Hello there, I need some help with choosing a cat litter. When I first got my two boys we use pine at the request of the breeder, but they did not like pine and started doing their things on my bed in protest. They like clumping cat litter, but my problem is that I live in a one bedroom apartment and I really need a litter that has a certain amount of odor control, but not being overly perfumey (Did I make that word up?). Does anybody know of a good cat litter that will help with the smell, as well as being easy to scoop? Any experiences? Please help!

My cats and I like Ever Clean Low Tracking litter. It clumps nicely so they don't fall apart when you scoop them out. Despite being low track, I still get plenty of litter outside the box though so I just keep a small vacuum next to the box to clean up.

As far as smell goes, this litter has little bits of carbon in it which locks in smells. I have a litter box about 2 feet from my bed and the only time I ever smell anything is right after a cat poos in it. I don't think any litter out there will ever make fresh poo smell like roses

Basically, find a quality litter that your cats like and go with it. I'd avoid the 'generic' brands as they may not clump very well and when the clump breaks apart, it leaves lots of unscoopable used litter which can lead to smell buildup.

Also, scooping out the litter daily will help with odors. I got one of those litterlock things and I just love it. Now I can clean out the box every night but not have to take a bag of stinky clumps out to the trash every night. I haven't noticed a problem of smell coming out of the litterlock either.

Try any brands recommended here or anything that tickles your fancy at the pet store and see what your cats love.

-Janel

I love the wood pellets that you can buy at almost any pet shop. It doesn't clump (it does the opposite - the pellets fall apart) but the odour control is fabulous - it makes cleaning the trays almost a pleasure (nothing but clean sawdust smell - unless you let it get too far!).
For clumping and usability I would also recommend Worlds Best Cat Litter or Swheat - but be prepared to spend some serious money. It is definitely not cheap, at around 4-5 times the price of wood pellets.

There is another brand of cat litter made of recycled newspaper which I thought I would try because it's the same shape as the wood pellet. Forget it - it absolutely reeks of ammonia if you have it down for more than a couple of days. You can't pick the wee out as it breaks down the newspaper pellets, so it just sits there until you completely empty the tray - and unlike the wood, there's nothing there to control the odour. It's just a gimmick to appeal to customers who want to do their bit for the planet, imo.

There is another thread about litter on here which is quite interesting. I'm sure you'll pick up some tips from there too.

Hi there,

We have just recently started using chick crumb (baby chick food) which we buy from our local Mole Valley Farmers (farm shop). It offers the same 'donut' clumping that World Best offers, but at only £6.00 for 25kgs, is considerably cheaper. You can easily shake the dry crumbs off when picking out the used and therefore it lasts a long time. We have tried several brands of litter and this (although having no specific odour control), keeps the trays smelling of 'nothing', which is great as some of the 'perfumed' litters can actually make the smell worse (in my opinion).

I would suggest giving chick crumb a try - we have spoken to several people who have changed over to it and all have been very pleased.

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www.forestgems.co.uk

I keep meaning to try to find our local farm shop to see what they have - so at least if I ring round I know what to ask for!

Just managed to get some chick crumbs to try and ween them off World's Best and doesn't look like they are going to be fooled They've sniffed at it as though it is food, but no attempt to do any business in it..... Should I part mix it with world's best to try and get them to use it?

Couldn't believe the size of the bag compared to the cost of world's best

Yes, try part mixing it. Or stick a tray of it in the same room, which is what I'm doing with my wood pellets.

I've put a tray of it in their run, which is their "secondary" tray - their main tray is world's best still - will see if they use it sometime today, if not I will try part mixing it.

A 25kg bag was £7.80 - compare that to world's best

For the price difference I would think it's worth taking the risk of accidents until they're used to it.

We don't normally get accidents, they just tend to hold it in until the litter is changed back to World's best

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--Vicki in Oklahoma

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