What, in your opinion, is the best litter?

Here is my humble opinion... Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat is the BEST clay/silica litter on the market- bar none.

However, given the number of cats that I have and that ALL clay litters throw up serious dust, no matter WHAT they claim, I have started converting my boys to World's Best Cat Litter which is made from ground up corn cobs. Right now I am at a 50/50 mixture and they are accepting it. And there seems to be less dust floating around and on surfaces.

Others swear by pelletized litter such as the Tidy Cats Breeze system...

I am allergic to all the dust so I am looking into the above as well.

Also - to help with tracking, put down a washable mat in front of the litter pan if you haven't already... that will help knock off some of the dust and the pieces.

Arm & Hammer IIRC likes to put perfumes on their litters, and that is never ideal for kitties that have approximately 14 times more powerful sense of smell than humans. Its similar to walking by a guy that just took a bath in cologne. *choke*

I'm a huge fan of baking soda for my trash can, my fridge, and my toothpaste... but not litter. I have heard concerns of cracked paws in kitties in dry environments, contributed by the drying effect of the baking soda that they put into their litter to absorb odor. Not a healthy additive IMO.

Clay litter is inexpensive and performs quite well, but it is IMO best avoided when possible. For one, when you bag your clay litter and throw it in the trash, it will never biodegrade in that landfill. The clay is also close to the surface, and so contribute to strip mining operations, which can turn vast areas into virtual deserts. From a health standpoint, there are some that caution against the effects of the dust which contains the carcinogen silica and sodium bentonite clumping additive which cats lick off their fur and can stick to intestinal linings.

Personally, I would stick with a non-pellet low-dust biodegradable and high clumping litter. There are options out there made from pine, corn, wheat, and others.

I haven't tried them all, but I like mixing WBCL with Swheat Scoop Multicat. If I had to use only one litter, I would use Swheat Scoop Multicat (even if you have only one cat, just means extra clumping) as its not SUPER expensive and the odor absorption and smell of the litter itself are good.

BTW, my supermarket has the small boxes of Swheat Scoop... man o man was that expensive. Check Petsmart for the 40lb bags. A big savings in my neck of the woods at least.

Tidy cat is my favorite. It clumps great and with 11 cats I need odor control and there is no litterbox odor in my house.

I like the corn based litters. It clumps, flushes, and controls odor as well as clay, if not better. Clay litter is bad for people, cats, and our planet. I didn't like pine litter - too messy. I haven't tried wheat litter yet.

Robin

I like Tidy Cats too but the original (non-clumping, red label). I think I've written to the company in the past telling them I think TC's odor control is superb.

I would love to use Swheat Scoop but it's $24.99 for a small bag at our local pet store, CRAZY!!

Oh wow, yeah I pay $30 for a 40lb super huge bag. Stuff lasts forever too, and I find myself just completely changing litter more as a precaution than an obvious need.

Next time I go in I'll check the size of the bag, as soon as I seen the price I walked away

Geez, that's 2x as much as the Tidy Cats scoopable is near me for 40 lbs. I was thinking about switching, but not at that kind of expense.

I've tried a lot of different clumping litters and seem to always come back to the Walmart brand Special Kitty (in the green box). It's about the least dusty of anything I've tried and has great odor control (for six cats).

Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat is about equivalent to Special Kitty in texture and low dust, but is the absolute WORST for no odor control.

I like the TidyCats multiple cat (red lid), too, but the odor control isn't quite as good as Special Kitty and my cats don't seem to like the texture as well.

I've tried pine pellets and corn-based litters a couple of times, but can't give you an opinion on how they work because my cats won't go near them.

No opinion on non-clumping clay litters, either. I haven't used that kind except when I had tiny kittens and found I was scooping all day and changing out litter completely at least twice a week.

How often do you have to completely dump the Tidy Cats though? If its twice as much, there is no price difference.

There was a thread before for example where people were asking if they really ever had to replace Swheat Scoop, or if it could just be topped off to slowly and gradually replace the litter over time as its used.

TidyCats, or any other clumping clay litter, can be done the same way. Just top it off when the level gets too low. It's the non-clumping litters that need to be completely changed out at least once a week.

I have used Tidy Cats Scoopable ( very good clumping and odor control) but I thought it was dusty. Although, my cats really did like that litter. I have used Swheat Scoop and WBCL alone and together. Swheat scoop is less than WBCL. I now am trying Chick starter feed, which is the same thing as WBCL and much cheaper.

I change it once a month, actually. And I could do that same topping up thing with the clay litter I use as well. I only change it fully because I want to clean the box itself.

Over the years I've used many kinds. I've used several clumping litters and none of them worked that great after awhile. One of the breeders of my Ocicat was using the wood stove pellets and I thought that might work better.

In about 2-3 weeks I had the cats using the pellets and love them. Much more effective to control odor and darn cheap. I can get a 40 lb bag of wood stove pellets for $5.00. Can't beat that!

Where can you buy the wood stove pellets? Is it actually made for cat litter or do you just buy them as wood stove pellets and use them as cat litter?

They are sold as wood stove pellets. If they were marketed as cat litter, I suspect their cost-efficiency would go down as pellet makers would turn into greedy pet suppliers and shoot the price up ($30 for a "litter mat" vs $5 for a ribbed door mat that is the exact same thing)

I swear by World's Best. I was having bad asthma reactions to clay litter, and after reading about the potential lung and blockage problems they can cause in cats, I was eager to switch.

The WB doesn't bother my allergies or asthma and doesn't make me worry about unsafe chemicals since it's just corn. Plus I love how it clumps. It's perfect! It creates nice clumps but they're not so solid that they form cement bricks at the bottom of the box that essentially have to be chiseled off.

And like Ducman said about Swheat Scoop, I find I have to do complete litter changes far less frequently than I did with the clay litter.

I absolutely swear by Scoop Away. IMO it is the best! I have four cats using the same litter and it never ever ever smells in my room or house!