Conference misery::feline_v1

    I can't stand the smell of fresh step myself... Cats don't have
    an opinion yet (or at least they haven't expressed it).  I used
    to just by the 50lb bags of Johnny Cat at the feed store but lately
    I have noticed that they have changed the granule size on it and
    it makes alot more dust.  This affects poor Monroe's eye problem
    (chronic allergic conjuctivitis) so I am now experimenting again.
    
    Right now we are using Tidy Cat.  I am happy with it.  Cats have
    no opinion as of yet.
    
    Jo Ann

    Yup, I tried the cedar chips, even tried the cedar shavings made
    specifically for cats......both were a total disaster!!!  The shavings
    stuck to the cats fur and they tracked it all over the house....I
    had cedar shavings everywhere!!!!!   I even tried mixing it with
    litter figuring it might decrease the tracking, it helped a little,
    but still, what a mess!!!!!  The cedar would probably be a great
    idea for shorthaired cats though!!!  
    
    I think the smell is part of the reason I have switched to fresh
    step mixed with kleen kitty....the "scent" of the fresh step isn't
    quite as strong!!
    
    cin
    

    Oh yeah, another thing with the Cedar Chips....What didn't fall
    off the cats fur sometimes got tangled up and caused knots in the
    persian coats....I was also afraid if they did too much grooming
    that they might eat the cedar shavings.
    
    

    I don't care for Fresh Step either. I used to use Star Market brand
    clay litter and mix it with baking soda, but about a year ago the
    granual size seemed inconsistant from bag to bag. My little darlings
    are very picky about their litter and whenever the size seemed "wrong"
    they'd go outside of the box. As luck would have it, I picked up
    a bag of Kleen Kitty III (dark green bag) on sale and my cats seem to
    like it (natually it is the most expensive brand in the store and you
    never see coupons for it, but at least the cats use it).
    
    One thing that I like about it over Fresh Step is that it seems to
    nutralize the order instead of covering it up. Also, unlike some
    of the other "premium" cat litters (especially Tidy Cat in the yellow
    bag), it doesn't turn in to mud.

    Deb

    I thought the mention of cedar would get a rise out of you ;^) being
    that you are a persian breeder and all Cin!
    
    The *only* time I ever tried cedar was at a cat show if you can
    believe that!!!  What a disaster that was!  I ended up dumping it
    out and shredding up paper towels (stolen inconspicuously from the
    ring stewards...teehee) and putting them in the box instead.
    
    What do you expect from a club that holds it's show in a barn?
    
    Jo Ann

    I used to use Kleen Kitty, green (with the handy dandy deodorizing
    green granules).  Cosette and Fantine never had problems.
    
    ...until they were no longer the only 2 cats in the house (and after
    almost 8 years, poor things, what could I expect?).  Cosette will
    get along with anyone/anything.  Fantine, on the other hand, expressed
    her displeasure by urinating (only, thank goodness) in certain
    inappropriate places.  No matter that I added extra litter boxes
    through out the house and cleaned them every day.
    
    The vet suggested that what was aesthetically pleasing to people
    might not be viewed (smelled?) the same by cats, and he suggested
    trying the plain ole Kleen Kitty, red bag, just clay (or ?) with
    some baking soda I think.  It's even a bit less expensive.  And
    if I scoop every day or every other, odor is minimal -- except in
    the humid summer.  Then I just change the litter more often.  I
    just got several of those "Booda Boxes" -- not only for the charcoal
    filter (do they really work???) but because the cats really don't
    scatter the litter outside like they do even with the regular covered
    pan.
    
    	P

    This may not be appropriate to discuss but it brings a smile to
    me everytime I think about it.
    
    Do you ever watch your cats while they take care of business.  Not
    too long ago I noticed that Joui has very unusual habits when it
    comes to using the box.  First of all, whenever I am in the bathroom
    she comes in and uses it.  It seems like I end up witnessing every
    time!  Another thing that she does is get into the box and then
    walk around in a circle two times.  Not once, not three times, always
    two times.  Then she always picks the exact same spot...the left
    front corner.  She balances all four paws on the edge of the box
    and kind of teeters a bit and then decides her right back foot will
    have to be in the box to stabilize her.  When she is through, she
    will scratch enough litter over the spot to cover her right front
    paw up to the elbow, and then leave.
    
    I think this is very odd since none of the other cats have any kind
    of patterns that I know of.
    Jo

    re: .7
    
    I have two booda boxes.  After about 8 or 9 months the charcoal
    filters started to go... and I noticed it.  They are only supposed
    to last 3 months.  But since we feed the cats science diet - maybe
    there wasn't as much odor to absorb and they lasted longer???
    Anyway after changing the filters - it was back to normal.  I can't
    remember the brand name of the litter I use - it is a clay type
    that is supposed to be 100% 'dust free'.  It is actually pretty
    good compared to zip zorb... I use a 25 lb bag a week 1/2 in each
    booda box with two cats.   Solid stuff removed every day or so,
    change the whole thing on garbage day.  At this point the only place
    I can find the stuff is at Erickson's on route 27 in Acton.
    
    Sally
    

    
    RE: booda boxes
    
    My little darlings decided that they should get up on top of the
    box and do their thing on top of the filter.  What a mess that made!
    Since then I have only used the bottom of them.  
    
    RE: Fresh Step
    
    That stuff is great and smells great as well.  Unfortuantely, I
    cannot use it when I have little kittens in the house.  They like
    the smell so much that they EAT the stuff!

    I have found that most of the kittens try to eat the kitty litter,
    no matter what brand, when they are first discovering it.  Anyone
    else notice this??
    
    cin
    

    re: .9
    
    	Glad to hear that the filters seem to work.  That would be 
    	great, especially in the humid summer, and changing the filters
    	every several months is no big deal -- compared to completely
    	changing litter every few days!  So far there is NO odor (but
    	with new plastic, fresh litter, etc., there better not be!).
    	I'm just happy enough that the litter doesn't get scattered
    	about so much.  [I think I will "forget" to mention to the
    	cats the little trick of using the *top* of the filter...]
    
    re: .11
           
    	Haven't (yet!) had any first hand experience with this.  However,
    	several of the articles that my vet gave me on birthing and
    	caring for new kittens mention that while the kittens first
    	explore the litter they may well sniff it and lick it until
    	they figure out what it is there for.  I wonder if completely
    	clean litter makes it more difficult for them compared with
    	almost-clean litter with that delicate scent of...?
    
    	Penelope

    The best pre-deodorant litter I used was Hartz Mountain, which is
    relatively hard to get here.  Now, I use Fresh Step, which both
    Merlin and Karamaneh seem to like.
    
    Steve Kallis, Jr.

    Penelope,
    
    I believe that a "used" litter box is best for teaching the kittens
    quickly.  During the first week or two that the babies are learning
    litter box, I'll only dump about half of the used litter out and
    add fresh on top...of course, I scoop solids twice a day, but don't
    completely change the litter until I'm sure that all the babies
    are using the box.
    
    cin
    

    Thanks Cin,
    
    If I hadn't read the articles from the vet and these notes, I think
    my inclination would have been to add completely fresh litter for
    the sweet little things, oh, maybe every 1/2 hour would have been
    good enough for them :-)
    
    I'll try it the way you described it, and hope they figure it out
    okay.  
    
    ONE WEEK AND COUNTING...

    Molly, I think you got lost in the void somewhere.  Better try again.
    Jo

    
    When we first got Rascal, he came with (from previous owner)
    several large bags of litter that looked like beach sand and about
    a case of baking soda. What a mess! Not only did the sand become
    cement like when wet, but it would get tracked all through the house.
    
    And what about the kitty prints on the floor from wet feet walking
    through baking soda!  No thank you!
    
    So, now "we" use a clay base litter. Either CAT'S PRIDE (red bag)
    or TIDY CAT (natural and evergreen aroma). They seem to do the job
    just great. We've had many friends mention that our house doesn't
    smell like it has a cat in it! And I have to admit that it doesn't
    get cleaned out everyday (plus, with the better weather, kitties
    got outside a lot more - though they have been known to come in
    to use the box and then go back out....)
    
    The cats do seem to fling the little around, though. As in piles
    around the box.... I have been debating about getting covered
    box.... 

    
    janet b.

I used to buy TIDY CAT, back when it was a plain clay litter.  Then they had
to improve on a good thing and put those scented blue crystals in it, making
it TIDY CAT III.  Jennyanydots liked it just fine, but I was concerned about
the possible long-term effects of the deodorant chemicals.  If cats didn't
lick the stuff off their fur, I wouldn't be concerned, but cats DO lick their
fur, and I have no idea what that deodorant stuff is made of.

Anyway, I switched to LITTER GREEN, because it is cheap.  Jennyanydots went on
a constipation strike.  Fearful of her unilaterally ending the strike at any
moment somewhere inconvenient in the house, I bought KLEEN KITTY (red--the
one without the deodorant).  Both Jennyanydots and my new cat, Growltiger,
like this just fine.

--PSW

Hi.  At the CFF International Cat Show last weekend in Boston, one vendor
was demonstrating a cat litter that absorbed urine making it scoopable and 
flushable.  They mentioned this cat litter is currently in use a the Boston 
Cat Hospital.  I was wondering if any noters have had any experience with 
this product?  I'm a bit hesitant flushing litter as I'm aware of the
potential plumbing problems.

Mike

    Hi Mike, I didn't see you at the show. :-)
    
    I bought some of that cat litter.  So far, it's wonderful.  It does
    everything it says.  Except the "ball" that the urine forms is very
    easily broken by the scoop.  They said that you can only flush it
    down the toilet if you have a central sewerage system instead of
    a septic tank (we have central).  I don't see what problems with
    this.  It isn't really a cat litter, it's more like a VERY fine
    sand.
    
    Holly
    
    p.s.  We like it too!
    Tabby, Silver, Micki, and snooks.
    

    What's the name of this stuff?
    

    We saw this stuff at the show last weekend in Pasadena California.
    The stuff looks great.  They claim that since all the wetness and
    urine odor is trapped in the ball that you flush, the litter will
    last a month.
    
    Does it really work Holly?  How about with 7 cats?  Right now we
    have 10 litter boxes.
    
    Jo

    I thought this might be a good place for me to ask a question. 
    Does anyone remember a litter called YESTERDAY' NEWS?  It was a
    pellet type litter made from recycled newspaper.  It worked
    wonderfully!  It was light in weight, no dust, no tracking and even
    flushable (in small amounts).  Just as I was relying on it, it
    disappeared from the store shelves.  I asked some supermarket managers,
    but they didn't remember the product.  Anyone have a clue why it
    vanished?

    It's still around.  Food For Pets in Milford, NH carries it.
    I tried it once, but the boys weren't crazy about it.
    
    Mary
    

    I bought something similar called "Good News" from An-Jan's 
    in San Jose, CA.  My cats weren't thrilled.  I new it was time to
    go back to the good old litter when Amelia presented me with a nice
    little pile in the corner between my front door and kitchen.
    
    I'd swear she ran around all that day with her legs crossed just
    waiting for me to get home so she could do that.  Needless to say
    I went out and bought the regular stuff that night.  Now I'm just
    mixing a little in with the regular litter so I can get rid of it.
    
    Also, at the last cat show I was at a woman gave me a sample of a 
    new litter she says she's manufacturing.  It looked alot like sawdust.
    It's called "New Concept" or something like that and is supposed to be
    treated with something to kill bacteria.  Has anyone tried it or
    heard of it?
                
    Jan                                                            
    

    I think there is anote on this somewhere, but I couldn't find it.
    There is a new kind of litter called Ever (Easy?) Clean that is
    sand-like and comes in jugs.  It balls up around the messes and you just
    scoop it out once or twice a day and can avoid the big production
    number of emptying the litter box.  It is now in most pet store,
    but not in supermarkets.  I got some at Monette's, which is a chain.
    The good news:  it works and looks a lot better than regular litter.
    also less smell.  Holly, who was going ever place but the litter
    box despite everything I tried, seems to be converting over to using it
    completely.  The bad news:  quite a scattering problem, even with
    a high sided box.  Sweetie won't use it, so he has another box.
    I may try an enclosed box once Holly has had more time to adjust, but 
    I don't want to upset her lest she go back to her old habits.
    

    No offense, Karen, but I *hated* the Everclean.  As you said, it
    scatters and tracks everywhere and many times the pee balls broke
    and as a result, the box would start to smell.   There were times
    I felt I lived on the beach with the sand tracking everywhere. 
    It was also very dusty which wreaked havoc with my allergies.
    
    I hope you have better luck than I did with the stuff.  The literature
    says it's good for cats with poor litter box habits so if Holly
    likes it, it might be worth your while to continue using it.
    
    
    /Roberta
    

    Hmm.  I haven't seen a dust problem.  So far so good with Holly.
    I found that if I was careful scooping along the bottom of the
    box, the pee balls don't break.  You can't just dig in any old
    place.
    

    Pee Balls???
    
    Pee balls??????
    
    Isn't it hard to roll?
    
    Edd

    Anyone have any experience with Soft Paw cat litter?  I just got
    6 free 10 lb. bags from a friend who works in a pet supply store.
    
    
    /Roberta
    

    re: .30
    
    It really does clump up with the litter into an isolated ball.  Even
    Sweetie has started to prefer it to the old litter now.
    

    RE: Soft Paw
    
    I tried Soft Paw....it was very inexpensive.  I didn't like it at
    all.  It was very dirty, the cats all got grey feet, and it even
    tracked the dirtyness to the floor.  I only left it in the box a
    couple days, then threw it out!!!!!
    
    cin