Having a cat (or cats) is one of the most therapeutic thing. Many humans love having cats due to that fact. However, when it comes to providing the best quality of life possible for their cats, some might take it too lightly or some might just be less informed. There are so many things to think about - what to feed, how to groom, how often to bathe the cat, etc. One of the most important factor to think about is, "How to deal with my cat's answering to the call of nature?" It's their pee and poo, basically.
So I'm gonna be talking about the type of cat litter that I prefer to use for my cats. Every 'pawrent' (and cat) would have their own preferences. I'm going to share some pros and cons of a few of the most common cat litter used.
What should I be looking for in a cat litter?
These are the main factors that I consider when purchasing a cat litter.
non-toxic to cats
not messy (or minimal tracking)
odour control
affordability
convenience
Common types of cat litter
Silica Gel Crystals Cat Litter
When I was first researching on cat litters, I came across cat litters that are made of silica gel crystals. I was attracted to the silica gel crystals cat litter as it looked pretty with attractive colours like purple, pink and blue. And they have a very nice smell too!
Cat litters that are made of silica gel crystals are able to absorb lots of urine. They also have a very good odour control. In addition to that, it is not dusty. However, I realised that the gel crystals have a very squishy texture which some cats would not like and thus not use the cat litter box. Because of the squishy texture, the crystals are also very sticky and will easily get stuck on your cat's paws and fur. This would then cause your cat to start licking those parts and you wouldn't want to have your cat eating the silica gel crystals even though they are supposedly non-toxic. The cat litter could easily cause a stomach upset to your cat.
Bentonite Clumping Clay Cat Litter
Now, bentonite clumping clay cat litter is something that I tried using for the first few weeks after I got my kitten. It's great as the bentonite clay will clump when your cat urinates. You can the scoop the clumps and throw them into a bag before disposing in the rubbish chute. The clay cat litter will also stick onto your cat's poo poo!
However, it was such a messy first few weeks! As the cat litter is made up of tiny little sand-like bentonite, it caused a massive tracking issue around the house. It was so messy around the litter box, and some were stuck on the cats paws and the cats brought it all over the house. The bentonite clay cat litter was quite painful to step on and hence I had to sweep the floor very often. If you have a respiratory issue, it might cause a problem for you as well. Besides that, the bentonite clay cat litter is also non-environmental friendly.
Paper Cat Litter
I tried a sample pack of recycled paper cat litter once. Unlike the bentonite clumping clay cat litter, the paper cat litter is eco-friendly (if you get the recyclable ones) and dust-free. It's definitely convenient as you can flush the soiled paper cat litter down the toilet. However, even though the paper cat litter is good at absorbing, urine would still collect at the bottom of the litter box first before being fully absorbed. So you would usually have to dig to the bottom of the litter box to clean all the soiled paper. And again, they are soiled, not dry. So it is a little messy (and smelly) and the soiled parts can easily cause the non-soiled paper to be contaminated as well. Because of this, I finished the pack of paper cat litter so quickly.
Pine Wood Cat Litter
I have never personally tried pine cat litter. But I did saw a lot of good reviews from my friends on Instagram! For pine wood cat litter, you can only experience the best of it if you are using a cat litter box with an extra tray at the bottom. Or you can call it a special sifting litter box. So basically, the urine will turn the pine wood pellets into sawdust and it will be filtered into the tray below. Hence, you just have to clean the bottom tray and also scoop the poo-poo from the top deck of the litter box.
Many cat owners mentioned that the pine wood cat litter has an awesome oder-control as the wood has a high absorbency. The pine wood cat litter also have a natural scent from the wood. Life-hack tip, you can use the composted wood from the tray as fertiliser for your plants.
Unicharm Cat Litter
Okay, this might be new to some of you. Unicharm Cat Litter is a new cat litter category which came from Japan. Just like the pine wood cat litter, it makes use of the two-tier litter tray system. The difference is, however, the cat litter is made of Zeolite and Silica. This cat litter will absorb the nasty ammonia smell and filter the odourless urine into the tray. Oh, you need to get their special pee pads to place in the bottom tray. It might be troublesome and bring in an extra cost but it's killing two birds with one stone as the pee pads can also monitor your cat's urinary health. You can check the pee pads to see if the urine is of the right colour. Supposedly, you have to change the pee pad only every 7 days.
I personally find the Unicharm Cat Litter very charming (LOL) and intriguing but it is really quite costly for me. Maybe one day I will try it!
For more information of the Unicharm Cat Litter, you can head to an article written by the kind souls in Nekojam.
Tofu cat litter
Tofu cat litter, or soya cat litter, is currently my go-to cat litter as it is decent in terms of odour control and affordable still. I love tofu cat litter as you can flush down the clumps into the toilet and it is not as dusty as bentonite clay cat litter which I used before. It does have minimal tracking around the litter box but still manageable.
This is just a recommendation of what I usually do at home. I usually use 2 packs of 6L tofu cat litter for one litter box and clear it twice a day to make them last longer. In average, I clear the litter box totally and wash the litter box maybe once a month. To allow the odor-control to last even longer, after I clear the clumps and poo-poo, I spray a pet sanitiser onto the remaining cat litter.
The interesting thing about being a mother is that everyone wants pets, but no one but me cleans the kitty litter. -Meryl Streep
I hope you find this article useful in helping you find a suitable cat litter. It might sound biased towards a certain type of cat litter but again, this is just my personal insight and preferences! Before I had cats, I really hate it when I go to my relatives house and their house smelled like it's obviously that they have cats. So now that I have cats, I try my best to keep my house smelling good and at the same time keep my cats clean, healthy and happy.
If you're from Singapore, you can head to Perromart and use my referral link to get 7% off your first order!
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