Cat litter. Not an exciting subject, but an important one which all of us with indoor cats have often rolled our eyes at and grumbled about. As a full time Cat Sitter, litter is one of the top things I get asked about by my clients, and I generally say that there's no perfect solution. But I do have plenty of thoughts on the good and bad aspects of all the different types of cat litter, and have found one which is as near perfect as possible for my household.
Litter trays don't need to be gross or something to feel icky about. Just like your own toilet, it's something our beloved babies need. When you have the right set up, and keep on top of cleaning it, then it really doesn't have to be too much of a chore. Obviously, like a regular toilet, you don't want it sitting out in full view - your cat may decide to pop out a poop just as you sit down to dinner - so my suggestion with the tray is to have it somewhere hidden away so your cat can have privacy and space when they use it. Upstairs in a spare room, in the bathroom or a utility room, are all good options if you have the space, and obvs, make sure they always have access to it.
I personally don't use hooded litter trays, I feel they can be quite claustrophobic for my big boy cats, and, you need to remove the clunky (feels like it'll snap and break) lid every time you check or clean it. Top tip; for my own cats I have large open trays, I bought two under bed plastic storage boxes, so much cheaper than an actual litter tray, and they are perfect!
So, which cat litter should I be using, you may ask. Thankfully there's way more choice these days, I remember when the only option used to be the basic grey non clumping clay, which is heavy, stinky, messy, and probably pretty coarse on cat's little feets too! The most common types I see at client's houses are the wood pellets, the white non clumping clay, and also the finer clumping clays, all very popular. Here are my thoughts on the pros and cons of them, and which type I now use and LOVE!
Wood pellets - a better choice for the environment than the clay types, and more lightweight too, those bags of clay litter can pull muscles when you lift them! Nice and soft on paws, and relatively good odour control too. Some cats don't like the pine smell of the wood, and the smaller particles can be bad for their little lungs, but if you regularly clean out the dusty bits that settle at the bottom, then wood is a good choice. My main bug with wood litter is that it doesn't clump, and you just end up with what I call 'pissy sawdust' taking up the lower half of the tray. Eeew. The best solution for this - and the only way I would use wood litter - is a litter tray designed specifically for wood pellets. It's a regular tray which you can use hooded or un-hooded, but it has a sieve section at the bottom so that all the 'pissy sawdust' falls through into a drawer underneath, which you pull out to empty, leaving just the poops to easily scoop in the main tray! One of my clients uses this type of tray, putting absorbent pads in the drawer, and gosh, it was the most satisfying litter tray cleaning experience ever!
Clays - common and classic, there are good and bad clay litters. The non clumping ones, I dislike, you either end up with wee soaked litter always in the tray, or you have to be wasteful and empty the whole box every day! Some brands are crazy expensive too, but they continue to be very popular. I like the finer clay litters which clump amazingly well, so you can easily keep the tray squeaky clean! I used to use a fine clay, for years, but the mess annoyed me. Everything in the room was coated in a thick dust, and one of my cats often coughed when he was using the litter. All that dust, so dangerous for little cat lungs. As an OCD person, the constant trailing of litter drove me crazy, on my knees going in circles trying to sweep it all up, just for it to all get messy again soon after! I finally moved away from clay when I fully realised how bad the clay mining is for our planet. It isn't biodegradable and clay mining (also called strip mining) is sooo destructive to our precious earth.
Plant based - In recent years there's been a brilliant shift towards plant based cat litters, hurrah! These straight away tick the boxes of being better for our planet, and being more lightweight to carry and work with. A client of mine had a tofu cat litter, and I thought, 'wow, this is a neat and clean litter!' so I went home and immediately got online to try a tofu litter. Loved it! There's lots of varieties out there (and some come in really pretty packaging, who'd have ever thought it!) but my first tofu try was this one from Amazon, and I would absolutely buy it again. It lasted for ages, my cats loved it. I then looked around for bigger bags of plant based litter, and settled on KatKin Scoop Planet. I've owned cats all my life, and this litter is genuinely, the best I've ever used. A little goes a long way, it clumps, absorbs odour, and makes minimal mess. I also feel good using it because it's fully biodegradable. Made from pea fibre and millet; KatKin rescue and reuse pea fibre waste from the food industry.... what's not to love about that! I now get my litter on a monthly subscription from KatKin which is great, no more having to carry big bags at the shops! KatKin offer a whopping 50% off your first order of litter, so if you're curious to try it, I wholeheartedly recommend. They also have one other genius litter; Scoop Health. A health monitoring silica litter which changes colour to alert you to any urinary changes, such as UTI, bladder stones or kidney issues. Wow. One big pro of having indoor cats is that you can keep a close eye on how regularly they use the toilet, and see any obvious changes in poop, or if they're straining to have a wee etc. Scoop Health takes that a step up, and gives you further insight into their health, so you know as soon as possible if a vet check is ever needed. At first I was a little worried to use it, in case alarm bells rang. I know so many of us are anxious about our cats getting poorly, but now I use this litter intermittently just to check things are as they should be, and it's actually really reassuring. Happy pussy cats, happy planet, happy me!
Which cat litter is best for your cat, and you? That's for you to decide depending on what suits your budget and household. But having used cat litters all my life, and having seen all the many options at play in clients houses, I will now always go for plant based brands.
Happy poopin' and scoopin' everyone!
Which litter do you love?
Wood pellets are wonderful!
Clay all the way!
Plant based please!
Comments