Kitty Litter help

September 4, 2022 1:22 PM

My cat and I don't have the same litter preference, and I'm trying to find something that will work for both of us.

When I first got him I used whatever litter the shelter gave me when I picked him up (don't recall the brand). It was dusty and scented, which I didn't care for.

I then tried pine pellets, which I really liked - easy to clean up, natural scent, very reasonably priced. But for some reason I decided to experiment with walnut shell litter in one of his litter boxes. He immediately ignored the box with the pine pellets and would only use the walnut shell litter. But I don't like the walnut shell litter as much as it hoped. It turns to goo and the ammonia smell is so surprising to me that I now realize what a good job the pine was doing with neutralizing odor.

I'd like to go back to pine pellets but I don't want to make him use something he doesn't like. After reading other questions about kitty litter I think I may have been using too much of the pine - maybe it wasn't hurting his feet, it was just piled deeply enough to make footing unstable?

But if I can't make the pine work for him, I'd like to find something that will work for both of us. And yeah, I know he's "just a cat" and if I restock the litter boxes with only pine, he'll have to use it (I'm not worried about him peeing outside of the boxes) but ... he's a living creature with preferences and no voice, so I'd like to find something that works for him. And if the pine litter does hurt his feet, I don't want that.

posted by bunderful to Pets & Animals (16 answers total)

Response by poster: tax
posted by bunderful at 1:39 PM on September 4, 2022 [10 favorites]

I use this stuff. The only thing wrong with it is that the grains are very lightweight so they do get tracked around a bit, but it clumps pretty well. As long as I remove the clumps to their own covered bucket, flush the poops every day, and add replacement litter to alternating ends of the tray rather than just dumping it on top, I never have to replace a whole tray's worth and the only smell coming off it is vaguely piney.
posted by flabdablet at 1:43 PM on September 4, 2022

We used untreated sawdust and that worked fine. I don't remember the details, but it's free so it might be worth a try. My memory says the downside is that it's lightweight and gets tracked around a bit.
posted by aniola at 1:56 PM on September 4, 2022

I swear by Worlds Best Cat Litter. The name is not a lie. To me it has all the qualities of a more “natural” litter, doesnt track that bad, isn’t dusty, clumps well, works well reducing odor and seems to be cat approved. Its expensive, but you use so much less of it
compared to a clay litter.
posted by cgg at 1:56 PM on September 4, 2022 [6 favorites]

I watched a YouTube video the other day called “10 Best Cat Litter of 2021” that breaks down a lot of styles of litter and the pros/cons of each. There are a few different natural litters covered, and a smell and dust tests for each.

There are other videos on the channel with other litter reviews, and may turn you on to a different option to try out!

(My cat and I are moving out of a shared home to live on our own, so I’m doing research on these lines)
posted by itesser at 2:01 PM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

We're a pine litter family, and we've several times adopted cats who came with other litter. I think the key is to slowly transition him and see what happens - so start with a box full of walnut litter, with just a sprinkle of pine pellets in there. Over the course of a couple of weeks, start adjusting the ratio every time you change the box. What happens when you're 25% pine? 50% pine? If he's tolerating it, keep going. You may be able to go 100% pine (and yes, we keep ours at a very low volume + change the box frequently) or maybe you can hit upon a ratio where he gets the walnuts he likes, but you get the benefits of the pine power too. Good luck! (We have always been able to do a complete transition, but sometimes it's slow.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 2:19 PM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Is there a chance he switched to the walnut shell litter because it was fresh and new? Cats do like new things sometimes.
posted by amtho at 2:23 PM on September 4, 2022

By which I mean - if you put down a freshly washed and sterilized litter box with unbesmirched pine in there, is there a chance he'll fall in love all over again?

OR you could put a layer of walnut on top of a thicker layer of the pine, and see how that goes.
posted by amtho at 2:24 PM on September 4, 2022

We use newspaper pellets and love them.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:34 PM on September 4, 2022

We also use newspaper pellets. I think they're softer than the pine pellets but offer similar smell coverage. There's also the paper fluff version sometimes sold as small animal litter. In my part of the US there's a million grain based ones (corn, wheat, etc) that clump but I stopped using them because it goes everywhere. At least the pellets have weight.
posted by fiercekitten at 2:58 PM on September 4, 2022

We use Pretty Litter and are super happy with it.
posted by General Malaise at 4:13 PM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

Seconding World's Best Cat Litter.
posted by PSB34me at 8:56 PM on September 4, 2022 [1 favorite]

I think BlahLaLa has it. Slowly transition back to the pine. I'm a recent convert to the pine pellets and I think it's a brilliant product. The odor control is outstanding (which has to be a benefit to the cat as well), and I dump the used litter into my garden as mulch. Do you have the type of litter box with an inner sifting box with a mesh bottom that allows the dissolved pellet material to filter through and sit at the bottom, separated from the fresh pellets? This way the litter doesn't need to be particularly deep. I think if I was using the pellets in a normal litter box, I could see why the cat would find it less pleasant. I get that you want kitty to enjoy his litter experience, but I'd give it another go, and see if he can't adapt.
posted by amusebuche at 10:11 PM on September 4, 2022

Thirding World’s Best Cat Litter. Never has there been more accurate branding.
posted by lydhre at 6:54 AM on September 5, 2022

We have multicat house and have started a trial of pretty litter for our stubborn senior and it’s a win. No smell. Lower tracking. Scoop the solids and stir (but box mostly self stirs). Cost wise it may be comparable to what we have been spending given the lack of scooping/clumping. It’s also no dust and lightweight.
posted by countrymod at 7:49 AM on September 5, 2022

Fourthing Worlds Best Cat Litter, particularly the lavender scented one.
posted by wittgenstein at 11:29 AM on September 5, 2022