I went to clean out the closet last night, and gross. There was a coat of fine dust plastered over everything in there, including my box full of office supplies, which will have to be emptied and sprayed off one by one. Because I keep the cat box in that closet, and it's so dusty! I've tried to use brands of kitty litter (shitty litter, anyone? mirite? no?) that use larger grains, and those definitely aren't as dusty, but then they don't absorb the urine as well, and just kind of become damp with it over time. Although those type of brands are still very good at handling feces. Has anyone gotten sick of having a room in their house be the cat-shit dustbowl? I seriously might just put up with the urine-dank, less dusty brands. This dust is nasty! And to think I'm breathing it in, gross! Does anyone use any alternative brands of kitty litter? What solutions do you all have for the dust problem?
My favorite cat litter is natural one. I like one by Arm and Hammer that is made of little wood particles. It's dust free! I live that because I live in an apartment and my litter boxes are one in the bathroom and one in the cat room/store everything room. This kind of cat litter is safer than clay based one, if I used the traditional clay I would be breathing all that dust. I used to buy one that was Arm and Hammer made of pine, but then I couldn't find it so I switched to one made of corn by the same brand. Then it disappeared so I tried another brand that was made of walnut and I hated it (it didn't control the smell). Then I found one by Arm and Hammer again that is pine and cedar. The A&H brand ones all control odor well, the one I get is clumping so you only need to change it completely once every 2-3 weeks and it controls the smell really well. I've tried the more traditional clay before switching to wood and found it to be too dusty.
A lot of people like the Breeze litterbox system, which is pretty much dust free. The cat goes over some pellets and the urine drains down onto a pad. There is an alternative to this litterbox that uses safflower seeds as "litter". The urine runs into a tube which you dump out. This is GREAT for diabetic cats as you can test their urine really easily. There's also a self cleaning litterbox out there, not the one with the rakes that get all covered in feces, but one that really seems to work. It looks like a little spaceship. It is EXPENSIVE but if I only had 1 or 2 cats I think I'd pull the trigger. You only have to empty out the tray like once a MONTH with one cat. I personally do not like the wood, corn, etc kinds. I don't think they control the smell at all.
Have you tried the one with baking soda by Arm and Hammer because my experience is it does a great job to control the smell. And I have 2 litter boxes and currently 6 cats. The only thing is I've seen so many variations of this litter and I can't find a picture online of the one I have right now. There was one I tried that was really bad at controlling the smell and it was the same brand just a different type. I always get the one that's multi cat. The main problem with the enclosed ones is some cats don't like to use it because they feel like they can be ambushed by others. My cats have one open and one enclosed.
The dust produced by most litters isn't that bad. All you have to do is vacuum once per week to minimize residual dust, and it's not like the dust is floating in the air all day. Arm & Hammer makes a number of great litters, from clays to crystals to woods and more. You could always go with the larger clay litters to avoid dust, but those tend to fail at blocking odors.
I have a very, very similar problem. I have a walk-in closet and I keep my cat's litter box in the back corner. The dust is so bad that my cats get allergies! All the time I hear cute little sneezes. It's adorable, but I feel so bad for my little furball. Like you, I'm trying to find an affordable, alternative litter, but have yet to find one... I don't want to waste my money on a more expensive litter if it doesn't do any better in the end.
Thanks Quicky, Gypsy. I’ll try wood pellets + baking soda. I’m dubious. Like I mentioned in my initial post, there was a visible, tangible layer of dust all over everything in there. I still haven’t even finished cleaning off everything in there. You also mentioned crystal brands: my mom tried those; she was also sick of the dust. In her opinion, they were too expensive, and she didn’t like that much of the urine remains in the box. Personally, if I can’t find the wood stuff, or if it’s too expensive, I’ll just start using the ultra-cheap, nothing-but-chips-of-clay cat litter. A disadvantage mentioned about these larger-grained litters is lack of what the industry calls “odor control” (a nice euphemism for: Jesus Christ?! That came out of the cat?? I can smell it from the garage!). But in regards to this, an advantage of that is that a big bag of those clay chips (widely commercially available as branded cat litter, just lookg for the ultra cheap stuff) plus an entire box of baking soda is still less than most regular brands. So I can just add baking soda to it, and personally, I already don’t mind cleaning it immediately after the cat leaves a present in there. I’d rather take it out than live with it, gross. So I think this will work for me.
