Cat litter with least amount of dust?

crouton

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Good news. I just saw this on their website:

Dr. Elsey is passionate about providing the very best products for your cats. A few months ago, in an effort to keep the dust content as low as possible, we switched to a different clay mixture for Respiratory Relief. The new clay is slightly darker than the clay we were using because it is mined in a different area. The color will not interfere with performance. However, after customer feedback, we have decided to go back to the original mixture. Anything with a date code after 20.11.20 will be the original clay and it will not have a sticker on it that states “new & improved particle size”.

Looks like they're going back to the original.
I had previously confirmed with them that the blue bag is nothing but clay. No added plant proteins.
 

She's a witch

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None of the other types say they do not have plant protein in them, just respiratory relief
I’m pretty sure they put that statement on the label because it’s somewhat fashionable now to use natural litters for asthmatic cats, and using natural litters for asthmatic cats can be tricky, if a cat’s trigger is this very natural substance, like corn, wheat, grass. But to be honest, I’m scared of clay litters for any cats, not mentioning asthmatic one and I’d never ever use it again. I’ve tried the respiratory relief and I was shocked how dusty it was. I’d rather risk the natural litter than dust from any clay litter, for me it’s just common sense that such dust accumulated over time must have consequences.

Unfortunately there’s no perfect litter, everyone must decide what’s most important and what’s tolerable for their cats and choose the lesser evil. I’ve chosen litter that tracks horribly but at least I know it’s safer for my asthmatic cat. Does it drive me crazy everyday? Yes it does :) several good honeycomb mats and robotic vacuum make it bearable though.
 

crouton

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I’m pretty sure they put that statement on the label because it’s somewhat fashionable now to use natural litters for asthmatic cats, and using natural litters for asthmatic cats can be tricky, if a cat’s trigger is this very natural substance, like corn, wheat, grass. But to be honest, I’m scared of clay litters for any cats, not mentioning asthmatic one and I’d never ever use it again. I’ve tried the respiratory relief and I was shocked how dusty it was. I’d rather risk the natural litter than dust from any clay litter, for me it’s just common sense that such dust accumulated over time must have consequences.

Unfortunately there’s no perfect litter, everyone must decide what’s most important and what’s tolerable for their cats and choose the lesser evil. I’ve chosen litter that tracks horribly but at least I know it’s safer for my asthmatic cat. Does it drive me crazy everyday? Yes it does :) several good honeycomb mats and robotic vacuum make it bearable though.
I’ve tried every available to me natural litter for my cats, none work. They will just step in each other’s waste despite having many clean boxes available. I too hate clay but it is the only litter they are happy using. Additionally every natural litter I’ve tried was horribly dusty.

We’ve also tried every mat type and found those honey comb style ones didn’t trap anything. Litter all over the floor but none in the mats. Idk about others but I can’t use a robot vac bc it will end up rolling over a stray poo that gets kicked out of the box or a fallen dingleberry from their butts or worse when it ran over a few drops of pee from my one cat that constantly drips pee on the floor after using the box. She really needs to do the tinkle wiggle or use tp.

so I have to manuallyvacuum 2-3 times a day and I still find litter everywhere.
 

Beholder

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I’m pretty sure they put that statement on the label because it’s somewhat fashionable now to use natural litters for asthmatic cats, and using natural litters for asthmatic cats can be tricky, if a cat’s trigger is this very natural substance, like corn, wheat, grass. But to be honest, I’m scared of clay litters for any cats, not mentioning asthmatic one and I’d never ever use it again. I’ve tried the respiratory relief and I was shocked how dusty it was. I’d rather risk the natural litter than dust from any clay litter, for me it’s just common sense that such dust accumulated over time must have consequences.

Unfortunately there’s no perfect litter, everyone must decide what’s most important and what’s tolerable for their cats and choose the lesser evil. I’ve chosen litter that tracks horribly but at least I know it’s safer for my asthmatic cat. Does it drive me crazy everyday? Yes it does :) several good honeycomb mats and robotic vacuum make it bearable though.
Yes that did cross my mind and is quite possible. Although I will say the "cat attract" specifically mentions herbs that have been added in the description.

I agree with you, every cat and every asthmatic cat is different. For one of my boys getting rid of the scented litter seemed to really help, but his asthma symptoms are not as bad as a lot of other cats. He has very few attacks so he luckily doesn't need medication for it. I definitely don't love everything about Dr. Elsey's. As I mentioned above it does still get a bit dusty, but it's a huge step up from Fresh Step and Arm & Hammer that I used before.
 

She's a witch

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I’ve tried every available to me natural litter for my cats, none work. They will just step in each other’s waste despite having many clean boxes available. I too hate clay but it is the only litter they are happy using. Additionally every natural litter I’ve tried was horribly dusty.

We’ve also tried every mat type and found those honey comb style ones didn’t trap anything. Litter all over the floor but none in the mats. Idk about others but I can’t use a robot vac bc it will end up rolling over a stray poo that gets kicked out of the box or a fallen dingleberry from their butts or worse when it ran over a few drops of pee from my one cat that constantly drips pee on the floor after using the box. She really needs to do the tinkle wiggle or use tp.

so I have to manuallyvacuum 2-3 times a day and I still find litter everywhere.
Yeah I feel for you. I also bought every natural one I could and chosen the least dusty, and I’m happy my guys really like the texture. Is it dust free? Hell no, dust free litter doesn’t exist. But it’s less dust than any clay litters and it’s dust is less harmful I hope. I mostly use grass seed from Petco and some bags are dustier than the other, so then I switch to SmartCat which is $10 more only to find out that it’s similar amount of dust :D luckily it works good in very deep litter boxes (my girl pees high in a wall so I need to have very deep boxes, otherwise she would aim behind the box 🤦‍♀️). To me it clumps very fast so there’s no problem of another cat stepping in it. And I don’t really care about odor control as their poops are almost odor free (raw fed). But I can totally see people complaining about this litter and any litter frankly. There’s no perfect litter and yet they need to use it.
 

crouton

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Yeah I feel for you. I also bought every natural one I could and chosen the least dusty, and I’m happy my guys really like the texture. Is it dust free? Hell no, dust free litter doesn’t exist. But it’s less dust than any clay litters and it’s dust is less harmful I hope. I mostly use grass seed from Petco and some bags are dustier than the other, so then I switch to SmartCat which is $10 more only to find out that it’s similar amount of dust :D luckily it works good in very deep litter boxes (my girl pees high in a wall so I need to have very deep boxes, otherwise she would aim behind the box 🤦‍♀️). To me it clumps very fast so there’s no problem of another cat stepping in it. And I don’t really care about odor control as their poops are almost odor free (raw fed). But I can totally see people complaining about this litter and any litter frankly. There’s no perfect litter and yet they need to use it.
I wish the grass worked for us. One of my cats ate it while he was peeing in it, then exited the box covered in it from static cling. The pee clumps just got mushy on the bottom of a very deep box which took a lot of litter to fill and we have....many boxes.

I tried the Petco brand the smart cat and the frisco. For us none of them clumped fast enough for a multicat household. You are correct no perfect litter. Litterbox stress is killing me. I’ve spent a lot of money on this as well. So many pricy litters!

my previous cat used pine for over 20 years, and while it wasn’t perfect it worked for her and I rarely found one pellet outside of the box but it was a lot more work to have to dump it all so regularly.
 

She's a witch

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crouton crouton maybe by mixing several types of litter you would find something that would work better? I know a person who uses three types to find an acceptable combination:D I sometimes mix two types to improve the clumping. Hopefully that would solve at least some of the issues.
 

artiemom

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I wrote to Dr Elsey, this morning. They apologized and offered to reimburse me for the last order.
They said they due to supply issues, they had to change supplies and are in the process of trying to get back to the quality they had.. They were assuring that this is only temporarily...

Wonder if that is just a PR line, but... who knows..
 

artiemom

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Good news. I just saw this on their website:

Dr. Elsey is passionate about providing the very best products for your cats. A few months ago, in an effort to keep the dust content as low as possible, we switched to a different clay mixture for Respiratory Relief. The new clay is slightly darker than the clay we were using because it is mined in a different area. The color will not interfere with performance. However, after customer feedback, we have decided to go back to the original mixture. Anything with a date code after 20.11.20 will be the original clay and it will not have a sticker on it that states “new & improved particle size”.

Looks like they're going back to the original.
I got pretty much the exact same message, except for the regular litter... Theys aid it was a supply issue...
 

crouton

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I got pretty much the exact same message, except for the regular litter... Theys aid it was a supply issue...
I got that same answer from them last year when I complained about the dust. It’s only gotten dustier! For example some of our litter boxes are dark colored and show the dust very obviously, on the lighter colored ones if I wipe the top of the box above the litter line it’s just full of dust.

Also some of my cats have light paws but black beans and their poor beans get coated in dust ☹
 

boosmommy

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I didn't like the strong urine smell with Arm&Hammer. I switched to World's Best and it has no dust. Transitioning now. Not fully cat approved but I'm hopeful.
 

crouton

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I didn't like the strong urine smell with Arm&Hammer. I switched to World's Best and it has no dust. Transitioning now. Not fully cat approved but I'm hopeful.
Worlds best has a lot of dust, it was dusty all over my box, litter area, my poor cats fur and feet. And my cat’s hated the stench of it, terrible. Also lots of others have reported getting pantry moth infestations from it.
 

Texaskitty

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We've had a pretty good experience with Tidy Kat Lightweight, tho it's not perfect. Some of it sticks down at the bottom of the litter box in a clump, but the dust is minimal compared to what we tried before. The stuff we used before got our bathroom fixtures etc dusty not to mention myself and the cats when they used it and I cleaned it. The bathroom is a lot less dusty now. It controls odor well. The cats like it and it's easier for me to haul the container in the house. I think the lightweight is easier on their paws than the clay litter. But our long hair cat sometimes has little bits of litter stuck to her back legs which I just brush off. Not perfect but it's manageable.
 

ladytimedramon

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When it comes to tracking, have you also tried changing your litter mat?

Everything was tracking. Then I realized that Delilah was jumping OVER the mat 8 times out of 10. Apparently she didn't like the feel of the mat on her paws. I purchased a different texture pad and now she just steps out onto it. It definitely reduced the tracking on all types of litter because she actually walks on it after getting out of her box.
 

crouton

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When it comes to tracking, have you also tried changing your litter mat?

Everything was tracking. Then I realized that Delilah was jumping OVER the mat 8 times out of 10. Apparently she didn't like the feel of the mat on her paws. I purchased a different texture pad and now she just steps out onto it. It definitely reduced the tracking on all types of litter because she actually walks on it after getting out of her box.
Idk about everyone else but I have tested every single type of litter mat sold, and bath mats too as well as area rugs. My cats don’t avoid them they just don’t trap anything. And when the cats step away from the rugs/mats I hear plink plink plink as the litter hits the floor. I think those with carpet notice it less. My whole house is hardwood, including all the stairs. We have one area rug and one larger room rug in a room. So it’s more noticeable, especially if you use a vacuum with a light on the front 😭
 
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