"What the heck was mom thinking? She brought home this paper litter. At first she mixed it in with our pine pellets, so we really couldn't tell the difference in its performance. We did notice two things: that it was a dark, charcoal gray in color (what kind of recycled paper is charcoal gray?), and that it had an artificial fragrance. There were more pine pellets in our boxes and just a few paper pellets, so this was fine. Throughout the course of a week, our boxes went to being more paper and less pine. As mom or I may have said before, the pine pellets dissolve when they get wet, creating a sort of sawdust. Mom scoops out the sawdust and leaves the intact pellets in the boxes. The odor evaporates as the sawdust dries, and the natural pine keeps things pretty fresh.
Well! Not so with the nasty paper pellets! Once our boxes were completely full of the paper pellets, the artificial fragrance was overpowering. We wondered why they needed to make the litter scented, as the pine pellets weren't artificially scented. We soon found out! These compressed paper pellets absorbed our cat pee and didn't dissolve. They just held that urine in and stank like crazy! Yuck! And double yuck! For the first time, our usually clean, non-urine-smelling apartment stank! And it was hard for mom to know which pellets to scoop out, because they didn't dissolve or change shape at all. The only cue was that they turned a slightly darker shade of charcoal gray. Well, we made it known that we didn't like this situation. We made a point of over-exaggerating our sniffing of the litter box area, and over-covering our 'stuff' in the boxes. Mom got the point. Actually, she didn't need much convincing, as she hated these pellets too. So, mom stopped using this litter halfway through the bag and completely threw out the used paper pellets, replacing them with good old, fresh Feline Pine. Ah, relief!"
Curry, Willie, Zorro, Grayson and I are very disappointed by the ExquisiCat Paper litter. We really wanted to like it, but we also wanted to breathe air that didn't reek of cat pee. I know that there are other brands of paper litter on the market, and I hope they are better. If the store is out of pine, I may try one of the other paper versions. But for now, I'm stocking up on pine pellets, because they really are good for the cats, good for the environment, and good for all of our noses.
FYI ALL the Petco stores are "out" of Exqisicat pine and don't carry Feline Pine anymore, AND you can't buy it online, either. WHY do they keep advertising it of they don't have it? NOW what are we going to do?
ReplyDeleteI bought a huge bag of Esquisitcat Paper and it smells like mold. I've used it before and was happy with it, but this bag is useless.
ReplyDeleteI use the indented and I've been very pleased with it . I did not like the "Yester Days News " brand. The pellets were too small and they stuck in my cats paws. I would find them all over the house. I started using recycled paper when I had my cat declawed. The vet sent some home and said that it was easier on their paws after having them declawed. I thought it was so much better than any litter I had used. I didn't have to change litter for at least 3 days and I only needed 3 scoops. I do scoop the feces every morning. But, the urine is absorbed and doesn't smell.
ReplyDeleteMax says, Feline Fresh is fine as long as Mom keeps the sawdust out and not keep it too long. ExquisiCat. NO Way! And to show you how much I don't like it, I just poo right on the outside of the box. Kit says, I'm normally not all that picky, but Mom, what were you thinking? Saving money I suppose. ExquisiCat is hard on my paws as you discovered the other day when you stepped on one with your hard shoe and it didn't crumble and hurt your foot. So we are going back to Fresh Feline. Right, Mom? Yep. That's what we're going to do.
ReplyDeleteWell. Max won't use the Feline Pine, either. Looks like we're back to Up & Up from Target.
ReplyDeleteFor all you cat owners out there.. I switched over to paper pellet cat litter—Esquiscat— and it is AMAZING! Cheap... like $9 cheap. No mess because it is in pellet form. And no more odor. I mean zero. I have two cats that fill the two litter boxes and STILL NO ODOR right next to the box. Get rid of that toxic litter that you have.
ReplyDeleteWe use Esquisicate for our bunny litter box. No smell, less mess and no breathing issues for the bun either. And if she was goofy enough to nom it, it's only paper!
ReplyDeleteI purchased Exquisicat paper crumbles for my Stirling who just had a leg removed. The Ortho/vet said paper litter only so it won't stick to the incision.
ReplyDeleteAfter purchasing the pellets, I decided they were too hard. I found the paper crumbles.. I'm glad I did because they're great. I ended up putting a layer of crumbles over the pellets...makes for a much softer landing.
I was very impressed, it's easy to pick up and there was no smell whatsoever!!
I'm guessing the product has changed a few times through the years.