cat litter

[arnie]

Hello. I have been using the regular scoopable cat litter for some time. Most recently, I was buying the Aldi brand which is 3.99.
One of my cats was suffering what appeared to be an upper resp irritation that was causing him to hack while not bringing anything up. After trips to the vet, we ruled out hairballs and are treating him successfully with a steroid shot every 6 months. I am wondering if the cat litter dust irritates him? So I recently swapped to Swheat Scoop which is all natural wheat litter with no dust or perfumes. It can be expensive if I don't catch it on sale. I saw today pine litter in Publix. I couldnt really see through the bag, but it felt like pellets. Does anyone use this? How well does it work, does it clump?

[madhen]

The pine litter doesn't clump. It looks a lot like what you would use for a pellet stove. It sort of disintegrates when it gets wet.

I use Fresh Step for Miss Kitty, and recycled newspaper litter for my bunnies. I don't really like the Fresh Step, because of the perfume, but I haven't been able to find an unscented litter that works well for me.

[stinkbug]

I use the costco brand.....no problems.

[Telephus44]

Our last cat needed corn based litter because of allergies - at least that's what the family we adopted him from said, I never took him to the vet. We used several different corn based litters, and I have to say that there was almost NO dust, and the smell was a LOT better. I'll totally be using it for my next cat, even though it's more expensive. Maybe try it? It's clumping, so you just scoop the box out.

[pollypurebred39]

We tried one of the pine ones and it was terrible. Stunk to high heaven in 2 days! I can't remember which brand it was though.

We used a newspaper one that was the bomb! Can't remember the brand of that one either, dang!

The best we ever used was the silicon beads. Our Iggy came to us declawed and digging in litter hurt him. He used to do his business right on top and leave it. As soon as we switched to the silicon beads he covered his business. Poor fellow. We still use it for our Sweetpea and it's worth every penny. No odor at all. Scoop and stir once a day, good for a month. If we try and switch it now our Sweetpea will smell the box and get herself all worked up. Stomping around the box, glaring at us. She does not want to use a litter box that to her is not clean. The beads absorb everything, no smell. She's happy, we're happy.

[shoiji]

At petsmart they sell large boxes of Authority scoopable cat litter for cheap. Yesterday's news is sold there and is newspaper in pellet form.

When my cat was a kitten I used ripped up newspaper which really did great and no odor. Might be an option for you if you know a couple of people that would give you their newspapers when they were done. More work but very cheap.

[arnie]

good idea with the newspaper, may buy the newspaper pellet kind and see if they use it. If so, may shred the newspaper and use that. I have heard the clay from commercial litters is not good for them anyway, if it gets on their paws and they lick it off it can get stuck in their intestines- don't know how true this is. My cats are my babies since my kids are grown-sure don't want anything to happen to them....

[Contrary Housewife]

BFF swears by Yesterday's News. We use The World's Best Cat Litter. Laugh at the name, it is incredible at keeping odor down and no clay dust. It is not cheap, but I believe it is worth what I pay for it.

You can get a rebate form and try it "free". http://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/rebate/ The site is acting up tonight, so try again tomorrow if it does not load for you.

[MamaTreadler]

Oh my gosh I hate that Pine stuff. You *can't* scoop it. It's nearly impossible to get the icky stuff out of the litter box. Awful. Worst money I ever spent. Never. Again.