Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Cat Litter - Sorting Through Your Options

Cats are one of the best pets to have if the idea of housetraining an animal makes your nervous. They can be house pets, kept inside completely as long as you use a litter box. Once you have decided to get a cat then you will need to decide which cat littler is best for both your cat and your home. Most kittens have been taught by their mother on how to use a littler box, but you need to be sure to show your cat or kitten just where box is. You also need to be sure to keep the litter clean and make sure the cat like it, otherwise your pet may find another place to use as his or her rest room.

There are all sorts of cat litter to choose from, so it will help if you know a bit about the different types before making your choice.

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Clay based litter is perhaps the cheapest available. It was also the first to be used commercially. The biggest disadvantage is that it needs to be cleaned and changed more often than others because clay not only absorbs all the liquid, but it absorbs the odors as well. This may not be a good choice if you have a cat that is prone to allergies as dust can be an issue is the cat scratches around in the litter.

Silica based litter uses water and sand as well as odor controlling crystals. You need to remove the solid waste where as the liquid waste is absorbed by the crystals or granules. This litter has no clumping action and it is also biodegradable. This litter will go back to its sandy type of base when it decomposes.

Clumping litter is perhaps the most popular type of used, as it works with the moisture in the cats waste. It clumps up when the waste is deposited onto it and then you can simply scoop out the cats waste without having to change the entire box each time. You can add new litter to the box to replace what you cleaned out. One of the problems with this type of litter is that if the cat eats it, it can cause problems since it works with moisture and clumps together. You can get clumping litters in a variety of scents to help hide the odor of the cat waste.

Paper litter is made from recycled paper or pellets and is becoming more and more popular. It is highly absorbent as well as being light weight and biodegradable.

Finally, wood cat litter that is made from wood is also biodegradable. It is generally made from recycled wood and pine seems to be the favorite since it has great natural odor absorbency. But almost all softwood litters are extremely absorbent and have natural odor control. This makes it since there is no need to add any chemicals making it a good natural product that can be used.

Once you decide what type of litter you'd like to use, you'll obviously need to consult with your cat. He'll let you know if he likes or dislikes it by whether or not he actually uses it. Some cats for instance, don't like anything silica based because the crystals may hurt their paws. Others won't use pine because they don't like the smell. The good thing about cats is they can easily let you know what they like and dislike without saying a word.

There is an ever increasing number of cat litter options available to pet owners. Before you pick one for you cat, it's good to know a few of the strengths and weaknesses of each type.

Cat Litter - Sorting Through Your Options

For more information on these litter types and others like flushable cat litter visit http://www.catlitterboxesplus.com , a popular website designed to help take the mess out of owning a cat. You'll also find information the the different types of boxes available including the automatic cat litter box

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