This is a tale about happy, healthy cat litter, so if you don’t have a cat(s) or don’t know anyone who does, this post is probably going to be of absolutely no use to you whatsoever. I suspect it will also bore the pants off you. Cats: if you don’t have one there’s nothing to see here.
Along the same lines as my recent post about stinky pits and other things I don’t miss, I also do not miss stinky cat litter. Wait. What? Did I adopt out all my ‘children’?? Has Mr. McHenry escaped over the back fence never to be seen again?? Did Florence wander off the back step in search of a bigger water bowl?? Fear not, lovely readers, my brood of four-legged furry friends is alive and well.
It’s hot today and right now Daisy is sprawled out across the desk, Florence is flat on the kitchen floor wedged up against the cabinets, Penelope is spread-eagled under the ceiling fan, Zebedee is upside down with legs akimbo on the terrace, and Mr. McHenry is collapsed under the dining table looking like he’s about to expire from the weight of all that fluff he drags around with him.
Given that all my ‘kids’ are present and correct, how come I no longer have stinky cat litter? Have I trained them to use the toilet?! (I wish). No, it all started when I was going through the process of finding out WTF is was wrong with me. Having discovered that I have a genetic wrinkle giving me a reduced ability to de-toxify my body when it’s assailed by all the icky modern day stuff like the chemicals in paint, plastics, petroleum products, cleaning products, blah, blah, blah, I started working on replacing all the chemicals in my home with natural products.
Now, I’ve always been averse to using chemicals for cleaning and personal care products so there wasn’t a huge amount of things I needed to research and swap out in those departments, but one day while I was scooping the {kitty} poop I realized how much dust was stirred up and I started wondering what was in that dust and how much I was breathing in and whether it was harming us in some way. Sure enough it turns out that clay litter is no bueno, so it had to go.
Off I trundled to the fancy-pants pet store where I found litter made from all sorts of wheaty, corny, piney things. I grilled the store clerks (no not that kind of grilling) and eventually decided on one particular pine litter – Feline Fresh by Planet Wise – mostly because it was biodegradable and flush-able. Flush-able!! No more sacks of kitty-poop to save up and toss out with the garbage!! WOOHOO!! I cannot even tell you the transformation that this pine litter wrought on the Brown House.
It smells like a pine forest, it is really light, it clumps like nobody’s business, it has unbelievably magical odor control, and you can flush the clumps straight down the loo. If there is any downside it is that it tracks a bit because it is light and fluffy. The kids loved it. The only other downside (for me) was the cost. Although you end up using way less than regular clay litter it still gets pretty pricey when you have 20 little feet traipsing through it every day and night. So I tried some other pine litters – and none of them came even close to the clumping, odor control or flush-ability of the Feline Fresh by Planet Wise. If I didn’t have quite so many super-users at my house this is the litter I would use.
My next task was to find something that was just as good as the Feline Fresh by Planet Wise but made of something other than pine that had a lower price point. I went to a different store and grilled their store clerks. I researched on The Interwebs. Finally I settled on Blue Buffalo Naturally Fresh walnut shell litter. I know, right? Who knew?! Who even thought up using walnut shells for cat litter? Anywho – give that person a medal. Because AWESOME.
It has a slight walnutty smell, it clumps like the Dickens, it has unbelievably magical odor control, zero dust, and hardly tracks at all. It is a miracle. The only downside is that it doesn’t flush, but it is so much lighter than clay and has no odor when wet so it doesn’t even feel like a downside. The kids love it, and one 26lb bag lasts 5 cats a whole month. I kid you not: 5 cats for 1 month only takes 1 bag, and that’s with two super-peeing kitties on the team (*ahem* Florence and Penelope).
So Blue Buffalo Naturally Fresh is now the litter of choice over here at Life in the Sane Lane HQ. I should note that Florence will simply not pee in a litter box that is not pristine, and despite my not cleaning the trays any more frequently than I did when we used clay litter, there have been no Florence ‘accidents’ since we switched. I credit this to the magical odor control that Blue Buffalo Naturally Fresh has over regular clay litter.
When I posted about my enthusiasm for Blue Buffalo Naturally Fresh on my Facebook page (which, incidentally you should join because we’d love to have you there) a bunch of people said, “Oh! We never thought about getting cat litter from Amazon!”
Well here’s why you might consider doing that:
- Cheaper – YAY! Plus when it is on sale buy it in bulk and by the time you’ve run out it will be on sale again. Winning!
- No driving to the store – dunno about you but I have *way* funner things to occupy my time than shopping for cat litter. Even vacuuming is funner than that.
- No lugging heavy bags of litter from store to car and car to house – especially if you’re a single gal who just did her eccentrics the day before. Ouch.
- Free shipping – and no gas in the car either. Winning!
- Delivered to your door – does it get any simpler?
Happy, healthy cat litter for one and all!
Photo credits from the top: Mr. McHenry – Daisy – Zebedee – Penelope – Florence
(If you know someone with furry feline friends please share – thanks!)
VanessaYou’ve got me thinking about trying this weird walnut litter…
Would you name the pictured kitties from top to bottom? I recognize Mr. McHenry, of course.
carriePhoto credits from the top: Mr. McHenry – Daisy – Zebedee – Penelope – Florence :-)
VanessaI’m pleased to meet them! :) You have a new fan, cats of Carrie.
Daisy looks particularly stern in her picture, but she looks so GOOD doing it.
Zebedee and my eldest cat, Yin, appear to have the same philosophy that humans working on the computer are in need of a cat draped across their arms. Or lying on the keyboard.
SueCarrie: Thank you for the cat litter review. I also have 5 cats. And, I have a sensitivity to all those nasty added-chemicals. For a few years, I’ve been on a quest to replace my surroundings with natural products. No scents, no dyes, no perfumes, etc, etc. And I wouldn’t think of exposing my kitties to anything that I don’t tolerate. >^..^<
Have you found the BBNF litter to be dusty? Or attract ants? )I once tried the corn-based cat litter and found it attracted ants. Ugh.)
As always, thank you for your blog and your cookbooks and sharing your all stories with us. I've been a fan for – I think its been – 4 years now. You're a friend from afar.
Sue
carrieSue! No dust on the BBNF litter. No ants either. I am completely in love with this stuff and so are the “kids” :-)
SharletThis is a new brand for me. I’ve been using World’s Best Cat Litter for my cat – it is made from corn, but I see that it is way more expensive. I looked on chewy.com and your litter…same size bag… is under $20. Shipping is free if you spend more than $49. I’m going to give Blue a try and save money. Thanks.
WendyWow, I haven’t heard of the walnut shell litter. We’ve been using pine for years. We actually buy a 40lb bag from a feed store for $5.. They sell it for horses. But, it doesn’t clump. We just dump it a couple times a week. Smells so much better.