Cat Litter - It's a minefield! - What do you buy?

davetaylor

Hi, I am really trying to cut all my costs at the moment and am reviewing my pet costs.

I keep two cats but I'll be the first to admit I am now cat expert. Every time I go to the big pet stores I just get bewildered looking at al the different kinds (and prices) of cat litter. With my cats being indoor cats with no access to the great outdoors, the litter tray and it's upkeep is quite a big deal. Also, I often work away from home for a couple of weeks at a time, meaning my flatmate has to be responsible for looking after Jimmy and Charlie and I want to make it as hassle free as possible (I feel I should add that they flatmate loves that cats and looks after them very well).

So from day one of having the cats I have always used an Ultra Clumping litter which is very fine grains (a bit like sand) the idea being that you just scoop the mess out a few times a day and top up with fresh litter as needed. There is no need to chuck it all away every few days and refill. (I do empty it all though now and again and scrub out tray). I also have the Litter Locker which is fantastic. Sits by the litter tray and makes the whole scooping out process simple and easy.

The thing is, it is not that the cheap the Ultra Clumping stuff compared to other kinds of litter, although I was always lead to believe it was more economical in the long run as you are not chucking having to empty it all out every few days.

One endless problem I have is that Jimmy and Charlie both take great delight in kicking the litter over the edge os the tray. I have cut down on this a lot by buying a new very deep tray with extra high walls however they do still send it flying. Would a different kind of litter (say wood pellets) remain in the tray better?

Anyway, my question is, what kind of litter do you buy and how much does it cost? (I pay about £10.00 for a 15kg bag of Pettex Clean Paws litter)

Also, if you buy a different kind from the Ultra Clumping how do you maintain it. How often does it need emptied and replaced and so on?

Cheers!

Dave

puddy

well i have 2 cats 11 and 9. they have been indoor cats until june this year and even though they wander round the garden, they are home bodys and use trays still.

i have always used catsan. i have experimented with others but prefer this one. i use cat toilet houses without a door on them. it doesnt stop the litter from being trodden about a bit outside the base, but it does prevent wee or poo from dropping down the edge of the tray like the topless trays sometimes do!

i scoop poo out when they do it, put it in a carrier bag, into the bin.

wee is left until the whole tray gets emptied every other day and fresh lot of litter goes in.

this is why i dont like the clumping kind of litter because it means after a few wees, the whole tray has clumped up, leaving cloggy deposits on their paws and my floors.

i use two trays, one of my cats is diabetic, she wees an awful lot, more if she isnt stable on her insulin, so the tray gets very wet. but when she was little, undiabetic, the wee was not so much and the tray was dry underneath.

i havent bothered with litter tray liners for years as they simply get shredded when they scratch around in the tray

4Chickens

Dave

I have been pondering similar to you.
I use a cat litter from tesco. It is more like very fine granules and doesn't clump. I think it costs about £3.50ish and it is not a very big bag and usually lasts me a week.

I use a litter tray that has a rim around it and also a normal big tray, I have three lady cats. I found that even with a rim tray they can kick it out if you put too much litter in there in the first place.
So, my advice: don't use clumping cat litter, it's a false economy. Use less litter in the tray, it will last longer. If you are worried about smell, I think there are some kind of granules or similar that you put in the cat litter.
Anyway that's my 4 paw's worth

BitterAndTwisted

My darling Stanley appears to have no preference where his litter is concerned so I buy the cheapest I can find. At the moment it's Lidl's clumping type at about £2.35 for a 12 kilo sack which goes in his lidded tray which is a godsend for stopping the litter being kicked about all over the place.

If you're considering changing your darling's litter it might be wise to change over gradually rather than all in one go

ginvzt

I tried catsan, supermarket's ones, clumping and non-clumping. At the moment I am using Moonlight clumping one, and it is working fine for me. I do have to change it every few weeks and clean out the tray. (I know others don't bother, but I prefer it this way).

I aim to scoop it out once a day, but on occasions it gets done every other day. I use nappy sacks for disposal - cheap and locks the smell in very well (that is what they were designed for!)

lostinrates

I use moonlight clumping litter too, and think its wonderful. It doesn't clump up the whole bae if the try is big enough and the litter deep enough. I scoop twice a day, two cats one very large tray, but have gone a weekend without before (exceptional circumstances) and still been able to scoop out with only a couple of joined up but still not on the base of the tray clumps.

BUT we are about to try a flushable litter for the first time.

Being smell minimised is absolutely vital, and moonlight has been remarkably good. I'll be excited if this is as good.

Jemima09

I use tesco's lightweight litter.. It used to be called "tesco's premium lightweight litter" but it's something else now. The colour of the litter is a terracotta/pinkish colour and it's quite fine. It used to be scented, but I've not opened the new bag yet so don't know if it still is. Not sure if that's a bonus to you or not, my dad says the smell makes him feel sick but I quite like it!!

With regards to kicking out litter, I have a hooded tray, but I've taken the door off it. This limits it down to only one side... and then in front of the tray I have a rubber mat which has like a rubber stringy pattern on it. I got it from pets at home, next to where they sell the litter tray accessories (deodorants, filters, liners etc) and it basically catches the litter in the pattern. It's really good. It needs to be shaken out every now and then, I just shake it over the tray, but it stops a lot of the mess. It seems to catch all the little bits that they bring out in their paws, as well as proper spillages.

Not very nice colours though, pets at home ones are dark beigey colour, don't know if you can buy nicer ones anywhere, I've not looked. PAH ones are two shapes, one is a huge rectangle, if you have an open tray, so it covers the whole thing. The others are a semi circle to put in front of a closed tray, and that set up looks a bit nicer if you ask me..

emlou2009

i used pura moonlight up til last week when we got our new kitten and he started eating it as soon as we showed him where the tray was!! cue emergency trip to PAH and i ended up buying oko plus, which is a flushable clumping woodshaving/sawdust type thing. it is good, but it tracks really badly compared to the pura! it seems like my whole house has bits of wood all over the floor, gross! both kittens seem to prefer it though, and the older one that had been using pura had no trouble adapting, as obviously i couldnt really switch slowly, i had to take the pura away immediately.
its good that its flushable though, we will only need one tray cos they are both using both, one tray is currently in the kitchen and the other in the bathroom, we hope to take away the tray in the kitchen by the end of the week and it will be much nicer having it in the bathroom than the kitchen, where the tray has always been for easy clump disposal into the bin!

ginvzt

I have 2 trays and one cat... As he decided to use the hallway as his loo, we had to do something! It helps, but still, time from time, we will be welcomed by the 'nice' smell on opening the door (he only pees on the carpet right in front of the door, so at least no nice gifts in bigger shapes!!!)

spike7451

I prefer the wood based pellets,15L bag from P@H costs around a fiver & last's Daisy the Cat about a month.I find it less smelly &, if you put the tray in a larger card box,like the one the cabbages come in at Lidl's & lined with newspaper,then not only will it keep the dust & mess the cat makes when exiting the litter tray inside the cardboard box,the cat can also clean her claws on the cardboard box & not on the furniture.

Fire_Fox

I use OkoPlus which is brilliant for smells and economical as it clumps and everything gets flushed. The litter does track as Noah likes to leap out and shake his paws, tho not nearly so much escapes with a hooded tray. I wouldn't personally risk a scented or crystal litter as they can cause allergic reactions and may even be toxic.