Think it's time to switch from clumping clay

I have a diabetic cat. He drinks a fair amount of water. We go through more litter than most people do and have always bought the cheapest and clumpiest we can find. In our municipality, we are allowed to put out 2 bags of garbage each week with no bag over 50 pounds. One bag is full of used kitty litter and light non-food items. Used kitty litter is so heavy. The other bag is dedicated for non-compostible, non-recyclable items.

One night last week, he was up the street visiting with his former owners. It was snowing heavily as we walked the 3 houses home. He has very hairy feet. Long tufts of hair sticking out between his paws (not a Maine Coon but has some characteristics). He went in the door and straight into the closest litter box. The snow on his feet melted while he was in the litter box. The clumps of litter stuck to his pads and his tufts of hair were just unimaginable. I soaked and soaked and soaked, and wiped and wiped and wiped. He would only allow me to work on his hind legs for short amounts of time. It took 3 days to get his hind feet completely clear of litter. Yes, clipping the hair between his pads might help - but in actuality, the hair prevented the litter from going deeper into the space between the pads. The spaces where the litter managed to get right down between the pads was red by the time I managed to get the last bits out.

What are my alternatives? It must be a reasonable cost (we have three boxes and as I mentioned above, we go through a lot of litter), and very clumping (except not on the cat itself) and must be acceptable to the main scooper (the DH who hates it and will refuse any litter in which the clumps break apart). Also, can I compost the pine or the swheat scoop instead of tossing it in the landfill site?

I use Blue Buffalo Walnut. The price is more per bag, but I use so much less than when I had clay. Overall I would say I spend less than half on the Blue than I did on clay and it does not stick to the bottom of the pan like cement. It is flushable or compostable. I also have a cat with toe tufts. He does not like them trimmed. It does not get caught in his tufts. I have two large sleigh like litter pans. I did buy a very large rubber litter mat that I cut in half and have one in front of each box.

I use Blue Buffalo walnut, too, and love it. I can see where your husband might have some issues with it, because you do need to let it set before scooping it or it will break apart. It also starts breaking apart when it's time to dump the entire litter box.

Also really love Tidy Cat Breeze - it's expensive to set up (about $35 a box) and I get the pads (changed weekly) for about $5 for a bag of 4. I use Blue Buffalo pellets with it (changed monthly) and the bag runs about $8 and lasts 4 months or so.

Both of these are excellent in smell reduction, the best I've found.

I started using pine pellets a year ago and I absolutely love it. That's the kind when the cat pees on it, it breaks down into sawdust and falls to the bottom box.

The only way to use this litter efficiently (in my opinion) is to use it with a litter box made for pine pellets. Basically, it's one box with a sturdy grate for a bottom stacked on another box. They have about 3 or so inches of open space between them. You line the bottom box with a handful of pellets so when the cats pee, it falls through the grate of the top box and gets absorbed by the pellets on the bottom. Then, scoop poop as usual.

I empty and replace the sawdust in the bottom box about twice a week. I have 2 cats. One 20lb bag lasts me about 2 months I think. I use the Petco brand of pine pellets.

I bought the lotter box and litter scoop from this website, which can show you how the process works better than I can explain it:
http://www.felinepinelitterbox.com

Lastly, the biggest hurdle is to get the cats to use pellet litter. I just sprinkled Dr. Elsey's litter attractant over it and my cats took to it no problem. But I have pretty easy going cats too...

Please do review these products this month!

Review products and raise money for cats in need!

I haven't had a chance to get to the pet store yet.  But shall indeed attempt a review.