Here kitty, kitty, kitty…

We have had the kitties for a couple of months now and we have gone though 4 different types of kitty litter. One was recommended by Beth, one was recommended by my vet and the other I chose.

The first was Swheat Scoop, made of wheat and flushable, I thought it would be a great alternative to the clay litter that the cats were raised on. I read all the comments about the litter and the there seemed to be a theme surrounding the litter clumping and sticking to the bottom of the litter pan. Beth didn’t have any bad things to say about it and since it came in a recycable paper bag I decided to try it. You have to use a huge amount of this litter to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the litter box and because of that we were going through a bag every 10 days. The cost of one bag was about $15 and spending that much every 10 days on something that I threw away seemed needless. I didn’t like the smell much anyway.

The second one I tried was Yesterday’s News , made of recycled newspapers it seemed like a great option. But eventhough the bag said that it was a clumping litter, it did not clump and it also was to big to filter through my scoop, so I was wasting clean litter everytime I scooped. That litter was freecycled less then a week after I bought it.

The third was Fresh Step, big business kitty litter, but my vet recommend that I try it so I did. It was perfumed with the worst smelling deodorant that I have ever smelled. I would have much rathered smelled the kitty poo! Plus the cats started smelling like the deodorant and it made me sneeze. Plus it stuck to the bottom of the litter pan just like the swheat scoop, but when you add liquid to dirt you get mud and that’s not the nicest thing to clean from the bottom of the pan.

The fourth was one that I thought that I would never try but I did and so far I have been impressed. The reason why I thought I wouldn’t try it is because it only comes in plastic containers, but they are refillable and recycable. The brand that I am using now is the Petco name brand kitty litter. The inital cost is $9.99 for the plastic container filled with litter and then every time you refill it the cost is $6.99. You still have to use 3 to 4 inches in the pan but it’s a savings of $8 over the Swheat Scoop, I can handle that.

I have looked at my locally owned pet store, but they carry the same brands that Petco does but they do not stock a refillable container like Petco does. So I will continue to buy their food (more on that tomorrow) from the local store and the litter from Petco. Luckly they are less then a block from each other and the local store is next door to my grocery store, so don’t have to use any extra gas. More on this later…