How to Choose the Best Kitty Litter

With so many options on the market, picking the best kitty litter may not be as simple as you think. There are those that boast its clumping capability, some focus on odour control, others on its reduced impact on the environment. But whatever feature you put premium on, remember that picking the right litter also entails considering your cat's preference.

In this article, we give you some features to keep in mind when choosing the best kitty litter for your precious feline.

Tips on How to Choose the Best Litter for Your Cat

Odour control

This is by far one of the most important features that you need to base your choice on. If you live in a small apartment, even if you change your cat’s litter every day or even twice a day, you need to know for sure that there will be no nasty smells lingering about.

The litter you pick needs to be able to prevent ammonia from forming or at least have the ability to neutralise odour as effectively and quickly as possible.

Our new Wee Kitty Bamboo Odor Control Litter is made from charcoal-infused bamboo, which means that it has excellent odour-absorbing capabilities, making it possible for ammonia to be trapped by the pellets in under five minutes.

Convenience

The type of litter you choose also influences the way you will dispose of it. Clay varieties, for example, are a no-go when it comes to flushing down the toilet because they can produce clogs that can lead to you spending thousands of dollars on plumbing work.

But other eco-friendly options, such as our own Wee Kitty Eco Plant Flushable Litter can be disposed of in this way. This product is septic-safe and vegan, and is manufactured from soy and wheat fibres. As such, it won’t lead to any pipe clogging whether in your home or in the apartment.

Friendly to the environment

The material that the litter is made from has a lot to say when it comes to the impact it has on the environment. Clay litters are the worst in this sense as producing them calls for a lot of energy and disposing of them is just as bad for nature.

To make matters worse, clay litter can get into your cat’s lungs, especially if it isn’t well-granulated. If you’ve ever seen your cat drag some dust across your floors on their paws because of how fine their litter is, just imagine that that dust can also be inhaled. And then your cat grooms themselves and ingests the litter, this can lead to a bad case of poisoning.

Pine litter isn’t great either, not only just because it comes from trees that were obviously cut down for this type of manufacturing, but also because it produces sawdust that can lead to respiratory pathologies in cats.

The best and most eco-friendly alternatives that are now available are made from plant materials such as soy, corn, coconut, wheat, or bamboo.

If you’re looking for a safe and earth-friendly option, our Wee Kitty Natural Clumping Corn Litter might be a good fit – it’s extra-absorbent, it clumps, it can be flushed down the toilet, and it produces little to no dust. Moreover, it’s fully biodegradable and it doesn’t even contain any chemicals or additives.

How much does clumping matter?

You might be unwilling to change your cat’s litter frequently, and that’s because when it all comes down to cost, it can prove to be rather expensive.

Even though some people tend to think that only clay litter has good clumping properties, the truth is that many plant-based litters these days come with this feature. And if spending a fortune on your pet’s litter doesn’t seem like an attractive idea, clumping is a mandatory aspect to look for when choosing between varieties.

What does your cat like the most?

If you’ve recently adopted a kitten and you're unsure of which type of litter they’d prefer the most, the best way would be for you to set up a rotation where you try out several different varieties.

You can also have two litter boxes with different litters to see which one your pet will favour more. And even if you have just one cat, having two litter boxes is great so that they always have a clean ‘toilet’ in case you forget to remove the clumps from one.

The majority of pet owners will undoubtedly find that their cats do not tend to prefer heavily scented varieties. Nobody likes having their home smelling like a cat ‘powder room’, but odour absorbency is far more important than having a strong scent that can try to cover up the smell of urine. 

Some cats hate strong scents so much that they might avoid using the litter box altogether - whether that means they will pee or poop elsewhere or they’ll just hold it in for as long as possible.

Doing so puts them at a risk of developing a urinary tract infection. And even if they do use the litter box, they may develop respiratory pathologies because of the artificial perfume.

References:

Suspected bentonite toxicosis in a cat from ingestion of clay cat litter, C.S. Hornfeldt & M.L. Westfall, 1996: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8888544/