Choosing the Right Cat Litter | Cat Litter Comparison Chart

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Which Cat Litter Has the Right Stuff?

by Rita Reimers, Multi Cat Behavior Expert

Choosing the right kitty litter can feel impossible. There&#;s so many different types and brands. Here we review the ones we&#;ve tried PURRSonally.

Be sure to check out the Cat Litter Comparison Chart at the end of this article, too!

What Makes a Cat Litter GREAT?

What exactly makes a good cat litter? It sounds so obvious and simple that one wouldn&#;t think it could be so hard to choose. The reason I think it gets so confusing is that the brands are all marketing to what WE THINK our cat&#;s want.

More often than not, cat litter companies appeal more to the cat owners than they do to what actually makes a cat want to use a litter box. Does it cover litter odors in perfume? Is the contain of litter light enough to carry and pour? And can the company convenient send monthly shipment box right to my door? All those qualities appear to us humans, but not so much to our cats..

What DOES a Cat Prefer?

Keep in mind how cats behave in nature, and we can begin to understand what a cat might expect from his cat litter. What cats really need is:

• litter that is easy on tender kitty paws
• one that does not smell like a perfume bottle broke inside of it
• a substance they can scratch to cover up what they&#;ve left in the box.

3 Basic Types of Litter Substrate

Let&#;s talk about the 3 Basic Types of Cat Litter substrate that are on the market, and  the pros and cons of each. Just about every type of cat litter falls into one of these main categories:

1. NATURAL SUBSTANCE LITTERS

   :  These are litters made from substances such as corn, wheat, nut shells, compressed pine, compressed recycled newspaper, or tofu.
   • Pros: eco-friendly, bio-degradable, and won&#;t end up in a landfill once used.
   • Cons: some cats try to eat it, and often odor control isn&#;t very good.

2. CLAY LITTERS

   :  Clay is the most common type of litter on the market, and is the best performing type, especially for multi-cat households. Some clump, some don&#;t. We prefer the clumping brands.
   • Pros: most cats accept clay easily, is also the most affordable.
   • Cons: not eco-friendly, some can be dusty.

3. SILICA CRYSTAL LITTERS

   : Crystal litters are easy to use, because you only scoop out the poop. The Silica crystals absorb the urine, so scooping is much easier. Crystal litters can also be formulated to check for medical issues as well.
   • Pros: easy to scoop/stir, very little dust.
   • Cons: expensive, doesn&#;t contain odor well, not great for multiple cats.

Changing Litter Brand or Type

With the recent shorts of certain brands of kitty litter caused by the Cyberattack at Clorox, maybe people were forces to switch their cat litter with no warning. Linda and I were affected, since our favorite cat litter is Fresh Step Calm Litter. (Note: I found a stash at Target, but they are now out of stock now, too!).

It&#;s a good idea to have a couple of brands you know your cat will use, just in case we&#;re faced with more shortages in the future. I tried another litter that had what I thought was a similar texture so my cats would use it. My mistake: while the texture was close, and it is an unscented litter, it has a strong scent of it&#;s own. My cats were not happy, and a few of them started peeing on the floor.

In the video below, Linda talks about what to do if you suddenly need to buy a different brand of cat litter.

Video Short: What to do if your brand is out of stock

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CAT LITTER COMPARISON CHART

Are you still unsure which kitty litter is best for your cat? Below we have listed the various cat litters one or both of us have tried. We have grouped them by type: Natural Substance, Clay, and Silica Crystals, and included the following factors:

• Price
• How well it Clumps
• Does it Control Odor
• Is it Low Dust
• Are the pieces easy on those little kitty feet

Linda and I both have an unusual number of cats. Just because a litter isn&#;t good for the needs of our large cat households doesn&#;t mean it won&#;t be good for you and your cat, so you should review the chart carefully.

Remember, when trying to choose the right cat litter, the best cat litter for your cat is the one that he will use! &#;

For more information, please visit Kitty Litter Manufacturers.

NATURAL SUBSTANCE CAT LITTERS

Highly Recommended: World&#;s Best

Brand

Price

Clumps Well

Odor Control

Low Dust

Easy On Paws

$18.35
for 15 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $14.60
for 12 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $21.69
for 18 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $11.99
for 20 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $16.99
for 14 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $11.59
for 12 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#;

CLAY CAT LITTERS

Highly Recommended: Fresh Step Calm, Cat&#;s Pride, Fresh Step Simply Unscented, Dr. Elsy&#;s

Brand

Price

Clumps Well

Odor Control

Low Dust

Easy On Paws

$17.49
for 22.5 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $9.48
for 15 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $18.99 for
15.4 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $16.99
for 20 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $14.99
for 20 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $9.99
for 20 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $10.99
for 20 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $9.99
14 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $15.99
18 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#;

SILICA CRYSTAL CAT LITTERS

Recommended: Pretty Litter

Brand

Price

Clumps Well

Odor Control

Low Dust

Easy On Paws

$27.49
for 8 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $16.99
5 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#; $21.48
8 lbs &#; &#; &#; &#;

THINK INSIDE THE BOX

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Credit: JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VETERINARY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION PHOTO

For today's cat owners, cat litter is as much a necessity as cat food. But before , most cat boxes were filled with sand, dirt, or ashes instead of the more convenient superabsorbent litters to which cat lovers are now accustomed.

Kitty litter got its start when a neighbor frustrated with her cat tracking ashes throughout the house asked a budding entrepreneur named Edward Lowe for some sand. Lowe, whose family owned an industrial absorbents company, convinced her to try clay instead. So Lowe sent the neighbor home with an absorbent clay called Fuller's earth. She loved it and soon would use nothing else in her cat box.

Her enthusiasm spurred Lowe to try to sell the stuff, which he dubbed "Kitty Litter," as a cat box filler. But the local pet store owner was doubtful that anyone would pay money for the product when the alternatives were available for next to nothing. So Lowe began giving it away for free. Soon, he had satisfied customers willing to pay good money for Kitty Litter. By , Edward Lowe Industries was the largest producer of cat box filler in the U.S.

The secret to Lowe's Kitty Litter is granulated Fuller's earth. Fuller's earth is actually a catchall term for a chemically diverse set of absorbent clay minerals capable of absorbing their weight in water. Fuller's earth litters naturally provide some odor control by sequestering urine. But if the soiled litter isn't replaced and urine begins to collect at the bottom of the box, bacteria found in feces will convert the uric acid in cat urine into unpleasant-smelling ammonia. Fuller's earth litters can alleviate some of the ammonia odor by trapping the positively charged ammonium ions that are formed when water in urine protonates the ammonia. To improve odor control, cat litter manufacturers use a number of additives, including baking soda to absorb smells, fragrances to mask unpleasant scents, and antibacterial agents to kill odor-causing bacteria.

Traditional clay litters like Lowe's original Kitty Litter still make up about 40% of the cat litter market. But like ashes, dirt, and sand, traditional clay litters must be discarded and replaced fairly often, making cat box cleaning a frequent chore. Unhappy with the inconvenience of traditional litters, biochemist and cat lover Thomas Nelson began investigating alternative clay formulations in the early s. He observed that a certain type of clay called bentonite clumped up in the presence of moisture, allowing waste to be isolated and scooped out, leaving behind clean litter. Today, roughly 60% of the cat litter sold in the U.S. is of the clumping variety, and most of it is made from bentonite clay.

Bentonite is largely composed of montmorillonite, a clay mineral made up of stacks of SiO4 sandwiched between two sheets of octahedrally coordinated aluminum, magnesium, or iron. Substitution of lower valence ions for some of the higher valence ones in the octahedral sheets creates a negative charge imbalance that traps cations, most often sodium or calcium, between the stacked sandwiches.

The absorption power of various types of bentonite is determined by which cation is present and in what amount. Because sodium ions have a larger hydration sphere than calcium ions do, sodium bentonite can absorb more moisture than its calcium counterpart, explains clay scientist Shobha Parekh of Wyo-Ben, a bentonite mining company in Billings, Mont. Sodium-rich bentonite is therefore the material of choice for clumping cat litter, she says.

Like traditional clay litters, bentonite litters provide some inherent odor control, thanks to their ability to sequester urine and to trap any NH4+ produced from urine degradation. Recently, "crystal" cat litters that promise improved odor control have entered the market. The silica gel used to make these crystals is chemically similar to that used in desiccants. The silica gel crystals in such litters are dotted with tiny pores, allowing the crystals to absorb cat urine, then slowly allow the water to evaporate off.

Some cat lovers fear--unnecessarily, cat litter manufacturers say--that their cats might harm themselves by ingesting superabsorbent clay litters if they lick their paws after doing their business in the box. In response, a number of companies are marketing plant-derived alternatives made of wood pulp, corn, wheat--even peanut shells and orange peels.

For example, Swheat Scoop litter, marketed by Detroit Lakes, Minn.-based Pet Care Systems, relies on natural wheat enzymes to neutralize litter box odor, while wheat starches trap moisture and clump firmly for easy scooping. In addition to being safe to eat, Swheat Scoop and other plant-derived alternative litters are biodegradable and can be used as mulch or even flushed down the toilet. Swheat Scoop founder Mike Hughes estimates that more than 160,000 tons of nonbiodegradable cat litter ends up in municipal solid-waste landfills each year.

Despite this vast array of choices--both clumping and nonclumping litters made of clay, silica, and plant-derived alternatives--most cat lovers still think that cleaning the litter box stinks.

For more Dust Free Bentonite Cat Litterinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.