Cat owners often tell us, “I
love my cat, but I hate the litter box.” Right back at ya, cat owners! One day,
as I was once again vacuuming up litter that had been tracked 15 feet from the
box, I had an epiphany: Why am I putting up with this? When it comes to kitty
litter, there must be a better mousetrap!
For years, I had been using
non-scented bulk clumping litters. The odor control was decent – though, let’s
face it, there are always going to be some bad smells -- and the excellent clumping made both #1 and #2
easy to clean up. But my back isn’t what it used to be, and hauling those heavy
containers of litter was giving Tylenol too much business. And then there was the
aforementioned scatter. I was over it.
I began my intrepid research
by perusing the litter aisles at Petco. So many choices! I decided to start with all-natural products.
First up was a walnut-based litter, Blue Naturally Fresh Quick Clumping. Then I
tried World’s Best Cat Litter, which is corn-based; Feline Pine; and even a
wheat-based litter. I moved on to Fresh
Step Crystals and a pearled litter.
Each time, I transitioned my two
cats by setting up a second box with the new litter. I also slowly replaced the regular litter in
their original box with the new litter.
After about a week, I allowed their original box to get dirty. I was
surprised (and very lucky) that my cats accepted each new litter without any
problem.
I was prepared to stop my
experiment when I found the perfect product, but it didn’t seem like that would
ever happen. All of the litters tracked as much as or worse than my old standby
clay litter. Some of them turned to mush when they got wet, which made cleaning
the box messy and unpleasant. One of
them, the World’s Best, had such fine dust that I had to wear a surgical mask
to handle it, and my hair would smell like corn for the rest of the day.
Finally, one of my clients,
to whom I will always be grateful, told me about the Breeze
Litter System. It’s a green-and-white plastic box with a pull-out tray in
the bottom. A pad fits into the tray perfectly. You fill the box with a non-absorbant
pelleted litter. The urine goes right
through the pellets and soaks into the pad.
With two cats, I have to
change the pad every 36 hours. I reverse the tray about halfway through that
time period. The stools are easily scooped off the surface of the pellets.
And the scatter? All but gone!
Although the pellets are virtually weightless to me, my cats don’t seem
to be able to fling them very far. Twice a day, I toss about 10 pellets back
into the box. I have to replace the
pellets only once a month, and I buy the pads online in bulk. So although the system might seem to be more
expensive, it’s not. And what it’s done
for my back? Priceless!
