The real cost of having pets

Fridaycat

Well done you and puss cats :j

rising_from_the_ashes

:j brilliant news!

I have to say that wee cat used to get Purina & absolutely loved it.

One of the things that put me off it was that it only comes in ridiculously small bags (I think 800g is the largest) so there's really no chance of saving money by bulk buying (and as a result, it works out more expensive than Royal Canin :eek: which I can buy in either 4kg or 10kg bags when they're on offer)

rising_from_the_ashes

Ohhhh found a place that sells the horse wood litter - had a look and the pellets look a fair bit smaller than the cats stuff (although I know some people prefer the smaller pellets).

It was £7.60 for 30kg but the bag looked around the same size as a 30L one - didn't get any as was undecided & it seemed a bit expensive compared to what others had found it for - still hunting for a better deal!

penny_pincha

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Ohhhh found a place that sells the horse wood litter - had a look and the pellets look a fair bit smaller than the cats stuff (although I know some people prefer the smaller pellets).

It was £7.60 for 30kg but the bag looked around the same size as a 30L one - didn't get any as was undecided & it seemed a bit expensive compared to what others had found it for - still hunting for a better deal!

Could you use it as cat litter? That seems a very good price to me if you can. Where would I get it. Come on. Don't keep it to yourself, spill.

rising_from_the_ashes

penny_pincha wrote: »

Could you use it as cat litter? That seems a very good price to me if you can. Where would I get it. Come on. Don't keep it to yourself, spill.

Someone mentioned it a couple of weeks ago (was it Katy?) - I *think* she'd found it for £4.99 so that's why I was thinking £7.60 was a bit on the high side (although still cheaper than buying cat wood litter in a pet shop).

This was from a retailer in a small town in a rural area - really a retailer stocking horse supplies although this one also had dog / chicken stuff etc too.

I guess it depends on where you live as to what may be around.

penny_pincha

You'll post then Rising if you find out? pls

Caroline_a

This might help!

rising_from_the_ashes

Caroline_a wrote: »

This might help!

Great, thanks Caroline

I will say that it does go completely to sawdust when wet (they had a sample in the shop).

This is what it's designed to do and when you lay it as bedding in a horse's stable, you do actually soak it with water to get it to go to sawdust!

However, it appeared to be a similar consistency that the current wood litter I use for the cats turns into when it's been "used"

penny_pincha

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Someone mentioned it a couple of weeks ago (was it Katy?) - I *think* she'd found it for £4.99 so that's why I was thinking £7.60 was a bit on the high side (although still cheaper than buying cat wood litter in a pet shop).

This was from a retailer in a small town in a rural area - really a retailer stocking horse supplies although this one also had dog / chicken stuff etc too.

I think the product to which you refer is called Premium Horse Bedding which you buy from White Horse Bedding http://www.whitehorsebedding.co.uk/buy.aspx You can also use it for cats and birds. The more you buy the cheaper it is per unit. You can buy it in 10kg bags at £4.42 per bag if you buy 25 bags. They do a 'trial' quantity of 15 bags (10kg) for £75.

Here is a link http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-chat/233377-horse-wood-pellets-vs-natures-gold-litter-test.html (thank you Caroline_a for this) which shows the results of a test a forum member did on the litter.

The test concluded

Appearance - 8/10
Absorption - 10/10
Smell Containment - 9/10
Lack of Tracking - 10/10
Flushability - 9/10
Clumping - 0/10.

Thank you to MoggyBaby on the Pet Forums website for her hard work. :T

The snag is for cat owners you have to buy it in large quantities so storage may be an issue. Maybe you could join up with a friend or two and buy some together.

rising_from_the_ashes

penny_pincha wrote: »

The snag is for cat owners you have to buy it in large quantities so storage may be an issue. Maybe you could join up with a friend or two and buy some together.

Sorry going to disagree on the above point - if you live in a rural area, it's pretty likely there will be an agricultural supplies place located somewhere nearby.

At the one I was in the other day, you could buy the bags individually.

As for clumping being 0/10 - TBH, I'm not surprised as wood litter isn't clumping!