Another Kitty Litter Review

As you may know from the April 8, 2010 blog ("Make Mine Pine"), I've been using pine pellet litter for some time, and the cats and I really like it.  We alternate from Feline Pine and ExquisiCat Pine.  I just get whatever is on sale as they are very comparable in quality.  Well, I must have hit the local Petsmart at the wrong time because they were out of both kinds of pine pellets.  I didn't have time to go to another store, and I was completely out of litter at home, so I had to think quick.  I opted for ExquisiCat Paper litter.  It is made from recycled paper that is shaped into pellets about the same size as the pine pellets.  I was open-minded about this new choice, and figured that we wouldn't really notice the difference.  Boy, was I wrong.  Curry will tell you about it in her own words.

"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.

Make Mine Pine

"My cat litter, that is.  A couple years ago mom switched us from that messy scoopable clay litter to the pine pellets.  At first they felt funny under our feet, and they were kinda loud.  But after a while we realized that this was a definite improvement.  The pine litter is all-natural and not fumey with chemicals like clay litter.  It smells naturally nice (just imagine your little paws walking through a pine forest), it doesn't create a cloud of dust that coats everything (our fur, the floor, the furniture), and it's better for the environment.  We love our pine litter.  It makes it more pleasant to go to the litterbox.  I guess there are other non-clay litter options that are just as good.  I even found an organization called Cats Against Clay that is working to get the word out about why clay litter is bad.  Mom is going to tell you more."

I had heard that clay litter was not environmentally friendly.  That's a good enough reason for switching.  But my main impetus was to get rid of the clouds of dust that formed when I poured clay scooping litter in to the litterboxes.  With four cats and multiple litterboxes, this clay dust was blanketing everything.  Even with covered litterboxes that were stationed in a closet with a partially closed door, I found that furniture, bed linens, and yes, cats' coats, were becoming coated, and this was just disgusting.  It was a mess to clean up, unpleasant to breathe, and very unfair to the cats.  I knew that there were other options, so I took a leap and tried the Feline Pine pellets.  There wasn't much of an adjustment period.  Even though I initially mixed some pellets with the old litter, the cats took to it pretty quickly.  I was very happy a short while later when I was using the pine pellets exclusively.  No more mushroom dust clouds!  I could breathe better, the cats could breathe better, the litterboxes smelled better, and we could see our television screen without dusting it daily.  I wished I had made the switch years ago.

I don't know much about Cats Against Clay, but I applaud their effort to fight against clay litter.  It's for everyone's benefit.  I hope they will provide information on good kitty litter alternatives.  In the meantime I'll do that here. 

• Pine Pellets: While I started with the well-known Feline Pine, I sometimes also use ExquisiCat Pine.  They're interchangeable, so I just buy what's on sale at the time. 
• Scoopable Pine: Feline Pine makes a scoopable pine version, and it clumps amazingly well.  I stick with the pellets because they are less messy outside the box (consider picking up a few stray pellets as opposed to a trail of "sawdust" that the cats track down the hallway).  You'll get the same benefits from the pellets or the clumping pine, so it's just a matter of personal preference.
• Scoopable Wheat: One of my cat-sitting clients switched to Swheat Scoop, so I get to try this stuff when I watch her cats.  It clumps as well as the scoopable pine, so it's another good option for those of you who prefer a clumping variety.
• Corn Litter: I haven't tried corn litter, but Nature's Miracle makes a clumping variety that got 4.6 out of 5 stars at Petco.com, so there must be cats out there who like it.
• Paper Pellets: These varieties are either marketed as recycled newsprint (Yesterday's News brand) or just plain paper.  The idea of recycling newspaper is a good one, and the concept of cats peeing on current events is a bit funny.  Personally, I wonder how well the paper can really hold up, but there are several fans of this variety on Petco.com.

If you decide to try one of these litter alternatives, I applaud you!  I've applauded some of my cat-sitting clients who have recently switched to pine or wheat litter.  I truly believe these are a better choice for the health and comfort of our cats, ourselves, and for the cleanliness of our homes.  Just be sure to make a gradual transition so your cat has time to adjust.  Don't be afraid to experiment with more than one of the non-clay varieties to find something that works best for you and your cat(s).  I know that I'm never going back to clay litter.  Curry, Zorro, Willie and Grayson would kill me!