How to choose cat litter for your cats?

Cats are one of people’s favorite pets in life, and cat litter is a must-have for cat owners living in cities. When we talk about cat litter, we will consider how well the cat litter absorbs water, whether it is dusty, and whether it can cover up the smell of cat feces well. So, how to choose a suitable cat litter for our beloved cats? Next, we will introduce to you the advantages and disadvantages of five types of cat litter, so that cat owners can choose the cat litter that suits their cats.

1. Bentonite cat litter

This is a kind of clay particle cat litter with montmorillonite as the main component. The main component is bentonite, which is a kind of non-degradable sand. This kind of cat litter comes in different shapes such as spherical, long and fine sand. Many merchants will promote its low dust, good water absorption, and easy clumping characteristics in their products. Because this kind of cat litter is cheap, it has become the choice of many cat owners. However, is bentonite cat litter really as good as the merchants advertise? Here we summarize the advantages and disadvantages of bentonite cat litter:
Advantages: cheap price, good water absorption, and good clumping ability.

Disadvantages: The dust is easy to choke the nose, and in severe cases can cause respiratory tract infections in cats. It is insoluble in water (so it cannot be poured directly into the toilet and flushed).

If you can accept the disadvantage that bentonite cat litter is dusty and difficult to clean, then it will be a good choice for you because it is cheap enough. But we still need to seriously consider whether it will affect the cat’s respiratory tract.

2. Tofu cat litter

The ingredients of tofu cat litter are bean dregs waste, corn cobs, etc., which are environmentally friendly materials and will not cause harm to the environment. But tofu cat litter and bentonite cat litter are both clumping cat litter. Because tofu cat litter can be added with different fragrances during production, the fragrance of tofu cat litter can well cover up the smell of cat feces during actual use, so many cat owners will use tofu cat litter as their first choice.

Many businesses advertise that tofu cat litter is non-stick, highly absorbent, and dust-free. However, what we want to say is that tofu cat litter cannot be dust-free, but the dust will be relatively small. In addition, tofu cat litter will also stick to the bottom when used. The current price of tofu cat litter is slightly higher than that of bentonite cat litter, but it has dropped a lot compared to the price when it was first launched.

Advantages: It has good water absorption, can be dissolved in water (can be poured directly into the toilet and flushed), and has good clumping properties.
Disadvantages: Dusty and easy to stick to the edge of the cat litter box. When the air humidity is high, the cat’s urine and feces may have a relatively large chemical reaction with the tofu cat litter, and the smell will be unpleasant.

3. Crystal cat litter

The main component of crystal cat litter is ghost particles, which is a water-absorbent cat litter. One of its characteristics is that it will change color after absorbing water. When all the crystal litter in the cat litter box changes color, we need to replace them all. Unlike bentonite cat litter and tofu cat litter, which need to be cleaned in time after the cat goes to the toilet. Drop, this is very suitable for lazy people. However, crystal cat litter is consumed relatively quickly. We need to add a large amount of cat litter to the cat litter box. Moreover, it has good water absorption but does not clump, which means that it will be difficult to clean up after the cat defecates.

Advantages: good-looking, highly absorbent, low dust.
Disadvantages: no clumping, difficult to clean, relatively wasteful, uncomfortable and the crystal is hard. Crystal cat litter is a chemical product, which is not good for the environment.

4.Pine cat litter

Pine cat litter is made from wood fiber, corn, wheat extract, etc. that are crushed into powder and then pressed. Because it is composed of natural products, it will not affect the environment. However, one limitation of using this cat litter is that you must use a double-layer cat litter box, because the pine cat litter will turn into powder after absorbing the cat’s urine and then fall to the lower layer of the cat litter box, and then the cat owner will clean it up. When using cat litter, you can directly pull out the lower layer. Although double-layer cat litter must be used, because pine cat litter is soluble in water, we can pour it directly into the toilet when cleaning the cat litter, which is very convenient in use.

Advantages: good water absorption, soluble in water, relatively environmentally friendly, low dust.
Disadvantages: It is not strong in clumping and easy to loosen. It is easy to get damp if it is not kept well. Many cats develop the habit of not burying their feces after using pine cat litter. Some pine cat litter itself has a strong smell, so cats may not want to use it.

5. Zeolite cat litter

Zeolite cat litter is made of zeolite and silica gel and has a relatively small smell. Unlike other cat litters that use fragrance to mask odors, zeolite cat litter uses biological properties to filter odors, which is similar to activated carbon and can keep the air clear. But unfortunately, zeolite cat litter is not soluble in water and cannot be poured directly into the toilet when cleaning. This will bring some inconvenience to us cat owners. But because it filters odors rather than masks them, it’s still a worthy choice.

Advantages: small dust, can absorb odor.
Disadvantages: Cleaning is more troublesome and the price is slightly higher.

To sum up, there is currently no perfect cat litter on the market. We should not be fooled by some slogans when buying cat litter. We can choose the cat litter that suits our cats based on the characteristics of the above various cat litters. Another point is that when buying cat litter in large quantities, try to choose vacuum-packed cat litter, because the vacuum cat litter bag has better moisture-proof and oxygen-proof properties, allowing the cat litter to be stored for a long time.