Hi all, I just want to share with you guys on my journey or rather my boy's journey on the transition from Clay Litter to Tofu Cat Litter and I hope that it'll help those that are trying to switch litter and find out more about Tofu Cat Litter. Feel free to ask questions and I hope that I'll be able to answer them.
To make a point on why the switch, I'll be scoring for Clay Litter and Tofu Cat Litter in this format :- Clay Litter : 0. Tofu Cat Litter : 0. Score 1 will be the winner.
I'll run through explaining the process and progress and at the end I'll attach some photos as they are self explanatory.
My boy has been using Bentonite Clumping Litter since the first day he came home when he was around 3 - 4 weeks old. He's now coming to 7 years old.
Bentonite clumping litter is too dusty for him and me. My boy likes to dig and dig with his nose very close to the litter and thus inhale lots of litter dust which I experience while scooping his litter and while pouring in new litter for him and I can see clouds of dust falling from the bag. I have to wear a mask each time I clean his litter box. At times, I find litter dust drying up at his nostrils. That's one of the reason for the switch.
My boy is a corner pee'er and pees a lot each time and almost each time he pees, his hind leg(s) are soaked in the litter and I have to clean his leg(s) and that is when I'm home. Sometimes when I'm not home, he'll leave litter stain around the house and I know that he'll ingest the litter when he grooms/cleans himself after he pees and worse, if his leg(s) was soaked in the pee. And also after he does his business whether pee or poo, litter is tracked all over the place. Another reason for the switch.
I was contemplating a litter change for him but I was afraid that he may reject the new litter and in rebellion (change of behavior), he may pee and poo at other places. So I held on for almost 7 years. And finally, I told myself, it is enough of Clay Litter and it's time to make the change. I bit the bullet and bought Tofu Cat Litter for the transition.
At the beginning of October '22, I started to switch his litter over to Tofu Cat Litter, as Tofu Cat Litter has much much less dust and it's safe if ingested and the clumping is better than clay because my boys pees a lot and always leave a puddle of pee and sometimes his leg(s) get soaked in the pee while peeing.
Of course he was not use to the texture and was feeling weary during the times he needs to do his business because the scent and feel is different form clay litter. He'll go in and jump out several times till he cannot hold on any more, he'll then start to dig cautiously and eventually pee or poo.
I did not do a 100% change of litter. I sprinkled some new litter over the old one and gradually increased the amount day by day and try to get a good mixture of old and new at different level of the old litterbox so that when he digs, he'll feel the Clay Litter.
So each time I clear his pee or poo clump, I clear off a little more of the Clay Litter than usual and top up with the new litter and also added more to where the pee clump was cleared. His Clay Litter is 4 inches high. Gradually the clay litter will become less and the new litter will be more. I left another litterbox filled with 100% Tofu Cat Litter close to his present litterbox just for him to get used to the scent. Also I left his fresh pee in a bag and placed it in the new litterbox so that he can smell his pee and hopefully he'll use the new box he did not. He will just put his head in and smell his pee and walked away.
My boy have been using the old litter box with the mixture of Clay Litter and the Tofu Cat Litter. So far, the tracking is much better though the Clay Litter and Tofu pellets still get stuck in his paws whenever he comes out of the litter box. But it's much much less than before. Even though manufacturers claim that it's 99% dust free and no tracking for the Clay Litter, I think it's not accurate but definitely the Tofu Cat Litter is much much much less dust and much much much much less tracking even though he has not transited over to full Tofu Cat Litter.
Score for tracking and litter dust : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
I bought 3 different brands of Tofu Cat Litter as it's my first time buying them and I don't know what to expect. The first 2 brands I bought was in natural scent and the 3rd brand I bought was Charcoal scent and reason for this scent is to mask off the natural scents of the other 2 brands as they smell sweet and milky even tough it says natural scent.
And also the charcoal one is grayish and looks like the color of the Clay Litter but darker and the other 2 is creamy white in color.
I guess many brands of litter comes scented and unscented and I thought that natural scent is neutral but it smells sweet and milky so I bought the Charcoal scent to musk the milky scent. Some brands even have scents called activated charcoal. The Charcoal Scented still has a scent but not as flowery or milky or fruity but I guess it's better than any of these scents.
Not sure if it's the same as charcoal as different manufacturers may name them differently.
There are many brands out there and as usual, all competing to be the best. I guess it only comes down to whether your cat like using it or not. And to what I see, it is definitely better than clay litter minus the tracking part but much much better in controlling tracking than clay litter as it is in the form of a bigger piece of litter and not small sand like and tracks all over the house and becomes sandy and footprints are all over the place.
So far, I find my floors less dusty after mixing it with the clay litter as much less clay litter is tracking now. Also when I scoop the litter off the litterbox, I find that the litter clumps better and less breakage and fall off as it is now mix with the Tofu litter as compared with no mixture of litter.
All 3 brands comes in different size pellets. The one I bought was 3mm in size and the Charcoal one is 2mm which is thinner and I think it is closer to the Clay Litter when step on although it's in strip form. My boy feels weird stepping onto the new litter. So I'll be ordering more of the 2mm Charcoal scent to mix with the rest and eventually use the Charcoal scent which is smaller in size and I hope it'll be alright for my boy to use.
So far the containment of pee smell is pretty good and not too bad for the poo smell as I left the poo in the litterbox for awhile before I clear the poo. I don't think I smell any anon smell after my boy pee and also during scooping out the pee. One other thing good about this Tofu Cat Litter is it is supposed clump up the pee pretty well and once mixed with water it dissolves and can be flushed through the toilet and they claim that it's safe to ingest.
Score for ammonia and poop smell (odor control) : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
As my boy pees lots, his pee clump is also very big. As compared to Clay Litter to Tofu Cat Litter, Clay Litter is very heavy and Tofu Cat litter is very light.
Score for pee weight during scooping : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
Each day, the Clay Litter drop to a lower level as it is mixed with The Tofu Cat Litter as the percentage of the Tofu Cat Litter is getting more than the Clay Litter.
Also take note about the size of the pellets as they expand when exposed to urine. I notice the bigger pellets (unscented) swell to a bigger size than the charcoal ones.
For a more expensive litter that does not compromise with health, I think it's ok. My boy has been using clay litter for almost 7 years and it's too dusty for him and I think that's enough for him and it's time to get something more healthy for him as he is getting older and I don't want to have any serious health issues for him.
11 Oct '22 - sprinkle pellet on existing litter
- my boy just sat next to the litterbox staring at the pellets on top of the Clay Litter which is not a usual sight for him.
- did not like the feel of pellets but treading carefully with much complaining and managed to pee and poo.
- 2nd litterbox filled with pellets and corner tucked in with pee clump from current litterbox. Smelled the pee clump but did not use the new box at all.
Everyday filled up old litterbox with Tofu pellets and remove more Clay litter than the usual scooping.
Whenever he needs to use the litterbox, he'll pop in his legs and walked in and out of the litterbox a few times and while digging, still complaining about the feel of litter everyday for a couple of weeks and have too encourage my boy to use litterbox with some coaxing and showed him it’s ok to dig and he went in to dig and pee or poop.
Otherwise, he’ll just sit next to the litterbox and look weary and ponder about going in.
Some 2 weeks later, he complaint less and went in and out less and he went in almost immediately after some coaxing.
The mixture of litter is now more of Tofu Cat Litter than Clay Litter. So he’s actually steeping on the pellets first and still weary as he stepped on it and begin to dig. As he digs, he found the Clay Litter and he keeps on digging but the more he digs, the more pellets fall in as the Tofu Cat litter pellets are very light and eventually he’ll pee on the pellets.
As the clumps are now a mixture of Clay Litter and Tofu pellet litter, the clumps are harder than usual as I clear the pee clump almost immediately as compare to before which I clean his litterbox the next day or end of the day for the Clay Litter to be dryer and more solid for easy scooping but and the litter clump will still fall apart as I scoop.
Score for clump firmness : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
One other good thing is now that my house is less dusty or sandy and much much less clay litter is spewed around even on days that I cannot clean him immediately after he pees. Before, after he pee, the clay litter tracked all over the house and onto the bed. The tofu pellet still tracks but its much much much less than the clay litter and it’s easier to see if they are on the floor. I’m very happy with that.
By 21st Nov, the litter mix is 70% Tofu pellets and 30% Clay Litter. On 25th Nov, litter mix was around 80% Tofu pellets and 20% clay litter. Before transition, his clay litter is 4 inch deep and throughout the transition, combined litter has dropped slightly below 2 inches.
28th Nov, I did a complete change of litter. I sieved out the Tofu Cat Litter from the old litterbox and transferred them over to the 2nd box which contained all Tofu Cat Litter.
Total depth of the Tofu litter now is 3 inches deep.
After I've finished the task of transferring the pellets, my boy immediately went to pee and did not complain at all. He dug his way in and then peed. He usually pees a lot and when using Clay Litter, the Clay Litter cannot absorb his urine fast enough and therefore form a puddle and my boy's leg will be soaked ankle deep each time he pees.
So I let him finish his pee and let him do the covering of his pee without any intervention and I'm very happy and pleased that his leg/s were not soaked in pee at all and he happily covered his pee which he cannot do all the time for the past almost 7 years because I have to catch him and clean him before he could cover up his pee and now I don't have to catch him at all. He looks like a normal and happy cat that he could cover up after doing his business
Score for clumping without ponding : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
The transition took almost 2 months and now I'm very glad that he used it for the very first time with 100% Tofu Cat Litter.
Overall score : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
Although some pee clump were still wet and soft and were stuck on the side walls of the litterbox, wiping them off is a breeze as compared to Clay Litter. Clay Litter is muddy and dirty when soaked with pee and hard to clean off the side walls and bottom of litterbox.
Score for cleaning up : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
It all depends on how much your cat pees. The more they pee, like my boy, the longer it takes for the Tofu Cat Litter to dry up and form into a solid piece of pee clump but it is still manageable even though it is still damp. Also if your cat is not a corner pee'er like my boy, it's even easier to scoop.
Most pellets will be stuck to the pee clump and only a slight amount will fall off due to the scooping. I pick up the smaller pieces with a spoon. Overall, no soiled pellets left as compared to Clay Litter that is too fine to pick up and they get mixed back to the rest of the Clay Litter.
Score for left over soiled litter : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
As for Tofu Cat Litter, I just tilt the litterbox the other way and the clump is exposed and this makes cleaning easy and not for Clay Litter as I have to clear around the pee clump and then scoop and I cannot lift up the litterbox as it is way to heavy.
Score for cleaning up : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
I've used up all the bigger pellets as I thought that they may be too big for him to step on and so I bought more smaller pellets to replace the bigger ones but I'll observe and see how he take on the smaller pellets when the bigger ones in the litterbox diminished and will buy according to what my boy prefers.
Below are the photos of the process :
To make a point on why the switch, I'll be scoring for Clay Litter and Tofu Cat Litter in this format :- Clay Litter : 0. Tofu Cat Litter : 0. Score 1 will be the winner.
I'll run through explaining the process and progress and at the end I'll attach some photos as they are self explanatory.
My boy has been using Bentonite Clumping Litter since the first day he came home when he was around 3 - 4 weeks old. He's now coming to 7 years old.
Bentonite clumping litter is too dusty for him and me. My boy likes to dig and dig with his nose very close to the litter and thus inhale lots of litter dust which I experience while scooping his litter and while pouring in new litter for him and I can see clouds of dust falling from the bag. I have to wear a mask each time I clean his litter box. At times, I find litter dust drying up at his nostrils. That's one of the reason for the switch.
My boy is a corner pee'er and pees a lot each time and almost each time he pees, his hind leg(s) are soaked in the litter and I have to clean his leg(s) and that is when I'm home. Sometimes when I'm not home, he'll leave litter stain around the house and I know that he'll ingest the litter when he grooms/cleans himself after he pees and worse, if his leg(s) was soaked in the pee. And also after he does his business whether pee or poo, litter is tracked all over the place. Another reason for the switch.
I was contemplating a litter change for him but I was afraid that he may reject the new litter and in rebellion (change of behavior), he may pee and poo at other places. So I held on for almost 7 years. And finally, I told myself, it is enough of Clay Litter and it's time to make the change. I bit the bullet and bought Tofu Cat Litter for the transition.
At the beginning of October '22, I started to switch his litter over to Tofu Cat Litter, as Tofu Cat Litter has much much less dust and it's safe if ingested and the clumping is better than clay because my boys pees a lot and always leave a puddle of pee and sometimes his leg(s) get soaked in the pee while peeing.
Of course he was not use to the texture and was feeling weary during the times he needs to do his business because the scent and feel is different form clay litter. He'll go in and jump out several times till he cannot hold on any more, he'll then start to dig cautiously and eventually pee or poo.
I did not do a 100% change of litter. I sprinkled some new litter over the old one and gradually increased the amount day by day and try to get a good mixture of old and new at different level of the old litterbox so that when he digs, he'll feel the Clay Litter.
So each time I clear his pee or poo clump, I clear off a little more of the Clay Litter than usual and top up with the new litter and also added more to where the pee clump was cleared. His Clay Litter is 4 inches high. Gradually the clay litter will become less and the new litter will be more. I left another litterbox filled with 100% Tofu Cat Litter close to his present litterbox just for him to get used to the scent. Also I left his fresh pee in a bag and placed it in the new litterbox so that he can smell his pee and hopefully he'll use the new box he did not. He will just put his head in and smell his pee and walked away.
My boy have been using the old litter box with the mixture of Clay Litter and the Tofu Cat Litter. So far, the tracking is much better though the Clay Litter and Tofu pellets still get stuck in his paws whenever he comes out of the litter box. But it's much much less than before. Even though manufacturers claim that it's 99% dust free and no tracking for the Clay Litter, I think it's not accurate but definitely the Tofu Cat Litter is much much much less dust and much much much much less tracking even though he has not transited over to full Tofu Cat Litter.
Score for tracking and litter dust : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
I bought 3 different brands of Tofu Cat Litter as it's my first time buying them and I don't know what to expect. The first 2 brands I bought was in natural scent and the 3rd brand I bought was Charcoal scent and reason for this scent is to mask off the natural scents of the other 2 brands as they smell sweet and milky even tough it says natural scent.
And also the charcoal one is grayish and looks like the color of the Clay Litter but darker and the other 2 is creamy white in color.
I guess many brands of litter comes scented and unscented and I thought that natural scent is neutral but it smells sweet and milky so I bought the Charcoal scent to musk the milky scent. Some brands even have scents called activated charcoal. The Charcoal Scented still has a scent but not as flowery or milky or fruity but I guess it's better than any of these scents.
Not sure if it's the same as charcoal as different manufacturers may name them differently.
There are many brands out there and as usual, all competing to be the best. I guess it only comes down to whether your cat like using it or not. And to what I see, it is definitely better than clay litter minus the tracking part but much much better in controlling tracking than clay litter as it is in the form of a bigger piece of litter and not small sand like and tracks all over the house and becomes sandy and footprints are all over the place.
So far, I find my floors less dusty after mixing it with the clay litter as much less clay litter is tracking now. Also when I scoop the litter off the litterbox, I find that the litter clumps better and less breakage and fall off as it is now mix with the Tofu litter as compared with no mixture of litter.
All 3 brands comes in different size pellets. The one I bought was 3mm in size and the Charcoal one is 2mm which is thinner and I think it is closer to the Clay Litter when step on although it's in strip form. My boy feels weird stepping onto the new litter. So I'll be ordering more of the 2mm Charcoal scent to mix with the rest and eventually use the Charcoal scent which is smaller in size and I hope it'll be alright for my boy to use.
So far the containment of pee smell is pretty good and not too bad for the poo smell as I left the poo in the litterbox for awhile before I clear the poo. I don't think I smell any anon smell after my boy pee and also during scooping out the pee. One other thing good about this Tofu Cat Litter is it is supposed clump up the pee pretty well and once mixed with water it dissolves and can be flushed through the toilet and they claim that it's safe to ingest.
Score for ammonia and poop smell (odor control) : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
As my boy pees lots, his pee clump is also very big. As compared to Clay Litter to Tofu Cat Litter, Clay Litter is very heavy and Tofu Cat litter is very light.
Score for pee weight during scooping : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
Each day, the Clay Litter drop to a lower level as it is mixed with The Tofu Cat Litter as the percentage of the Tofu Cat Litter is getting more than the Clay Litter.
Also take note about the size of the pellets as they expand when exposed to urine. I notice the bigger pellets (unscented) swell to a bigger size than the charcoal ones.
For a more expensive litter that does not compromise with health, I think it's ok. My boy has been using clay litter for almost 7 years and it's too dusty for him and I think that's enough for him and it's time to get something more healthy for him as he is getting older and I don't want to have any serious health issues for him.
11 Oct '22 - sprinkle pellet on existing litter
- my boy just sat next to the litterbox staring at the pellets on top of the Clay Litter which is not a usual sight for him.
- did not like the feel of pellets but treading carefully with much complaining and managed to pee and poo.
- 2nd litterbox filled with pellets and corner tucked in with pee clump from current litterbox. Smelled the pee clump but did not use the new box at all.
Everyday filled up old litterbox with Tofu pellets and remove more Clay litter than the usual scooping.
Whenever he needs to use the litterbox, he'll pop in his legs and walked in and out of the litterbox a few times and while digging, still complaining about the feel of litter everyday for a couple of weeks and have too encourage my boy to use litterbox with some coaxing and showed him it’s ok to dig and he went in to dig and pee or poop.
Otherwise, he’ll just sit next to the litterbox and look weary and ponder about going in.
Some 2 weeks later, he complaint less and went in and out less and he went in almost immediately after some coaxing.
The mixture of litter is now more of Tofu Cat Litter than Clay Litter. So he’s actually steeping on the pellets first and still weary as he stepped on it and begin to dig. As he digs, he found the Clay Litter and he keeps on digging but the more he digs, the more pellets fall in as the Tofu Cat litter pellets are very light and eventually he’ll pee on the pellets.
As the clumps are now a mixture of Clay Litter and Tofu pellet litter, the clumps are harder than usual as I clear the pee clump almost immediately as compare to before which I clean his litterbox the next day or end of the day for the Clay Litter to be dryer and more solid for easy scooping but and the litter clump will still fall apart as I scoop.
Score for clump firmness : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
One other good thing is now that my house is less dusty or sandy and much much less clay litter is spewed around even on days that I cannot clean him immediately after he pees. Before, after he pee, the clay litter tracked all over the house and onto the bed. The tofu pellet still tracks but its much much much less than the clay litter and it’s easier to see if they are on the floor. I’m very happy with that.
By 21st Nov, the litter mix is 70% Tofu pellets and 30% Clay Litter. On 25th Nov, litter mix was around 80% Tofu pellets and 20% clay litter. Before transition, his clay litter is 4 inch deep and throughout the transition, combined litter has dropped slightly below 2 inches.
28th Nov, I did a complete change of litter. I sieved out the Tofu Cat Litter from the old litterbox and transferred them over to the 2nd box which contained all Tofu Cat Litter.
Total depth of the Tofu litter now is 3 inches deep.
After I've finished the task of transferring the pellets, my boy immediately went to pee and did not complain at all. He dug his way in and then peed. He usually pees a lot and when using Clay Litter, the Clay Litter cannot absorb his urine fast enough and therefore form a puddle and my boy's leg will be soaked ankle deep each time he pees.
So I let him finish his pee and let him do the covering of his pee without any intervention and I'm very happy and pleased that his leg/s were not soaked in pee at all and he happily covered his pee which he cannot do all the time for the past almost 7 years because I have to catch him and clean him before he could cover up his pee and now I don't have to catch him at all. He looks like a normal and happy cat that he could cover up after doing his business
Score for clumping without ponding : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
The transition took almost 2 months and now I'm very glad that he used it for the very first time with 100% Tofu Cat Litter.
Overall score : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
Although some pee clump were still wet and soft and were stuck on the side walls of the litterbox, wiping them off is a breeze as compared to Clay Litter. Clay Litter is muddy and dirty when soaked with pee and hard to clean off the side walls and bottom of litterbox.
Score for cleaning up : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
It all depends on how much your cat pees. The more they pee, like my boy, the longer it takes for the Tofu Cat Litter to dry up and form into a solid piece of pee clump but it is still manageable even though it is still damp. Also if your cat is not a corner pee'er like my boy, it's even easier to scoop.
Most pellets will be stuck to the pee clump and only a slight amount will fall off due to the scooping. I pick up the smaller pieces with a spoon. Overall, no soiled pellets left as compared to Clay Litter that is too fine to pick up and they get mixed back to the rest of the Clay Litter.
Score for left over soiled litter : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
As for Tofu Cat Litter, I just tilt the litterbox the other way and the clump is exposed and this makes cleaning easy and not for Clay Litter as I have to clear around the pee clump and then scoop and I cannot lift up the litterbox as it is way to heavy.
Score for cleaning up : Clay Litter : 0 - Tofu Cat Litter : 1
I've used up all the bigger pellets as I thought that they may be too big for him to step on and so I bought more smaller pellets to replace the bigger ones but I'll observe and see how he take on the smaller pellets when the bigger ones in the litterbox diminished and will buy according to what my boy prefers.
Below are the photos of the process :
and now, you and he are doing wonderfully! I'm another person who was unfamiliar with tofu litter until just lately, and am darn tempted thanks to your information 
and welcome to TCS!
