# I've Found Cat Litter Perfection!!



## alisondalziel (Oct 8, 2008)

Hi folks,

I've been 'messing around' with different cat litters for some time and have found the perfect solution!! For extra info, my results are based on 4 cats and 2 litter trays!!

You need:

A bag of Cat's Best Nature Gold (purple bag). This is in mini pellet form and is clumping and very efficient. The problem i find with using this is that it's expensive. Huge areas tend to clump together being rather wasteful.

A bag of wood based pellet litter (i use smart litter, available from Asda. It's a white plastic bag). This is non clumping and used alone, needs changing pretty much every day. It's around £3 per bag.

The solution is to MIX TOGETHER the two at approx a 60/40 ratio. By using slightly more of the Nature Gold, you ensure the clumping ability. 

I have been using this system for a few months now, varying the amounts of each litter used, and have found this to be perfect. I simply scoop out poop when required, and scoop the pee clumps out once a day (first thing every morning). My trays never smell and i find it still clumps efficiently and is easy to clean using a 'small slat' scoop.

Since i've been doing this, i rarely have to buy cat litter, i simply add a little more of each every 2-3 days 

I thought this 'system' too cost effective and simple to keep to myself! 

After the trays are empty, i'm going to try Oko Plus with the smart litter and see how that performs. Normally i don't like the Oko but maybe it will work well here, making it even more cost effective!!


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## gloworm*mushroom (Mar 4, 2011)

Sounds good! I could do that except I wouldnt be able to flush it and that is the big plus with 'oko plus' for me.


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## welshjet (Mar 31, 2011)

we use the wood smart from asda but find it really good and dont bother mixing it, we have two cats and two trays, two bags last us a week, if not just over, they are cleaned out twice a day and a full change every saturday, both trays have at least a two inch depth in them


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## Sadie SU (May 15, 2011)

Interesting - I've just about finished gradually switching over from Tesco Value lightweight cat litter to World's Best from Pets at Home, and I was thinking just last night that actually it was easier to muck out the litter tray when I was halfway through the process, with a pretty much equal mix of Tesco Value and World's Best. :aureola: Maybe going forward with a mix is the way to do it!


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## buffie (May 31, 2010)

Excellent.Thanks for passing this on.Anything that keeps down the cost,without lowering efficiency,gets my vote. :thumbup:


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## shyboots (Jun 29, 2011)

I've been using Otto's cat litter, its really cheap, £1.72 for 10kg from Lidl 
Only thing is this week I've found the pee needs a lot of litter to soak it up and even with the litter pretty deep sometimes it gets through to the newspaper so I've pulled that out & wondering if more expensive litters might be worth a try.


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## Merenwenrago (Sep 5, 2010)

I use the crystal litters and the wee does not get through

Seems to last me 2 weeks or more if I clean it everyday. In my currency it is R70 so about 7 pounds in your currency. It does 2 or more litters with one big bag.

Btw all my cats have been perfectly fine on it no problems.


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## Cloudygirl (Jan 9, 2011)

shyboots said:


> I've been using Otto's cat litter, its really cheap, £1.72 for 10kg from Lidl
> Only thing is this week I've found the pee needs a lot of litter to soak it up and even with the litter pretty deep sometimes it gets through to the newspaper so I've pulled that out & wondering if more expensive litters might be worth a try.


I tried that and found it dreadful by the next day I had a solid litter tray. Hated it definitely try a different litter. Not necessarily much more expensive. Mine don't like clumping litter and neither do I but I've tried the tesco mid range one and that wasn't bad. I think it's under £3 for 10 kg.


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## HelloKittyHannah (Nov 18, 2010)

That sounds like a good idea, but to be honest I couldn't be happier with using staight Cats Best Oko Plus for cost and efficiency.

The 40l bag I bought lasted SIX months, for 2 cats and 2 trays (well it will be closer to 7 months by the time I have to empty the trays again!) Cassie does usually toilet outside, but there were a couple of few week periods in there where she had to be kept inside, so she was definitely using the trays then.
So for £27 I got about 7 months of litter, compared to PAH clay cat litter which was about a fiver for 15l and I was getting through a bag every week or 2 that's a pretty incredible saving! (PLUS I have hardly smelt the cat trays since swapping over!)


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## Cloudygirl (Jan 9, 2011)

HelloKittyHannah said:


> That sounds like a good idea, but to be honest I couldn't be happier with using staight Cats Best Oko Plus for cost and efficiency.
> 
> The 40l bag I bought lasted SIX months, for 2 cats and 2 trays (well it will be closer to 7 months by the time I have to empty the trays again!) Cassie does usually toilet outside, but there were a couple of few week periods in there where she had to be kept inside, so she was definitely using the trays then.
> So for £27 I got about 7 months of litter, compared to PAH clay cat litter which was about a fiver for 15l and I was getting through a bag every week or 2 that's a pretty incredible saving! (PLUS I have hardly smelt the cat trays since swapping over!)


6 months seriously?! how often do you change it then?

I can't believe that. That would be cheaper than anything i use.


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## HelloKittyHannah (Nov 18, 2010)

Cloudygirl said:


> 6 months seriously?! how often do you change it then?
> 
> I can't believe that. That would be cheaper than anything i use.


I scoop poops as soon as they are done, I scoop wee's twice a day and top up with a few scoops of fresh litter if needed. I change the whole lot out and wash the tray as soon as I can start smelling it or it has lots of the powdery stuff (residue left over from scooping wee's) so on average I'd say every 4-5 weeks for a full litter change.

It's honestly THAT good! I've asked visitors if they can smell anything and they never have (my Sister especially would tell me if she could, she's rather abrupt!! lol)
There's other threads on here by Oko Plus lovers saying how long it lasts between full litter changes, give it a search! 

The only downside is that it does track around the house really badly, but I'm hoovering up after the kids constantly anyway so it doesn't bother me too much.


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## Cloudygirl (Jan 9, 2011)

oh I'm not sure i could cope with the tracking. I have a digger.


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## lechatnoir83 (Jun 24, 2011)

Slightly random question but has anyone tried the Litter Quitter (sp?) which you can fit on the toilet? I've not but am storing this litter info away for future reference and thought I'd ask about the LQ while I was here


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

Cloudygirl said:


> oh I'm not sure i could cope with the tracking. I have a digger.


I use cats best - changing to the one for long haired cats soon - I use a covered tray and a tracker mat outside - seems to work a treat compared to open trays, you can put two mats together if needing a longer run, and the covered tray stop the digger throwing it all out. One of mine didn't like the door so to begin with I took it off and put it back after a while and now they all use it easily. I too do a full change about every 4-5 weeks, taking out the solid stuff regularly and a bit of a top up every now - cheap as chips really - a £8 bag from [email protected] lasts about 3 months - but if you order in bulk form zooplus it's even cheaper.


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## alisondalziel (Oct 8, 2008)

The Litter Kwitter looks great but you could only train one cat at once as it's a gradual process. This does work for some people, but not all. There's also a jumping issue so not suitable for kittens or older cats. 

Also, i do flush my mix of litters down the loo with absolutely no problems!!!


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## shyboots (Jun 29, 2011)

I thought litter trays needed a full change weekly?


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## spid (Nov 4, 2008)

shyboots said:


> I thought litter trays needed a full change weekly?


depends on the type of litter you use - if you wanted to you could still wash out your trays every week - just keep the unused litter aside and replace it into the tray afterwards.


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## IndysMamma (Jan 15, 2009)

I use Extreme Classic clay litter - it's super clumping and with 4 indoor only cats I do a lotta litter scoops/changes across 3 trays (tray 4 was utterly ignored so put away)

isn't terrible for tracking though it does a little (mainly Mabel as she rolls in it the delightful madam)

2 15kg bags last me 6 weeks ish at £25.80 from Zooplus which is £4.30 a week or £0.61 a day. Would last a bit longer if I didn't do a full empty/clean once a week but I am mildly OCD on that.

Oko was not liked by the ungrateful horrors


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## sharon_gurney (Jan 27, 2010)

Hi

Ive been mixing my own cat litter for some time now. I had tried different clumping and non clumping but each one had it downfalls.

I like the Sophisticat Pink because its great for odour control smells nice, but as it wasnt very absorbant I tended to use quite a bit, also we got a few pink footprints on the sofa

I also like the breeders select wich is recycled paper pellets, this is really absorbant but not fantastic in the smelly department.

So now I mix the two, I get the best of both worlds, really absorbant smells great and I find that it lasts absolutely ages


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## Cloudygirl (Jan 9, 2011)

Cloudygirl said:


> 6 months seriously?! how often do you change it then?
> 
> I can't believe that. That would be cheaper than anything i use.


well on you guys recommendations I bought some Oko plus today and mixed a bit in with their normal litter. Boys don't approve  came home to poo on the floor. Good thing was that the poo now is excellent consistency and easy to clean but still   I'll try it for another couple of days and see how it goes but doesn't look like they like the feel of it on their paws. Maybe I'll try adding some wood litter to it and see if that works.


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## HelloKittyHannah (Nov 18, 2010)

Really? Wabbit loved it! He climbed in it as I was pouring it in the tray for the first time :lol:
He did get funny when I was trying normal wood pellets and I had to put half wood pellets half clay for a while til he was used to it.


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## TatiLie (Nov 2, 2010)

Mixing sounds a great idea. I was thinking about mixing Oko Plus with the Cat's Best Gold to help hold the tracking and dust (with a bit of shaking of the tray it will keep the Gold up and hold the dust in the tray). Did anyone try this way yet?

BTW, I use Oko Plus since Ari arrived in our lives (8mths) and I've used so far a bit less than 60L. I don't really control when I fully change it. It was more frequent when she was little and had soft poos so there were always little bits dirty. I do it when it gets too dusty (after 6 weeks or more) and I use a deep tray (a storage box filled 10-12cm high). When I change I keep a bit of the dusty part (with a bit of bicarbonate of soda) so that Ari can feel her smell there (and the bicarbonate so that I don't feel it). 

I read somewhere that if you use a good clumping litter that you can remove all the clumps without breaking them, and that your tray is deep enough so it doesn't contaminate the bottom, you don't need to change the whole litter ever, just top it up. I don't think it's applicable to Oko Plus because it does break a lot and gets very dusty, but if you have another litter that make solid rock clumps, I think it's worthy a try.


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## shyboots (Jun 29, 2011)

I'm trying Oko's too, first impressions are I like it, the pee balls are...well they aren't balls, they're now splodges, but they are a lot smaller, and the litter smells quite nice which is a weird thing to find myself saying  it smells like popcorn. Biffy took straight to it but then he's taken straight to ever litter I've tried. It does track everywhere. Think I need a new vacuum cleaner. It was good when it was new but not so great now.


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