Crystal cat litter alternative with just-as-good odor control
June 13, 2022 12:00 PM Subscribe
Does there exist a clumping (or other) litter that truly controls odor as well as crystal litter?
I've used Fresh Steps crystal cat litter for years in a carpeted apartment, but we recently moved to a house with hardwood floors and that stuff goes everywhere even with a high-sided box and large litter mat. We had originally switched from standard Arm & Hammer clumping litter to the Fresh Steps crystal litter for odor reasons.
Can anyone recommend an alternative cat litter with the priorities being:
1) Equal odor control to crystal litter
2) Soft underfoot when it inevitably tracks
And bonus points if it's low dust. Price isn't really a factor at this point, if there exists a clumping litter that really does control odor as well as crystal litter, it's probably worth its weight in gold.
I've used Fresh Steps crystal cat litter for years in a carpeted apartment, but we recently moved to a house with hardwood floors and that stuff goes everywhere even with a high-sided box and large litter mat. We had originally switched from standard Arm & Hammer clumping litter to the Fresh Steps crystal litter for odor reasons.
Can anyone recommend an alternative cat litter with the priorities being:
1) Equal odor control to crystal litter
2) Soft underfoot when it inevitably tracks
And bonus points if it's low dust. Price isn't really a factor at this point, if there exists a clumping litter that really does control odor as well as crystal litter, it's probably worth its weight in gold.
Best answer: I switched to pine pellets years ago and I'll never go back to regular litter. It doesn't clump but there's no odor, it doesn't track, there's no dust, and it's incredibly cheap. I get a huge 40 pound bag at the local tractor supply store for just $6.
posted by mezzanayne at 12:25 PM on June 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by mezzanayne at 12:25 PM on June 13, 2022 [5 favorites]
We use Pretty Litter and are super happy with it.
posted by General Malaise at 12:39 PM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by General Malaise at 12:39 PM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
Boxiecat works well for us, but I haven't found anything perfect (that my cat also won't reject).
posted by yellowcandy at 12:47 PM on June 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by yellowcandy at 12:47 PM on June 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
+1 for the pine pellets from the tractor supply store, that's what we use too (same volume and cost) and I wish I'd discovered it years ago. It's so easy and all litter box smells completely vanished so that I don't dread dealing with it anymore.
posted by anderjen at 1:15 PM on June 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by anderjen at 1:15 PM on June 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
Boxiecat Boxiepro is great for clumping and odor-control.
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 1:27 PM on June 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by a box and a stick and a string and a bear at 1:27 PM on June 13, 2022 [1 favorite]
Another +1 for pine (or walnut) pellets. I believe the ammonia binds with cellulose; water evaporates. Remember reading that someplace. I've never had any odor issues at all. 1 (rude) cat household.
posted by moonmoth at 2:28 PM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by moonmoth at 2:28 PM on June 13, 2022 [2 favorites]
OkoCat. It's wood litter, it clumps and doesn't smell. The supersoft variety does not hurt your feet when it (inevitably) gets onto the floor.
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:30 PM on June 13, 2022
posted by mygothlaundry at 3:30 PM on June 13, 2022
Um....
(1) kitty tax?
(2) you have to ask your cat(s), really.
I have one of the sweetest cats in the world, but crystal litter forced him to poop in my sink. (Ok, technically it was my wife's sink - he's not a monster!)
What you really want is an outdoor litterbox, search my comment history for ideas.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 7:04 PM on June 13, 2022
(1) kitty tax?
(2) you have to ask your cat(s), really.
I have one of the sweetest cats in the world, but crystal litter forced him to poop in my sink. (Ok, technically it was my wife's sink - he's not a monster!)
What you really want is an outdoor litterbox, search my comment history for ideas.
posted by soylent00FF00 at 7:04 PM on June 13, 2022
Best answer: If you haven't already, try a crystal brand with smaller crystals (Pretty Litter is a good option -- I used to buy it online, but I've noticed Target carries it now). It hurts a lot less when you step on it, and I think the cats tracked less of it because of the particle size.
I tried walnut shell litter and it performed similar to crystal litter, but left a dark brown dust everywhere.
We switched to pine litter, and I like it in general but it's a very different product in my experience. My cats refuse to bury their poop in it, so we have issues with poop smell until either we scoop/bury them or the turd dries out a bit. But the real win, for me, is that we have none of the lingering pee smell that I had with every other kind of litter. The pellets do get scattered around in front of the litter boxes, and they're not as sharp and painful to step on as crystals, but they are much bigger. Because of their large size, I've found it much easier and faster to sweep them up.
posted by katieinshoes at 7:08 AM on June 14, 2022
I tried walnut shell litter and it performed similar to crystal litter, but left a dark brown dust everywhere.
We switched to pine litter, and I like it in general but it's a very different product in my experience. My cats refuse to bury their poop in it, so we have issues with poop smell until either we scoop/bury them or the turd dries out a bit. But the real win, for me, is that we have none of the lingering pee smell that I had with every other kind of litter. The pellets do get scattered around in front of the litter boxes, and they're not as sharp and painful to step on as crystals, but they are much bigger. Because of their large size, I've found it much easier and faster to sweep them up.
posted by katieinshoes at 7:08 AM on June 14, 2022
Response by poster: So sorry I forgot to pay my kitty tax!
posted by serelliya at 9:14 AM on June 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by serelliya at 9:14 AM on June 14, 2022 [1 favorite]
FWIW, I used pine pellets for a bit and found that it was a nightmare to vacuum up / wash out of bathmats when little bits of fallen-apart pellets did get tracked. I use walnut shell litter now and it's decent for odor control (it's the same color as my floors, so that's a bonus).
posted by momus_window at 9:45 AM on June 14, 2022
posted by momus_window at 9:45 AM on June 14, 2022
Response by poster: Report back for the archives: I tried Tuft + Paw Really Good Litter, which is a pine pellet style made from soy byproducts, mainly because I didn't want to drive 30 min each way to pick up a 40lb bag of pine pellets that might get thrown out if we didn't like it. Good news: these pellets track much less and are more comfortable to step on than crystal. Bad news: the odor control is noticeably worse, even with daily scooping which I didn't do with crystal 🙁
I'm planning to try again with actual pine pellets because they're cheaper - the Tuft + Paw litter bag is barely enough to fill their XL litterbox, without any left for topping off, which may be contributing to odor. But in case anyone is wondering about how crystal compares, I still haven't found anything to match it in odor control.
posted by serelliya at 8:31 AM on July 18, 2022
I'm planning to try again with actual pine pellets because they're cheaper - the Tuft + Paw litter bag is barely enough to fill their XL litterbox, without any left for topping off, which may be contributing to odor. But in case anyone is wondering about how crystal compares, I still haven't found anything to match it in odor control.
posted by serelliya at 8:31 AM on July 18, 2022
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Give Pioneer Pet's SmartCat a try? Low dust, fantastic odor control in my experience. It does track, but I've never hurt my feet on it.
posted by humbug at 12:04 PM on June 13, 2022