Cat Litter

[MollyWoppy]

When we adopted this kitty, I just bought the cheapest cat litter I could find, didn't even know to give it a second thought.
Had time to regroup a bit now and after doing a bit of searching I'm surprised to find that there are so many types available, I mean, I thought cat litter was just cat litter.
Now I'm getting a bit confused, there seems to be so many pro's and con's to each different type, so I wondered what you guys use and recommend.
Thanks.

[chowder]

It's been awhile since I used cat litter but I'll let you know what I remember. Cat's can be picky about what they want, so be careful when you switch. If you pick a kind that they hate, they may refuse to use the box again.

The cheap clay kind usually sticks in their paws and ends up being tracked all over the house. It usually has to be changed really frequently because the whole box gets ruined when they use it and smells up the place. The only use I ever had for it was traction under car tires!

I used to use the clumping kind. It was the finer granules and you could just scoop out the little clump where they pee'd and leave the rest in there. That way you didn't have to dump out the whole box at once. I'm pretty sure this is the kind they recommend for those autmatic cat boxes but I never had one of them. There are a ton of different brands, I wouldn't get one with too much scent in it or the kitty might get upset. Maybe one of the other people on here with more recent kitty experience can help out with specific brands. Just be sure and clean the box regularly. Some kitties are fussy and don't like a smelly box. I always had a covered box, too. Mine liked privacy and it also kept them from slinging litter all over the place.

[CorgiPaws]

I don't know a ton about kitty litter, but I'll share what works for us.

I buy the Scoop Away kitty litter, I buy like 40lbs at CostCo for less than $15 and it lasts me about three months with one cat. I don't really like the perfume smell of it when I freshly refill her box, but it does mask odor pretty well, and it clumps really tight, so her box is easy to scoop without leaving junk behind or getting the plastic box all gross.

[MollyWoppy]

Oh joy, a covered box. Thats exactly what I need. Here I was resigning myself to the fact that I'd be vacuuming everyday for the rest of my life. So you both reckon clumping is better as well, without any drawbacks. I find it a bit gross leaving all the poos and wees there until the whole container load is ready to be thrown out so I've been changing the whole thing everyday. Thanks.

[DaneMama]

I always got the same litter that Linsey gets up until we invested in a Cat Genie which is a self scooping litter box. It hooks up to a water source and then drains into either just a regular wash drain or a toilet. It does all the work for you. It scoops, washes and dries the reusable littler. I can say that I'm 100% satisfied with it because our house never smells like litter like it used to regardless of scooping everyday with two cats. It's expensive up front but we don't ever have to buy litter except for maybe once a year to replace lost bits of the reusable stuff. Not to mention cat litter is one of the worst things to put into the environment!

CatGenie - The World's Only Self-Flushing, Self Washing Cat Box

[whiteleo]

I hate having cat litter tracked all over my house as I'm kinda a neat freak! I use wood pellets that they sell at our Farmers Co-op for $5.oo for a 40lb bag and I've made a screen that sits inside the catbox that I put the pellets on and as the cat gets it wet, I scrape the cat cleaning tool back and forth a few times and the pellets that have turned to sawdust drops through, and I just pick out the poop (old kitty goes 1 time a day) and flush it down the toilet. I will dump the bottom contents out maybe 1-2 times a week, but the top keeps for awhile depending on how much you put in.

[DaneMama]

Oh joy, a covered box. Thats exactly what I need. Here I was resigning myself to the fact that I'd be vacuuming everyday for the rest of my life. You reckon clumping is better as well - I can see 'll be making some changes pretty soon.

There are special little mats you can buy that will help knock excess litter off your cats feet to keep them from tracking it around the house. Because even the clumping litter gets everywhere. They are sold at most big box pet stores.

[Paws&Tails]

I know this is a thread from a few months ago, but I thought I'd pipe in.

I detest clay litter. It poses many health problems. I've never found one that is low dust enough to even consider.
Crystal litter is just bad all around.
I hate wood pellet litter too. It doesn't control feces odor AT ALL. It stinks horribly after just a few days. It's messy. My cats hate it. And who can blame them? It can't be very comfortable to walk on. It's also not the litter for cats that like to dig.

World's Best Cat Litter is a good litter, but it's expensive, and smells like burnt corn and then burnt corn with vomit mixed in after they use it.
I found chick feed works just as good as WBCL, but much cheaper. I add baking soda for odor control.

[MollyWoppy]

Uh oh, I just ordered a sample of Worlds Best Cat Litter, but after your description, I'm kindof wishing I hadn't. I tried some pine sawdust stuff, a disaster - it wasn't heavy enough and when the cat stood on the side the whole thing canned out.
How much baking soda do you have to put in for it to work really well? I live with Mr Supernose you see.

[jdatwood]

I HATE HATE HATE cat litter. The Cat Genie was the best investment I've ever made for our cat

As it's been mentioned, cat litter is HORRIBLE for the environment