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I think the benefits of clumping outweigh any dust issue.
A good clumping litter will keep the odor down far better than any plain litter, and with far fewer full litter changeouts as well.
The one I'm using still has already been cited here, Dr Elsey's Precious Cat Ultra, unscented, in the blue-labeled bag. I get a 40lb bag for around 15 bucks so I don't think it's particularly expensive. I used to buy Tidy Cats and I guess on a good sale the Tidy Cats would come out a little less. But this stuff is way better. I don't have to change it out as often so I think it comes out to be less in the long run.
I don't see dust when the cats use it. There is some dust when pouring a fair amount into or out of the box, but that is acceptable given how well it clumps and holds down the odor.
Odor is very important when it comes to the litter box. A cat's sense of smell is many times more sensitive than ours. You don't want to be making them go into something with a strong odor, whether it be waste odor or scent odor from the litter. This is why if at all possible it's better to avoid a covered litter box. High sides, yes, keeps it from being kicked out, but covered and holding in odor is not a great idea. (Took me a long time to learn that BTW, I used covered boxes for years.)
I'm tempted to try something lighter weight but afraid to mess with what seems to be working for these guys.
@greg42, sometimes when I'm not yet out of the Dr. Elsey's I might find a lightweight or different brand with the same basic characteristics, and mix it in WITH the Dr. Elsey's in the covered plastic tote where I keep the clean litter supply. One significant difference I've seen with the other brands I've used is finer particles. Other than that, they seem to do a decent job too.
I keep a ~slightly~ open mind in case one brand or another is on sale when I see it.
I've found the Precious Cat 40 lb bags on sale for $11 & change at Petsmart before!
To those using clumping litter: How often do you dump the box and refill it with fresh litter?
With two cats, filling the box with 2-3" of litter, and scooping once or twice a day, I could go about two weeks without completely dumping and refilling the box. Non-clumping, I dump it weekly.
To those using clumping litter: How often do you dump the box and refill it with fresh litter?
I'll go a month, sometimes more, sometimes less. The more diligent I am about scooping the box, the less frequently I have to change the box completely.
To those using clumping litter: How often do you dump the box and refill it with fresh litter?
With two cats, filling the box with 2-3" of litter, and scooping once or twice a day, I could go about two weeks without completely dumping and refilling the box. Non-clumping, I dump it weekly.
Much longer with the Precious Cat. At least a month I've found, 2 cats, scoop once a day. You do have to top it up regularly, but you don't have to dump. You also may need to clean the box surface itself but may still be able to get away without dumping. To do this it helps to have a spare box. Dump existing litter into clean box, put that out for use. Then clean dirty box at your leisure and allow to dry completely.
It pays not to be skimpy with the depth. 3" is a bare minimum; I usually have about 4" or so. The payoff is that you don't get stuff stuck to the bottom of the box. My cats are pretty crazy diggers at time and I still don't get stuff stuck to the bottom. Sometimes the sides, but there's no fixing that. I top the level up every few days so that it doesn't get too low.
Actually I think we're nearing 2 months here. Some find this to be heresy but as long as everything is clumping well and not leaving too much behind when you scoop this is doable.
We use the clumping unscented Fresh Step. We haven't had any more problems with dust than with then non-clumping type. With the clumping there is no odor as with the non-clumping and a lot less waste.
We never really have to dump the boxes. I do add the old litter to one of the other boxes and scrub them in turn. No waste at all.
I like Dr. Elsey's the best but it is so heavy and I use a large Rubbermaid bin with a round hole cut out in one end, so I use a layer of Tidycat, a layer of the corn clumping litter, and a layer of Dr. Elsey's on top, which is heavy and weighs the lighter weight litters down.
Because I put in at least 4" of litter and scoop up to 2x a day (one cat), I very rarely have to empty the entire bin. I'm able to keep the existing litter clean as nothing ever sinks all the way to the bottom and in scooping I'm able to get everything out easily. I then add new litter as needed. This system works well for my cat.
To those using clumping litter: How often do you dump the box and refill it with fresh litter?
Every 4-6 weeks, depending on how carefully my cats are aiming. Toby has a tendency to stand up before he's finished peeing and pee all over the side of the box. One or both of them sometimes poop on the side of the box too.
I started off doing a full change out on a weekly basis. Just imagine how much I was spending on cat litter...this is unnecessary and wasteful, as I eventually learned.
I do use liners, so the box itself doesn't get mucked up too badly, and I scoop once a day. I'm now doing the full change out about once a month. I don't really have to scrub the box, because the liner usually keeps it pretty clean. Once in a while he tears the plastic with his claws, and we get a little urine-litter under the liner, but I'm able to scrape it and then just wipe at it with paper towel when I do the full change... It's never bad enough for me to smell, but I saw a vid by Mr. Galaxy lately suggesting that cats have a need to smell their own scent, so over-cleaning the box perhaps isn't the best idea. I dunno. But we don't seem to have any issues. Except once in a while, particularly when the box is very clean, he'll lie down in it...I find that weird but I don't think there's any harm in it.
I do have to top up the level of litter in the box maybe once a week after scooping.
It was cleaning day so I cleaned the lanai and changed their litter boxes. I didn't feel like driving clear over to Costco for my usual clumping brand so I went to Publix and found they have the new lighter weight clumping litter. So, I decided to give it a try. It says 25 pounds is equal to 37 pounds and it was a lot easier to carry two of them into the house this time. I did notice there was no dust when pouring it into the 3 boxes, so that is good.
I will see how it compares and report back, but so far Chewy and Daisy have given it two paws up.
Don
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