Litter - Which One To Buy! Custom Search
Choosing the right material to put in your cat's box from all of the many available types can make you dizzy also. There's scented, unscented, clumping, clay-based, flushable, silica-based, pine, recycled newspaper, wheat or corn ....and combinations of these. How can one keep it straight?
That is the main message I want to get across to you. It's more important that your cat be happy with your choice of litter than it is for you to be happy with it. In fact, YOU will be most happy with what your cat likes because YOU will be happy when your cat is using the litter box faithfully and very unhappy when he isn't! I've been there! Coming home to urine on the bed or on the sofa or on the walls. Feeling like I'm spending more time cleaning than anything else in my life. Worried about the odor. Worried about my husband's reaction, my visitor's reaction ...life can become miserable when your cat isn't using the box! So yes, there are many different types of litter and some of them are cheaper, some are more eco-friendly, some give off less dust, some are deodorized ....but if your cat doesn't like the one you choose, none of that will matter. There are basically four different types of litter on the market. (1) crystal (2) natural (biodegradable) (3) clumping clay (4) non-clumping clay. There are several advantages to using a crystal based litter (one which is made from sand). The most important are it's biodegradability, it's superior masking of cat odor, the ability to flush it, and the lack of dust which is a big deal if you have allergies. The flip side is that it's more expensive and there have been concerns about health hazards associated with using crystal based litter. but the manufacturer says it is absolutely safe even if ingested and quite honestly, your cat is less likely to ingest this type of litter than the clumping type which gets stuck between their paws.
In the natural (biodegradable) category, you can find litters made from pine, corn, wheat, paper, and others. They can be clumping or non-clumping, and as you might expect, are biodegradable and flushable and non-toxic. I personally love these litters. I love knowing that if my cat eats a bit off his paw, it is absolutely safe. I also like the eco-friendliness of them. My personal favorite is Yesterday's News. However as mentioned above, not all cats like them, but then not all cats agree unanimously about anything. They also tend to be more expensive than many other types of litter.
The third category of litter, non-clumping clay-based, tends to be the cheapest. For multi-cat households on a budget, this can be a huge factor. On the other hand, you will need to change the litter more often and there will often be more dust. If you're a fan of clumping litter, litter that clumps the urine, then this litter isn't for you. The final category is the clumping clay-based litter. It's hard not to like a litter that lets you scoop out the urine each day in addition to the feces. It makes for a tidier situation, less odor, more cat-friendly (they like it clean!) and is less expensive than some of the other alternatives. My biggest concern about this type of litter is the fact that it is so absorbent that it can potentially create problems in the GI tract if a cat ingests it. I haven't seen this happen, to my knowledge, but there have been reports of GI obstructions from the litter, especially in young kittens. I have seen large clumps of it between the toes of cats. It can be difficult to get off. Fresh Step, Tidy Cat, and many others make this type of litter. Clumping litter has become a huge favorite of many cat owners.
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