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View Poll Results: What litter do you prefer?
Clay non-clumping 4 14.81%
Clay clumping 17 62.96%
Clay clumping with Crystals 3 11.11%
Silica beads or crystals 1 3.70%
Paper (Yesturday's News) 1 3.70%
Corn (World's Best) 0 0%
Wheat 0 0%
Cat Okay (if you know what this one is made of, email me!) 1 3.70%
Voters: 27. You may not vote on this poll

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  #1  
Old December 7th, 2004, 01:15 AM
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Kitty Litter

Ok...I have been trying all kinds of litter to see what works best for me and the cats, and am just interested to find out what some of you prefer and why.
I've used these.... and thought this....
Clay - smelly, dust is a real prob for me even with 99.9% dust free versions
Clay with Crystals - Slightly less smelly, but again too dusty, would have to change wkly $$, worried about little guy ingesting it
Silica Beads - Stellar absorbtion, flushable , good odor control if changed frequently(wkly)$$, hard on your feet, cats tend to make toys out of it
Cat Okay - have no idea what its made of, stellar absorbtion, flushable , great odor control, lasts almost a month, causes frequent vacuuming (crumbles when you step on it- very light and cats carry it quite a ways)
Yesturday's News - cats hate it

Ones I want to try:
Corn (World's Best) - Supposed to last long, be bio safe for me the cats and toilet , a little pricey but if lasts longer worth it
Wheat - can't try cause may really bug my allergies
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  #2  
Old December 7th, 2004, 04:33 AM
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Wow I will have to check some of these out one day......for now I just use "clay clumping-scented"......I find the Non-Clumping very messy and smelly. I'm not fond of the dust though it makes for alot of vaccuming and dusting and I often think about the amount I breath in guess I should really have a mask the ammonia in the urine is very very bad for the lungs. and as for flushable......well we have a well system here and I don't think I will be flushing anything anyway but I have my eye on this thread to see what others know about this "cat okay" never heard of it
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  #3  
Old December 7th, 2004, 08:37 AM
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I've never heard of Cat Okay either...
I chose clay with crystals... I don't know maybe it's just the crystals but it is clumping.
I'm a freak when it comes to the scents of dirty litter and this one seems to mask it well.
Ooooo look, new smilies!
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  #4  
Old December 7th, 2004, 09:26 AM
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Someone I know uses the Wheat-litter,awful stinky stuff...since this guy does not clean the litter too often,it ends up in one big smelly lump!!
I tried the news-paper stuff and it got snubbed,don't waste your money!!!
I keep the boxes in a downstairs"guest-bathroom"but try to keep the dust to a minimum,if it bothers my lungs,I can just imagine what it does to a cats small lungs.Still,I buy Costcos clumping litter...I just wonder if the green,smelly crystals are toxic to the cats
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  #5  
Old December 7th, 2004, 10:22 AM
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i use clay clumping from walmart. i picked up a cheap bag of regular clay at the grocery store when i couldn't get to walmart and does it ever make a mess. at least with the clumping it STAYS in the box. louie 'shovels' the other stuff out of the litter pan with no dome. messy stuff.
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  #6  
Old December 7th, 2004, 10:34 AM
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here is something for the clumping litter users.

http://www.thenaturalhealer.ca/mag/0...xic-litter.php


I posted this quite a while ago on here.
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  #7  
Old December 7th, 2004, 02:55 PM
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Ya I think my next purchase will be the corn one.... just to see. We had to buy a clumping litter this last time because Fagan was having trouble with the food (we have switched back since) and was getting really runny stools, which the Cat Okay I was using is useless for. Cat Okay is great as for as smell goes, and I love that I can flush their poop, it just seems to absorb the urine... and it lasts about a month and thats with 4 cats! It just freaks me out that I can't find out what it's made out of, so I have no idea if it is toxic/non-toxic ( it actually looks like chunks of baking soda... and it comes in a yellow box, with all different languages on it... I'm pretty sure it is made by a company here in Dublin,Ontario not far from my husbands company, I thought of sending him there to get an ingredient list for it, and it is carried by Paul Mac's and I even saw it at Walmart a couple times- they no longer have it). I even wrote the company and still nothing. I'm going to try calling and I'll let ya know what I can find out. It's Pestell Pet Products.
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  #8  
Old December 7th, 2004, 03:00 PM
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Ok...it is made by Pestell Pet Products....and I left a message for Kim, asking her to call me back and let me know what it is made of. And great article Mona... I'll be sure to ask about the presence of that sodium bentonite!
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  #9  
Old December 7th, 2004, 03:31 PM
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I have been using Yesterday's News - especially since Yin Yin is still a kitten and I cannot very well use a clumping litter. I am anxious for my dad to come home from Fla so he can get back to woodworking and then I can use wood shavings to create my own litter. (I did this for my bunny's litter and have been researching the best wood chips for kitties).

She likes Yesterday's News though. She was used to Arm & Hammer Super Scoop Baking Soda Litter and apparently they used newspaper when the kittens were learning to use the litter box so she converted easily to Y's News.

(I have to stay out of PetSmart though -- all those toys look so much fun to me, I wish I could open Panic Mouse now, I am worse than her, lol).
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  #10  
Old December 9th, 2004, 01:30 PM
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Ok been calling Pestell for two days now and still haven't talked to a person , just voicemails... grrrr... they claim that CatOkay is completely safe for cats, me and the environment... I just want to know what the heck it's made out of!!!! Because if that is true and it has none of that sodium bentonite...it is quite possibly the PURRRRRFect litter. No stink, doesn't bother my allergies/asthma, less changing so it's easy on the pocketbook, and flush the turds away! There's gotta be a catch... I'll let ya know if they ever get back to me.
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  #11  
Old December 9th, 2004, 02:42 PM
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I tried doing a search for Catokay and couldn't find a darn thing about it... anywhere...
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  #12  
Old December 9th, 2004, 03:52 PM
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Ok....Kim just called me back (very pleasant lady by the way)... and CatOkay is totally safe, feline/bio/people okay. It's basic ingredients are SAND, SILICA and SODA, heated in such a way that it forms the white baking soda like chunks (talk about innovation eh?). So, apart from the corn I haven't tried yet, this is in my opinion the best cat litter out there...

{judged by me on safety, allergic/asthma attackedness, lack of smelliness (especially after multi-cat usage), cat likin-it-ness, lastability, clean up and flushability.}

LMAO... look at all the words I made up!!! The only con is that you have to vacuum a little more often (depending where you keep the litter box, me- small apartment= litter all down the hall etc) because it is very light weight (almost feather like) and (my cats anyhow) seem to be able to shoot it clear across the house! But unlike the siilica beads I used before, if you do step on it, it crumbles and does not become imbedded in the bottom of your foot!

try this link...if it doesn't work, just use the first part in a cut and paste
http://www.pestell.com/pet/cat_litter/value_added/

Anyhow, I would recommend it to anyone like me who despite their allergies and asthma, refuse to live life without kitties!!! :love:

P.S. I use about 4 boxes of this stuff a month.... and that is with 4 cats! It's about $9.99 at PaulMac's, and I'm not too sure where else you can get it, as I mentioned Wal-Mart here had it and now doesn't (wasn't a big seller), and I have seen it available online for 6.99US. If you only have 1-2 cats, just 1 box is enough to do 2 sm-med size litter boxes and it'll last a bit over a month!

And now I will stop preaching about my heavenly cat litter .... and in the words of Chevy Chase (best line of N.L.'s Xmas Vacation, after the rant about his boss)....

"Halleluja and holy ****!"
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“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” -Mahatma Gandhi

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  #13  
Old December 9th, 2004, 03:59 PM
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Here is what I found on CatOkay
http://www.pet-shopper.com/3063320.htm

I have never seen it or tried it yet though
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  #14  
Old December 9th, 2004, 05:34 PM
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I thought it was a good article.They have thoses magazines at the gym.So when I skimmed through it,I saw it and had to share it with everyone.I also made a copy and gave it to the people I know at my pet store.
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  #15  
Old December 10th, 2004, 02:51 PM
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Yikes-a-bee....(watched Win A Date With Tad Hamilton the other day ).... I found sooooooo many articles on how bad clumping litter is for cats!!!

I printed out a whole bunch and am going to give them to my family to read, in hopes that they will take it seriously and switch. I know how much the clay litters bother me, so I can only imagine the damage it does to all these poor kitties.

If you want to find out more just go to Google (or the like) and type in "dangers of clay litter" or "dangers of clumping litter".... I couldn't find one that had a pro side to the argument! Many of them were from vets and pet health experts too.

And here I thought it was the food they ingested I had to watch for...who knew ya had to watch what litter they are ingesting too! I know I'd certainly rather buy a slightly more expensive litter than pay all those enormous vet bills later!!!
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  #16  
Old December 10th, 2004, 05:26 PM
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Dahmer,I always naively thought,if they sell something for cats it should be safe.I always knew about the litter and being especially dangerous in enclosed litter-pans,but could never find a better alternative they would use.
Where can I find CatOkay?
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  #17  
Old December 11th, 2004, 01:38 PM
JGibb JGibb is offline
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I've only seen the clay-type litters in the department stores. Where do I go to find these natural alternatives?
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  #18  
Old December 11th, 2004, 04:23 PM
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JGibb,you would have to go to a pet-supply store,something like PetSmart or Super-Pet,where they have several different alternatives.
I am going to check out my favourite store,Ren's Petdepot.If they don't carry it,they will get it for me.
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  #19  
Old December 12th, 2004, 03:19 AM
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Well I've seen them at PetSmart and Pet Valu/Paul Mac's. But I imagine that any pet store could order them for you. And the Wal-mart here did carry the CatOkay...so you could try around there (I've also found that the larger stores like Wal-Mart and Zellers, etc are always happy to have stock suggestions- if they know it will sell, they are more likely to carry it- and often they will sell it the cheapest- knowing that word will get around on hey, places like Pets.ca ). After christmas I'm going to give the corn one a try....it's the last on the list, but I'll let ya know how it compares to the others I've tried. Who knew... I'm becoming a litter conesouer!
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  #20  
Old December 12th, 2004, 10:19 AM
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Yeah Dahmer,it's quiet an honor knowing you
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  #21  
Old December 12th, 2004, 11:58 AM
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Thanks Chico!
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  #22  
Old December 12th, 2004, 12:43 PM
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Silica is definitely a substance you do not want to breathe! We use it in ceramics and I'm careful to use a respirator when mixing glazes.
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