit harder to scoop. I used that brand years ago and loved it but the forums must have changed and I don’t like it now
 
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Robyn5678

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Thanks SO MUCH for these reviews. Genius idea, mixing them. My cat is tolerating unscented Okocat, which I think is a slightly lighter weight version of Dr. Elsley’s, but Zorro says he doesn’t like having to clean it out from under his claws. …Please keep us posted on the mix results!
I wish I could take credit for mixing but someone on the forum gave me that idea because I said the walnut one was so dusty.
 

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The one time I tried something besides Fresh Step (non-clumping kind) was when I bought Swheat Scoop litter. I really liked it but the cats would eat it. The kind I really hate is Tidy Cat. I don't think it absorbs urine at all.
 

msserena

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Wow, you really did some research! I tried crystal litter once for my cats, I also hated it. Arm and hammer and tidy cats have a terrible smell, and tidy cat tracks everywhere! Scoop away is the best in my opinion, though it can be a little dusty. I have been concerned about the dust level recently. I wonder if the cats ingest a lot of it over years of use and what this does to their digestive tract.
Exactly. I always wonder how much they ingest when they clean their paws off. Some of the litters really stick to their fur. When you have the litter box near clothes & you see a fine dust on top of all of the hangers, not good. I have had breathing issues & therefore can't stand dusty litters. I ended up using Okocat lightweight (yellow box) & Everclean. I have been buying the Everclean for the last couple of months & there is no smell, no dust, it's an excellent product!
 

msserena

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Good job, glad you're trying different products. I've tried so many litters, I started a spreadsheet. The most important thing to me is no dust. I love how World's Best & Dr Elsy & heck, lots of other brands say 99% dust free right on the package but when you pour the box & there is a cloud after, that is dust! I don't want to breathe that & don't want my cats breathing it either. Also, when your black cat comes out of the potty, I don't want to see them covered in a fine dust. YUCK.
 
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Robyn5678

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Good job, glad you're trying different products. I've tried so many litters, I started a spreadsheet. The most important thing to me is no dust. I love how World's Best & Dr Elsy & heck, lots of other brands say 99% dust free right on the package but when you pour the box & there is a cloud after, that is dust! I don't want to breathe that & don't want my cats breathing it either. Also, when your black cat comes out of the potty, I don't want to see them covered in a fine dust. YUCK.
The walnut was really dusty I would cough when I scooped. But once I mixed in some clay, that helped tremendously
 

BeccaT

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Thank you for this list! I came to this forum today to make a post asking for advice on litter, but this list is very helpful. I recently switched from Arm & Hammer Cloud Control which I actually did really like, but the pee clumps fell apart too much. I'm a few days into using Dr. Elsey's Clean Tracks and so far I'm conflicted. The consistency is completely different from the Arm & Hammer one, it seems more dense which makes it difficult to scoop, and the biggest problem I'm facing so far is that the pee will sink through the litter and stick to the bottom/sides, but our cats seem to favour this one over their other box that still has the old litter in it.

After looking at your list, I might try Arm & Hammer slide although the cons are concerning as it's something I dealt with with the last Arm & Hammer litter I used, but it was easily fixed by just wiping the scoop down with a napkin after use. Did you find that the pee clumps fell apart when you scooped them with Slide?
 
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Robyn5678

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Thank you for this list! I came to this forum today to make a post asking for advice on litter, but this list is very helpful. I recently switched from Arm & Hammer Cloud Control which I actually did really like, but the pee clumps fell apart too much. I'm a few days into using Dr. Elsey's Clean Tracks and so far I'm conflicted. The consistency is completely different from the Arm & Hammer one, it seems more dense which makes it difficult to scoop, and the biggest problem I'm facing so far is that the pee will sink through the litter and stick to the bottom/sides, but our cats seem to favour this one over their other box that still has the old litter in it.

After looking at your list, I might try Arm & Hammer slide although the cons are concerning as it's something I dealt with with the last Arm & Hammer litter I used, but it was easily fixed by just wiping the scoop down with a napkin after use. Did you find that the pee clumps fell apart when you scooped them with Slide?
They didn’t really fall apart but they didn’t seem super hard either. The texture of slide is really hard to describe. It’s more sand like. I hate having the litter stick to the scoop, I kept banging it on the floor but it just wouldn’t come off 🤮 but it definitely did not stick to the box which was nice.
 

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LOVED your review Robyn. Adding my own observations and some different litters:

fresh step crystals
Pros: none
Cons: just a disgusting mess. Can't compost it.

worlds best cat litter
Pros: soft step
Cons: smells, fell apart during scooping

arm and hammer corn
Pros: can get sludge like id your cat sticks to peeing same spot.
Cons: perfume-y

Naturally fresh walnut
Pros: good odor control and clumping, cat's favourite when litter boxes stocked with different types. Multicat was my favourite in that brand
Cons: dusty, moulded in the box in the basement due to humidity

Yesterday's News
Pros: eco friendly, scoops as well as your average pellet
Cons: legitimately smells like pee on newspaper because that's what it is.

Okocat:
Pros: low smell, pellets are low dust, soft step option, works great to mix soft step with pellets for picky cats.
Cons: soft step can be dusty.

Exqusisit Cat Pine
Pro: low smell
Cons: pine pellets "fluff" rather than "clump" so you need to change the way you scoop. Ends up wasting a lot of clean litter.
 
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Robyn5678

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LOVED your review Robyn. Adding my own observations and some different litters:


Naturally fresh walnut
Pros: good odor control and clumping, cat's favourite when litter boxes stocked with different types. Multicat was my favourite in that brand
Cons: dusty, moulded in the box in the basement due to humidity
Thank you! What kind did you settle on to use?

i am glad you mentioned this. I will be in Florida this winter and their box is in a room that tends to gets humid so I’ll need to keep an eye on that.
 

Alldara

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Thank you! What kind did you settle on to use?

i am glad you mentioned this. I will be in Florida this winter and their box is in a room that tends to gets humid so I’ll need to keep an eye on that.
Okocat. I mix the big pellets with the original.
 
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