Let's Talk Cat Litter :)

shanynne

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Hi, I'm new to these boards. I have two cats, a 4 month old, and an older cat about 1 1/2 years old.

I am still searching for the right cat litter. I have tried Swheat Scoop, but it did not clump enough for the urine. I have tried Scoop Away, it clumped great, but I could not stand the "perfumy" smell, which also lingered strongly on my cats, although they really seemed to like it.

I am currently using Tidy Cats, Small Spaces. It's wonderful as far as odour control goes, but it's not that great for clumping. The clumps tend to break apart when I scoop, so a mess of little clumps is left behind all over the litter. I bought a scoop, well a stainless steel spoon actually, the kind you would use to strain soup or vegies to try and scoop out this mess of little tiny clumps, but it is very time consuming.

I have heard about the Tidy Cats crystal where you have to stir the litter around so that the urine gets absorbed, but that does not appeal to me since I'm at work during the day and can only scoop early in the morn, late afternoon and evenings.

So what do you all use, how do you and your kitties like it ?

Thanks for your time.

Shanynne
 

icklemiss21

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I use World's Best Cat Litter. It is similar to Swheat Scoop in texture, but clumps a lot better and decent odour control. I found Swheat Scoop to be 'sticky' rather than clumping
 

ocicat_steph

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If you can find it in the US Cat's Best Öko Plus is by far one of the best litters i have EVER used. I don't know if they sell it in the US. if they don't i'm going to freak out when i move back home in a few years. Maybe i can buy some shares and bring it over haha!
 

cearbhaill

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I've been on a quest to find the perfect litter, and none of them are.
My cats won't use World's Best- I wish they would but it's been a no go on every attempt I have made, and I have mixed it, seeded it, and everything in between.

Tidy Cats new formula clumps are breaking up for me as well. I like the Arm & Hammer regular scoopable but the last few batches have been very dusty. I now have two boxes with 80% Tidy Cats + 20% Arm & Hammer regular, and two boxes with the new corn formula Arm & Hammer, I like the new Arm & Hammer, and the cats like it too, but it is expensive and tracks really badly.

I liked Fresh Steps performance, but found it way too perfumey. They won't use Feline Pine.

The tracking is my main issue. For some reason my cats insist on leaping out of the boxes (which are high sided), and they fling litter badly. Rugs and mats do nothing if the cats don't land on them. Aside from that all I want is a solid clumper with no fragrance.
 

jaycee

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I LOVE special kitty cat litter from walmart, it works EXCELLENT!! and its cheap!! the container says its "scented" but i cant smell a thing. looks just like fresh step. very good clumping clay based litter.
 

forget-me-not

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I have been using World's Best and I really like it, but I am switching over to Arm & Hammer scoopable unscented (cannot stand scented litter). I think I would have stayed with WBCL if it wasn't so expensive and my kitty really gets it everywhere. I think it has great odor control (I have never smelled urine, even when cleaning the box) and it does cover the stinkies really well. It clumps perfectly too.

We will see if my baby will take to the Arm & Hammer and if controls odor as well. If not, I guess I will have to find away to keep affording the WBCL.
 

jamasmom

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Originally Posted by Forget-Me-Not

I have been using World's Best and I really like it, but I am switching over to Arm & Hammer scoopable unscented (cannot stand scented litter). I think I would have stayed with WBCL if it wasn't so expensive and my kitty really gets it everywhere. I think it has great odor control (I have never smelled urine, even when cleaning the box) and it does cover the stinkies really well. It clumps perfectly too.

We will see if my baby will take to the Arm & Hammer and if controls odor as well. If not, I guess I will have to find away to keep affording the WBCL.
Go to Petfooddirect.com they are having a big sale on WBCL. I tried Arm a& Hammer but I don't think it clumps very well! Going back to WBCL.
 

jen

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I use Feline Pine and I love it. It is flushable, it turns the pee to sawdust which even if you pick the sawdust up, it still smells like sawdust, not pee. Plus they even make litterboxes with holes in the bottom to sift out the sawdust into the trash. But I just scoop the poop out everyday and leave the sawdust until the litterbox is mostly sawdust. It make the room smell like pine. When I buy the bags and have them in my car, it makes the car smell like frsh pine too for a day or two afterwards.
 

jaycee

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Originally Posted by Forget-Me-Not

I have been using World's Best and I really like it, but I am switching over to Arm & Hammer scoopable unscented (cannot stand scented litter). I think I would have stayed with WBCL if it wasn't so expensive and my kitty really gets it everywhere. I think it has great odor control (I have never smelled urine, even when cleaning the box) and it does cover the stinkies really well. It clumps perfectly too.

We will see if my baby will take to the Arm & Hammer and if controls odor as well. If not, I guess I will have to find away to keep affording the WBCL.
why dont you try special kitty ) its so cheap, its worth a try. i never my cats box and the litter doesnt smell at all even though its labeled as scented, they also have it in unscented which comes in big bags and is even cheaper.
 

canaws

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Fresh Step
Liked: clumping (easy to clean out)
Disliked: Too scented, tracking (sand-like), clumps on kitten paws

Yesterday's News
Liked: No tracking (pellet-shaped)
Disliked: Too scented, urine (ammonia) smell after a while

Feline Pine
Liked: No tracking (pellet-shaped), no urine smell (neutralized by pine), can be used for compost, no need to change litter (if using the right litter pan)
Disliked: see comments below

I am still using Feline Pine. When I was using my regular litter pan I felt like the litter turned to sawdust too quickly and I had to change the litter too much. I decided to try it with their litter pan and it made a big difference. I love this stuff now! I use way less litter. I've been working with the same 20 lbs bag for almost three months now and I've only used half the bag. I was using one 21lbs box of Fresh Step a month. It's easy to maintain too. All the sawdust (urine) drops to the bottom pan and the feces stays up top. I clean the feces out daily and I dump the bottom pan in my green waste can every week or so. I never change the litter, I just add more litter when it gets low. Since it will turn to sawdust once it's "used" and drop to the bottom pan, it sort of changes itself. It's a nice change from having to dump out the remainder of 21 lbs of kitty litter every month and replace it.
 

gingersmom

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I have used Arm & Hammer clumping litter since day 1 and I love it. I scoop daily, and my house smells like just humans live there!
 

plebayo

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I use various brands of the crystal cat litter. I clean the litter box out once a day [at night.] You scoop out the solids, then stir the litter to pick up the urine. I have a large litter box so I use the 8lb bag every month. So that's about $7 a month, there's no odor coming from the box, the cat doesn't clear a room when he poops, minimal tracking that is easy to sweep up.

What I disliked about clumping litters was how he tracked all the sand all over my bedroom.
 

jcat

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Originally Posted by ocicat_steph

If you can find it in the US Cat's Best Öko Plus is by far one of the best litters i have EVER used. I don't know if they sell it in the US. if they don't i'm going to freak out when i move back home in a few years. Maybe i can buy some shares and bring it over haha!
Are you getting that from zooplus? I haven't tried that one yet - Jamie, and fwan's Teufel and Kaylee, like their "Golden Grey" clumping litter.
Jamie doesn't like any litter that isn't clay (we've tried lots and lots of brands).
 

marishka

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Originally Posted by dawnofsierra

We use Arm & Hammer Super Scoop Fragrance Free, and find it to be the absolute best litter ever!
I second that. The regular stuff is way too purfumey, but I still would use it over anything else.
 

laureen227

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i've used the arm & hammer, & tidy cats & WBCL. the cats didn't like WBCL, & neither did i - the clumps weren't hard enough for the automated boxes [i have littermaids]. the other two are very similar in clumping ability & scent to me, but i prefer the containers the tidy cats comes in - it's easier to pour from. i haven't tried the wal-mart brand - wal-mart here is very inconvenient to get to, so i tend to not go there.
 

starryeyedtiger

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I love Arm & Hammer Super Scoop for my 4 girls. As for my foster kittens, i use Swheat Scoop because it is all natureal and non-toxic...i've had a few kittens try to "taste" regular litter before and have had to dig it out of their mouths- it's not worth chancing it, so i only use natural and non-toxic litter for the kittens....Swheat Scoop works pretty well, but i like Arm & Hammer Super Scoop better
.
 

stormysmom

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We shop at Sams club and buy the 50lb bag of Tidy Cats blue formula and a 5lb bucket of baking soda. Its a bit dusty but if you pour carefully then its not a problem. I love the clean smell it has too.

3 cups of baking soda and a pretty good layer of litter in each box and there is absolutly no smell. We try and scoop daily and we change the litter out all together once a week. We could go longer without a complete change but id rather not smell cat box if I dont have too lol. The bag of litter and bucket of baking soda last about a month with two litter boxes.

Bull loves to get in the fresh litter and play with the clean baking soda when we first change the box. You can tell too because we have hunter green carpet and he will hop out and leave tiny white paw prints. But it is super cute and its nothing the vaccume wont fix.
 

ocicat_steph

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Originally Posted by jcat

Are you getting that from zooplus? I haven't tried that one yet - Jamie, and fwan's Teufel and Kaylee, like their "Golden Grey" clumping litter.
Jamie doesn't like any litter that isn't clay (we've tried lots and lots of brands).
i buy mine from http://petfoodwarehouse.co.uk/browse_136 but it looks like it might be cheaper at the Zooplus. will have to do a basket check out and see if the shipping is the difference in price.
it's a fantastic litter! i highly recommend it. only downside to it is it can track out of the box sometimes. you have to have a mat or something in front of the box to stop it.


edit just checked the prices. PetWarehouse full check out with shipping price is £20.99 and the Zooplus is £21.85
 

zissou'smom

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I use Fresh Step too. I think it is too perfumey as well, especially for a digger, but since they changed over to the carbon kind the smell is more subtle, though still strong. If you put a lot of litter in, and then scoop daily or more often but don't replace more litter until you have to, the perfumey smell is mostly gone by the second or third day.

Although I must say, since moving now the box is in my bedroom closet (I have two, so that one isn't for clothes!) and I could smell it more, I bought some baking soda and sprinkled some on there and put the box in the closet... and not only does it not smell like cat dingleberry in here but also that gross perfumey smell is gone too!

I wish Fresh Step made a fragrance-free kind.
 
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