Puss likes it so that's good enough for me

Rating: (5 of 5 possible stars) 

Advantages: Bio-degradeable
Disadvantages: None

Our dear old cat, CJ, is now coming up to 18 years. As you would expect, over the years we have tried any number of different cat litters. Most of them have been fairly effective if unpleasant to handle either used or unused. CJ has treated them all with admirable tolerance. But then, I suppose, a cat’s gotta do what a cat’s gotta do. Those she doesn’t like she ensures that she maintains minimum contact. Sometimes, of course, that means she misses entirely. Poor old thing, you can’t grumble at her too much.

Most of those that we have used in the past have been mineral based. They seem to be mostly made from clay or from the by-products of various industrial processes. Some are “clumping”, enabling you to remove the consolidated lumps that have been “glued” together by wee.

In practice I have found that unless you are regularly inspecting the tray it ends up pretty quickly all lumps. Not only that but it tends to stick itself to the base of the tray, meaning that you either have to line the tray with paper for “easy lift-off” or else scrape it out.
And where does it all end up? In the bin. Really you’re not supposed to do that. “Bio-hazardous” waste is not allowed in dustbins but everyone does it, don’t we?

Then I came across a new product. Friendly Natural Cat Litter, a not very original but accurately descriptive name.
This litter is made from chopped straw pellets. It is quite light in weight, the pack we buy is the largest sold, 20kg. It is quite a big bag but it does last a reasonable length of time. It is advertised as having a mint scent although this is not very noticeable.

A very thin layer at the bottom of the tray is all that is required. It needs to be no more than a couple of pellets deep. The reason is that this litter really is highly absorbent. Many litters advertise high absorbency, th is one actually delivers. It bulks up significantly after your cat has weed on it but it doesn’t fall apart or develop an unpleasant texture for puss when she comes to use it again.

Cats are as fussy as we are about dirty loos, and rightly so. This litter gives her a “clean” toilet far longer than most others we have used. A guide as to when it should be changed is when it has mostly doubled in bulk. After that it’s really not fair to ask puss to continue to use it.

What is really a big advantage is that what we now have is a bio-degradable product. It can be spread on the garden or buried if required. Spread around the borders of a garden it will “mark” puss’s territory for her, so warning off other cats. It doesn’t stick to the tray significantly, so making the chore of emptying it less onerous.

This is quite the best litter we have ever used and it is a major disappointment if it goes out-of-stock and we have to use something else. That happened recently and we used a pelleted sawdust alternative. It was certainly better than mineral based litters but not as good as “Friendly”. It disintegrated back into sawdust after use far too quickly.
If your cat is making it known that she is less then enamoured of the litter you currently provide then try this and get back into her good books. There is nothing worse than living with a grumpy cat and nothing better than an affectionate one who appreciates the way you look after her.

Not Quite Quilted Velvet, But Pretty Good!

Rating: (4 of 5 possible stars)

Advantages: good for the environment, cheap, sturdy packaging, not unpleasant smell
Disadvantages: looks like hamster food!!

Having just acquired a Persian cat second-hand (as it were), I have gone back to those days of changing litter trays and the many, varied pongs ensuing from said object. It's a bit like when your kids are older and you look back nostalgically on the time they were in nappies. But you can make this rather unpleasant necessity a better experience for everyone concerned, if you buy the right sort of cat litter for your feline's excretory habits.

Being asthmatic, I have to be careful, as some of the litter that is quite stony can be very dusty and make me wheeze. Some of the cheaper products are also pretty useless in other ways, as they smell nasty, even before the cat has visited. (Notice how polite I am being, even though 'litter' has a great, apt rhyming word for this product!!) Others just do not absorb the moisture and it ends up being cheaper to line your cat's tray with kitchen roll instead.

So a trip to my friendly corner pet shop offered a tempting array of cat litter - well, as tempting as bags of this stuff can be! Being a bit of a bargain hunter (skint), I was impressed by something called Friendly Natural Cat Litter and bought it.

It cost only £2.10 for a big bag (3.2kg) and it is a sturdy, plastic bag too, so doesn't split like some do, nor would it ruin it, if it got wet on the outside. Oh, and it's got quite an arty line drawing of a cat on the front too.

Unlike most other litters around, this is straw based and has "mint freshness". (Hmm, I can just see a toothpaste range coming out, can't you?!) The packaging boasts of it being natural, clean (Well, only until your cat has used it!), economical, environmentally friendly, bio-degradable and non-mineral, as well as three times more absorbent than traditional litters.

Okay, I'm sold. What does the cat think of it? Well, Shady (Yes, that's what we called her) definitely thinks it's good enough to do the business on. She has spent many happy minutes snuggling in to the litter tray and trying to get a bit of privacy, in which to savour her new type of litter.

Interestingly enough, the litter itself resembles hamster food, but thankfully our cat hasn't bothered trying to eat it. Let's face it, cats are intelligent creatures and aren't going to confuse what they eat with what they use as a toilet - unlike our dog, but that's a different story! Shady is a real lady and likes her comforts. I'm not sure if I would say it smells minty, but it's certainly pleasant enough.

As for her mum (That's me), I might not be a lady, but I love my pets and like to see them happy and contented. Anything that makes Shady's life a bit more contented is fine by me, and yes, saving some money in the process is an obvious advantage too.

If you can't find this litter in the shops, you can phone them on 01302-700220 or the address is Friendship Estates Ltd, Old House Farm, Stubbs Walden, Doncaster, DN6 9BU.