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Just A Litter Off The Top (Comparing healthy litters)

The question clients ask me more than any other – by far – is what litter I use at home.

It makes sense that people would ask about this because they know I’ve cleaned a LOT of litter boxes. I’ve used just about every type of litter on the market, thanks to a wide spectrum of client preferences. Compressed pine, clays of all kinds, compressed newsprint, corn, wheat, silica – you name it, I’ve worked with it. I’ve dealt with plenty of crumbles breaking off of wet clumps of clay or corn, scooping every spoonful of sawdust, perfume-scented clay litter, and dry clumps of poo in boxes full of silica crystals.

So, here are my top picks…

I think the best clumping litter on the market is World’s Best, a corn-based litter.

World’s Best pros: It clumps better than any other litter, including clumping clay litters, I’ve tried. World’s Best is also my #1 in terms of smell. (I think it smells like freshly baked cookies.)

World’s Best cons: One of its drawbacks for me is that it is very dusty, so when my black cat steps out of the box it looks like she’s wearing long white gloves.

I actually mix World’s Best with my second favorite litter, S’wheat Scoop.

S’wheat Scoop pros: This one is made from wheat. It also smells like freshly baked cookies to me. It isn’t dusty in the least, which keeps the litter area more clean. I love that I can have 3 cats and 5 litter boxes, and people stepping into my home don’t immediately smell the signs of a feline family.

S’wheat Scoop cons: It doesn’t clump as well as World’s Best or some of the clumping clay litters.

I like that S’wheat Scoop and World’s Best do not merely cover up the smell of the waste, they actually absorb the smells.

Ounce for ounce, they cost more than clay litters, but over the course of a few months the cost is equivalent to cheap clay litters because they outlast clay. My favorite litters also don’t need to be changed nearly as often as clay litters. I only do a total dump & change of the entire box once every 6-8 weeks.

The biggest con for me with clay litters is their smell. Scented clay litters don’t get rid of the smells of cat urine and feces, they only add another (chemically) smell to mask the smell of the waste. That’s doubly-icky to me.

Another big con for clay litters is that its dust can build up in our (and our cats’) lungs, which isn’t healthy.

So those are my top picks (with a few extra notes). Which litter is your favorite?

 

(Note: I do not accept payment for mentions or reviews of products and services that I write about on this site.)

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