what's your favorite cat litter?

I use now regular sawdust, traditional cat litter from 50's or something like that.

Thing is I get it free from nearby farmer, it is also much easier to use than commercial brands, scoop sawdust from plastic bad to litter box, next day take empty bag pull it over the litter box, shake sawdust off from litterbox and fill litterbox again.

Then just compost the stuff. No waste, no hours of scooping in a week, no horrible smells after few days despite careful scooping, no breaking clumps.

It is also waste byproduct from farmer's sawmill that has not much other uses, another farmer uses that for his horse bedding.

Great bit is that it is very natural and ecological circle, after composting I can use stuff to help trees grow better for example, which eventually provide firewood, logs for planks etc. and again I get sawdust also.

Even my house's insulation is sawdust, at 40's there was not much better available, if I need to do some repairing to house I can use again sawdust to repair insulation, it is quite nice stuff.

I save over 50 euros in a month with sawdust instead of commercial cat litter.

Bad points are that it is bit messy, it is easily carried around the room in cat's paws, also it is not the best stuff to conceal smells, but it is better than many commercial clay based cat litters. When replacing stuff daily there is not big issues with the smell though.

We use Feline Pine- it is great at odor control. They have changed the consistency of it a couple times over the past year and now it does not clump as well after a few days. So, to enhance clumping and to make it last longer (it's pretty expensive), we mix it with a less expensive brand. Usually Nature's Miracle or the natural Arm and Hammer. A box of each lasts us about 3 weeks. I love the pine because I can't stand the scent of kitty litter. It seems like even the unscented varieties have that distinct, almost perfumey scent to them. The cats like the pine just fine, too, as long as it's not the pellets. With Feline Pine the bagged is in pellet form and the boxed is ground down fine.

ATM & HAMMER is the best cat litter I have found that really works!

I love pine pellet litter. I am too cheap to pay for feline pine so I use equine pellets they are the same thing and cheaper, $5 for 40lbs. Why pay more for a picture of a cat on the front. lol. I hate clay litter with a passion, so much dust! 

That said I just read that some of you switched back to clumping after dealing with bladder problems. The dread of having to go back to clumping, dust and tracking is freaking me out. Using pellet litter allows me to have more cat boxes even in my bedroom without any odor or mess. My vet did not mention that at all   I will ask him and maybe try those tidy cats breeze boxes or something if I have to switch. 

We love crystals here. It says on the packet they will last for a month but I change them sooner. At the moment I also have paper pellets but the cats are preferring the crystals. I have three litter boxes and they are all covered. I actually think the cats like the privacy and I don't have a problem with smell.

luvmy4 said:

I love pine pellet litter. I am too cheap to pay for feline pine so I use equine pellets they are the same thing and cheaper, $5 for 40lbs. Why pay more for a picture of a cat on the front. lol. I hate clay litter with a passion, so much dust! 

That said I just read that some of you switched back to clumping after dealing with bladder problems. The dread of having to go back to clumping, dust and tracking is freaking me out. Using pellet litter allows me to have more cat boxes even in my bedroom without any odor or mess. My vet did not mention that at all   I will ask him and maybe try those tidy cats breeze boxes or something if I have to switch. 

Click to expand...

That is actually part reason why I use sawdust, I had heating pellets too, but those did not work too well, same as with cat pellets, too hard to step and not good for digging, so sawdust does not clump, but it is easier to toss away and fill with new sawdust than doing all the clump removal and breathing all that dust in, can't be healthy at all.

JTbo said:

That is actually part reason why I use sawdust, I had heating pellets too, but those did not work too well, same as with cat pellets, too hard to step and not good for digging, so sawdust does not clump, but it is easier to toss away and fill with new sawdust than doing all the clump removal and breathing all that dust in, can't be healthy at all.

Click to expand...

My cats will use the pellets without problems. They probably don't love it, but I have been using pellets for a long time. My partner's cats transitioned without problems, I did it slowly. I did try the clumping feline pine years ago and it tracked worse than clay.

Does the sawdust track all over the house?

I use sifter boxes so they don't really track any sawdust that I've noticed, but they aren't really stepping on it either since I shake it often.

luvmy4 said:

My cats will use the pellets without problems. They probably don't love it, but I have been using pellets for a long time. My partner's cats transitioned without problems, I did it slowly. I did try the clumping feline pine years ago and it tracked worse than clay.
Does the sawdust track all over the house?
I use sifter boxes so they don't really track any sawdust that I've noticed, but they aren't really stepping on it either since I shake it often.

Click to expand...

Oh yes, there is sawdust in their paws and it gets carried around, but then again I have only one truly short hair, rest are medium to long hair and there is cat fur a loads more than sawdust, so it is twice a day brooming/hoovering was there sawdust or not, so it does not make much of difference here.

Maybe some special brush kind of mat would prevent the problem as it is not only sandbox they try to dig, but I haven't bothered with that, it is perfectly impossible dream to have anything else than cat fur everywhere, if there is small bit of sawdust it really is not much of issue, but with single cat household or even without fur issues story would be different.

JTbo said:

Oh yes, there is sawdust in their paws and it gets carried around, but then again I have only one truly short hair, rest are medium to long hair and there is cat fur a loads more than sawdust, so it is twice a day brooming/hoovering was there sawdust or not, so it does not make much of difference here.

Maybe some special brush kind of mat would prevent the problem as it is not only sandbox they try to dig, but I haven't bothered with that, it is perfectly impossible dream to have anything else than cat fur everywhere, if there is small bit of sawdust it really is not much of issue, but with single cat household or even without fur issues story would be different.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I will keep it in mind if I need to switch from pellets in the future. I am kind of obsessive about cleaning and hated seeing pine dots on the sofa and my BED. lol. The clumping feline pine at least doesn't have the gross dust that clay does. I imagine that the sawdust would be fairly similar and I like that you are able to get it cheaply from a local sawmill. I have 3 DSH and 1 DLH and still have to vacuum fur up daily, even though they are brushed daily as well. That is just part of having furry kitties I suppose.

Cats and human children are pretty much the same. You clean up one area of the house whilst they are dirtying up the rest. It can be very frustrating but we love them to bits anyway

I have no special cat litter so I get whatever is cheapest.

So far I like PURE NATURE WITH CEDAR, CORN AND PINE CLUMPING LITTER..  Before that I swore by FRESH STEP!   The PURE NATURE is made by Purina TIDY CATS!  It was recommended to me by a scientist who happened to be buying this litter next to me in Harris Teeter.  She raved over it so much that she convinced me!  I like the natural scent of the cedar and pine, and I think that it covers up the odor better than any I have used!  I hope this helps!  By the way, I have had cats for most of my life which is about forty-seven (47) years!   Now if someone can help with me a problem that I have never had, and that is how can the cats be trained to cover it up when they use the litter box.  That would be a wonderful help in my life!  Thank you and everyone enjoy your day!  

Sarah Godwin said:

Now if someone can help with me a problem that I have never had, and that is how can the cats be trained to cover it up when they use the litter box.  That would be a wonderful help in my life!  Thank you and everyone enjoy your day!  

Click to expand...

Hi Sarah and Welcome to TCS! 

You will get a lot more answers to your question if you start a new thread on it. If you go to the Behavior homepage you should see a button to do so. This is a very long and general thread so most people aren't going to check it for specific questions.

I personally don't know of a way to train them to bury- it seems to just be a matter of personal preference- some seem to enjoy it while others don't. But, it's a common complaint so others may have found a way. So, get a new thread going and see! 

Best of luck and enjoy the site! 

YAY I finally found one I like Walmart carries it and it's called Econo Cat (or something like that) It clumps well, doesn't track any worse than other litters, and is only about 7bucks for 18kg. 

Failing that I'll buy Special Kitty multi-cat formula, but I have to change the whole box more often when I use that one. 

I have multiple cats now, so hopefully my new favorite litter will hold up under pressure lol

get the breeze system it works both cats love it, oh and no litter all over the house, it's pellets one bag a month 13 dollars for pads and litter for a month

Thank you for posting the rebate address! Very thoughtful!!! 

I switched to pride from tidycats because i get 10% off kroger brand because my bf wors for kroger

After trying many brands and different types of litter sand and grit, I finally reached to a decision; I will stick to Fresh Step ► http://www.freshstep.com, which is really great, when it comes to drying out the faeces and suppressing the odor within less than 2 minutes.

hakeemtarabulsi said:

After trying many brands and different types of litter sand and grit, I finally reached to a decision; I will stick to Fresh Step ► http://www.freshstep.com, which is really great, when it comes to drying out the faeces and suppressing the odor within less than 2 minutes.

Click to expand...

I would highly recommend getting only the unscented kind. I tried the original scented formula with my first kitty and couldn't breathe well when I was in the same room as the litter box because of the dust and perfume. Needless to say, I bought a different kind the next day and dumped the perfumed litter without waiting for it to be used up.

World's Best Litter

Yes you'll have to mortgage your house to buy it ( $11.00) but so worth it

I've only used it on my feral kitten and Momma colony- kittens are now adopted but I still have Momma ( Queen) and since this is pricey - I'm using Fresh Scoop ( made of 99.9% recycled paper and perfumed) which is terrible- I don't recommend it- smells like air freshener and cats don't like it-

For kittens I recommend worlds best litter!