Best cat litter for new kittens?

burbabies

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Hi! Thank you for the warm welcome. I don't know what the best litter is to use for my new kittens. My main concern is the health and safety of my babies. I don't want them to get sick. I've never had any of my cats in the past become sick or ill from cat litter (I've used clumping & crystal store-brands), but I have read the harsh effects on clumping litter if it gets injested in a cat's stomach. So I was thinking of a natural litter, like "world's best cat litter", which is made of corn. There are many positive reviews on it, and I do love the fact that it is non-toxic. But I want a litter that is very good on odor, low dust and low tracking. There are some reviews for this particular litter that the litter itself smells awful (like rotten corn)! I was also thinking of a crystal or crystal/blend litter like Arm&Hammer Crystal Blends. What would you suggest? Safety is my main priority. Odor control would be my next priority since my litter box (I've purchased a Booda dome clean step) will be in my bedroom for the first few weeks while my kittens are getting adjusted to their new home.
Many thanks in advance.
 

aussie_dog

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You could try Yesterday's News, which is basically just recycled newspapers in pellet form. It doesn't clump, but what it does is it soaks up the pee and basically disinegrates. I tried it awhile ago and was so surprised at the absolute lack of smell coming from the box that I'm still using it. The only issue is that the pellets tend to be difficult to sift through your ordinary poop scooper, but there are scoopers out there with different designs with slots that are a little bigger (it's the poop that you'd have to sift the pellets around; with the pee clumps, they gravitate to the bottom of the box, so you basically move the "healthy" pellets aside and shovel the pee clumps out and dump it). There are a lot of litters that work great for awkward kittens, but Yesterday's News seems like the safest, best-working litter for kittens, in my own humble opinion.

Edit: forgot to add that it's not all that hard to find. You can find it at Petsmart and local feed stores, but in my area, WalMart (the land of cruddy foods and litters) has been carrying it for a year or so, which I think is wonderful. People who shop at Walmart and buy bad food can at least start a journey of healthy living when they decide to try out this weird litter, lol
 

danimarie

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Oh gosh, we just finally stopped using World's Best Cat Litter and I praise the Lord about that.

That stuff smelled awful awful awful.

I'm not too sure how old your new kittens are, but the whole "tasting the cat litter" phase doesn't last long, thank goodness.
 
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burbabies

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I've heard many people complain about the smell, but I like the fact that it is non-toxic. My kitten will be 4 months old when I get him from my breeder. I don't know if pure-bred kittens are different from shelter kittens in that the mum has the first 12 weeks of the kittens' lives to train them, while most shelter kittens may not have the luxury of having their mums to teach them.

I was thinking of Arm & Hammer Crystal Blends that's a mix of silica crystals and clumping litter. They say it's the best of both worlds!

Is it a common thing for kittens and cats to eat their litter? Is it even more common for felines to get sick from this? I've heard some scary stories about pregnant mums having $1000 operations from clumping litter found in their stomach that expanded inside of them! Please help! I don't know what litter to use and my kitten is coming next week! Yikes!
 

abymummy

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Kittens after the age of 16 weeks should have basically stopped "testing" the litter. Having said that, I wouldn't really recommend crystal /silica litter for a couple more months at least.
 

4kittiesmom

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I've been using feline pine for my tiny kittens I'm raising... and then I'll switch to clumping when they're older
 
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