One of the top questions I get from new cat owners is what is the best cat litter? I have extensively tested different cat litters with my own cats and the kittens born in our cattery. I have a few that I consider and recommend to be the best of these different types of Cat Litters.
There is also the method to use for each litter that affects your success and satisfaction in using them. In other words, there are things you can do to improve your satisfaction with these different cat litters. I’ll go over that with you in this blog.

What to Look for in a Cat Litter

It all depends on what is important to you. That might change from time to time given you and your cats’ circumstances.

All the cat litters I have tried and tested have benefits for these different concerns:

Do you want a litter that you can scoop and toss the waste in your toilet?
Are you ok with scooping it into a pail regularly?
Where is the litter box? Believe it or not that can affect your choice too!
Are you training a kitten or a litter of kittens to use the litter box?
Are you wanting to be able to see your cat’s stools to check on their health?
Do you want to see how much they are peeing to make sure they are drinking enough?
Do you, or whoever is going to help maintain the litter boxes have allergies to dust?

Types of Cat Litter

There are three different types of cat litter I use. They each have different pros and cons that I’ll talk about later in the product reviews. Heres a quick overview of the 3 types:

1. Clay Clumping Litter

Clay clumping litter has the appearance of sand. It dries liquid and is excellent at turning your cats pee into a clump just as its called. Your cat’s stool will be coated in the litter as your cat digs to cover her waste.

2. Crystal Litter

Crystal litter has the appearance of small crystals granules. Your cat’s stool will be lightly coated in the crystal litter as your cat digs to cover her waste, dehydrating your cat’s stool but absorbing and dissolving your cats pee, so no pee clumps.

3. Paper Litter

Paper Litter is in the shape of tightly pressed small tubes of paper. Your cat’s pee will go to the bottom pieces and be absorbed by the paper litter. Your cat will cover her stools at first but as more of the paper litter underneath gets wet your cat will leave her stool at the top which actually makes it easy to spot and flush down the toilet.

The Best of the Clay Clumping Litters.

My #1 favorite clay clumping litter is “Dr. Elsey’s Kitten Attract Litter”.

Why I love “Dr. Elsey’s Kitten Attract Litter”.

I love this litter because it does what it says in the title, it attracts your kitten or cat to use the litter box! I use this litter because as a breeder of Siberians cats I’m training kittens to use the litter box on a regular basis. I have never had a problem with our kittens learning to use the litter box quickly, regularly and reliably. But I use this even when i don’t have kittens for the below reasons:

It also can be helpful for attracting the cat who is peeing outside of litter box.
The other plus of this litter is that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the box as much if you put the correct amount in the litter pan.
And another reason you’ve got to love it is that my friends and customers coming into the house say they can’t smell the litter box and are always surprised I have a hidden litter box in my living room! That’s a real plus for me!

What I don’t love about “Dr. Elsey’s Kitten Attract Litter”

The negatives are that there is still some dust for those who are sensitive to any amount of dust. It’s supposed to be 99.9% dust free but I wouldn’t say that’s my experience, although changing out the entire litter once a month does lessen the dust.
And the other negative is that dreaded cat litter that makes its way out of the box via your cat and onto your floor. This cat litter is not a high tracking litter. But any amount of clay clumping litter is not fun to step on a hardwood floor and especially a tile bathroom floor that you’re walking on with bare feet and maybe in the middle of the night!

I have another cat litter I use for litter boxes in the bathroom I’ll review too. Tracking cat litter can also be affected by the litter box you use as well but that’s another blog post!

Who should use “Dr. Elsey’s Kitten Attract Litter”?

If your training a new kitten to use the litter box.
If your struggling with a cat who is peeing outside of the litter box.
If you don’t want your house to smell like a litter box.
If you want the litter to stick less to the bottom of the litter box.

Tips for using “Dr. Elsey’s Kitten Attract Litter”:

Make sure you use a good 3-4 inches at the bottom of your cat’s litter box to start and keep adding litter as it gets low to keep the litter from sticking to the bottom.
Make sure to entirely change out the litter once a month if litter dust is an issue for you..
I also sometimes combine this litter with “Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat Unscented Ultra+Cat litter”. I started combining these when my kittens were all litter box trained and I saw the above litter at the pet store and found I liked it.

My #2 favorite is “Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat Unscented Ultra+Cat Litter”.

What I like about #2 favorite- “Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat Unscented Ultra+Cat Litter

Sometimes I couldn’t get the Kitten Attract litter quickly enough online and mixing with this litter helped my supply last longer.
It has good odor control and strong clumping.
Another positive of this good clumping litter is that you can really see how much your cat is peeing. When my Dams are pregnant I want to make sure they are drinking and peeing a lot and it’s impressive to see the giant pee clumps both of these Dr. Elsey’s cat litters creates!
This litter has larger granules which is supposed to have less dust.

What I don’t like about “Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat Unscented Ultra+Cat Litter”

I don’t like how much larger the sand-like granules are if using this litter by itself. Mixed with the Kitten Attract Litter it’s better.

Who should use “Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat Unscented Ultra+Cat Litter”

If you don’t have a kitten your training or a cat currently not having a issue peeing outside of the box.
If you can find this in your pet store quicker then online.
If litter dust isn’t an issue for you.

Tips for using “Dr. Elsey’s Precious Cat Unscented Ultra+Cat Litter”:

Use this alone or combine this litter with “Dr. Elsey’s Kitten Attract litter”.

The Best Of Crystal Litter

My #1 favorite brand of the crystal litter type is “Pretty Litter”.

Why I love “Pretty Litter”.

This crystal litter is indeed pretty! There is something appealing about the cream-colored crystals!
And this cat litter is toilet flushable making it a great choice for a litter box close by a bathroom.

This litter also turns different colors indicating different possible health problems of your cat. For instance a blue color could be indicating a possible urinary tract infection or stone formation, orange indicating possible metabolic or kidney acidosis, and red/blood may indicate bladder crystals. I personally haven’t had my cats pee turn any color other than yellow but it would be helpful to have that warning if there was a problem!

I especially like using this litter in my “PetSafe Scoop Free Litter Box” because this litter box rakes the poop away in a hidden section and that leaves you with prettier litter indeed! So if you ever wondered if Pretty Litter can be used in a PetSafe box I can tell you that yes it can!

It used to be that you could only get it on their website but now thankfully you can also buy it on Chewy.com!

What I don’t love about “Pretty Litter”.

Some people complain about the urine smell of Pretty Litter but those complaints are due to not following the directions. You need to change out the crystal litter every two weeks. Remember you can’t entirely ignore a litter box and be happy with it.
Your cat will cover his poop waste by his digging about, leaving the poop lightly coated in the litter. But that doesn’t disguise your cats poop waste quite as well as clay litter does.
Another negative is the possible tracking but that is helped a lot with a good litter mat.

Who should use “Pretty Litter”?

If you want or need a litter with no dust.
If you like being able o flush poops in the toilet.
If you like the the cleaner look of crystal litter.
If you have a automatic litter box like Petsafe scoop Free litter box.

Tips for using “Pretty Litter”:

Use a good litter catching mat like my “PetSafe Anti Tracking Mat” to help with tracking.
Be sure to change out the litter every two weeks. If litter turns a yellowish color over time you know you have waited too long to change out the litter because then it will start smelling like cat urine.

The Best Paper Litter.

My #1 favorite paper litter is “Vibrant Life Natural Paper Pellets Cat Litter”.

About “Vibrant Life Natural Paper Pellets Cat Litter”:

I was introduced to this litter by a fellow breeder. I was skeptical at first. My friend told me it was great because you could really keep an eye on your cat’s stools…..say what? Do I want to study my cat’s poop? But then I had a situation come up where I was concerned about a brand new (to my home) kitten’s wellbeing. My friend asked how loose his stools were and I realized I couldn’t really say because clay litter makes it so you can’t tell very well. I decided to give it a try and discovered reasons to love this paper litter.

Why I love “Vibrant Life Natural Paper Pellets Cat Litter”:

I needed to send a poop sample to the vet and wow that was a lot easier with paper litter because the vet can’t use a sample with clay litter all over it!

My friend also said it doesn’t stink. She was right about that as long as I switched it out soon enough, more on that later in tips.
These paper pellets really don’t breakdown and stay intact impressively long so you don’t get that dreaded sawdust like some natural paper cat litters.
I also love this paper litter in the litter box in my bathroom because it’s much easier to spot a poop clump. I got into the routine of checking their box every time I used the bathroom and definitely right before bed and could easily scoop up the poop and dump it right in my toilet! Now that is cool!
And unlike crystal and clay cat litter, there is nothing unpleasant to step on my tile floor in the middle of the night because there is barely any tracking of the litter left on the floor! We’re talking one pellet now and then which is easy to spot and toss.
You can’t deny that it’s better for the environment too.
Last but not least it’s very well priced. I order it from Walmart at $14.42 for a 20 lb. bag!

What I don’t love about “Vibrant Life Natural Paper Pellets Cat Litter”:

The only negative was that my husband who is sensitive to smells thought the paper litter did smell sooner of cat urine then crystal and clay litter but we found a solution for that below in tips.
I didn’t like this litter for my son’s bedroom cat litter box but that was because my son didn’t flush the poops. The bathroom is down the hall which is a long way for a kid.

Who should use “Vibrant Life Natural Paper Pellets Cat Litter”?

If you need a dust free litter.
If you want to use a biodegradable litter.
If your using this litter near a bathroom.
if you want to spot a poop pile easily to scoop out.

Tips for using “Vibrant Life Natural Paper Pellets Cat Litter“:

I learned that I needed to just put a two-inch layer of it and change it all out sooner, about every five days. but then I also found another product that I could sprinkle on the bottom of the box when changing out the litter called “Cat Litter Additive” made with activated charcoal by “Modkat”. When I use the litter additive the paper litter is good for twice as long to as much as two weeks.
I sprinkled some dry pellets on the top after scooping up poops too to give the cats a drier surface to step on.
My husband found a great pet safe deodorizing spray that really works called “Pet Febreze Air Mist Odor Fighter”. That along with the carbon smell absorber I put in the litter box and flushing any poops when I saw or smelled them, we are both happy with using paper litter in the bathroom!

To sum it all up…

I prefer the “Dr. Elsey’s Kitten Attract” and “Dr. Elsey’s Ultra Clay Clumping” litter for any boxes in my living areas and bedrooms, mostly for the fact you can’t smell the litter box.! And for the fact my kittens and cats always use the litter box!
I love “Pretty Litter” crystal cat litter with my “PetSafe Scoop Free Litter Box” for its prettiness and that it works very well in that litter box. I love that this litter is flushable. And for the health screening benefits.
For the bathroom I love “Vibrant Life Natural Paper Pellets” for the ease of dumping the poops right in the toilet and it helps me keep an eye on my cats’ stools so I can confidently know how firm or loose my cats’ poops are, which is helpful in determining their health.

Hopefully this helps you in picking a litter that meets your needs!

Which Cat Litter Should I get?