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August
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« on: July 25, 2008, 06:55:27 PM » |
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I tried doing research on paper litter but there was surprisingly little info available. I hate not being able to research the Japanese brands of litter for what is best (like I can research foods like Evo and Wellness etc). I even found some sites for cat health that recommended NOT using paper litter, but I think that was because at the time the articles were written, paper litter didn't clump. In Japan there are quite a few clumping paper litter options. BLUE - White on the outside but turns blue with urine : Did not get that since I don't like the idea of my guys using something that turns such an artificial color and I'd rather be able to see the color of the urine GREEN TEA - This one has green tea inside the white paper pellets. I'm not sure why or if that is all right for kitties. CARBON - I've seen lots of litter with carbon in it to help with the smell...is this a good thing? WHITE - Just white paper pellets : This is the one I got, but they do have a bit of an "odd" smell to them that I can't explain -- not odd enough to deter Chami from using them, but enough to make me wonder if I should try carbon or green tea. Though the odd smell could be because I still have some silica mixed in with it...? I'd like to ask, does anyone have any feelings on this? To those of you who use paper litter : In general, how often do you completely change the litter? I've read one week, and I've read one month.  |
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catbird
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« Reply #1 on: July 25, 2008, 07:38:32 PM » |
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I used to use paper litter, but no longer do. We had to change all the litter weekly, sometimes more often, even though we were scooping daily. I did not think the odor control was very good with it, but it was plain--no carbon, etc.
(I found other kinds I liked better.)
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"When Mother Nature saw fit to remove the tail of the Manx, she left, in place of the tail, more cat." --Mary Stewart
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JustMe
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« Reply #2 on: July 25, 2008, 08:01:49 PM » |
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I didn't care for the paper clumping litters that I tried, including PaPurr. Scattered everywhere, and I mean everywhere. I no longer use clumping litters or regular clay litters because the dust was a factor for my cats and myself. Scooping and changing so many litter boxes would leave visible clouds of dust hanging in the air for several minutes. I'd choke on the dust. The day I saw one of my cats choking after burying her business, I switched to nonclay litters. I also find cleaning boxes with scooping litter a pain in the butt. I use Yesterday's News scented. I do worry about what exactly is in there, but there is little residue to lick of their paws like the dust from scooping and nonscooping clay litters. I've had maybe 2 bags where it smelled like diesel fuel, so I tossed those. With the number of cats I have, I scoop solid waste once a day (now that they don't poop so much). I completely empty out each box, wash with Sun and Earth spray and refill fresh litter once a week. Cannot go more than a week. The upstairs boxes I change twice a week as they seem to be favoring those more. Here is a site I found with mixed reviews of various litters. http://www.rateitall.com/t-355-cat-litter.aspx |
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I'm living the dream.
Pet food posts are solely observations on my pets' reactions to the foods I feed them, not recommendations.
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August
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« Reply #3 on: July 25, 2008, 08:25:43 PM » |
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When I got these 4 guys a little over a year ago, and did research on cat litter, I read lots of great reviews about silica and automatic litter boxes so I excitedly invested. My only image of litter boxes and litter was from more than 25 years ago when I was a little girl growing up with 3 cats and the totally gross clay dusty stuff that stunk (they were indoor/outdoor cats and mostly used my Mom's outside flower garden  ). I thought I was happy with the silica, but now having used paper litter in a basic plastic litter box for a few days, it's suddenly dawning on me what a massive pain in the butt it's been for a year completely washing out two heavy automatic litter boxes and changing the heavy silica every week. I also don't much like not being able to scoop out the urine, even though it doesn't smell, it just sort of bugs me to think there is always urine in the box. (I scoop several times a day, and lately, I'd also been scooping up the urine heavy silica-turned-yellow-powder to try to keep it dryer and cleaner.) Catbird - May I ask what you're using now? JustMe - Thank you for that link. I'm going to look at it now. I didn't realize Yesterday's News is a non-clumping paper litter. What then happens to the urine? Does it do what silica does? (Sort of turns to dust.) The paper litter I have now does scatter (but just for a foot or two) when Chami gets out, but the pieces are SOOOO much easier to pick up than those darn silica beads which are throughout my carpeted small apartment. May I ask, how is cleaning boxes with scooping litters more butt-pain than a non-scooping type? I came across EverClean in Japan. I noticed cat.info strongly urges to use clumping clay litter. But I'm a bit reluctant about clay litters just from the stories I've read, and it seems the one or two posters here who do use it are trying to find something else LOL. |
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« Last Edit: July 25, 2008, 08:28:37 PM by August »
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JustMe
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« Reply #4 on: July 25, 2008, 09:02:49 PM » |
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I've never used silica or automatic boxes, so haven't a clue about those.
The urine on the bottom of the box is absorbed by the newspaper litter, so the litter gradually swells. With clumping litters, the liquid is absorbed from the top. For me, it's easier to clean as I can slide the whole box and contents into a plastic trash bag, spray the empty box, dry with paper towels, and fill with fresh litter. There are virtually no clumps/mounds of wet litter and slimy residue stuck to the bottom of the box that have to be scraped off. It slides right into the plastic bag. I don't use liners like I did with clay.
I use the soft-textured, scented one. Approximately 3 bags a week (40 pounds) @ $6-7 a bag. Sometimes they have coupons in the bag, $1 off for 2 bags.
It's a matter of preference for me and what my cats will use. What works for me may not work for someone else. I use a regular scoop from clumping litter and scoop out the poops. The paper also costs a lot more than clay litter. I also occasionally use Cedariffic, which my cats like, but is quite messy as far as tracking all over the house, and it really stinks of urine after 5 days with so many cats.
Of course you need to change gradually if you ever try different litters just like trying out different foods.
Mine still like old fashioned clay, but I rarely use it unless I run out of the newspaper stuff.
I know a lot of people that use pine pellets and can get a 40 pound bag for less than $10. I may try that again as this is getting expensive with so many cats.
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I'm living the dream.
Pet food posts are solely observations on my pets' reactions to the foods I feed them, not recommendations.
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JustMe
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« Reply #5 on: July 25, 2008, 09:19:04 PM » |
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I noticed cat.info strongly urges to use clumping clay litter. She talks about a brand called Dr. Elsey's (clumping). Wonder if anybody here has tried that brand. |
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I'm living the dream.
Pet food posts are solely observations on my pets' reactions to the foods I feed them, not recommendations.
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straybaby
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« Reply #6 on: July 25, 2008, 09:22:14 PM » |
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I use Good Mews. Pretty much the same as Yesterday's News (no scent, just recycled paper) but made by a smaller company, not Purina. I fired Purina during my mass firing in reaction to the PF recall.  I've seen the Green Tea litters and know that folks around me use them. Price wise with 5 cats, the paper litter is cheaper. I just use a small amount in each box and dump daily. Easier than scooping and I carry out smaller amounts to the trash. I got tired of hauling heavy bags of used litter down 3 flights, lol!~ Another thing folks use here is corn. Can't think of the name of it, but it's feed grade and dirt cheap to buy in large quantities. Also pine pellets that can be bought at feed stores for wood stoves etc. Again, cheap and in large quantities. I'll prob use corn or pine when I move to the mountains as I can use them in the wood stove also, lol!~ I'm a fan of low/no dust natural litters. |
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JustMe
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« Reply #7 on: July 25, 2008, 09:33:06 PM » |
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straybaby,
How much litter do you use? Just enough to cover the bottom of the boxes?
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I'm living the dream.
Pet food posts are solely observations on my pets' reactions to the foods I feed them, not recommendations.
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straybaby
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« Reply #8 on: July 25, 2008, 09:42:57 PM » |
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Yup! Learned it from the guys at the shelter. I don't think I end up using much if any more than doing the tradition method. I had 8 cats at the time and was tired of being the litter box slave |
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August
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« Reply #9 on: July 25, 2008, 11:01:43 PM » |
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That's an interesting idea about using only enough litter to cover the bottom and then changing it every day. Oh, and Straybaby, the green tea litter here is the same price as the paper one. I guess in Japan there's plenty of green tea LOL. And thanks JustMe for the explanation on your paper litter. I bought some non-clumping paper litter (actually by mistake) and it's in my drawer. I wonder if it absorbs urine the same way as Yesterday's News. Since I live in Japan, pretty much none of the brands mentioned are available to me  so I have to go with just explanations of types. I did also find World's Best here, but what with all the talk about bugs, and what with Japan being awfully humid, I can't imagine that would be a good idea for me. ETA : There is a popular natural litter product in Japan that seems to be fairly popular made from Okara (Okara or soy pulp is a white or yellowish pulp consisting of insoluble parts of the soybean which remain in the filter sack when pureed soybeans are filtered in the production of soy milk. -- Taken from Wikipedia). Is there also such a product over where you are? |
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« Last Edit: July 25, 2008, 11:43:45 PM by August »
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JustMe
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« Reply #10 on: July 26, 2008, 07:06:11 AM » |
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Yup! Learned it from the guys at the shelter. I don't think I end up using much if any more than doing the tradition method. I had 8 cats at the time and was tired of being the litter box slave Hmmm..I like the concept. Don't know if it would work here, but its worth a try. Corn and pine didn't work for me. Found bugs in both, that's why I went to paper. But people I know that use both, haven't seen bugs. May try them again at some point. Mountains? Moving upstate? |
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I'm living the dream.
Pet food posts are solely observations on my pets' reactions to the foods I feed them, not recommendations.
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alek0
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« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2008, 08:06:06 AM » |
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Bugs are actually good, it means it is natural and non-toxic   When I needed litter before Sophie was trained, I used Swheatscoop. Haven;t seen any bugs in it, but I heard that in that one also some people had bug problems. We tried paper when Sophie just came because that was what breeder used (not same brand though), but she just wanted to play with it. |
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JustMe
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« Reply #12 on: July 26, 2008, 08:19:55 AM » |
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Bugs are actually good, it means it is natural and non-toxic Wise guy/girl!  I don't think the bugs came with the litter, but not sure. They were what we call water beetles for lack of a real knowledge of what they are. I don't know if they eat it or what, but haven't seen any in the litters since I stopped using it. I have seen spiders hanging out in the paper litter though. Cassi liked to play with the paper litter, too, when she was a kitten. She'd also sleep in it (so I had to put in fresh several times a day). |
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I'm living the dream.
Pet food posts are solely observations on my pets' reactions to the foods I feed them, not recommendations.
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catbird
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« Reply #13 on: July 26, 2008, 11:12:50 AM » |
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August,
I use World's Best, and have never had a bug problem with it. I find the scoopable litters much easier to use than the regular kind. (The urine makes the litter clump together, so you just remove the clumps and the solid wastes every day.)
I have also tried Cobby Cat (the corncob one)--that one got bugs badly and the odor was awful.
I've also tried Sweat Scoop. That was a step up from Cobby Cat in terms of odor and bugs, but still had both.
My cats hated Feline Pine because of the pine smell, and that isn't scoopable.
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"When Mother Nature saw fit to remove the tail of the Manx, she left, in place of the tail, more cat." --Mary Stewart
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August
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« Reply #14 on: July 26, 2008, 11:47:09 AM » |
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Thanks, Catbird, I do want to switch to one that will allow me to scoop out everything. I like how this clumping paper litter is letting me do that. World's Best that is being sold in Japan has a "warning" to use the product within 6 months due to bugs, which makes me think that there's a good chance that enough Japanese had problems with them to make them have to write it, which is unfortunate because I'd love to give it a try. Thank you for your info! |
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