The Best Cat Litter For Your Cat

Cat litter comes in many different forms and has many varieties. It can be overwhelming to look down the pet aisle and not know what the best kind is for your cat.

In all honesty, it’s not a particular brand, but what they like the best. We’re going to look into everything cat litter has to offer and what your cat likes and dislikes when it comes to their bathroom material.

Your cat’s personality may play a big factor in this. Some cats are very picky while some could care less. Even if you have the most laid back cat in the world, they may not like a certain litter so you’ll have to see their signs that they don’t like. Read on to see how I knew my cats didn’t like Crystal Litter.

The best way to understand how your cat likes their litter box is to compare it to you using a Porta-John or Porta-Potty. You like it clean, smelling fresh, and we all prefer to be the only one who has ever used it, am I right?

Think of your cat’s litter box the same way, you don’t want the cover-up smell to knock you down when you go in and if it’s been used too many times… well I don’t know about you, but I’m not going in there.

Cat litter is the floor, the toilet seat, the absorbable/masking substance for waste, and the toilet paper. It’s an all-in-one product that we’re going for so it needs to do-it-all for your cat.

What Cats Prefer

• Softness
• Odorless
• Cover-ability– easily covers waste

Cats have a very strong sense of smell and is their main decision maker. They need to be able to go in there and do their business without getting knocked down by strong fragrances and need to be able to cover their waste without lingering smells. The softness of the litter plays a big factor too as their paws are sensitive and have to dig in it to cover their waste.

What We Like In A Litter

I can’t speak for everyone, but I think the vast majority would agree with me that the best cat litter is one that is…

• Mess-Less
• Locks in odor
• Makes our cat happy!

There are many forms of cat litter. Each kind has pros and cons. You just have to decide what works best for you and your cat. What you decide is best may not be what your cat decides is best too, so try one type and if it doesn’t work we can go from there. Don’t feel crazy if you feel like you need to get 3 different kinds of litters to start off with. It happens to the best of us, we just want our cats to be happy!

Types of Litter

Clumping Clay

Non-Clumping Clay

Crystals (Silica Gel)

Recycled Paper

Pine

My personal favorite is Fresh Step Clean Paws Multi-Cat. Personal opinion– any box that says “multi-cat” is going to have a longer-lasting odor control to cover multiple cat’s bathroom habits.

The “clean paws” factor of this particular litter is that it is larger pieces making it heavier and doesn’t get trapped in your cat’s paw fur as easily as regular litter. It makes it not as soft since the pieces are larger, so your cat may not like that factor.

Fresh Step also has a variety of nice fragrances that aren’t overpowering for most cats. For those are sensitive to smells, there’s an unscented litter!

How I Knew What My Cats Didn’t Like

I’ve always been a Fresh Step fan. I have so many foster cats come through my house and after many different attempts it has worked for the majority of my residents.

The recycled paper litter always turned into a toy that they would pick up with their mouths and play/drag around the house. It also doesn’t cover odors well and they can’t cover their waste with it easily.

Pine makes them feel like their outdoor and works well with outdoor cats that have to come in temporarily, but I personally don’t like the smell of pine.

My 2 boys are very laid back, but when I tried the crystal litter I found them balancing on the side of the litter box trying not to touch the crystals. I’m assuming they hurt their feet, so that didn’t work for us.

I’m not a big fan of the non-clumping clay because when it gets wet and the cats accidentally step in it, it sticks to their paws. Then they leave little clay paw prints all over the floor.

Sometimes in order to find what the best litter is for your cat you may have to put out multiple boxes with different kinds of litter to determine what they like best.

It doesn’t just stop there, what the litter goes in matters too.

Types of Litter Boxes

Serious/Automatic Litter Boxes

Keeping A Clean Litter Box: Controlling Cat Litter Tracking And Scattering

Be sure to check out Reasons Why Your Cat Is Peeing Outside The Litter Box to know when your kitty is trying to tell you something is wrong.

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