Need some input about ground clay.

For several years I have been using chicken feed as litter because it is natural, and it is inexpensive.
Recently, I tried a grocery store generic litter, marked all natural ingredients, and total ingredients is "ground clay".
The kicker is the cats LOVED it, and preferred it over the chicken feed as evidenced by the litter boxes.

So my question is, is ground clay bad for the cats, the lungs?? I am thinking it is ok, but before we officially switched, I wanted to pick your brains.
thanks.

Any sort of dust, if one is frequently exposed to it, is bad for lungs. The problem with clays is that it (and dirt in general) can be difficult for the lungs to clear out and may sometimes have other things in it like a tiny amount of silica.

If you've found a clay litter that isn't dusty, you should be fine with it.

thanks, the dust doesn't appear to be too bad. I think it is less than the chicken feed. What I don't like about it, is it is dark gray, and you can see it on the white paws, so I imagine they are licking that off. Such problems!

Find a nice mat for in front of the boxes? I wouldn't be overly concerned about them licking their paws clean. Cats have been doing that for thousands of years.

People ask what the best litters are - and really it's whatever works best for you, your cats, and your budget. If this works for you, good! (I don't like clay myself, too messy and Tomas gets red eyes from the slightest amount of dust)

does it say benonite on the bag somewhere?? if so this is the least chemically processed clay and usually lower dust ... I actually mix it with the chicken feed

no, it doewn't say benonite, it is the shoprite brand, says moisture=activated to neutralize odors on contact. hard clumping. 14 pounds is 4.00, so 50 lbs of chicken feed for 13 is just a little cheaper. Plus I don't ahve to lug a 50 pound bag home, I can buy the 14 pound plastic containers. They Love it. Right now it is being mixed till I am out of the chicken feed. But they had one pan of that straight, and three pans of chicken feed while I was on vacation, and my pet sitter said they all used the litter, and ignored the chicken feed, and continued after I ccame home, till I got around to going back to three boxes, which then contained chicken feed and this, so now they don't have choice.