Any recommended clamping natural litter?

[Maggiez]

I've been using Fresh Step Unscented (clumping clay) since I adopted my cats 6 months ago, because it was the type used at their froster home.
Lately I've been trying to switch to a natural clumping litter because the clay one is so dusty and I'm afraid it's not good for their health.

So far I've tried a few and failed miserably:

- World's Best Unscented: they hated it! I've tried to mix a small portion with their clay litter and they still wouldn't use it
- Garfield (tiny grain): They loved it too much so I didn't need to blend it. The litter sticks to their coat (and they are short hair) and they lick it off. It tracks EVERYWHERE and the light litter makes it almost impossible to clean. My whole floor, bed and table feels like beach after a day. They're also confused about it when using it - I think because the litter keeps shifting when they step on it, so it took them like 5 minutes of digging and kicking to use it once. And most of the time they just played in it without using it. I had to get rid of it after 2 days due to the tracking.
- Naturally Fresh Unscented Multi-Cat (Walnut based): Saw it in local pet store and decided to give it a try and failed again. They wouldn't touch it unblended. After I add 2/3 their clay litter, they used for a day then stopped using it once the walnut litter got mixed in.

Is there another brand you recommend? I think my cats don't like the super woody smell and/or the texture (World's Best and Naturally Fresh), because they often stepped two legs in for a few seconds and walk away.

I've read on this forum that grass seed litter is good, but I'm afraid it's lightweight like the Garfield one and tracks everywhere. I also doubt they would like pine pallet due to its smell and texture.

Last question is, is clay litter really bad for cats? I hate its dust and it's so heavy to handle, but my cats actually love it and it doesn't track as badly... I wonder if I should just stick to it or keep trying.

 

[She's a witch]

I use Smart Cat or other grass seed litters as I found them the least dusty out of all the natural options (truly dust free litter doesn’t exist imo). They clump great and last a long time, my cats love the texture, but yes, they unfortunately track.
personally I think clay litters are the worst, but I’m biased because my cat has asthma and I’d bet dusty litters cause the condition.

 

[Maggiez]

I use Smart Cat or other grass seed litters as I found them the least dusty out of all the natural options (truly dust free litter doesn’t exist imo). They clump great and last a long time, my cats love the texture, but yes, they unfortunately track.
personally I think clay litters are the worst, but I’m biased because my cat has asthma and I’d bet dusty litters cause the condition.

Thank you for the recommendation! I think I'll give glass seed a try. Hopefully the tracking is not as bad as the super fine Garfield one.
I hate clay litter too because even I can't breathe when I clean up their litter boxes...

 

[Babypinkweeb]

I use Smart Cat or other grass seed litters as I found them the least dusty out of all the natural options (truly dust free litter doesn’t exist imo). They clump great and last a long time, my cats love the texture, but yes, they unfortunately track.
personally I think clay litters are the worst, but I’m biased because my cat has asthma and I’d bet dusty litters cause the condition.

Sorry for butting in here, but I've been curious to purchase that litter. I currently use the Okocat Super Soft (pink box) which is a soft wood clumping litter. It is dustier than I like and also tracks like crazy. When you mention Smart Cat tracks, would you say it's about same as most clay litter, or enough to require daily cleaning? The Okocat fills the litter mat almost every day, and I currently live with shaggy apartment carpeting so tracking is a big problem.

 

[She's a witch]

Thank you for the recommendation! I think I'll give glass seed a try. Hopefully the tracking is not as bad as the super fine Garfield one.
I hate clay litter too because even I can't breathe when I clean up their litter boxes...

I’ve had Garfield, It’s a different kind of tracking. With Garfield, it would stick to cats’ paws and they would carry it around my apartment. Smart Cat absorbs the urine much quicker, it’s mostly what is kicked out when they jump out of the box. I have honeycomb litter mat and it’s helping, but I’m glad we have a robot vacuum that helps to keep the floors clean.

Sorry for butting in here, but I've been curious to purchase that litter. I currently use the Okocat Super Soft (pink box) which is a soft wood clumping litter. It is dustier than I like and also tracks like crazy. When you mention Smart Cat tracks, would you say it's about same as most clay litter, or enough to require daily cleaning? The Okocat fills the litter mat almost every day, and I currently live with shaggy apartment carpeting so tracking is a big problem.

I’ve had two Okocat types, one was pellets and one was crushed pellets of sorts? I don’t remember the packaging sadly. Anyway, both of them tracked less than Smart Cat, unfortunately, but because of dust, we settled on grass seed. But as I mentioned above, Smart Cat is at least tracking on the floor only rather than carried around on the paws. But still, I vacuum daily/every two days for my comfort level.

 

[Tobermory]

I also use Smart Cat or Abound, which Kroger-owned grocery stores carry. I can’t tell the difference and Abound is less expensive. I like it because it weighs less and I’m just not able to carry 40-lb. bags of clay litter any more, is better for the environment (clay is strip mined and never breaks down in landfills), and is dust free. It clumps really well and controls odor. Yes, it tracks, but it depends on the cat and how they use the box as to how much it tracks. Here’s what I mean:

• Iris: long haired with lots of floof between her toes, digs quite a lot after she goes, tracks the litter to the far ends of the house because it’s stuck between her toes.
• Lily: long haired with lots of toe floof, never covers anything, does her thing and then literally flings herself over the side of the box so most of the litter is where she lands.
• Mocha: short haired, covers and covers and covers and covers, but tracking is mainly confined to the area near the boxes since she doesn’t have long hair to catch and hold the litter.

Also, I have three iPrimio litter mats by the three boxes, and they catch a lot of litter, particularly Lily’s and Mocha’s. Not much helps with Iris.

 

[Maggiez]

I’ve had Garfield, It’s a different kind of tracking. With Garfield, it would stick to cats’ paws and they would carry it around my apartment. Smart Cat absorbs the urine much quicker, it’s mostly what is kicked out when they jump out of the box. I have honeycomb litter mat and it’s helping, but I’m glad we have a robot vacuum that helps to keep the floors clean.

That's good to know! I had problem with Garfield because my cats love it so much and they dig around a lot, so the powder ended up sticking to their tails and legs. Then it's carried everywhere other than tracking on the floor. Also, maybe my room is dry and it's caused by static electricity. I use a honeycomb litter mat too (I will need to upgrade to a bigger one though) and I also swipe the floor daily. But the small particles stuck onto all the surfaces so I'll have to pull out the vacuum to clean it.
I'm glad to hear the grass seeds litter tracks differently! I just placed an order and will give it a try.

 

[Maggiez]

I also use Smart Cat or Abound, which Kroger-owned grocery stores carry. I can’t tell the difference and Abound is less expensive. I like it because it weighs less and I’m just not able to carry 40-lb. bags of clay litter any more, is better for the environment (clay is strip mined and never breaks down in landfills), and is dust free. It clumps really well and controls odor. Yes, it tracks, but it depends on the cat and how they use the box as to how much it tracks. Here’s what I mean:

• Iris: long haired with lots of floof between her toes, digs quite a lot after she goes, tracks the litter to the far ends of the house because it’s stuck between her toes.
• Lily: long haired with lots of toe floof, never covers anything, does her thing and then literally flings herself over the side of the box so most of the litter is where she lands.
• Mocha: short haired, covers and covers and covers and covers, but tracking is mainly confined to the area near the boxes since she doesn’t have long hair to catch and hold the litter.

Also, I have three iPrimio litter mats by the three boxes, and they catch a lot of litter, particularly Lily’s and Mocha’s. Not much helps with Iris.

Thanks for the thorough explanation! My two cats are short hair so hopefully the grass seed litter will work out well.

And the litter mats sound great! Just did a quick search on Amazon and it looks better than the one I'm using. Will be upgrading to it soon and it should help a lot!

PS. Me too, I was so tired of carrying 40-lb litter. Before moving out of NYC, my apartment was a 6-floor walk-up. I was joking to my friend that carrying cat litter to my apartment was the only exercise I did during the lockdown last year lol

 

[She's a witch]

That's good to know! I had problem with Garfield because my cats love it so much and they dig around a lot, so the powder ended up sticking to their tails and legs. Then it's carried everywhere other than tracking on the floor. Also, maybe my room is dry and it's caused by static electricity. I use a honeycomb litter mat too (I will need to upgrade to a bigger one though) and I also swipe the floor daily. But the small particles stuck onto all the surfaces so I'll have to pull out the vacuum to clean it.
I'm glad to hear the grass seeds litter tracks differently! I just placed an order and will give it a try.

I have reasons to complain about Garfield as well, but I’ve never seen any other litter that clumps so well! I still sometimes mix it with grass seed litters (Smart Cat clumps pretty well, but some cheaper that I use- Petco’s version- has worse clumping) because of the clumping job. I put it deep down so that my cats won’t get to it without excessive digging. My girl pees on the litter box walls and corners and if I use some Garfield (or Sustainability Yours, it’s similar) then her clumps break away from the walls easily and it’s easier to clean it.

 

[Aglaya Felipe]

The walnut hill based clumping litter has unreal odor control, works so well! It tracks a bit but w/e. I recently got a mat for the bathroom similar to those used in restaurants or the insole of an adidas sandler, with all the little nubs. Any tracked litter is caught in the mat and super easy to suck up with the vacuum every couple days. I want to advocate for natural litter, kitties don't need to be breathing in weird human chemicals AND neither do we. Clay mining is also bad for the environment and all the wonderful animals out there. A lot more sustainable to use grass/ plant based litters.

 

[Maggiez]

I have reasons to complain about Garfield as well, but I’ve never seen any other litter that clumps so well! I still sometimes mix it with grass seed litters (Smart Cat clumps pretty well, but some cheaper that I use- Petco’s version- has worse clumping) because of the clumping job. I put it deep down so that my cats won’t get to it without excessive digging. My girl pees on the litter box walls and corners and if I use some Garfield (or Sustainability Yours, it’s similar) then her clumps break away from the walls easily and it’s easier to clean it.

Reporting back:
I bought the grass seed litter and it was a success! I mixed in the clay and they started using it since day one. It tracks a bit but not bad at all. I think it actually performs a bit better than the clay, so I'm very happy.
Actually, they are also using the walnut and clay mix litter now, after I left it out for 4 days. Ot's not their favorite though.
Anyhow, I'm so happy they finally accepted a non-clay litter! I almost gave up but thank you for the suggestion and I'm glad I tried it out