Hello fellow cat people! Over the years I have tried many (many!) different types of cat litter, trying to find one that met our needs and maybe was better for the environment (but failure on that score, more on that later). So I thought I would write a little review so y'all can maybe save yourselves some hassle.

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Up until fairly recently, Yuan was using Tidy Cats Free & Clean Unscented clumping litter. I used to really love this one, it covered up smells great and that's important for my guy who sometimes poops chemical warfare. Unfortunately, they CHANGED THE RECIPE somehow, and we not only started going through it faster (without Yuan's litterbox habits having changed), but it started cementing itself to Yuan's paws!

pictured: the ONLY packaging, sometimes available on Amazon and nowhere else, that isn't just loads of plastic for this one

So that meant it was time to experiment with new litters again, for the first time in years.

I had already done some experimenting in the past, and had given the human veto to Swheat Scoop because it made my apartment smell like a zoo. You know that smell in zoos or petting zoos of hay covering up poop and pee smells? That's what it smelled like. Next!

I don't honestly remember if it was a human veto or a Deidre veto for World's Best Cat Litter (yes, I tried both of these back when Miss Deidre was still with us), but it did get a veto and it turns out I'm allergic to corn anyway (which I didn't know then), so I didn't want to try it again for that reason. Unfortunately I don't recall WHY it got the veto otherwise, though. Deidre was pretty tolerant of me trying different litters, but there were a couple of textures she didn't like, so it could have been that.

I tried a couple of different pine litters (shocker: it turns out I'm also allergic to pine and didn't know that before either, lol), including Feline Pine (Deidre did not like the texture of the lightweight one that had the consistency of hamster bedding shavings but Maggie was fine with both that and the pellets, so 1 out of 2 cats approved), and Feline Fresh, which was what I used with Maggie for quite some time, actually. I the human really liked the smell of these, and if I wasn't allergic it's what I would be using now (more specifically, the third one mentioned below).

Back to recent times, I did first go back to trying a brand I had used years ago before the Tidy Cats when Yuan needed a change, and that was ökocat. I remembered that it was made of "wood" (it doesn't specify what type(s) of wood from what I noticed), and so my foggy brain didn't think "what if it's pine, you allergic goose" and guess what? There's pine in there. LOL. The upsides are that it works REALLY WELL and lasts FOREVERRRRRR and smells really nice and damn I wish I could use it but ALAS, allergies. I really recommend this one if you don't have an allergy to pine. It seems spendy up front, but it lasted TWICE as long as other litters, and that's saying something, because Yuan drinks a lot of water and ergo pees a lot (more on that later), so I'm used to running through litter quickly with him. This one works.

Buy me, I'm really the best if you're not allergic to me

Also recently, I just tried Fresh Step Crystals, which again, so close and yet so far. The way this one works is because it isn't clumping, you're supposed to scoop out the poops and then stir the litter, so that the wetness is distributed around for it all to absorb, and then once it's majority discolored that means it's saturated and you should dump the whole lot out. The bag estimated that would take 20-30 days. I knew it would be shorter with Yuan given that he's a big boy who likes his water and he drinks about two cups per day (~455 mL), but I was thinking, maybe I'd get two weeks out of it? No. I got six days before it was full. At around $20 per bag, I cannot be spending $80 per month on cat litter to change this out every week. It's unfortunate, because with my chronically ill and exhausted butt, it was actually a blessing with how easy it was not to have to scoop heavy litter every day. Like I'm used to it so I don't generally think of it as a big deal, it just is what it is, but not having to do it every day, I noticed.

Unfortunately, with it being full, it really made the pee smell take over the apartment when I stirred it the last time because it was oversaturated.

So if you have one of those cats who doesn't like to drink a lot of water (I hear so much about cats who won't drink water and mostly only get it from their wet food and their humans worrying about them being dehydrated, but all four of the cats I've adopted have always been good about drinking water), or they're small/a kitten? This would probably work great for you. But if you have multiple cats or just one that like Yuan, is a thirsty boy (yes, he's fine, the vet knows about his drinking habits and given his size he's on the high end of normal intake), it doesn't last long.

Speaking of Fresh Step, I also tried Fresh Step Clean Paws Unscented, and it was a winner, but a little harder to find. You'll note the link to Amazon lists it as available for an Amazon Fresh delivery but not from the warehouse. Likewise, it was at PetSmart (which is how I tried it), but not at Target (which had only perfumed Fresh Step besides the crystals).

As far as performance though, it worked well and got a human approval and a kitty approval. It was a clumping clay but did not stick to his paws, covered the smells, and is probably what we'll be sticking with in the future for the most part. Wanting to have a backup though just in case I couldn't find it at PetSmart (I used to have to buy a special food for Yuan that often went out of stock, so I've experienced the "oh no what do I do now" before and would rather not), I experimented with two others:

Dr. Elsey's Ultra, which I mostly tried because I knew it was pretty widely available and we used to use Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract many years ago (I do recommend that one if you have a cat that doesn't want to do their business in the litterbox and pees elsewhere, it really does attract them to pee in the litter), also worked well, didn't stick to his paws, and covered up smells. I don't think it lasted very long though, so I still prefer the Fresh Step Clean Paws Unscented, but this will do if I can't find the other one.

While this one was fine and the Cat Attract is also good if you need to get a cat back to using the litterbox who doesn't want to, I will also warn you that in the long ago I tried the Dr. Elsey's crystals that were recommended for declawed cats (Maggie was declawed in the front; I didn't do it, she came to me from the shelter that way) as softer on their paws. She actually liked it. She would dig around in it just fine (she didn't like lots of other litters). Unfortunately, it released a CLOUD OF DUST THAT FILLED THE ENTIRE ROOM EVERY TIME I SCOOPED IT. I stuck with it for six months because I was trying to use the best one for Maggie, but eventually I had to human veto it because I just could not take that dust anymore. It was so bad, it scared me off crystal litters for years and the Fresh Step crystals that we just tried is the first time I've dared to try one since then.

Arm & Hammer Super Scoop Fragrance Free. This is what I have RIGHT NOW and I tried it too because it is widely available (I bought it at Target) and we used it many years ago but not in a long time. Speaking of Arm & Hammer, I do not recommend the Clump & Seal variety! Bad! No! Hiss!!!!!! It smells like cotton candy cat piss. No seriously. Pour cat pee on your cotton candy at the fair and that's what that litter will smell like. It's hella gross. But the regular unscented Super Scoop is fine. :)

I am good, Clump and Seal is not

What about...

What about that walnut litter? I don't know, I found out my allergies before it came out and I am allergic to nuts so I've never tried it.

And the grass seed one? Same answer, never tried it because allergies.

What about the health monitor litters? I am curious about these but also haven't tried them yet because they are spendy and I am poor.

Are you avoiding talking about paper litters, Phoenix?

Oh, paper litters.

Paper litters, paper litters, paper litters.

Many years ago when Butterscotch was an elder kitty, we used Yesterday's News as it was pretty much the only alternative for his arthritic paws at the time. I don't remember it being particularly a human favorite, but he would use it (whereas he had started going outside of the box because the litter was hurting his paws before), so it served its purpose. So when experimenting with new litters for Yuan, I saw that PetSmart had a paper litter that wasn't pelleted (Yesterday's News was pellets), so I tried that.

Exquisicat Paper Crumbles (link here, no Amazon associate bonus from this one, can't even find it there) is (inhale)

POSSIBLY THE WORST LITTER I'VE EVER TRIED.

Don't buy it. Unless you just want your whole home to smell like cat pee. You could shred newspaper and throw it in the box and it would do a better job. And it didn't even last long. And it smelled the entire time. Bad litter. Why was it made. They should be ashamed. (shakes fist at Exquisicat)

So there you have it. I hope this guide to my cat litter experiments saves you from some hassles and some terrible litters! Good luck finding a litter that you and your kitty both like. May the odds be ever in your favor. ;)

All photos from the Amazon listings, which are linked