Tuesday, February 21, 2012

More litter tales (Part 2)

Call me crazy, but right now, I'm using three types of cat-litter.

I was hoping I'd be able to change to the paper-litter (for health and environmental friendliness) but my brood wouldn't go anywhere near it. So I was going to give the whole pack away until my friend, Cathy, told me to sprinkle some onto my existing Ever Clean to get the cats slowly and gradually accustomed to the new litter.

Oh well, why not? Nothing to lose, I hope.

But I had run out of Ever Clean already, so I still needed to buy a new box. And as luck would have it, I got a pack of Cat's Pride as well (the one recommended by Chen).

So, that's how I ended up with three types of litter for today....


 http://www.facebook.com/catspride?sk=app_160263437383227


This version does not clump. Apparently, there is research that shows that the clumping agent is chemical in nature, and therefore, unhealthy.



Tabs used it immediately (maybe that was what she used in her former home?) but I could not find the wet spot! Later, I learnt from Chen that one must carefully identify the wet spots and scoop it up with a spoon (not the usual cat litter scoop). I didn't know that and I had stirred the sand, so all the wet spots "disappeared"! I still have not got the hang of identifying the wet spots yet (apparently, it would look darker, that's all). This is non-clumping, so you don't get a hardened spot.



http://www.everclean.com/products.html


Good old reliable Ever Clean which successfully converted my non-litter-box trained cats into being willing to use the litter-box. The downside is that Ever Cleans is very pricey. But compared to Cat's Pride, Ever Clean is definitely more dust-free. In fact, I find that it practically has no dust at all.


But it clumps... and now, there is literature that says the clumping agent is unhealthy.



 http://petshack.com.my/webshaper/store/viewProd.asp?pkProductItem=836


This is non-clumping and is environmental friendly, but you'd have to use a double-layered litter-box for it. The urine goes right through and gets soaked in newspapers underneath the first layer.



 I've sprinkled some paper litter onto the Ever Clean.


Let's see how it goes after this...


While sand may not be very hygienic, I haven't seen my cats licking the Ever Clean at all and they always flick off the sand from their paws as they step out of the box.


Worse come to worst, if all else fails, I'd have to just stick with Ever Clean since all of them use it, which to me, is already quite a miracle!


But let's hope for better things to come....I'm all for being environmental friendly, of course.

5 comments:

Adi Solikin said...

i think ever clean is the best litter. but like u said, it is pricey -__-"
So i mix the ever clean with normal litter and the ever clean still works well.
it still controls the odor and the clumps for pee are not as loose as before. so after few use the litter is still clean and does not smell as bad.
and i manage to keep within budget ;)

chankahyein said...

Yes, I like it very much and it IS very clean and really dust-free. But there's this school of thought that says the clumping agent is toxic. So, that is something to think about, too.

Maneki Neko said...

Dr. Susanna brought up one advantage of using the clumping litter: It can be a good diagnostic tool. She asked me how much my cats urinate, and I looked at her with a totally blank face. How on earth would I know that? I use pine pellet litter, and so I just see a bunch of damp sawdust in the bottom of the tray. If I were using clumping litter, I could get some idea from the number and size of the clumps. If there are lots & lots of tiny clumps, it can indicate a problem, or too few clumps says they're not getting enough liquid, etc. Just another thing to consider... :-)

chankahyein said...

I know...Dr Susanna told me always to use only a clumping litter, too. And that is why I chose Ever Clean. I guess there are pros and cons and the most important consideration is - will your cats use it? And that it isn't "too toxic"? Ever Clean boasts of using "natural ingredients", but am not sure how natural that is....

Chen said...

More litter discussion. A good non-clumping cat sand can also tell you whether the pee is a lot or not. Some non-clumping turns into a batch of sluch - that's not good and you can't tell how much the cat(s)have urinated. I recommended Cat's Pride because although it's non-clumping, the used sand don't easily turn into slush (unless of course you don't clean the tray until it's all full). One can still see the pee spot and tell if its a big pee or small pee.