What litter do you use?

[kittylover23]

I just read an article that said baking soda can cause acute renal failure in cats...which freaked me out, of course because there's baking soda in my litter! On my search for a new litter, I thought it would be a good idea to find out what litters you guys use?

The litter I'm currently using is Purina Maxx Scoop.

 

[emilymaywilcha]

Why would baking soda in cat litter cause kidney failure? Cats don't sit on it.

Patricia has always used Scoop Away because I have a rule it must be clumpable. It makes a huge mess on the floor when she gets out but I have no interest in changing to a different type of litter if I don't have to.

 

[detmut]

if you like clumping clay, use dr. elsey's precious cat ultra. no dust. 

if you can't find it, petco's own brand is very low dust. 

 

[detmut]

Why would baking soda in cat litter cause kidney failure? Cats don't sit on it.

Patricia has always used Scoop Away because I have a rule it must be clumpable. It makes a huge mess on the floor when she gets out but I have no interest in changing to a different type of litter if I don't have to.

scoop away unscented is good. it is a little dusty but provides very good odor control and clumps well.

 

[Willowy]

Right now I like Tidy Cats Premium line (the blue, green, and orange kinds--the main difference between the 3 is the scents). I tend to change my mind frequently but they're pretty good.

 

[melesine]

I use the Tidy Cat Breeze system. I never want to go back to regular litter again. 

 

[kittylover23]

Here's the article: http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/cat-litter-cautions-from-dr-cathy.html I don't know if I believe it, but it's not a risk I wanna take either.

 

[fair2middling]

I can't risk any exposure to silica dust so I use a clumping corncob litter, well actually my cat uses the litter.

 

[missymotus]

I won't use clumping litters, and with kittens it's not appropriate anyway.We use OzPet, which is wood pellets. It's very economical, lasts for a long time, no odour, no dust and safe for cats & kittens.

 

[cinderflower]

I can't risk any exposure to silica dust so I use a clumping corncob litter, well actually my cat uses the litter.

i used to use the litter box sometimes too but it really annoys the cats.

pine, but your cats have to like it.  i don't know why that woman is getting all upset about baking soda, bentonite and clumping litter have far more serious implications.  i know a cat would have to ingest a lot of it, but over time, daily getting little pieces on them and licking it off, it could build up.  at one point i thought that if i flushed the poo with hardly any litter stuck to it, it wouldn't hurt, and it didn't, for a couple of months.  then my toilet backed up and overflowed.  the plumber who unstuck it said, "it looks like you're flushing black cement," and i said, "oh no! it's the kitty litter."  it built up in the u-joint and formed a hard mass.

 

[fair2middling]

i used to use the litter box sometimes too but it really annoys the cats.

pine, but your cats have to like it.  i don't know why that woman is getting all upset about baking soda, bentonite and clumping litter have far more serious implications.  i know a cat would have to ingest a lot of it, but over time, daily getting little pieces on them and licking it off, it could build up.  at one point i thought that if i flushed the poo with hardly any litter stuck to it, it wouldn't hurt, and it didn't, for a couple of months.  then my toilet backed up and overflowed.  the plumber who unstuck it said, "it looks like you're flushing black cement," and i said, "oh no! it's the kitty litter."  it built up in the u-joint and formed a hard mass.

I filled up all of the large cracks in my concrete driveway with a 40# bag of bentonite kitty litter, it's still holding strong 3 years later!

 

[emilymaywilcha]

Scoop Away Unscented is good. It is a little dusty but provides very good odor control and clumps well.

I never thought about the litter being dusty. I just wondered if another clay-based clumpable litter does not make a huge mess near the boxes. If there is, I will switch to that for my next kitten.

The word unscented is very important to other people. Mom said the scented litter stinks.

 

[emilymaywilcha]

I won't use clumping litters, and with kittens it's not appropriate anyway. We use OzPet, which is wood pellets. It's very economical, lasts for a long time, no odour, no dust and safe for cats & kittens.

What's so bad about clumping litter? Emily and Patricia used it since they were little kittens with no problems. Wilbur was obese, so he wasn't able to clean his butt, but I never saw litter stuck on the poop or in his rectum.

I hate nonclumping litter because you have to dump all of it out and completely refill the box, which is just wasting a lot of litter.

 

[detmut]

I never thought about the litter being dusty. I just wondered if another clay-based clumpable litter does not make a huge mess near the boxes. If there is, I will switch to that for my next kitten.

The word unscented is very important to other people. Mom said the scented litter stinks.

dr. elsey's precious cat ultra has no dust all. and even petco's own brand is very low dust.

 

[detmut]

I won't use clumping litters, and with kittens it's not appropriate anyway. We use OzPet, which is wood pellets. It's very economical, lasts for a long time, no odour, no dust and safe for cats & kittens.

What's so bad about clumping litter? Emily and Patricia used it since they were little kittens with no problems. Wilbur was obese, so he wasn't able to clean his butt, but I never saw litter stuck on the poop or in his rectum.

I hate nonclumping litter because you have to dump all of it out and completely refill the box, which is just wasting a lot of litter.

there's a theoretical concern with kittens ingesting clumping litter because they are small. some people extend this to adult cats. but ask your vets if they have ever had a case of blockage due to clumping litter. i can't find one. 

 

[detmut]

i used to use the litter box sometimes too but it really annoys the cats.

pine, but your cats have to like it.  i don't know why that woman is getting all upset about baking soda, bentonite and clumping litter have far more serious implications.  i know a cat would have to ingest a lot of it, but over time, daily getting little pieces on them and licking it off, it could build up.  at one point i thought that if i flushed the poo with hardly any litter stuck to it, it wouldn't hurt, and it didn't, for a couple of months.  then my toilet backed up and overflowed.  the plumber who unstuck it said, "it looks like you're flushing black cement," and i said, "oh no! it's the kitty litter."  it built up in the u-joint and formed a hard mass.

i've been doing this for years with no problem.

 

[cinderflower]

I won't use clumping litters, and with kittens it's not appropriate anyway. We use OzPet, which is wood pellets. It's very economical, lasts for a long time, no odour, no dust and safe for cats & kittens.

ozpet has a nice special litterbox but @ $60  + shipping it's a little more than i want to pay.  i'm going to make my own eventually but until then i just reverse scoop every other day and remove feces daily.  i have run across people who use pine/wood pellet litter but it's mostly breeders.  for whatever reasons, individuals seem resistant to it but i will never use anything else.  i don't know if it's true or not because i don't know this woman, but http://thelighthouseonline.com/articles/clump.html  .  it could be a plausible fallacy, or it might not be.  it sounds perfectly reasonable to me, especially with tiny kittens.

the thing i love most about pine pellets is that there is absolutely no urine odor and it isn't artificially perfumed.

i've been doing this for years with no problem.

i'm sure some people can.  it ended very badly for me, but that wasn't the only thing i disliked about it.  bentonite is not biodegradable, used kitty litter sits in landfills, and strip-mining clay is hard on the environment.  i much prefer to use wood pellets from pine trees that were felled by pine beetles and aren't good for anything else anyway, because the feces can be flushed with no problem (unless you are afraid you're poisoning sea otters, which is a remote possibility) and the used sawdust composted and mulched.

but it's everyone's choice whatever kind they want to use.

 

[missymotus]

What's so bad about clumping litter? 

I hate nonclumping litter because you have to dump all of it out and completely refill the box, which is just wasting a lot of litter.

As a breeder I have litters of kittens around, kittens sometimes taste litter. I'd rather they not swallow the tiny bits of clumping litter than can cause issues. And I have found several vets who've seen kittens blocked up by litter.

Wood pellets break down into sawdust once wet, so after scooping out the solids the remaining litter is fresh. No need to dump all the litter, ever.

ozpet has a nice special litterbox but @ $60  + shipping it's a little more than i want to pay.

I get breeders rates so don't pay anywhere near that price 

 i have run across people who use pine/wood pellet litter but it's mostly breeders.

Probably because we go through more litter than the average owner so we use something that works extremely well, and is very economical. I always recommend it to my kitten owners too.

 

[mani]

Probably because we go through more litter than the average owner so we use something that works extremely well, and is very economical. I always recommend it to my kitten owners too.

So you think this is pretty cost-effective?  I googled it based on what you've been saying, and it seems go come as some kind of system?

 

[cinderflower]

i don't know if you're in australia or not, if so, the price will be considerably different.  i buy wood stove pellets, which are exactly the same as feline pine, except they only cost 4.37 for 40 lbs., and that much lasts me about six weeks.  compared to about 160 lbs. of tidy cat for about the same period, yeah.  it's amazingly cheaper and odor-free.

i think they sell it in other countries as a system because with a special litter box, it's easier.  the pellets just break apart as they absorb urine, and special boxes have holes and a second bottom where the sawdust accumulates and you just throw that out.  you have to take the feces out as soon as you can but you can flush those because it's biodegradable.  you can use a regular litter box, you just have to reverse scoop the whole pellets out to throw the sawdust away.