Okay, so for many years (with previous cats) the Arm & Hammer brand for “multi cat household” – unscented or fragrance free worked just fine. It was cheap, usually readily available, and did the job.
BTW, I’m still wondering what the difference is between “unscented” and “fragrance free.” Why do I smell the perfumes? It’s wrong that they do that.
Anyway, little by little, problems began to arise. Sometimes it wasn’t available. Another issue was that it has become very dusty. And then, I began realize the situation… There are new, improved versions being marketing as “99.9% dust free.” (But they really aren’t.)
Honestly, cat litter used to be a no-brainer.
And then one day, in a hurry I picked up some “light weight” litter at the grocery store. I thought light weight was a great idea. My cat didn’t. Not one bit did she like it. Shortly after loading the litter, a large portion of it was kicked out of the box.
It was a mess. I had never seen anything like it. She and I had a little discussion about it. But ultimately, there I was staring at the wall of cat litter options at the local pet store. The options have expanded greatly. But, to be real here, experimenting with cat litter is a risky proposition. I fretted as I read the descriptions. I wasn’t about to get anything other than the clay versions. Too risky. I settled with something ridiculously overpriced called Boxiecat. It’s been working okay, but I don’t think it’s a good long term solution.
As an aside, don’t believe anything that claims, “low tracking” – it doesn’t exist. The realistic answer involves sweeping or vacuuming the floor frequently… at least with an indoor-only cat. There are rugs and mats designed to catch the litter as a cat jumps out. But, then you have to deal with that. I do use some cheap rugs. But they make cleaning more of a project. Frequent cleaning has been the only solution for me.
The other big issue was the litterbox itself. For years, the 8-9 dollar, standard high sided litterbox worked just fine. (They sell them at the big box stores.) But my little missy poopoo head likes to stand on the edges, as she scrapes the walls for several minutes after doing her business. (She has some litterbox OCD.) This rather standard litterbox measures 20.5″ deep x 17″ wide x 10″high, with a 6″ high entrance area. It is more than adequately sized for her needs. But it’s still too low walled. To put it politely, she gets creative sometimes.
I need it to be an open top litterbox. They’re much easier and quicker to check and clean.
As an experiment, I purchased Nature’s Miracle high sided litterbox. It measures 23″ x 18.5″ x 11″. The slight difference in height between the two is that the original litterbox slopes upward from about 8″ to a maximum of 10″ high, while this other one is 11″ high all around except for the 5″ high entrance area. (Oh, and I paid more than double the price!)
The problem is that she prefers to do her business near the entrance area of the newer box – the lowest part of the box (5″). The entrance is where she sometimes kicks sand out, as she obsessively attempts to cover her stuff.
Anyway, the two litterboxes are side by side. In the original box, there’s Arm & Hammer unscented. The newer box has Boxiecat. She’s been using both, but has had an overall preference for the newer, taller box with the Boxiecat litter. She prefers the Boxiecat litter roughly 70-80% over the Arm & Hammer litter. Boxiecat is heavier and denser. I check and clean both boxes a few times each day. And I think it’s mostly when she’s used the Boxiecat already, that she will use the unused box filled with Arm & Hammer.
Some things are not worth skimping. For now, I’m going to continue using Boxiecat in the one litterbox. But I may try other litter brands in the other.