Ok, so I have 5 cats lol. Litter can get be quite the chore in our house if we buy the wrong kinds. Not to mention how unhealthy most of the litters are for cats. We won't use clumping litters, no matter how convenient and everything else seems to get too smelly too fast. We've been playing around with various alternatives that you can find here and there online. We tried some sort of crystals for a bit (anyone know what I'm talking about? I don't have any here, so can't look). They seemed to be the best out of all the litters as it lasted a bit longer than the usual. Then we tried this litter that was like wood shavings? Can't remember the name, but it smelled like a woodshop in the room with the litter, it drove me crazy. It was better than the crystals for us though, aside from that terrible smell lol. Right now, I'm using wood pellets. NOT a litter. We paid 6 bucks for a massive bag. It's fantastic and the bag lasts for.ev.er! Such a savings and works great for anyone who wants to give it a try. And remember, I have five cats, so anyone with less will love this stuff and it will last you a decade maybe lol What do you use for litter? If you haven't played with alternatives, I highly recommend giving it a try for the health of the animal and your wallet.
I feel your pain, I somehow ended up with 6 cats! I heard that the crystals were a concern because of the chemicals they use in them? I usually use the Tidy Cats clumping litter just because it is cheap and relatively convenient (Target often offers a $5 gift card if you buy 2 at a time also), but I have been playing around with some other brands of nonclumping clay litters. I have never heard about using wood pellets like this though, might have to give it a try. Where do you get a bag of those?
I used to use Arm and Hammer littler that was a mix of pine and corn in tiny shavings. It smelled like wood but that was fine for me. It was also clumping. But I haven't been able to find it for a while so I switched to one that's made of crushed nut shells and it's also clumping. I don't have the bag here and can't remember the brand. The one I use doesn't have an artificial scent but it doesn't smell too bad. After I wasn't able to find the pine and corn blend of Arm and Hammer I tried the plain corn they offer, but it didn't control the smell well enough. So after that I tried to use pine pellets. My cats were used to the soft grains of the other littler and refused to use it. I prefer this kind of littler (natural and small particles) to the traditional clay because clay is dusty and I don't want to inhale that or my cats inhaling it. I think wood pellets would be great but my cats don't agree with that. When I was a kid we used to have a persian cat that used crystal litter (clay would stain it's paws) but I tried it and I don't think it works well for multiple cats, it doesn't control the smell as much and it's harder to clean, it lasts less for me.
I got it at Canadian Tire.. obviously I'm in Canada lol. Home depot maybe? Places like that? Wherever you can get products for wood stoves etc? I find when they smack the "litter" label on them, they can get away with charging so much for it, when if you look at the labels, it's a bunch of wood or corn or pellets or whatever that you can buy in non pet places for soooooo much cheaper. I wasn't aware of the chemicals in the crystals, but thankfully I only used it the one time.. thanks for the heads up though Oh! As for the feel of the pellets, that's a common concern. Thankfully mine don't mind it, they'll go in anything lol.. but if you wet the pellets first until they break up, they turn to a fine textured litter and they also have a sort of clumping action which makes it easier to scoop.
We buy wood shavings at a nearby woodshop and it is dirt cheap. Only half a dollar for a big sack but you are the one who has to fill your sack. My husband does it and that lasts us six months more or less. We do place it outside the house because it does not really mask the odor but our cats love it.
You can add baking soda to it to help mask the odor a little bit more. Our cats are indoors only so I would never risk having the litter box outside, but on my parents house the littler box was on the garage so the odor wasn't as much of a concern. Now I live in an apartment and the littler box is in the bathroom.
When my cat was still caged, I just place a metal basin in his cage and he poops and urinates in there. Now that he has become an indoor cat, he just scratches wooden surfaces like the ones beside the door to let us know that he wants to be let out to answer the call of nature. Sometimes he just jumps out of the open window and jumps back in again if he wants to come back inside the house.
