2016 Reboot: Your Preferred Kitty Litter and Method of Disposal

thegreystalker

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I saw that the prior thread was rather old, so I thought I would start a new round of comments and add my contribution.

I'm a new cat owner, therefore I have thus far tried three different brands of litter.  A couple of major brands and the local supermarket brand.  All worked fine and my gal doesn't appear to have any preference but I think Arm & Hammer works best for us.  I dump the used litter into a garbage liner and toss it in the trash.

I just saw an ad for a walnut shell based litter.  Anyone familiar with it?
 

DreamerRose

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I use Arm & Hammer too. I tried several different brands, including World's Best (Worst) Litter. I've always come back to Arm & Hammer, and I intend to stay with it. I save plastic produce bags and bread bags and use those to scoop. When I don't have any, I use small waste basket liners. I also put it in the garbage. I don't think the city wants you to do that, but what in the world else are we going to do with it?

Somebody here on the site has used the walnut shell litter, so maybe they will chime in.
 

jetta1400

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I use the world's best cat litter. I've used the clay clumping for years (different brands) and found myself having change out the litter often and washing the box because eventually there was a funky odor, plus I didn't like the fine litter spreading all over the place and sticking to my feet, even though I use a very large mat. I switched over to the world's best litter and find that it does not give off a funky smell and even though it does track some, it doesn't go far and I can see it on my floor which makes it easy for me to sweep up. I also don't change it out very often, but do scoop the boxes 2-3 times a day. My husband is such an anal guy when it comes to odors, and he hasn't complained yet. Now he just complains about cat fur...lol
 

cheshirecat

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I'm still sticking with my World's Best.  It's good whether you flush or not.  I also like it because of the lack of smelly problems.  The only time I have a smell is when he doesn't cover his poop. 

I have even asked visitors for their honest opinions on whether my house smells or not.  So far no complaints.

The only other tricks I have is because of my physical limitations I have a long handled scoop and a toy rake to give the litter and extra shift and smooth it out.  The handles on these are about 2 and a half feet long and make reaching the box much easier. 
 

DreamerRose

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@CheshireCat   Where did you get the long-handled scoop? I could use that - I have to sit in a chair now because I can't bend over. Well, I can, but then I would just keep going until I fell into the litter head first. 
 

sandtiger

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I use this one:   http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_litter/cats_best/14001

I think its a ist like worlds best. It keeps odour locked and can be flushed away.  I used used wood pellets but there was to much dust for where Bears litter tray is kept. I had no problem with the pellets , they did work well but not quite as good as this stuff. I also have a large scoop identical to the lower one in Cheshire cats photo.
 

hammerpantscat

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Just a thought about litter disposal. I have four cats and five litter boxes. What works for me is using a diaper pail to put dirty litter into. Works great and I don't have to dump it into the "main" trash can every day. It's also easy to clean - take bag out and dump, then place dirty diaper pail into utility tub in basement next to washing machine, add water + lysol, let sit, rinse, turn over and let air dry. Viola!!
 

msserena

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I think it highly depends on preference. I started out using A&H Super Scoop & then after my kitty died, I thought maybe I would try something new. I came on here & researched what other people suggested. I tried Worlds Best Clumping, Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat, Tidy Cat, Fresh Step, Cat's Pride, Swheat Scoop, Scoop Away & A&H Essentials Natural Clumping.

As my primary concern is for no odor, I found everything but the clay litter starts to smell after a day or so. Also, the Essentials break apart when you try to scoop them out therefore leaving cat urine all through the rest of the litter. I have a GIANT box & put in about 3 boxes of 40lb kitty litter & I clean it out every couple of days. As I have some sensitivity to perfume & dust, I wanted something that didn't leave dust everywhere & didn't smell. It's crazy to see people loving the Dr Elsey's & World's Best, when you see a fine dust film across the stuff in the same room, that is a clue it's way too dusty. I think about the poor cat that got it's nose stuck down scratching before it does it's thing.

Hence, I went back to the A&H Super Scoop. It's the best thing, for us that I've found. I still have a couple others that I never tried like Nature's Miracle & Feline Pine.
 

sophie1

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Feline Pine pellets in a Tidy Cat Breeze litter box, with the tray underneath removed and a large size litter liner fitted around the opening.  The whole ensemble goes into a large litter pan to contain my cats' enthusiastic digging habits.  I remove poop daily and flush it (my cats don't have toxoplasmosis).  Once a week, I switch the box to a new liner and toss the old one into the trash.  Result:  no odor, no scraping pee clumps off the sides or bottom of the box, no dust, light weight litter, tracking nearly non-existent, and cost limited to < $5/month.  And this is with two big long haired cats.

I've tried a lot of litters (I have very patient and tolerant cats):  clay, corn, walnut, and clumping pellet (okocat).  All had good odor control and were easy to keep clean, but had serious drawbacks.  The walnut litter was the dustiest, with okocat a close second.  Tracking was a big issue with all of them except okocat (the long hair purple box variety).  The heavy weight of clay was a problem too...like when I was standing just outside the trash room with full bag of used litter and it broke open.  Them days are over!!
 

krissy marissy

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I also use tidy cats breeze box system with pine pellets! Have for years. I love the smell and their boxes never get stinky. [emoji]128513[/emoji]
 

paiger8

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Another Arm & Hammer user here. I've always used it, but a rescue I was adopting from encouraged "natural" products so I bought World's Best once. Awful. My whole basement smelled like a litter box. Even just walking down the stairs, you could smell it. This was cleaned daily, and it still smelled awful.

Arm & Hammer seems to lock odors in better. I clean both boxes once a day, and use those plastic grocery bags to dispose of it. I need to get better about dumping the whole litter box more often though, at least once a month. It's just a pain and I feel like I'm wasting a ton of litter. 
 

jetta1400

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I have one of my cat boxes right next to our black toilet. I use the world's best litter and compared to regular clay litter, I can honestly say the dust is way less. With the clay, my toilet lid would be dusty a few days after it was cleaned. I also feel like I'm not sucking up litter dust when I'm scooping (which I think I might of already mentioned in an earlier post). I do get occasional litter granuals on top of the toilet lid if the cats jump on top.
 

tuffsmom

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I am a fan of Fresh Step. I have one male cat, Tuffy, and FS works well for him. Never any mess outside the 2 boxes and no odor problem. I add enough litter to keep the box about 2 inches full and completely dump and clean the boxes once a month. Just be sure to scoop once a day.
 

catpack

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Still on the hunt for the "perfect" litter...
Right now I either use a brand from one of the holistic pet food stores (Hollywood Feed) or Cat's Pride...either the unscented regular Fresh & Light or the Naturals.

Most of my cats will only use clumping clay litter, and I will only buy truly unscented/fragrence-free litters. My biggest issue is finding one that truly has low dust.

As for method of disposal...
I scoop into a kitchen-sized garbage bag (I work for a rescue...lots of cats!) and throw away in the large garbage bin outside. I did find a company advertising that they would collect used cat litter and recycle, but never heard back...
 

misty8723

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I use Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat, scoop frequently, and I don't smell anything unless it's freshly deposited.  Unless I'm just "nose blind."  I dispose of it in a litter locker or whatever it's called.  I'm happy with this arrangement. I used to use Swheatscoop and I like the litter, but it attracted bugs.
 

scylla

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i use a walnut based litteri find it clumps very well and doesnt have a super strong smell ive used corn litter as well and i found that it didnt clump as well and smelled very strong :) but it is more expensive to get it in canada i find but i feel safer using walnut since my cat digs so much he usually licks a spoonful of litter off his paws
 

denice

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I tried to get my cats to switch to World's Best several years ago but they are having none of  it.  

Right now I am using the Tidy Cats lightweight in the 24/7 formula.  I haven't been happy  with the odor control lately.  I see that Arm and Hammer has a lightweight one and I may try that  one.  I know the lightweight formulas are really expensive but I  am 60 and live in a 2nd floor apartment.  Lugging heavy new litter up the stairs and the heavy used litter out to the dumpster was becoming a real  issue for me.  The lighter weight was really  why I  tried the World's Best.

I just save my plastic shopping bags, and use the small bathroom can liners when I have no shopping bags, for scooping and put them in the trash.

'
 

cocobutterfly

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We also tried to switch our cat over to World's Best as well as Feline Pine, Swheat, Naturally Fresh walnut and all the other natural and biodegradable litter, but she would not have any of them. She flat out avoided the boxes with the natural materials. We figure their smells repelled her. We also tried the Breeze system, and she hated that too. She'd do her business then run out of the box without kicking around the pellets, and she loves to dig and cover so we knew something was wrong. Within two weeks, she started avoiding the Breeze box altogether. 

Our last option was clay litter, but we had to give it a try since it was the only thing left that we hadn't tried and that was what she'd used at the shelter prior to our adoption. We got Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract to try to get her back into the box. We didn't even have to make an effort. As soon as I opened the bag and started pouring the litter, she was sitting next to the box. As soon as I finished pouring, she was in the box doing her business. After a week, we started adding in Dr. Elsey's Ultra (blue bag) which is cheaper than Cat Attract (red bag). She hasn't avoided the litter box since the day we switched to Dr. Elsey's in March. 

The fact is that every cat is different and they all have their individual preferences. If your cat happens to be very picky about litter, then you have to do some trials and errors to find out what he/she likes best. We tested every litter on the market and some that aren't even marketed for cat litter (i.e. horse pellets, wood stove pellets, chicken feed) until our cat told us which she liked best. We also tested 6 or 7 different litter boxes and scattered them around various parts of the house and let her decide which box and location she liked best. Once that was determined, we started removing the unused boxes one by one. 
 
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