any suggestions on a truly dust free "natural " clumping Litter

[donnajean]

Hello,

I seem to find myself  at the end of trying to find a natural clumping litter that is free of silica dust(harmful to lungs if inhaled) and bentonite clay (controversy on if cats lick this substance it can cause digestive issues) and that has no added perfumes, chemicals.

I have tried in the past yesterdays News, not a big hit since it does not "clump" and created quite a mess in the litter box (soggy)

I have tried Feline pine clumping, too piney smelling and I have a cat who has allergies (pine can be an allergent )

I have tried World's Best, too dusty and if your cat has allergies corn can be a mistake to use.

I have tried , and stuck with this one for a while, SWheat, problem is it also has quite a bit of dust and again Wheat can be an issue with cats who have allergies, plus it has a weird smell with urine comes into contact with it.

It is hard for me because I have three cats, the one with allergies we don't know what he is allergic to as of yet... He was suppose to be on a RX diet Z/D low Allergen because of his allergy and his probable IBD but he wouldn't eat it no matter what I tried so I mixed Nature's Variety Instinct Limited Ingredient Diet of Turkey in with it and he just ate the Nature's Variety. So we are going with just the Nature's Variety Instinct  dry with some NV LID canned (will only eat  canned watered down and only first thing in the morning)

He is still scratching some around the sides of his face and suddenly licks his paws and feet.

I took him off of the food he was eating with grains about two + weeks ago ..

Now to Blue Walnut clumping litter, I have bought over a course of 4 months four bags of this litter.

If anyone has seen or purchased this litter you know how $$ it is.

I had been mixing it in with the SWheat, works excellent for covering smells, clumps great.

Problem, I thought I would purchase one more bag to see if perhaps I got a bad batch the past few times because it was dusty.

This last bag was horribly dusty..I took a kitchen drain strainer upstairs where the sun was coming in and poured a little into the strainer and shook it..The dust was Horrific , I couldn't believe it..

Blues statement on bag says "virtually no dust ", HMMM... I think they better rethink that statement.

Wrote Blue, of course they wanted to know what size bag I bought, what kind, where I purchased it, what state and information on the back of the bag that supposedly gives production date.

Well, I can't have my cat inhaling all this dust, nor my other two cats..I had to get a larger strainer and worked for a long time to shake alot of the dust out so I could fill three litter boxes !

Blue said they have a 100 % money back guarantee on their products, great, but I had already used half the bag and was not going back into town to complain and return it..

Does anyone have any other suggestions on a clumping litter that  will not make you think you just came in from a dust storm and that is safe for pets and humans ???

 

[GoldyCat]

Which formula of the Blue did you get? I've been using the Multi-Cat formula and find that it's lower dust than most other litters I've tried. It does put some dust in the air if I pour it into the litter box too quickly, but very little when the cats are digging or I'm scooping it. The regular formula cost slightly less, so I got a bag one time thinking I could save some money if it worked as well as the multi-cat. B-i-i-i-g mistake. The regular stuff is ground much finer and the dust is horrible. It also doesn't absorb the urine as well, so doesn't clump hard, and the odor control is only so-so.

If the bag you have is the regular formula, maybe you could take what you haven't used back and exchange it for bag of the multi-cat to see if that works better for you.

 

[donnajean]

Which formula of the Blue did you get? I've been using the Multi-Cat formula and find that it's lower dust than most other litters I've tried. It does put some dust in the air if I pour it into the litter box too quickly, but very little when the cats are digging or I'm scooping it. The regular formula cost slightly less, so I got a bag one time thinking I could save some money if it worked as well as the multi-cat. B-i-i-i-g mistake. The regular stuff is ground much finer and the dust is horrible. It also doesn't absorb the urine as well, so doesn't clump hard, and the odor control is only so-so.

If the bag you have is the regular formula, maybe you could take what you haven't used back and exchange it for bag of the multi-cat to see if that works better for you.

It was the regular, maybe that is the difference but why put "virtually no dust" on the bag when it is dustier than any other litter I have ever tried.

Perhaps I will try a small bag of the multi cat and see if there is a difference....

 

[franksmom]

I used the blue litter as well and it may have been my batch but it was crazy dusty and since my cats are white they ended up covered in brown dust, it was a mess! After years of trying every "natural" litter brand out there started buying 100 percent bentonite clay which is not covered in silica dust. I made this decision in part after reading Dr. Pierson's take on litter (http://catinfo.org/?link=litterbox#Types_of_Litter). 

I do think the pine pellets are probably the best litter because they have zero dust, but I am selfish and spent a lot of money on a litter robot last year which I do not want to throw out. And since your guy has allergies it would probably not be a good option either. 

 

[Draco]

what about those blue crystals? I don't know much about them though, but aren't they dust free?

 

[donnajean]

I used the blue litter as well and it may have been my batch but it was crazy dusty and since my cats are white they ended up covered in brown dust, it was a mess! After years of trying every "natural" litter brand out there started buying 100 percent bentonite clay which is not covered in silica dust. I made this decision in part after reading Dr. Pierson's take on litter (http://catinfo.org/?link=litterbox#Types_of_Litter). 

I do think the pine pellets are probably the best litter because they have zero dust, but I am selfish and spent a lot of money on a litter robot last year which I do not want to throw out. And since your guy has allergies it would probably not be a good option either. 

Ok, I am assuming that you are using a non clumping litter ? I prefer a litter that clumps, since I have a total of 4 litter boxes ..Plus with clumping litter I could see if I have a potential problem with one of my cats (urinary)

I am quite confused on Bentonite clay vs Sodium Bentonite clay, I know there are two kinds, Calcium and Sodium...The Sodium bentonite , like in clumping litters (tidy cat, fresh step, etc) when wet swells up 5 times its size  and hence when dries is like concrete..Wouldn't this over time be a concern with cats always cleaning themselves?

So is the dust that comes off of the clay litters safe when inhaled or lets say ingested (cat licks its paws)...??

There is so much controversy out there on regular clumping litters, bentonite, silica, etc....

I don't know there seems to not be a "perfect" cat litter out there.....

 

[donnajean]

what about those blue crystals? I don't know much about them though, but aren't they dust free?

Great idea but prefer clumping litter due to I have one cat who has been prone to crystals in the past and with clumping I can see how much urine output my cats are putting out....sounds odd but with regular litter or non clumping the urine usually goes to bottom of litter box and hard to see....

 

[maewkaew]

 I do not think there IS a truly dust free clumping litter especially non-clay.   But World's Best  corn-based litter  seems to be less dusty than most   --- but I agree it can be a problem  for some cats with allergies.  I had a cat who could not tolerate that litter at all. 

  but  the other kinds  of non- clay clumping that I tried were even dustier.

 

[franksmom]

Ok, I am assuming that you are using a non clumping litter ? I prefer a litter that clumps, since I have a total of 4 litter boxes ..Plus with clumping litter I could see if I have a potential problem with one of my cats (urinary)

I am quite confused on Bentonite clay vs Sodium Bentonite clay, I know there are two kinds, Calcium and Sodium...The Sodium bentonite , like in clumping litters (tidy cat, fresh step, etc) when wet swells up 5 times its size  and hence when dries is like concrete..Wouldn't this over time be a concern with cats always cleaning themselves?

So is the dust that comes off of the clay litters safe when inhaled or lets say ingested (cat licks its paws)...??

There is so much controversy out there on regular clumping litters, bentonite, silica, etc....

I don't know there seems to not be a "perfect" cat litter out there.....

No I use clumping and I use either the premium sun dried clay litter from the litter robot company (http://www.litter-robot.com/litter-robot-accessories.aspx?categoryid=10) and I also found this litter that I can get on the ground and I emailed the company and they told me they do not add silica powder to it (http://www.petvalu.com/in-our-store...y-litter/easy-clean-clumping-unscented-litter). It is sodium bentonite but in my opinion any litter is going to expand in the GI tract. I do my best to limit their consumption of litter by having a rug outside the box where they wipe their feet. I also will often wipe them down with pet wipes after they get out of the box. It is by no means perfect litter but it is a lot less dusty than the natural litters so I feel better about them using this and not inhaling corn dust.

Like I said the safest litter I think is the pine pellets because there is no dust at all, but they are not for every cat.