Any pro-tips to keep the kitty litter costs low?

I have one cat and one littler box, and use this stuff:https://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/natural-cat-litter/

A 28lb. bag costs about $30 but lasts 6 weeks. It doesn’t clump too well, in spite of the press, you have to dig it out with the scoop. Since it is made from corn and biodegradable, I can simply throw the dirty litter in my field. The deer and the crows and the junco eat the corn when they can.

I try to remove the pee clump and the poo, which sits on top, daily. Then add another 12 oz. or so of fresh litter. Once every ten days or so I do empty the whole thing, clean out the container and start from scratch. There is a little tracking but easily swept up with a broom and dust pan.

You have to experiment with depth. Milo sometimes rearranges things…several dunes in one side and bare on the other.

I spend dramatically more on food, litter, Frontline, and treats than I do on vet’s bills.

http://reviews.petco.com/3554/12152/worlds-best-worlds-best-cat-litter-multiple-cat-clumping-formula-reviews/reviews.htm

Gail: There is a reseller right next to where I buy my food at (Safeway) so I will take a look. But while I am a planet nerd I am not all that concerned about it being Eco-friendly. It will end up in the dumpster.

Let’s see what other answers you get. It is expensive. I don’t drink, smoke, travel or buy many new clothes these days so have the cash left over from that.

I like litter that is not too dusty. I’ll get Fresh Step in the supermarket, about 2 to 3 dollars for a 7 to 10 lb bag (I get a small bag because it’s hard for me to carry a large bag). If I’m in Walmart, I get their store brand, about a dollar and change, 10 lbs. Friends will bring a large bag as a favor. They may get a 25 lb or even 50 lb from a warehouse like Sam’s Club.

I have a domed box. It was about $30 on sale at Petco. It’s called the igloo, and it has a little ramp with bumps on it, that catches the litter when they come out of the igloo.

I use a large black garbage bag as a liner. I just take the whole bag out with litter intact. Regular liners are way too expensive.

I tried clumping litter once and found it wasn’t little golf sized clumps like in the ad, it was like a clay stuck to the whole bottom of the box. Total mess and too much hassle.

I have 4 cats, one litter box and it gets changed daily or every other day.

“I tried clumping litter once and found it wasn’t little golf ball sized clumps like in the ad, it was like a clay stuck to the whole bottom of the box.” True for my World’s Best and my friend’s cheaper litter, when I took care of his cat.

It’s a nasty business no matter what choices you make. I just use a plain, rectangular box with no lid. And I buy the largest bag and have a friend carry it into the house. He sets it up vertically in my laundry room where I keep the litter box; all I have to do is scoop the amount I need from the large bag using a plastic scoop.

@gailcalled – Yes, when someone brings me the big bag or box of litter, I scoop it into the litter box, because when I pick it up, I can feel it in my abdominal muscles and that can’t be good.

I do not have cats but this thread makes me wonder. Weather/climate permitting does anyone ever keep the litter box in an attached garage or outdoor shed? Some place where the cat cannot stray into the wild but the litter box can “outgas” without affecting the living quarters?

A quick comparison between @gailcalled ‘s litter and yours:
28# for $30 lasts 42 days > 0.67 # per day > cost = $0.71 per day
20# for $7 lasts 3 days > 6.6 # per day > cost = $2.33 per day

It seems it is better to buy the better stuff and plan on replacing only 10 – 11 oz per day. Measure out and weigh the amount once beforehand (one coffee can?) so you know how much you are replacing.

Again, I do not own cats. However, I recall when my kids had a sandbox the neighbors’ cats would often “enjoy” the box, much to my chagrin, so I know it works. Sand is inexpensive, can be spread on the lawn, and is actually washable. Can a layer of that be put down in the box below the kitty litter?

Congratulations on the new babies!

I use clumping – it goes much further since you can scoop regularly. If you put a nubby matt in front of the box, it helps keep down the tracking.

We have two cats and they each have their own box.
We make our own litter. Get a bag of corn (feed) from a local farm store or Wal-Mart.
Using a blender or food processor, grind the corn to a meal. Works great, can be flushed in a pinch (not recommended for septic systems).
Can be dumped outside space permitting.
Wood pellets that are used in a pellet stove (fireplace) can be used too. The pellets are compressed sawdust. They absorb moisture, and work similar to the non clumping litter.
With pellets in mind, sawdust works great also. A cabinet/wood shot might be happy to give up his dust. Bring your own bags. With this method and the pellets keeping the product dry before use is a must.
@LuckyGuy‘s suggestion of using sand. Use play sand not the silica type.

@syz: Which brand?

Clumping litter is a MUST, you simply remove the pee balls and solid waste with a scooper 1–2x a day depending on how many cats you have. I have 2 cats, one extremely large male Ragdoll and a very petite female siamese. This litter box is also one of the best, a bit pricey but very self contained, easy to clean and made for large cats and multiples. It will last a life time.

I also stick an air freshener on the side of the box. haha

www.katkave.com/Kattails_Kat_Kave/Welcome.html

@LuckyGuy I kept my litter boxes in the garage for years and the cats accessed then via their cat door. I loved it, but now I am back to having one indoors, hidden in a closet with the door cracked for extra privacy. haha

Also…it is important to pour the clumping litter about 4 inches deep, bank it up on one side of the box more than the other. This way they dig in the deeper side and you avoid having too thin of a layer overall that results in the urine not having enough depth to form clumps.

I always worried about clumping litter until I tried it – then I never looked back. It’s a lot easier to dust around the box a little than to change the entire thing. Also, scoop at least once a day – the more often you do it, the easier it is to do (like seriously, it takes absolutely no effort if you do it frequently), and the less it smells.

I’d also recommend sprinkling a little baking soda in there every so often.

If the litter box cannot go outdoors due to cold or the threat of escape can it be placed near the air intake for the furnace? There is always a little draw from the chimney so much of the odor would get drawn up and out of the house. When the furnace kicks on it draws in air and will burn the vapors.

Any clay clumping litter leaves dust. You inhale it and so does the cat. It’s not good for anybody. Anything you can do to keep vet visits to the minimum is money saved.

World’s Best Cat Litter is the best. The more often you clean the box the longer the litter will last. Try to get the waste without letting it fall back into the box that way the litter stays fresher longer.

For clumping issues, move some extra litter on top of the waste and wait a bit. The fresh litter will attach to the waste making the waste less damp and easier to pick up.

Tidy Cats Lightweight is a great litter and 99.9% dust free. Try it, you’ll like it. haha
As long as you pour the clumping litter slowly. close to the bottom of the box and scoop carefully you can keep the dust to a bare minimum. If you just dump a new container from 2 feet over the box and/or scoop vigorously you will get the dust factor. I have scooping down to a fine art, the trick is to gently scoop up the waste not excavate like a backhoe.

Depth:2 to 3 inches. Hood: yes. It keeps the dust and over scratch from going all over. Use generic unscented cat litter, not the expensive stuff.

I’ve always used Arm and Hammer Unscented Clumping Litter because I’ve found it creates the firmest most solid clumps I’ve tried every clumping brand and A&H forms the hardest clumps which dont fall apart. And pee odor hasn’t really been a problem since it already has baking soda in it.

I did have one cat who refused to bury her poo, so that was the only time there was a smell problem. But that was only for 10 minutes or so after a fresh deposit and usually only once a day or so. If you have a cat like tha, t there’s not a lot that can be done. But since not burying poop is a dominance signal, and you have a Mom and kitten that shouldn’t be a problem for you since it’s clear who’s in charge :)

If the litter is not deep enough, that’s when you get problems with it sticking to the bottom of the box. But as long as you keep the litter level high enough, then it’s just a matter of scooping up the solid balls or clumps and the dry poops.

It looks like the container in that picture is deep enough. And if you can get some carpet scraps or car mats to put around the perimeter, dust tracking shouldn’t be that much of a problem.

Hands down, clumping litter makes so much sense and maintenance is so much easier that you’ll never go back.

A hooded litterbox shouldn’t really be necessary if using A&H and daily clump removal. Plus, a hooded litterbox is worse for the cat since they’re closed in with whatever dust comes up when they scratch. If it’s a wide open box, they’re not forced to breathe it in.

(The lack of smell when using A&H is not JUST my opinion. When I was a live-in caregiver for an elderly couple, I had two cats and kept the litterbox in the closet of my bedroom. Their adult son owned a number of properties which he rented out to people so as a landlord, he recognized that “catbox smell”. His comment to me was how pleasantly surprised he was to not be able to smell the catbox and wondered where I was keeping it. Arm and Hammer really works well at keeping down that strong pee smell which is usually the tipoff to the presence of a cat box.)

Regarding cost: I usually buy it in a 25 or 40 pound box and sometimes can find it on sale at the grocery store for $9.99 per box.

You’ll never find clumping litter to be cheaper than the regular stuff per pound. But it is so much easier to use and works so well. And I think if you kept track of how little per week you ACTUALLY use vs. the other stuff, I think it’s price ompetetive.

I’ve never kept track of how few pounds per day or week I used vs the old stuff but if you keep track and do the math, I think you’ll be happier using clumping.

@Buttonstc Interesting, I never knew that not covering ones scat was a dominance thing.
I have a non-burier cat, just not sure which one.
By the time I smell it they have exited the box, could be my female because she is dominate over my male who is 3 times her size. haha

That could well be the case if she’s the smaller of the two. She wants to be certain to keep reinforcing her status :)

But I can’t imagine that kind of dynamic between Mom and kitten (unless the Mom got in that habit in whichever other circumstance she was previously in).

Our domesticated cats are really not that far removed from their cousins in the wild and that’s exactly what any wildcat does to keep the perimeter of their territory intact.

@syz alludes to this.

I just saw a very cool one at the grocery. A covered litter box, one of those, and either Tidy Cats Lightweight or Arm and Hammer Unscented Clumping Litter seems to be the ticket.

Although I’m intrigued by the cracked corn in the blender concept!
@LuckyGuy factor in the number of cats in that equation!

This is a good example of why Fluther > Google.

@orbutsbi I thought of that. I assumed the weight to poop ratio of cats is relatively constant. @johnpowell mentioned he had two kittens and we know Milo is a full sized adult so I figured the mass is close enough.

Milo is about 13 lbs 7 oz (considered not exactly svelte) and a senior cat. The special RX dry food (⅔ of his daily diet) he eats for tartar control has extra fiber in it, causing him to poop more than average, according to the vet. That changes the paradigm.

Some 99 cent stores have cat litter. It doesn’t get much cheaper than that unless you want to let them go outside.

I read through all of the above posts and was surprised that nobody uses the crystals (I use Tidy Cat).

It’s much lighter than clumping litter, a fresh scent is released when the cats scratch, it lasts for a good bit, and there isn’uch dust.

@yankeetooter I mentioned them and my daughter uses them. For me, with 2 cats sharing a large box I like the Tidy cats better. The crystals are pretty neat though.

If the Crystals came in an unscented version, I’d probably give them a try.

But one person’s pleasant scent is another person’s assault on the sinuses.

The only thing the added perfume does is to cover up any odor. It doesn’t absorb it or eliminate it the way that Baking soda does.

It’s getting harder and harder nowadays to find unscented litter and cleaning products. Febreeze is the biggest con job in history. Just because something smells perfumey has zero to do with how clean it is or isn’t. It can be filthy and germ-ridden but as long as it smells pretty people are happy? Nonsense.

@Buttonstc True, if a quick scented fix is what your after it’s fine, but cleaning calls for the big guns like bleach and Lysol. I wipe the inside of the litter box with Lysol wipes and wash the whole thing out every so often. I do put a stick on air freshener on the side of the box, it helps, a little maybe. haha

Yes, it is definitely helpful to take the box outside every so often and hose it down.

With two cats, you’ll have an easier time with two litter boxes. Seems like more work, but it’s actually less work. Less minefielding and more quick scooping.

I’ve tried almost every litter there is. Have not tried the corn yet, but have seen it.

For the least amount of tracking, the best litter by far is: Yesterday’s News (or Petco’s generic equivalent which is equally as good and 20% less per pound). The litter is made of paper pellets. Paper never gets dusty. And if you put a paint roller tray (99 cents at most 99 cent type stores) near the entrance to the litterbox, what little bit the cat tracks out, will get caught in the paint roller tray. Virtually zero overall tracking in the house. The odor less than any other litter too because there’s no invisible dust in the air to carry the odor.

Feline Pine litter is similar, and cheaper. But not as good because it breaks down into sawdust, which can be tracked or carried invisibly in the air.

However, if saving money is a big issue, for the best cost and ease of use: Tidy Cat in bags, not buckets. The buckets are too expensive per pound. But you can get 25 pounds of Tidy Cats for $5.29 at Target. That is the least expensive option for litter. Tidy Cats litter is clay, but does contain deodorizer that work okay. But like all clay and DE litter, Tidy Cats will have an invisible dust cloud above it that carries microscopic litter particles throughout the house. You’d have to vacuum daily. It’s what I use and I like it though, and find it 2nd best to what I recommend.

I recommend trying the Yesterday’s News or Petco’s generic version.

And the silicon ball litter is okay, but highly expensive, and does not last long. A urine puddle will be at the bottom along with soaked silica. And I’m worried about kitties getting silicosis from this, which there’s no evidence of, but silicosis would be a very difficult disease to have statistics on when it comes to cats