To cut a long story short, I have to keep my cat indoors, and she hates using a litter tray.
She has always preferred to go out, rather than use a tray, but now she has to use one.

I am therefore a bit of a novice re litter trays.

I always kept a tray, just in case, filled with inexpensive clumping clay litter, from Aldi.
Then I used a wood chip pellet type, which, though more expensive, needed changing less frequently. There are seemingly myriad types at the pet stores, so any thoughts on the pros and cons of the different types would be gratefully received.

For litter trays to be enticing to cats they really need to be cleaned frequently I do full tray empties three times a week and obviously empty out as much wee as I can and poos straight after its done.

I use wooden pellets (tho not the ones marketed as cat litter I use horse bedding so its about £6 for 15kg) previously I have used the crystals. I don't personally like the clumping litter but its personal preference and cat preference.

We've used a fair few different types over the year's and still haven't found one that we would particularly like to stay with, it helps to get one the same colour as the carpet.

Just keep trying different type's and see which you and your cat prefer.

I use Catsan. Dispose of poos straight away and full clean and litter change once a week. My cat seems happy enough with this.

I've tried loads but keep coming back to Catsan.

Supermarkets own brand like Aldi's is cheaper but its a false economy.

We mix Catsan with some silica crystals which improves it's absorbency and makes it last longer.

Our trays are scooped twice a day with a full change twice a week - or more if needed. I'm another one against clumping litter, I find it far messier!

As TWS says, it's all down to your and your cats preference. Experiment with a few different ones and you'll soon find what's best for you.

Hmm. I use Golden Grey Master clumping cat litter. I scoop out the soiled litter as soon as I'm around and notice. And I do a full litter change... well, I haven't yet needed to. I guess that's because very fine clumping litter actually works, whereas the coarse stuff doesn't. The only downside is some tracking of the litter. Not too much hassle on a tiled floor. Oh, and I use two different scoops - one coarse, and one fine.

I use Sanicat clumping litter. It has a pleasant smell and is really good at absorbing wee and there not being any real odour. It comes in a box rather than a bag, and has a little spout for pouring it out so it's much quicker/easier to store and distribute. It was £7 from Pets At Home and lasts me ages before needing to buy another box. I don't go mad with the amount I'll put in the tray anyway. No point when the cat usually digs in it and flicks it all over the floor anyway! A little more than what it takes to cover the bottom of the tray is enough, which is a lot less than the packaging recommends!

I dispose of any poo immediately and any clumps formed by the wee get cleaned every two days and every Saturday I'd dispose of all the remaining litter, wash the tray and start afresh. Garfield seems quite happy with that.

Make sure you get a covered litter tray and put a mat down outside the door to catch any stray bits of litter or worse.

We tried a few, but catsan was the best. Scoop daily and clean and refill twice a week.

I buy Cancac for fussy cats as my mum's cat hates the clumping type and the cheaper wood based ones. It doesn't crumble as easily as the cheaper brands and doesn't smell.

I get Pets at Home own make baby powder fragranced clumping litter. I tried changing to Catsan as I could get it closer to home but my cat was shouting loudly every time he had to use his tray so I switched back.

Always found bio catolet paper pellets cleanest and very absobent. Does not break down or get dusty.

If you have a garden, you can burn it as well making a more hygeinic disposal.

http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/lightweight-non-clumping-recycled-paper-based-cat-litter-25ltr

We didn't find Bio-Catolet very absorbent at all. The price is good for 25l but it only lasted about 1/3 as long as 20l of Catsan. We kept finding bits of it spread around the house too.

Just goes to show its all down to experience and personal preference (as well as kitties of course) 😁

Thank you all so much for your replies, which I have found very helpful.



Apologies if I don't get back too often, but have limited internet access at the mo.

I agree with this, I've used most litters over the last 10 years, clumping, wood etc and catsan is head and shoulders above the rest on odour control and longevity. I do the same, full clean every 7-10 days and poops scooped asap. It is a little pricier but you can get good deals for large bags on a few online pet sites, and frankly using some such as wood, I was needing to change several times a week, due to our cat peeing a lot, so value wise, it wasn't a great saving having cheaper litter, imo.

Our old girl has two toilets now, one upstairs, one downstairs so I find they both needed changed about 10 days, rather than once a week when using one.

I'd also recommended the enclosed, swing door litter trays, gives the cat some privacy, but also isn't as smelly, due to the little filter in the roof!

Happy scooping!

Thanks again everyone.

I was wondering why some people prefer 'clumping', and some prefer 'non-clumping'.

I've looked at the Catsan webpage, and it seems they do both types.

The woody pellets I'm using at the moment (Pets at Home own brand) seem to form a sort of fluffy sawdust where the cat has had a wee, and is not easy to scoop out, but then perhaps it doesn't need scooping, as its pretty inoffensive.

Anyway, she seems to be getting a bit more used to using the tray, and I have also started taking her into the garden on a cat leash, which she likes, and will often go to the loo on a patch of twiggy stuff (now like an outdoor litter tray!)

She has to stay in, or be attended to outside, because of a sudden loss of sight. But this has been improving since taking meds for high blood pressure. She is an elderly cat, who was abandoned by a neighbour a while ago, so all of this has been a steep learning curve!

Sorry, this has turned into a bit of a ramble!
LOL at 'happy scooping' above!

ETA Also apologies if I seem to be a bit thick and/or obsessive!

Depends on your cat. My cat struggled to get her tail out of the way because she's semi-long haired and couldn't find the room to maneuver in an enclosed tray.

Clumping litter is generally cheaper and goes a bit further. It's also probably more 'natural' to the cat than Catsan which is like little rocks. My previous cat was on clumping for years and it was fine. I only changed to Catsan when I got a kitten and I read that you're not supposed to use clumping litter with kittens as they tend to eat it and then it clumps in their guts and causes real problems : (

I used to use that but they changed it & it's no longer grey, nor clumping very well.

So I swapped to 'Professional Classic', and its as good as Golden Grey was in the past.

We've tried all sorts, but Catsan seems the best overall. Our cat stays in, so the tray gets plenty of hammer. We clean out anything he does asap and clean the whole tray 2 or 3 times per week.