The Best Cat Litter For Your Cat
What is the best cat litter for your cat? Put simply, the best litter for cats is one which, above all, does not harm your cat. Next, the best cat litter will perform well by absorbing urine effectively and minimising odour in your home. Finally, the best cat litter will be cost-effective to use. The very best cat litter would provide all these features and, as a bonus, would also reduce cleaning out time and be environmentally friendly too.
Sadly, many conventional litters fail to deliver on one or more of these points. But now a revolutionary product, SmartBedz Universal Bedding and Litter, is available which fulfils all these requirements. Consisting of straw pellets, it is super absorbent - up to 400% - and highly effective at suppressing odours. It is chemical free, virtually dust free and is fully biodegradable, so it will not harm your cat or the environment.
The rest of this article reviews the various types of cat litter available on the market and describes the pros and cons of each and how SmartBedz compares with each type.
The Best Cat Litter For Your Cat click here to buy our universal bedding litter from our online shop, which is natural, organic and biodegradable
Clumping Cat Litter
Litters come in two main types, clumping or non-clumping, with the majority of currently available litters being of the clumping variety. The aim of a clumping litter is to help the base material (usually clay) to stick together when wet, forming a solid lump which can be removed from the litter box without changing all the litter. Clumping litter usually contains quartz or diatomaceous earth and can also contain silica dust which is thought to be a mild carcinogen although are now some natural clumping cat litters available. Because of their clumping action it is generally unadvisable to dispose of these by flushing. The dry litter is also generally quite dusty.
It is also questionable whether a clumping litter is suitable for cats. Bearing in mind that cats stand inside their litter tray and will usually do a fair amount of kicking and scratching as part of their natural toilet behaviour (they like to bury stools by instinct), it is inevitable that they will walk away with a certain amount of dust on their feet and legs. They will then, sooner or later, clean themselves by licking, so ingesting a small quantity of the litter dust - and coming into contact with the cat's saliva will trigger the clumping reaction. Although the amount of dust ingested is small, this is likely to be a daily occurrence, and some owners have noticed stomach or intestinal problems which they attribute to the presence of clumped litter which the cat is unable to process.
Non Clumping Cat Litter
Non clumping litter was the first commercially available litter (the invention of clumping came later) and is generally made from zeolite, diatomite and sepiolite (types of mineral clay). These can contain chemical additives such as scents or baking soda to help mask the smell and can be dusty. While not as potentially harmful as the clumping varieties, the use of perfume and the dustiness can be a problem for cats with allergies or sensitivity to dust - and it can equally cause respiratory problems for humans in whose living areas the litter tray will generally be kept.
Clay Based
Clay is the most common base for cat litter, either clumping or non clumping, as it is naturally absorbent as well as being cheap to produce. Most conventional cat litter is made from natural clay or Sodium Bentonite which is formed into pellets then dried. This is very dusty when disturbed (which happens every time the litter is poured into or out of the tray and every time a cat uses its tray, which may be multiple times per day. It is also highly damaging to the environment since most clay is strip mined and it will need to be disposed of in landfill since it is not biodegradable. Clay is a very heavy litter medium - consisting essentially of dried mud. By contrast, a 5kg bag of SmartBedz will do the same job as 35kg of clay based litter when used as per the manufacturer's instructions, which means a lot less carting around the shop and disposal!
Silica Gel or Crystal
This is a porous form of Sodium Silicate which is available in different sized granules and is not clumping. This may also be combined with more traditional clay litters. It is said to be highly absorbent and effective at controlling odours and can last a long time. Some of these will change colour when saturated to indicate they need to be changed. It is similar to SmartBedz in that only heavily soiled areas and solids need to be removed on a regular basis, making it economical to use. However, it is not biodegradable and still needs to be disposed of in landfill.
Biodegradable Cat Litter
Biodegradable litters are made from various plant resources such as wood, barley, wheat and re-cycled newspaper and can be clumping or non clumping. Vast quantities of non biodegradable cat litter are disposed of in landfill each year, so these biodegradable litters have the advantage of being rendered totally safe by composting and many can even be flushed provided quantities are small. This makes them appealing to owners who are housebound or who live in flats without gardens, as well as to owners with a garden. Although these types of litter tend to be more expensive they do tend to last longer and be more economical to use. Perhaps most importantly for the health of your cat, they tend to contain a lot less dust than the clay based litters, and tend to be chemical free. SmartBedz is a non clumping biodegradable cat litter and aims to be the best in the category.
Organic Cat Litter
Organic material is anything which originated as a living organism and therefore contains carbon. So most organic litters are also biodegradable. Typical examples of organic materials used to make organic cat litter are wood pellets and straw. It is widely considered by popular environmental groups that the use of organic materials should be encouraged as they are more environmentally friendly than traditional litters. Some organic litters are made from wheat or corn which seems criminal when there are so many starving people in the world. SmartBedz is a straw based pellet and is therefore an organic type of litter which is also fully biodegradable. The particular way the straw is processed and treated on the way to becoming a pellet renders it super absorbent and naturally odour suppressing.
Dust Free Cat Litter
Biodegradable litters tend to be naturally less dusty than other types of litter which can create a lot of dust when disturbed or when the tray is changed. This is obviously an important consideration for cats and owners with allergies. Even non allergic owners find a dusty litter inconvenient as the dust can be trodden around the house. SmartBedz is produced in spotless facilities to the highest of standards, with a special dust extraction process, to ensure that any dust is kept to an absolute minimum.
Why SmartBedz is the Best Litter for Cats
SmartBedz, whilst essentially a non clumping litter, has the economy advantages of a clumping litter because only the solids are removed regularly and there is no need to change the whole tray very often. SmartBedz is also extremely absorbent and from our tests absorbs a lot more liquid a lot quicker than other litters. This fast absorption is a major reason behind the natural odour suppressant qualities of SmartBedz. Normally, urine exposed to the atmosphere will break down to form ammonia which has a nasty smell, and is what creates the odour that human find so offensive. But when the urine is absorbed quickly into the SmartBedz pellets, it gets very limited exposure to the air, which drastically reduces the amount of ammonia produced.
Through exacting processing and careful storage and selection of raw material SmartBedz aims to be virtually dust free - an important consideration for pets and owners with allergies.
The fact that SmartBedz is made from a material (straw) which is both a renewable resource and already a waste product, is hugely beneficial to the environment.
SmartBedz has no chemical additives or scents added to it, so it is an entirely natural plant material and can be disposed of by composting or flushing rather than by landfill.
Another major advantage of SmartBedz over other litters is the fact that it is universal and suitable for a wide variety of pets. For owners with multiple types of pets to care for, this is a great convenience, avoiding the need to store an array of different bedding and litter.
SmartBedz is clean and easy to use and does not stick to the tray like other materials such as clay. It doesn't produce paw tracks around the house and stays in the tray well. Any material that is kicked out can be easily swept or vacuumed and it unlikely to cause damage to wooden or laminate floors.
The Best Cat Litter For Your Cat click here to buy our universal bedding litter from our online shop, which is natural, organic and biodegradable