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

robpw2

i use wilkinsons wood pellets £1.99 it helps prevent smell and if you empty the clumped bits out last ages

sparklewing

I buy Cats Best Oko Plus. We've tried loads of litters but find this the best at dealing with odours. We have 3 housecats and 4 litter trays. I buy a 40l bag for £25 from petplanet and that lasts us about 5 weeks. When we only had 1 cat it lasted 3 months. We empty the clumps from the trays with a scoop morning & night and bag and bin we completely empty the trays and wash them once a fortnight. We also give around the trays a quick sweep daily (laminate floors). I tried the value litters but found the trays were stinking within a day.

Vedder2008

I have two cats and buy the Aldi £1.69 clumping litter, if they have none I get it from Wilkos around the same price for 10 ltrs.
It's easy to clean and it last a week before it needs changing at which point I also wash out the tray.

spinningsheep

I have tried the cheaper own branded litters, best of those I found was felious from aldi, but they changed the name to something else and the quality seemed to go down hill, so I looked on here in fact and someone was raving about catsan, so I tried and never looked back. I used to spend about £5 a week on litter, but now a massive bag lasts me 2 months for aboout £12, and the odour control is second to none. I used to have a normal tray but I invested in a covered one with a flap, which I love! Very little odour and I change the whole thing once a week and wash it out with water and detergent once a month. Also have one of those beige rubber mats in front of the box to catch the few bits of stray litter that pop out sometimes. Think I got it from Pets at home, was about £5. I know some may say I am mad, but my litter box is in the living room, as I can easily get rid of any offensive odours, but the idea of the box being in the kitchen and my Elvis can jump up on the worktops straight after a poo, eugh! No ta!

emlou2009

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Oh dear Emlou!! I partially blocked my toilet early on, so now flush in stages - half a large wee at a time and always flush quickly as it does seem to absorb a lot of water.

i think it was my fault, cos i'm normally at home all day but i was at work yesterday, when i'm at home i rummage round the tray and get rid of whatevers in it whenever i'm in the bathroom, but i was shattered so it didnt get done yesterday, and even though i flushed between clumps i dont think i can have left long enough between them

its still blocked :eek: we have some acid they use for unblocking paper towels from public toilets down there bubbling away now and will flush before bed to see if its worked... wish me luck!! lol

emlou2009

its now slow draining, so wees with no loo roll are now ok :rotfl: crisis averted!!

rita-rabbit

nicky_s wrote: »

Try baby chick food. It is excellent as a clumping cat litter. Acts exactly like worlds best cat litter but is much, much cheaper. A bag of 5kg costs £2.50 and lasts 2-3 weeks - 20kg costs approx £8.

Hope that helps!

I read on this site that weavils:eek: developed in this & it put me off buying it (although seeing smallest moggie nibbling Worlds best put me off 2) as I live in 1st floor flat with no outdoor (cold) storage to keep it.

patchwork_cat

rita-rabbit wrote: »

Show me where the recycled water goes then - I'm always interested in more knowledge? If it wasn't treated to be returned to taps why would they bother exactly? & I do mean real proof - not hearsay!

We would all be as ill as in Medieval times if we drank polluted water! Not hearsay DH is a civil engineer - thw waste water is treated at sewerage treatment works then discharged into rivers or the sea depending on where the works are. With the water cycle ie evaporation and precipitation obviously yes you do drink waste water, but it is pure by the evaporation and precipation action.

The least of my concerns with drinking tap water is that cat litter may have been flushed!

lostinrates

I love the idea of using chick crumb BUT if it were to go on the compost heap it would attract rats terribly! Its hard enough keeping rats at bay keeping poultry withou that encouragment!

OK, well, the second small bag really has been the ticket, with cats best, so we have gone ahead and ordered a big bag. Something I have found is that the clumps hold together better the longer they are left. While its some thing I'd be extremely wary of with most cats I'm now removing wees only every second day with my cats and this is working well so far. (I still check/remove poos twice daily). I should make clear we have a huge litter tray, and I am checking that the top is clump free: its difficult to resist temptation to remove, but its easier to, with firm clumps less often.

After the second bag went in we haven't yet needed to top up. So I think it will work out as econimical for us as moonlight, albeit with these managment differences.

Its going on the compost heap in paper bags. So far we have been using paper bags we have but when we run out notsure what the cheapest but greenest option is. Alternative is using a bucket/container to transport and wash it out twice a day: which is a little extra work.

mum26

We switched to a covered litter tray the other day and am amazed at how much the smell is contained! No more cat bog of eternal stench, yippee! Just a cheapy one from Argos but it's sturdy enough and does the job, plus tipped me over the amount for a gift voucher