Review: Tidy Cat Litter

Those who know me know that I love cats. You know that I am involved with animal rescue; in fact, am Co-Director of South Texas Persian Rescue.

My friends know me, and come to me with cat queries all the time. How do I tell if a cat is sick? This kitty wandered up to my front door, what do I do? And other questions along that venue.

This does not bother me. I answer what I can, and make sure to caveat each statement with "I am not a vet." Taking your cat to the veterinarian is still the best course of action.

We are a foster cared based rescue, meaning that all our cats are in foster homes and that we do not have a brick and mortar shelter. Our fosters receive a home visit prior to being approved to become a foster home. Two standard details we look for is where are the litter boxes located, what type of litter is used, what type of litter box do they have as well as what type and brand of cat food do and will they feed.

We are picky about food for our kitties. But that is for another article. This one is focused on litter.

Great Scott, a lot of people use Tidy Cat litter. I do not know why. I cannot fathom why. It is one of the worst at odor control. I know it is cheap and it can be purchased anywhere, but I can tell you it does not work.

I recently cat sit for some very dear friends of mine. Now she listens to my recommendations about what I perceive through trial and error and years of experience to be best for the cat. She has switched to the brand of cat food I recommend, she has listened to my opinion on how best to integrate a new cat into the family and when to take her kitty to the vet.

She tells me she trusts my judgment when it comes to the care and well being of her cats. How nice. Since she told me she took all my suggestions I did not feel like cat sitting would bring about any questions or concerns on my part.

Okay, I know we are all on budgets and that money is tight for most everyone, but do not skimp on kitty litter. It can cost you more in the future. Cheap litter does not have odor control. Tidy Cat has that perfume-y smell that in all actuality only gets stirred up within the confines of whatever room the litter box (es) have been placed. The silica dust alone is enough to cause one future breathing and lung problems.

I entered into the downstairs bathroom to clean the litter boxes in there and was stupefied at what I saw. She had crammed two large covered litter boxes in underneath the vanity, facing each other. The dust permeated throughout the room and the perfume smell did not help hide the fact that one of her kitties just made a huge stink.

I finished cleaning the litter boxes, both downstairs and upstairs. (Rule of thumb, always have one more number of litter boxes that you do cats.) I left her house and drove to the nearest Petsmart (less than a five minute drive.) I went in and purchased a 40 pound box of the Petsmart brand clumping litter and a fifty pound bag of Johnny Cat. I drove back to her house and proceeded to dump the litter boxes, clean them out and replaced them with equal parts of the aforementioned litter. I even took off the hoods to two of the litter boxes as cats do most commonly prefer open to closed boxes. So now they have a choice. (She has four kitties.)

My friend returned from home and called me immediately-what did you do? It smells so much better in here than before. I told her what I did, why I did it and where to buy the litter. It was only a few dollars more and well worth it. I further explained that I went with the budget friendly litter and not what we use at home. (The pricier World's Best Cat Litter and Sweat Scoop mixed.)

Her husband has noticed an improvement as well and the bathrooms do not have an unending layer of dust everywhere.

Give yourselves, give your cats an olfactory break and stop using Tidy Cat.