cat lovers- which cat litter do you use? are you afraid of clay ?

[evident]

I've been using scoop away for the last 2 years and it does a pretty good job, it's cheap and can be found at costco all the time. but my cats are always a little bit sneezy, and it's dusty when i'm topping it off/changing it. I started doing research and i found out that this stuff MAY be cancerous(?!). is this all FUD? started looking up other brands of non-clay clumping cat litter and it seems like they all have huge cons.

for example, with worlds best cat litter (the corn based one) it seems like the stuff smells horrible even without your cat's deposits, tends to attract flies or even comes with its own infestations.

I might give dr elsey's a try since it gets so many positive reviews, but it is still a clay based litter and may cause some type of long term health effects on humans and cats... is this all a big fuss over nothing or is there some legitimate concern here for using clay based litters?

 

[lxskllr]

I use a cheap clumping litter from BigLots. I'm not especially concerned. I prefer FelinePine, but the two cats I have now wouldn't accept it. My old cat liked it fine, and I didn't have to fill the landfill with kitty pee clumps.

 

[nickbits]

tidy cats.. it is a bit dusty but meh

 

[NetWareHead]

for example, with worlds best cat litter (the corn based one) it seems like the stuff smells horrible even without your cat's deposits, tends to attract flies or even comes with its own infestations.

What are you talking about? I use the same for my cat and it has a neutral smell. Flies? Its own infestations? I've never had these problems...

 

[evident]

What are you talking about? I use the same for my cat and it has a neutral smell. Flies? Its own infestations? I've never had these problems...

i know i should take reviews with a grain of salt, but read some horrible reviews on amazon with mutiple people saying there was a bad batch with some type of infestation in it. a general consensus even for people that use it and like it is that it smells bad or "off" right out of the bag. maybe i should pick up a small sample just to see what it actually smells like for myself.

 

[Gooberlx2]

Personally, I'd prefer pellets to reduce dust and tracking, but my cats hate them and will intentionally shit right outside the box instead.

Opposite of the OP, I use World's Best Cat Litter and found it works really well. Clay clumping seems to always glue itself to the bottom of the pan. WBCL is really "clean", in the sense that the clumps don't fall apart, stick to the pan, or otherwise make a mess. It also seems a little less dusty versus clay, and lasts a long time because of the absorbency (which offsets the high price).

The smell is fine, imo. Maybe more neutral vs clay because there aren't any perfumes or whatever in it. You can always add a little baking soda of your own.

 

[jagec]

I use the refillable cat litter at Petco. It's dusty, but the cats are only in there for a few minutes a day anyway.

Besides, ANY kind of fine dust/powder that gets inhaled isn't great for an animal's health. Change your furnace filter more often, and you've probably made up for the litterbox's additional contribution to the cat's daily dust load. It's not like the stuff is made out of asbestos.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

I don't use kitty litter. I taught my cats to use the toilet like any other sensible person.

 

[Jaskalas]

http://www.petco.com/product/112655/Precious-Cat-Dr-Elseys-Ultra-Scoopable-Multi-Cat-Cat-Litter.aspx

I call BS on 'no dust'. Plenty of that.

 

[SunnyD]

Cats are disposable. Just get rid of them before they shit. No litterbox needed.

 

[sixone]

I use Tidy Cats. Less dusty than the others we've tried. They didn't like the pellets, though that system smelled better than litter did.

The Arm & Hammer litters suck: dusty and stinky.

 

[Slacker]

I don't use kitty litter. I taught my cats to use the toilet like any other sensible person.

How I wish we had done this, I ended up with 4 cats, love them all dearly... but omg the litterbox

if not done daily one of them will dump on the floor by the box

they range from 6 to 10 years old and I figure it is too late to try and teach them to use the toilet now.

Still, the idea of walking by the bathroom and seeing a cat taking a dump makes me laugh, do your cats flush with the scratching motion like I have heard others do?

 

[bignateyk]

How the hell do you teach a cat to use a toilet?

 

[SunnyD]

How the hell do you teach a cat to use a toilet?

The same way you teach a kid how to use a toilet?

 

[edro]

Our 2 cats used the same litter their whole lives. (2-3 years)

One day, I decided to change it up because the brand I used switched from plastic buckets to cardboard boxes. I liked the buckets because I could use them for other stuff.

The day we switched, the cats started missing the litter box. That day, I got a new litter box with a lid. Then, they started going outside of the box.

The next day, we found a pile of crap and piss on our couch, down in the crack, so it had soaked into the main body, 2 of the cushions, and the back support.
I spent hours cleaning it and the cushions.
The next day, they did it again!

I burned the couch, and now the cats live outside.

Moral of the story: Don't switch their litter.

 

[torpid]

I'm a fan of Nature's Miracle. I've tried a lot of other brands and this one seems to have a nice balance of features. It doesn't turn to dust unless you don't change it up for a VERY long time (over 6 months). It smells pretty good and covers up odors as long as the cats actually bury their messes.

I found world's best turned to dust and got everywhere too quickly. Clay-based ones were REALLY dusty almost immediately. I didn't like Everclean(?) or Tidy Cat. Arm & Hammer was second favorite.

ETA: World's best smelled pretty good. Except I no longer could stomach certain corn-based foods (e.g. blue corn pancakes) because they smelled like litter. Took me a while to get over that...

 

[HydroSqueegee]

tidy cats works well enough for me. 4 cats and 3 boxes. im lazy and only scoop once a week if im lucky. ittl start to smell pretty good if i let it go that long though.

 

[Fritzo]

My daughter likes that Arm and Hammer corn stuff. It smells really good too, but it's a bit expensive.

 

[chin311]

 

[Shortcut]

Fresh step crystals are super convenient. All you have to do is scoop out the poo - the crystals absorb the pee so u just toss out the crystals after a few weeks.

Not the cheapest litter out there, but it makes that smelly part of cat ownership a cinch.

 

[jagec]

http://www.petco.com/product/112655/Precious-Cat-Dr-Elseys-Ultra-Scoopable-Multi-Cat-Cat-Litter.aspx

I call BS on 'no dust'. Plenty of that.

Naw, it says "99.9% dust-free". Which means that it's 0.1% dust. Considering how little actual mass is contained in dust, you could make something incredibly dusty with that number.