I only had one cat until Monkee died and then I started fostering. Litter in a one-cat household is totally different than litter in a multi cat house! When it was just Monkee, he used crystals, and then at the end "Swheat Scoop" because he started eating the crystals (or trying to) due to the anemia (to get silica) and I started questioning the crystals' safety, independent of his eating them. In one cat households, I strongly reccommend Swheat Scoop. It's all natural (made from Wheat), safe, and it's the best d*mn clumping litter I have ever used. Also great for odor control, even though it's not artificially scented (?). I love that stuff!!! But it's expensive. I had to give that up with the fostering and addition of more cats. With multiple cats, I have found you pretty much HAVE TO HAVE scoopable/clumping litter (or you will go crazy) and that opinion comes from experience. I Volunteer for a no-kill adoption agency and they get free litter sometimes when the store they have the cats at has a pallet of huge litter bags that breaks, something like that. I was going thru litter so fast and the agency had these huge bags of FREE litter-- only all the scoopable/clumping had already been taken. I couldn't resist the free-ness, so I took what was left: Feline Pine (which Monkee used when I first took him in from outside but he peed about 6 times a day and pine just didn't cut it). With 5 crated kittens, the pine proved to be a disaster. When they pee, it breaks down the pine. I was left with "saw dust"-like residue ALL over the room where the cats where crated. They would get it everywhere-- 10 feet from the crates! It was horrible and disgusting. It also did nothing to absorb the smell nor the liquid of urine (which is why Monkee loved his dehydrating crystals!). I have found the scoopable/clumping Tidy Cats to actually be the best, so I think you are using one of the best options for multi cats. Tidy Cats happens to be what the adoption agency uses in their cats condos that house 4-5 cats each, using 1 Dome litterbox per condo (that is cleaned once a day by a volunteer). It just clumps the best. Also, if you buy the cardboard box of Tidy Cats clumping (blue/green container I think?) with the white plastic handle on the top, it has a coupon on the side of it that you have to cut off. If you don't look for it, you might miss it and just throw the box out for recycling. But we are fastidious about cutting these off before discarding a box because they are very helpful. Stay away from the clay/non-scoopable varieties too, as I have had no success with these. This is when they get the clay on their feet and it won't come off unless you fully bathe them (which is not acceptable)! I bought a box of Arm & Hammer clumpable claiming to be good for odor control, and I have hated it. It appears to have more clay than anything else in it and Yoda gets damp clay (from urine!) all over his back feet and it won't come off! I have to bathe him this weekend because this brand has made him so dirty. It is also really strongly scented I guess for the odor control, but it's very perfumey and I hate it. Yoda now smells like a combo of his own poo and bad old lady musky perfume from this Arm & Hammer. If you have a cat who messes around in the litter box like Yoda (he's a 5 mth old kitten!) and loves getting himself dirty from his own litterbox, then do not use this! Since it sticks to Yoda like thick, gummy glue and he tries to lick it off, I am also concerned about the perfume smell- like he souldn't be ingesting that? I am using up this box, then never buying it again. When you find one that works best for you and your cats, STICK WITH IT! Don't be tempted by sales or unfounded claims of odor control and clumping....it's not worth it! Trust me. It will almost always end up in traumatic baths.... -Caroline
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: [EMAIL PROTECTED]: Re: LitterboxesDate: Fri, 19 Oct 2007 15:20:59 -0400 It doesn't seem to make a whole lot of difference what brand of litter (as long as it IS scoopable) we use so I buy whatever I have coupons for--or, if no coupons, I go to Wal-Mart as they have the best prices around here. I have seven cats and seven litterboxes--I've always read that one should have the same number of boxes as cats. We scoop the boxes 4-5 times per day. I don't know that there is a perfect answer--but this works pretty well. ----- Original Message ----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 3:13 PM Subject: Litterboxes Ok, guys, as you know, my cat population has grown to four. With that comes an exponential number of litterboxes (three currently, thinking about upgrading to four), and well, honestly, litter is getting a bit expensive with all the other costs. I'm curious about what you guys use? Right now I use Tidy Cats scoopable litter, and the Tidy cats litter deodorizer, too. I've also been changing the boxes out completely every week (at least every other week). This gets expensive, especially considering it takes a box and a half to fill three boxes every week. The problem is if I don't change the box out every week, it starts to smell, and one of the litterboxes is in the guestroom. :( So my question is, what kind of litter do you guys use, and what protocol do you use to keep the odor to a minimum? What are the differences in scoopable versus non-scoopable? I'd appreciate any opinions on the matter. :)~Michael See what's new at AOL.com and Make AOL Your Homepage. _________________________________________________________________ Boo! Scare away worms, viruses and so much more! Try Windows Live OneCare! http://onecare.live.com/standard/en-us/purchase/trial.aspx?s_cid=wl_hotmailnews
