Cat litter - merged

Anna39

Pets at Home, wood based cat litter, massive bags but very light and turns into dust when used.. by the cat.... Under a tenner and lasts over a month for my one cat.

Could not get to Pets at Home recently and got the Bob Martin Crystals - over 3 per bag and only lasted for 2 trays - I change my cat's litter every day.

missbargain

Like a few other members here, I also use Sainsbury's Ultra Clumping Cat Litter - in the blue paper bag with a white fluffy cat picture on it. It is excellent : clumps very well, it is very fine, produces very little dust (if any) and so far doesn't stink. Luckily, my cat covers it really well, but she likes this litter a lot, and it does not trail so much as some others (only a few tiny pieces near the litter tray).

I change the litter completely about once in every 10-14 days, as I just remove the clumps and top it up a bit when it gets too low. But my cat seems to like it quite shallow, I am really glad as I don't have to fill up the tray to the rim.

The only minus of this litter is that it is a bit expensive - £4 for 5 litres. They don't seem to have any value 10 or 15 litres packages. And I don't think you can flush it, however, with only removing the clumps on a daily basis, the waste is not too bad.

It really is very good, and not very heavy to carry, but next time I will try Extreme Classic from zooplus. It has great reviews, and it turns out cheaper that Sainsbury's when bought in bigger quantities. The only caveat is that, to get the free delivery, one has to spend 29 pounds and more, but delivery itself is rather reasonable 2.99, so not too bad.

Also, I bought a new litter tray, larger then I had before, with a lip around the upper edge of the tray. It is called Ferplast Moderna Litter Tray, I bought it online from Pets Corner.
This lip really prevents the litter from flying all over the place, especially important as my cat loves to cover, and scratch, and cover, and scratch.... But with the lip, nothing jumps out, only a few bits that get stuck to her feet.

So I would really recommend Sainsbury's Ultra Clumping Litter (there is clumping and Ultra Clumping, I use the latter), I hope that it will go on special soon so I can stock up!

Milford_Cubicle

I've just got a kitten after a 3 year spell without cats. I always used to use the fullers earth stuff. However, I'm doing a trial with new kitty and seeing what's what with each litter.

Up to now I've only tried City Cat, the white and blue crystals which need 'solid waste' removing and the liquid get trapped into the crystals. Now, it does what it says on the pack and apparently it needs changing every 20-30 days. It's been in 14 days on Tuesday and starting to smell a little bit so I'm going to dump it and try something else. However, it has stayed dry and I am suitably impressed with its absorbancy. I paid around £3 for one bag (I think it's about 2 or 3 litres) and I used the entire bag to fill the tray (covered tray from PaH). Wilkos have it on offer at £2.19 at the moment. I also noticed that when it was new there seemed to be a lot of dust, it made kitty sneeze!

I've now bought a 5 litre bag of wood based stuff, again from Wilkos and I think it was also a couple of quid. I always made a point of changing the entire tray once a fortnight when I had cats previously and just topping it up in between so anything which lasts 2 weeks and has some left over will be a winner
I shall update in due course.

rita-rabbit

Miss Bargain

only paper or corn based litters should be considered for flushing, not mineral ones. Truthfully I find the idea of flushing cats litter abhorrent personally - our tap water is recycled three times (including waste water) - I cannot afford to drink bottled water. Logic would indicate that composting suitable litter is far better for human health!

To keep smells & dust at bay I find a covered litter tray works best for my two. Note Extreme Classic is very fine, smells fab & superbly absorbant BUT I would not consider it for an open litter tray due to dust. It is one of best litters on the market in my opinion & lasts for ages. Once you have used something similar `other' litters will seem much less efficient - as far as I know it & other talc scented litters are only available online. Planning ahead is essential.

missbargain

Thank you so much for your remarks, Rita-Rabit.

I have decided not to flush litter, I have cut up a pile of old newspaper and put it handy so that I have it on hand for disposal in the bin. I only flushed a couple of times until now, and didn't feel good about it.

And thanks for your note about the Extreme Classic Litter, especially dust. As we have an open tray, that our cat is very happy with, I need litter that produces no or very little dust.
For now I will stick with Sainsbury's Ultra Clumping as it produced almost no dust, but will keep an eye on something a bit more economical in the future. I wish they come up with larger bags, 5 kg is not very much.

Gunna

Hiya

I have read this thread with great interest.....i have several cats my self and have owned and bred persians for years.

I have used chick crumb and yes it is brilliant as a litter, economical and dirt cheap but.....................there is downsides to it.

1/ the obvious bran type smell, this is strong especially in a house where heating is on you will smell it if you come back for shopping etc...it smell like you use bowls of all bran as an airfreshner-i personally did not like this in my house !!

2/ urine has to be picked out quite regularly as the ammonia smell builds up and can get quite strong

and lastly and most worringly, i used this stuff for a year and adored it i purchased a 20kg bag for less than a tenner and did my 2 cats 6 onths a time with 2 trays but...... one bag came with mites from chickens and my house became infected and i had to bin hundreds of piunds of food, electricals and bedding, i also had to be fumigated and spent a fortune because of my so called saving......apparently this can happen quite regularly as it is meant for chicks who live outside etc and not home enviroments , needless to say they loved the heat and food in my house and bred and thirved and i didn't notice them for 2 weeks !!!! till the infestation was huge(eughh makes me shiver thinking of it again) when my cats went to the toilet they got them on their fur and spread them everywhere !!

So if you are thinking of using this as a litter please be careful as you don't see them in the bag till it is too late(the are microscopic till they are in their millions ).

I thought i would warn everybody as a lot of you seem to be going to try it !!

Oh i use woodpellets and always have(used the chick crumb as a money saver)i find they are excellent for smells and value, i buy a 30 L bag for £9.00 and this does 3 indoor cats with 3 trays 2 months and my girls pee constantly lol :rotfl:

Catsan stinks after 2 pees are in the tray(smells like a dirty old woman)so you have to clean the whole tray as it doesn't clump, it does look nice and white an clean though lol.

Never liked clay they stink and are too heavy and do work out more coslty than fresh pine smelling wood !!

The silica crystals are fine if you have 1 cat that goes out and only uses the tray occasionally but when they pee and pee and pee it sits in puddles on the bottom of the tray and smells foul.

Can' think of any other litters i have experimented with lol.:p

jellybubble

Blimey, that's worrying. Does it depend what place you buy it from or these horrible things in the chick crumbs themselves.?

Mustang

I've used layers pellets from Pets at Home for years. Never had any problems with mites with that brand.

I also use a large rubbermaid crate as a litter tray. One of my 'boys' tended to stand up and pee out horizontally, missing most of the original tray. So I tried the crate, and it worked wonderfully. I've been using it for several years now. It contains all the cat's waste products, however enthusiastically produced (if you see what I mean!)

And I think I've tried most cat litter trays and litters in the past, looking for the right one:

Littermaid self-cleaning
Go Girl Reusable Cat Granules & tray
Omega self-cleaning
Rubbermaid crate
Booda Box
Normal 'trays'
---
Paper based litter
Ultra-clumping
Expanded clay granules
Popcorn
Corn-based
Chicken pellets
Shredded paper
etc.

rita-rabbit

I also tried the Omega self-cleaning tray & although better than open I could still smell nasty niffs & thus use covered litterboxes with flaps & change the filters regularly.

charliefarlie1307

Cant cope with cat litter! My cat goes out and only has litter when we go away. When ever we come back its all kicked out all over the floor! Kick um out!