Corn/Wheat Based Litter?

[EmersonandEvie]

Chewy released a corn/wheat litter blend under the Frisco house brand. It's pricey, but I wonder if the cats would like it more than the pine pellets? Would the transition be as hard, texture-wise?

 

[EmersonandEvie]

The litter in question:

FRISCO Unscented Clumping Corn & Wheat Cat Litter, 20-lb bag - Chewy.com

Buy Frisco Unscented Clumping Corn & Wheat Cat Litter, 20-lb bag at Chewy.com. FREE shipping and the BEST customer service!

www.chewy.com

 

[Azazel]

Corn and wheat based litters are generally very dusty.

 

[DreamerRose]

Mingo tried to eat it. I threw it out.

 

[susanm9006]

My usual warning about corn based litter. Mice love it and are happy to crawl into litter boxes to get it. So if you have ever had a mouse problem you don’t want to use it.

 

[jcat]

That looks similar to the corn husk litter (Siria, an Italian brand) I'm testing right now. It's been in the litter box since Wednesday, so I can't say yet how long 20 liters will last. So far the only dust I've seen is when I rub it between my hands, which is a huge surprise. Mowgli is black, but there's no dust on him, and there hasn't been litter spread everywhere around the box. Odor control seems almost comparable to clay clumping litter; the clumps are somewhat larger, but firm.

I'd really like to switch to something from a renewable source that's lighter than clay, so hopefully Mowgli won't suddenly decide he hates it. He's not burying his poop, so he probably doesn't like it like fine clay.
He hates coarse litter, so pellets are out. Paper was a soggy mess, wood wasn't to his liking, and wheat litter made him sneeze.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

jcat I was concerned about the weight too. The corn litter is more expensive than clay and several dollars more. Let me know what you find out about how long it lasts!

 

[jcat]

jcat I was concerned about the weight too. The corn litter is more expensive than clay and several dollars more. Let me know what you find out about how long it lasts!

The stuff I'm testing is actually cheaper than the clay litter I usually buy, so I'll break even if it lasts just 3 weeks rather than the 4 weeks I get out of 15 kg. of clay litter. Twenty liters of the corncob litter weigh 9.3 kg.. Mowgli has an XL litter box for which 14 - 15 kg. of clay litter completely changed out every four weeks are about right.

Most of the light, "natural" brands I've looked at are more expensive.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

Same here. I've been considering trying livestock chicken crumbles as a cheaper alternative. I want to say a 40lb bag is $10 at my local feed store.

 

[Misty_Miffy_Moon]

I would stay on your wood pellets. If your cats are fine with what you have I would just stick with what I have. The corn/wheat based litter is normally dusty, and mice would love to burrow in it. (Ew.) I do wood pellets and you can get huge bags of it cheap and most cats love it. Plus, the pine smell overtakes the "poop" smell too.

I'd just stick with what you'd got.

 

[jcat]

The stuff I'm testing is actually cheaper than the clay litter I usually buy, so I'll break even if it lasts just 3 weeks rather than the 4 weeks I get out of 15 kg. of clay litter. Twenty liters of the corncob litter weigh 9.3 kg.. Mowgli has an XL litter box for which 14 - 15 kg. of clay litter completely changed out every four weeks are about right.

Most of the light, "natural" brands I've looked at are more expensive.

Just an update now that the corncob litter has been in the box for four weeks. IMO, it's great, and 20 liters easily last four or more weeks. There's virtually no dust or tracking, it's still clumping very well, with no residue on the bottom or sides of the box, and the odor control is unexpectedly good. Mowgli didn't cover his poop the first 10 days, but now he's back to doing so.

The only negative point is that the litter comes in a plastic bag, but I've found a similar corncob litter that's sold in a paper bag that I'll test in the future.

 

[SpecterOhPossum]

OKOCAT comes in cardboard, dunno if they have something similar to this, just pointing that out.

 

[jcat]

OKOCAT comes in cardboard, dunno if they have something similar to this, just pointing that out.

Yes, Ökocat is actually a local brand (made in Germany, in fact in our state) and what we use at the animal shelter, since it's biodegradable and lightweight. It has a tendency to be tracked everywhere, though, and Mowgli doesn't like it very much. Wood-based litter doesn't appeal to him, and the wheat or grass stuff makes him sneeze. People have been complaining about the quality of the Ökocat having deteriorated; it's far dustier than it used to be, but more expensive.