Cat Litter: Pros And Cons Of The Different Types

Choosing the right type of cat litter for your cat can sometimes be a process of trial and error. Factors such as the cost, frequency of scooping, and how easy and convenient it is to use all play a part in our minds when deciding which litter to buy.

Cats can sometimes be picky about their litter and will refuse to use it if it does not meet their standards, so the attractiveness of the litter to your cat is also of great importance.

Things To Keep In Mind When Buying Your Cat litter

• Is It Safe For Your Cat
• How Much Of Your Time Does It Take To Keep It Clean
• Odor Control
• Attractiveness To Your Cat
• How Messy Or Dusty Is It
• How Often You Have To Scoop
• What's The Cost
• Is it Environmentally Friendly

Clay

Pros

Clay litter is made fron natural dried clay that is turned into pellets. It is the most common and easiet litter to find. It absorbs urine well and controls adour, additional products can be bought and added to this litter for even stronger odor control. Some clay litter brands offer the scented kind, however not all cats are fans of the scented litter.

Cons

Clay is not scoopable, therefore it has to be changed quite often. This type of litter easily gets wet. Although it might be cheaper, it requires a significant amount of work.In multi cat household this litter needs to be changed even more frequently, cats hate a dirty litter and will find another place to make their personal bathroom in your home, if their not happy with their litter box. To find out more about different types of cat litter boxes read Cat Litter Box: Finding The Perfect One.

Clay Based Clumping

Pros

This type of litter is made from a particular type of clay called sodium bentonite. It will keep your cat's box nice and dry. It's also easy to use, requiring you to only have to scoop away the solid waste and urine clumps. It lasts a bit longer than just the regular clay kind, so it requires less of your time.In regards to ador, you can also buy additional products at your local pet store to reduce the adour.To find out how to keep your cat litter from causing an unpleasant ador in your home read How To Get Rid Of Cat Litter Odor

Cons

It can easily be tracked by your cat's little paws into your living room, kitchen, bedroom, and everywhere else. This is a great time to get yourself a small handy vacuum, you will be needing it.It is also a little bit more expensive than the traditional clay litter.

Plant Based Clumping

Pros

This litter is made of corn or wheat. It also does a good job of keeping your litter dry. It's easy to use and the clumping element once again makes it easy to scoop. Clay litter is known to be a bit dusty, this litter isn't as dusty. Plant based litters are also more enviromentally friendly

Cons

Your cat might be allergic to either the corn or wheat in this litter. This will result in your cat excessively scratching their fur due to itchiness.

Pellets

Pros

This type of litter is made of wood or recycled paper. This is a more natural type of cat litter, so it's better for the enviromment.The wood pellets have a nice wood scent, which helps a little in covering up the odour. It's also dust free with little or no tracking. This type is a bit easier to find online, but depending on the area you live it can be harder to find in stores.

Cons

This type might take your cat a bit of time to get used to or they might just simply refuse to useit. It also requires a bit more work, scopping sometimes several times a day.

Crystals

Pros

Cat litter crystals are made out of silica gel. It is dust free, absorbs urine well and keeps the cat box quite dry. It's easy to use, just scoop as you would with clumping litters. If you scoop regularly, you won't have an odour problem. Brands such as Fresh Step have crystals that provide good odor protection and absorb wetness well.

Cons

This is the type of litter we use, and one of the major cons is that whenever your cat does their digging ritual in this litter, crystals have a way of going everywhere. You definetely need a broom around, because you will be sweeping often. Adour could be a problem with this litter, but if you scoop often as we do, then you won't have an odor problem.

Bio-degradable/Flushable

Pros

This type of litter can be made of wheat, wood shavings, corn cobs, and other natural products.It is environmental friendly, and sometimes flushable, therefore easy to clean up. It is also either dust free or low in dust.

Cons

This type of litter is not good for cats with certain allergies, however is you cat is allergic to wheat you could try the wood shavings. It is not as easy to find as some of the other litters and can be quite costly to keep up with.

Keeping Your Litter Box Clean

There is no magic number to how often you should replace your litter, it really depends on the type of litter you use and how many cat's are using the litter. You may have to replace your litter as much as every other day to every week. In a one cat household with clumping litter, you may only have to replace your litter once every week.They say that with crystals you only have to change your litter once every month, that's way too long for us, so we change it on a weekly basis, your cat deserves a fresh clean litter.

The consequence of not keeping the cat litter box clean is that your cat won't use it and will find another place in your home that's clean to use.It's important to not only scoop out feces, but to also scoop out the urine, to have a completely clean box. Every time you replace the litter also wash the box with a mild or natural liquid soap, use an unscented one, just in case your cat is turned off my scented soaps.

Similar Topics

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Designer Cat Furniture And Accessories - A guide to buying designer cat litter boxes, cat litter mats and scoopers.

Litter Box Training Made Simple - Step by step instructions on how to teach your kitten or older cat to use their cat litter box.

Self Cleaning Litter Box Reviews - Reviewing several different self cleaning litter boxes to find out which ones work best.

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