My three cats and their mother love any pine wood pellet horse bedding! Easy to pick out, simply stir damp with dry, smells great, lasts a long time and is economical.
This after years of stinky, dusty, clumpy, muddy footprints and clay all over the house.
IMO, there’s nothing better.
Clay clumping litters are strip mined
Please read this:
http://kapush.net/cat-litter/strip-mining-cat-litter/
Sodium Bentonite, perhaps the most popular constituent of clump cat litter, is obtained through strip mining.
There is obviously an environmental impact. Sodium Bentonite mining makes business sense only when it is found close to the surface. Therefore, it is strip mined for cat litter. The top layer of the earth (the overburden) is removed, when strip mining, to take out the clay. Even though there are laws that the land must be left as it was and filled and flattened, how scrupulously such laws can be followed is anyone’s guess.
I use World’s Best, and after initially nibbling it, the cats ignore it as a snack. It does have an odd smell, but I can’t really be a party to strip mining. There is no other way to make clay cat litter, so really, let’s just stop using it, ok?
For years, I was a Tidy Cat girl. Then switched to the Petco house brand for a year or so. Then decided to go “green” and flushable so I tried World’s Best. It was ok. Until it had been in the box a week or so and the corn would go rancid. OMG…the smell was awful! Then I tried the Schweat–but the smell of the litter plus the dust was a deal-breaker. Now, I’m a happy Blue Buffalo (walnut-based!) customer. The best clumping and no odor other than the faintest walnutty smell. The only drawback is that it’s a dark brown so I keep an extra bathmat at the entrance to the box and still sweep once a day. You can compost or flush it. Yes, it’s pricier than clay, but it’s absolutely worth every penny.
And for some perspective, cat went through a bout of explosive diarrhea from May until the last couple of weeks (instigated by a dose of antibiotics in spite of the probiotics he was getting). In the intervening time, I’ve tried different foods and different litters in an attempt to get a handle on the product of his explosions. He may be just one cat, but I’ve had up to 3 litterboxes in 800 sq. feet because when he had to go, he HAD to go. And the smell… And the texture… Anyway, we are both happy now and no one can tell that I have any litterboxes in the house as long as I keep it scooped regularly and sweep up the crumbs. Hooray for Blue Buffalo!!!
I use this too, its my favorite. I tried World’s BEst and thought it was just a less effective and more expensive version of Swheat Scoop. I just bought a 40 lb. bag for I think $27 or $29 at Petsmart, but its worth it IMO, its less dusty than those less expensive grey scoopable brands.
Wow!
Gee, thanks everyone for the great feedback! I think I should have mentioned I’m in Canada though…might not be able to get all the brands mentioned like PetCo.
I’m intrigued on the Arm & Hammer. I think I’ve seen that and always assumed that it was clay so dismissed it. I’ll take a better look when I’m shopping next. The Blue Buffalo sounds like it might be good too - any idea if it’s available in Canada?
The stuff I have now has a pine kind as well as the corncob I currently have. I pondered switching to see if it’s any better, but then afraid I’ll be stuck with two bags that just reek instead of one. I dumped some baking soda into the boxes last night in hopes I can get through at least a few boxes worth before being a total write-off. The cats don’t seem to mind yet - but I can only imagine what it must smell like to them compared to me. Scratch that. Shop sooner than later!
I love how some of you describe your kitties and their proclivities…many of them made me laugh out loud…like excavating to china.
My one princess - and this isn’t a litter thing at all - when she’s outside during supervised outside time, takes a #2. Not in the garden though…noooo…she doesn’t like the mulch on her pretty, little paws. Right in the grass in the front yard in full view of neighbours. Oh geez! I have to pick up poo now like I have a dog LOL!
Thx Again!!
FF
I also use Worlds Best but recently found Blue Buffalo makes a walnut based cat liter. I gave it a try and now we use both types. I like both equally as well. The Blue Buffalo is dark brown in color.
Swheat Scoop user here. I despise clay cat litters because of the environmental issues–and basically, you have to put it in the landfill when you clean the box…stupid use of natural resources IMO.
Swheat scoop is a bit dusty, but nothing worse than clay. At $29/40 lbs. it makes sense with our six cats. The Blue Buffalo is nearly double that cost:eek:…not happening here! I add a bit of baking soda, and we clean Am/Pm regardless of the litter type. Dogs do like the tasty wheat bits, so we have to keep an eye on them. I have our boxes on their own rugs and just have to vacuum or sweep around them occasionally.
I tried the wood pellets and the cats had a conniption fit, so that was out.
Pine shavings, the kind you use for a horse stall. Cheaper than even the cheapest litter, and smells great! It doesn’t clump though, and it will track EVERYWHERE. But it does go on the compost and the cats don’t complain.
Hmmm. Okay, I’m a die hard Precious Cat Ultra user. I’ve tried various alternate non-clay litters and just haven’t been happy with them for assorted reasons. But the walnut Blue Buffalo litter is interesting and one I hadn’t tried, so I picked up a bag and switched out one box.
The cats seem to use it fine and it’s very low dust. It’s also lighter weight than clay, which is nice. It does not clump as hard as clay. Jury is out on the smell.
[QUOTE=Lori B;6509886]
I use World’s Best, and after initially nibbling it, the cats ignore it as a snack. It does have an odd smell, but I can’t really be a party to strip mining. There is no other way to make clay cat litter, so really, let’s just stop using it, ok?[/QUOTE]
Nope. Not until one of the “environmentally friendly” ones does nearly as good a job clumping AND killing odor. I’d rather make the cats live in the barn.
If you don’t want to live next to land that has been strip mined, then you can’t really expect other people to want to, can you?
Swheat Scoop and Arm & Hammer are available in Canada.
Im really liking flushing the litter rather than putting it in the garbage. If you do use ss, get a big litter box so it can always be full…the more litter you have in there the better it works for clumping and keeping it from sticking to the bottom.
Living with cat piss in the house is worse than living next to a strip mine, so I’m going to use the litter that my cats LIKE that keeps the smell down. Period. Cat piss is a terrible substance.
Are you in canada? If so pc green kitty litter
[QUOTE=ponygirl;6510088]
I also use Worlds Best but recently found Blue Buffalo makes a walnut based cat liter. I gave it a try and now we use both types. I like both equally as well. The Blue Buffalo is dark brown in color.[/QUOTE]
I second the Blue Buffalo Walnut litter. I mainly use World’s Best Cat Litter, but after a little while, the smell really starts to make me sick (sort of a sweet corny smell). That’s usually a sign, to me anyway, that it’s time to dump it and fill the box with fresh stuff. But I recently got the Walnut stuff, just to try it (a couple small bags, for a kitten we’d just gotten). So far, I really like it. Clumps well, and there’s no smell. It’s being used only downstairs, in a couple of places (upstairs gets the WBCL). I haven’t noticed any tracking yet, either, or dust (when Buffy cat uses the Worlds Best cat litter, she sports little yellow powdery socks on her black legs. It’s hilarious, but kinda gross). My dog has decided, in the last year, that World’s Best Cat Litter tastes DELISH, and so far he hasn’t taken to scooping up mouthfuls of the walnut stuff. Granted, it’s only been a couple of weeks and to be fair, we haven’t caught him eating the WBCL in that time either.
You can get both at Petsmart in Canada, and actually, right now, every time you buy cat litter at Petsmart, your receipt prints off a $2-off coupon for when you buy a Blue Buffalo litter.
I am a die hard Feline Pine user, but I buy the Petsmart brand, which is Exquisite Cat or something like that. My cats like it.
Where can I find Equine Pine? We have a Farm and Fleet and a Rural King here, no Tractor Supply.
my barn beds with shavings, so they don’t use bagged bedding.
I’m very surprised at all the horse people using Feline Pine. Woody Pet or Equine Fresh is like %90 cheaper and the exact same thing.
I buy a 50lb bag for $6.00 and it’s available at pretty much any store that stocks horse feed.
I only use it for my bunny though, I dump his box twice a week. The cats I scoop daily and I don’t like taking the pieces of wood out because it’s wasteful.
I use World’s Best, the Lavender version. Love it. You really need to scoop your box every day to reduce odors.
Cat Attract clumps well and is not very dusty at all. But it IS EXPENSIVE. My cats aren’t picky so I buy whatever is cheapest on sale and is not very dusty.
I love the corn cob cat litter I find at Walmart. I can’t remember the name (it is NOT Feline Pine), but it comes is a zip-lock bag and is not expensive. It is very lightweight, but although it smells nice it does not cover up other smells as well as some clay-type litters. I do not use scented litters because they are hard on kitties, and I have read that pine litters are not good for kitties either. I just read something about corn cob litters and the danger of aflatoxins, but I want to research that further.
If I could afford it I would probably buy Cat Attract. As it is, I love Tidy Cats best of the ones I can afford.
Walnut review after a few more days:
Kitties are using it well and it just smells like earth. Not bad at all. Still not clumping as hard as Precious Cat Ultra, but clumps enough. It is easier to clean because it’s so light. I’m not seeing much tracking at all, either.
Cat Attract is just the Precious Cat with extra stuff to make it smell better to kitties. If you like it, just use the regular Precious Cat.
Arm and Hammer user here, and love it.
I am all for environmentally friendly, IF the products do the job. But I have switched back to regular laundry detergent after wearing clothes that were dingy and didn’t smell clean for awhile. And until there is a cat litter that can compare, I will be using Arm and Hammer, because it does what I need it to do.
Some things you can compromise on, but clothes cleanliness and cat box odor are not on that list.
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