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Best litter for asthmatic cats

post #1 of 13
4/12/11 at 9:11am
Thread Starter 
I tried searching but there is a lot of scattered info on this topic so I wanted to just ask straight out. If you have an asthmatic cat, what litter do you prefer and why? I have a newly diagnosed cat and I'm trying to figure out what our options are.

Thanks in advance!
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post #2 of 13
4/12/11 at 9:21am
The only safe litters are non particulate type litters. Like Yesterday's News, Tidy cat Breeze sytem, and the Smart Cat Box system. Well washed course sand may be another possibility, but it would be troublesome to make sure it was high quality, heavy, and a tracking nightmare.

I use a DIY set up of the Smart Cat Box, with safflower seeds. A creative person on here uses popcorn kernels. lol

Anything else, even a claimed dustless clay (can someone explain how you keep clayparticles from rubbing against each other and creating dust?) are just that - claims. You get to decide if you want to risk your cat's life for a company that's goal is to make money.

Grain based litters are allergens, wood has the possibility of irritating lungs, too.
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post #3 of 13
4/12/11 at 9:39am
Thread Starter 
Thanks strange_wings! That helps a lot, although it's a bit discouraging since my little one is VERY particular about her litter box and has used Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat most of her life. Transitioning is going to be difficult. Not to mention that my older cat already has a tendency to go outside of the box due to her own health issues.
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post #4 of 13
4/12/11 at 9:46am
There's the clumping non-pelleted newspaper litters. Nature's Miracle makes one. I do not know if it makes a paper dust.

There's another litter by the same brand you use, though it's still clay…

Whatever you switch to, try a slow switch.

I had to switch 7 over with one that pees outside of the box when very stressed. I haven't had any problems. This set up makes for daily washing of litter boxes, so it takes more work. But I have one of my three that has bronchitis so badly that I'll do anything not to have to hear his coughing.


I hope spring isn't too hard on your kitty. We can work on the house allergens and irritants all we want and then spring comes along…
A tip for you since you're new to this: instead of lay person sites (which absolutely frustrate me) look up info in online medical text. It's so much better. To understand more about the disease look up "feline lower airway disease". It's the name for group of diseases that asthma belongs to.
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post #5 of 13
4/12/11 at 11:49am
I don't have an asthmatic cat, but - if I may, I'd suggest, further - if you have a covered litter pan - to take off the cover so that any dust-like particles will be released into the air, and not into her lungs because the dust particles she's kicking up stay inside the litter pan.

Also, another consideration might be (if you're feeding dry kibble) to change to a grain-free canned food - like Wellness. (?) just a thought ??

http://www.felineasthma.org/triggers/index.htm

Hope you find relief for both your babies.
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post #6 of 13
4/12/11 at 5:18pm
^My girls may live a somewhat normal lifespan, but I have no hope of that with Blann. Asthma would be preferable. I know his bronchitis is very likely to progress and eventually cause his death.
For this reason I want people to make 100% certain their cats really do have asthma and it's not another lower airway disease that's less reversible. From my reseach bronchitis is just as common, if not a little more so, as asthma. Yet I'm the only one on here with 3 bronchitis kitties?


Tamgirl - did diagnosed kitty have tritric before?
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post #7 of 13
4/15/11 at 1:56pm
I've seen, but not used, Dr. Elsey's new respiratory relief litter - there's both crystal and clay. I swear by Cat Attract by Dr. Elsey, but if mine had breathing issues, I'd be very willing to try the new Elsey litter.
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post #8 of 13
4/17/11 at 9:46am
Riley has asthma and we have had the most success with Dr. Elsey Precious cat litter. It is the only one that doesn't make him cough or wheeze when scratching in the litter pan. He was diagnosed almost 2 years ago and we have been using it ever since.
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post #9 of 13
4/18/11 at 5:29am
IMO since most litters are clay there is a lot of dust. I would work on using the pellet litters (wood) as that is just about 100% dust free.
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post #10 of 13
4/18/11 at 7:17am
My Dexter kitty, gets severe (life threatening) asthma from something in clay litter, including the premium litters such as Dr Isley. It could be the dust or an additive but regardless of why....
he can't be near clay litter.

We switched to Worlds Best (corn) original, several years ago.
So far, no asthma attack.
WBCL is very dusty but it works for us.

Good luck finding something that works for your sweetie pie.
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post #11 of 13
4/18/11 at 7:29am
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoldenKitty45 View Post
IMO since most litters are clay there is a lot of dust. I would work on using the pellet litters (wood) as that is just about 100% dust free.
Except their use is contradicted in literature concerning lower airway disease (medical texts, not just websites) just like grain based and clay litters are. I've explained why in other threads, at least 2-3 times now.

The Dr. Elsey's litter was the last clay litter I tried years ago (2007). It poured out dustier than Wal-mart's special kitty (I've since then read it was just a bad batch… but it's not something I'd waste money on again) clumping. It still greatly bothered Tomas (no asthma in him, he's just sensitive to all dust).
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post #12 of 13
4/18/11 at 7:59am
Quote:
Originally Posted by strange_wings View Post
Except their use is contradicted in literature concerning lower airway disease (medical texts, not just websites) just like grain based and clay litters are. I've explained why in other threads, at least 2-3 times now.
Would you post links to the medical texts or to your previous threads you referenced in this reply?
Thanks
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post #13 of 13
4/18/11 at 8:52am
The threads I talked about the problem with wood is in this section, I think they were threads about dustless litters.
In case anyone wonders why I don't search and post the threads, search+my phone just doesn't work. Something about it either refuses to search altogether or it crashes my browsers.

The medical texts and studies are pdfs and copied paged from previews on Google Books. I don't book mark links to things already saved on my computer. But anyone can find a lot of great info by looking things up. The terms I used were "feline chronic progressive inflammatory bronchitis" and variations of that. "Inflammatory feline lower airway disease", etc. Mine don't have asthma, thus I don't look up asthma as a search term and can get passed laymen sites that only focus on that. (For example, has anyone just getting their info from such sites found much on emphysema and COPD?)

The fabcats site already linked to in this thread is hit and miss, my main problem with it being that in one part they acknowledge bronchitis as it's own disease, but in another claim it's asthma. Regardless of that their list of triggers is correct and wood is on there. So are grains, as litter and food. You have but to look at all the cats allergic to grains in their food to realize it's a serious potential allergen.
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