Tag Archives: cat litter

Would You Scoop Twice a Week?

I was at the store buying cat litter the other day and saw a bag called Ultra Clumping Litter that said “Easy Twice-a-Week Scooping.” My first thought, and pretty much only thought, was that’s nuts.

I don’t care if this is super litter from Krypton, scooping twice a week, at least in my opinion, borders on animal abuse. I am sure it probably controls odors for that long but no cat wants to maneuver around a minefield of poop looking for a place to do their business.

I have three large boxes for three cats. Each box holds about fifteen to twenty pounds of litter. I scoop the boxes a minimum of twice a day but usually three or more times. The bag shown contains five pounds of litter. Imagine three and a half days of poop and pee in five pounds of litter.

Personally, I think this is designed for lazy people who probably should not have cats in the first place and this just encourages bad behavior. Maybe I’m wrong. What do you think?

Nature’s Miracle Cat Litter Review

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Years ago, to help stop Chris from pooping on the floor, I started using Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat Unscented Clumping Cat Litter along with their Litter Attractant. This cut the pooping in half and moving all the litter boxes to the same room eliminated the problem. We continued using the litter and attractant for some time after that just to be sure. Eventually we stopped buying the attractant but continued to use Dr. Elsey’s litter because it was the least dusty litter that I have ever used. A few months ago, when Puck started pooping on the sofa (and we blamed Chris) we bought the cat attractant again.

Recently I needed to change the boxes and Rose was sick of paying a premium price for that litter and wanted me to buy something cheaper. I told her I would look and headed off to PetSmart. Once there I discovered that Dr. Elsey’s was cheaper per pound than most national brands and I always thought I was over paying. Nevertheless, they only had one bag of Dr. Elsey’s and I needed two. I decided to buy Nature’s Miracle Scent Free Cat Litter instead. It was $15 instead of $17 for the 40 pound bag of our normal litter. I also later discovered it has good Amazon reviews.

The li

The new litter seems exactly the same as the old litter. It is relatively dust free, it clumps well, and all the cats seem to be fine with it.

I also like it because it comes in a box with a handle on both sides. The other litter came in a large bag with no handle.

I think I will continue to use this in the future although I believe one of those alternative litters made from wheat, corn, pine, etc. Is a healthier option. Unfortunately, our cats are too picky and I know from experience that I might be picking poop off the floor if I tried it.

What do you think?

New Cat Litter and the Return of an Old Problem

22 Replies

Recently I heard about the possible health risks of clumping cat litter. After doing some research, I learned that the controversy started in 1995 after Marina Michaels wrote an article for Tiger Tribe Magazine titled Clumping Clay Kitty Litters: A Deadly Convenience? In it she described several litters of kittens dying of an unknown cause until she determined it was the clumping clay litter that was causing the problem.

Upon further research, I found that all other articles about the subject pointed back to Michael’s’ original article and it seems that no research has been done to prove, or disprove, her claim. It also seems that if there is a problem, kittens are affected considerably more than adult cats.

Proof or not, I thought it would not hurt to take away a potential danger and replace it with a healthier alternative. I also thought it would be lighter and better for the environment. My only concern was that Chris’s pooping problem might come back if I stopped doing what worked.

In case you haven’t read my older posts, we struggled with Chris pooping on the floor for over three years. Sometimes he would use the box and sometimes he wouldn’t. We reduced the problem when we started using Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat Clumping Cat Litter along with Precious Cat Litter Attractant and the problem stopped two years ago when we moved to our last home and put the litter boxes in the same room. I think having a second box nearby if the first one wasn’t perfect was helpful. Once the problem got better, I stopped buying the Cat attract but continued to buy the Precious Cat litter.

I thought the proximity of the boxes was the most important factor and I was hoping Chris’s new habit of always pooping in the box might be permanent so, before me moved, I bought a litter called Tidy Cats Pure Nature. It is made from cedar, corn, and pine, natural, renewable resources, and it is much lighter than conventional litter and easy to transport.

On moving day I emptied and cleaned one of the boxes but left other box. When I moved the cats to the new house I brought the litter pan with the old litter and put it in the new house next to the box with the new litter.

I then monitored both for almost three weeks. The new litter was used only about ten times and every time, except once, it was for pee. That is about once every two days for three cats, not very good.

I know the test was a little unfair because they still had their old litter as an option but it was a good way to prove what they prefer, especially since their old litter was…, well… old. I wanted to get rid of the new litter after the first week but waited to see if they would get use to it and use it more. They didn’t, and I didn’t want to force a litter on them that might reignite Chris’s pooping problem.

By week three I started seeing an occasional, small piece of poop on the floor. I assumed someone was having a problem with poop sticking to their butt, since it was so small, but as a precaution I bought more of their old litter and changed both boxes two days ago.

This morning I rolled out on exercise mat because I wanted to start doing stretches to relieve the back pain that I have been feeling for the last week or two. Chris found the mat interesting and lied on it while I looked for a good video to follow on YouTube. When I found one, I heard Chris clawing at the mat and turned to see him trying to bury a big poop that he left there.

I waited too long and now I now I have to buy more Cat Attract and start over. As far as a healthy alternative to the clumping cat litter…? I don’t have a good option with Chris living here.

If anyone is interested, some say that a good, cheap and healthy alternative to the alternative cat litters is Chick Starter. It is food for young chicks and is said to be very similar to World’s Best Cat Litter at a fraction of the cost. Just make sure you get the non-medicated crumbles. I used an Amazon link so you could see what it is but you should look for it at a local feed store where you can get it much cheaper. I would love to save money and get a healthy cat litter but Chris won’t let me.

Do you use an alternative to standard litter? Please share your experience.

More Problems With Poop

Falling Off the Poop Wagon

Puck Takes a Dust Bath

Litter Boxes are for Cats

Review of Cat’s Pride Cat Litter

25 Replies

Cats's Pride cat liter In a recent post I mentioned that I had finally settled on using a litter called Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat litter. It took awhile to get Chris to stop pooping on the floor so I decided that I would stick to what works. Well… I didn’t. Last week Rose and I came across a very good deal on Cat’s Pride cat litter and we decided since Chris seemed like he was cured of his floor pooping habit it was worth a try.

The litter is lighter than standard clumping litter which doesn’t matter much to me except when I change it and have to put it in a trash bag and hope the bag doesn’t break when I am caring it to the outside trash container (it’s happened). It is also a somewhat finer grain and is much easier to scoop. The litter scoop travels through the litter like a knife through warm butter.

The bad news is that the litter is somewhat dusty. It’s not as bad as some of the cheap brands but it is worse than what I am used to. It also tends to track more through the house. Those two problems alone would not be enough to regret my decision to buy it but there is a third problem that is much worse. It does not clump anywhere good enough to be useful, and the container says “Improved Clumping.” I try to be very careful when scooping but still the clumps break apart and some of the pieces fall back into the box, too small to be picked up with the scoop. That means that there is a build up of urine that just stays in the box. We even found a poop on the floor next to the box after just two days.

It has been six days since I put the litter in and I already bought more Precious cat litter so I can change back as soon as I have time to do so. Lesson learned. if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.