Should I change my cat’s kitty litter? The transition to SwheatScoop | Dr. Justine Lee
Clay, clumping, crystals, eco-friendly options… what type of kitty litter should I choose?
Here, my veterinary review of SwheatScoop kitty litter:
Two weeks ago, I blogged about how, after 16 years of clumping kitty litter, I was making a change (You can check out that blog here).
I was sick of clumping kitty litter for several reasons:
- It tracks all over the house – especially into the bed!
- It clumps on my cats’ feet, and they have small clay balls stuck on
- It’s super dusty, and my basement furnace actually stopped working once as some of the delicate tubing was filled with kitty litter dust (and that’s with a HEPA air filter running for 6 hours a night!)
- It sticks – it’s got this concentrated fragrance that is supposed to smell good, but is overwhelmingly disguisting
- Did I mention dusty?
So, I transitioned to SwheatScoop. I’ve always been a bit hesitant despite the eco-friendly nature of this wheat-based kitty litter as I heard the clumps weren’t quite as “tight” and formed. Well, check out my YouTube SwheatScoop review here.
Veterinary review of SwheatScoop kitty litter
Overall, two thumbs up! Why did I like it?
- It didn’t track up to the bedroom – after decades of sleeping with my cats’ kitty litter pebbles in the bed, I was free!
- The smell was dramatically improved. Previously, when cuddling up to Seamus and Lily, all I could smell was the disgusting dust of the clumping litter embedded in their fur. Now, scent free (and that was with me using unscented too!)
- It clumps – not as tight as a clumping type, but enough where I can still scoop out most of the urine without any major problem. While the clump isn’t as tight, and yes, I have to work a whole extra 20 seconds scooping the remnants out, it’s worth it!
- It’s more eco-friendly. While they advertise that you can flush SwheatScoop, I never advocate this. It massively contaminates our water system, and every once in a while, we hear of sea lions dying of Toxoplasmosis off the costs of California. Well, it’s likely coming from flushed kitty litter!
So, overall, love it and I’m sticking with it. I’m just kicking my veterinary-butt for not trying this decades ago!
What do you guys think? Have you tried anything different and had success?
I was only so-so with the Swheat products. While the Multi-cat line was a little better, I still saw quite a bit of tracking and, as you mentioned, subpar clumps. Also, both the Multi-cat as well as the Original seemed to struggle with locking in odor.
If you haven’t tried them, I would recommend giving Precious Cat: Cat Attract or Arm & Hammer: Super Scoop Fresh Scent a go. Both seem to do a pretty good job of clumping and odor retention without a lot of tracking and sticking.
http://www.catlitterhelp.com
Good to know – thanks so much for sharing!