During my time owning a cat I’ve tried out many types of kitty litter and I want to share my experiences with you to save you time and money from having to do the research and purchasing. Here are the litters I’ve tried and will be taking a deeper dive to share my experience:
- Pretty Litter (made from silica)
- Fresh Step (made from clay)
- Worlds Best Kitty Litter – Original and Low Tracking & Dust Control (made from corn )
- Öko Litter Original (made from wood)
- Öko Litter – Less Mess (also made from wood)
- Wheat Scoop (made from wheat)
- Naturally Fresh (made from walnut shells)
Pretty Litter and Fresh Step options are different from the bottom 5 options. The difference? They are not biodegradable. While I’ve always tried to live in a way that’s less impactful on the environment I never really thought about kitty litter and how some kitty litters are better or worse for the planet until quite recently. In recent times I’ve decided I’d like to try and make choices that are less impactful on the planet and so began my search for a kitty litter that was biodegradable and for lack of better words didn’t completely suck. If you’re at all familiar with kitty litter you’ll know what I mean and if you aren’t here’s what I mean: sometimes the natural stuff tracks all over the house, stinks, doesn’t last long, your cat won’t go in the box, etc.
To be completely honest, I loved Pretty Litter but through some research found that silica cat litters are not the most environmentally and health friendly choice.
Clay litter – the Clay is not an organic matter but merely a natural resource. So, it doesn’t break down like organic matter. Clay is also mined in order to make clay based cat litter as stated by Pet Product News here.
Silica litter – silica litters are mined from quartz sand so again like clay litter it’s a natural resource but the process is not environmentally friendly and it doesn’t biodegrade quickly or at all. From what I’ve read on various sites including on Conserve Energy Future silica litter isn’t biodegradable or recyclable and if it were to be put in the compost pile (which you should NOT do ) it would just sit there for decades and do nothing so there’s some food for thought which in turn led me down the path of finding a biodegradable litter that actually works.
Öko original – clumps VERY well and dries, doesn’t over odor.
Öko less mess – it doesn’t absorb that well and my cat didn’t really like getting in the box to use it. I think the texture is strange for cats possibly.
Naturally Fresh – clumps but also leaves behind little bits of clumped litter that’s cakey and could track on paws.
Worlds Best Original- clumps well but like Naturally fresh cakes litter (doesn’t dry) and sticks to cat paws.
Wheat Scoop – clumps but also leaves behind little bits of clumped litter that’s cakey and could track on paws.
World’s Best, Low Tracking & Dust Control – clumps very well and doesn’t track much. This one is my current pick!
Overall, my experience is that cats like a litter that feels like sand which Pretty Litter does but if you want to go environmental I’d pick World’s Best, Low Tracking & Dust Control. It is a sandy texture, covers scent well, doesn’t track all over the house, doesn’t stick to kitties paws and clumps real well.