Cheap cat litter?

fullerand

Hi,

Reasonbly new cat owner here (rescued a 1yr maine-coon from dspca about three weeks ago).

We've been buying 5l bags of Thomas cat litter that cost about 4.50 euro, and last about a week.

Obviously it'd be cheaper to buy in bulk, but can anyone suggest a brand or shop that would suit? I tried Aldi today but they don't seem to do it.

/hopes cat can't tell the difference with cheap stuff!

thanks

Saruman

Aldi and Lidl do have cat litter..and its cheap but to be honest.... Go a little more expensive.
If in Dublin you can try the pet superstore in Blanch. Lots of stuff in Bulk but what i use is wood chip litter from Atlantic. Its about €20 for a massive big bag. Cant think how much but its as big as a bag of coal!

Anyway its bio degradable... can be flushed down toilet (obviously in small ammounts when emptying poo!) or used in compost heap. Or just thrown out. It lasts longer than normal cat litter and absotbs the smell a lot better than clay.

bounty_hunter

What Saruman said - cat litter is one thing you don't want to be stingy about! I know it seems like a pain to have to fork out for something that's just going to be **** in, but you have to think in terms of how it'll save you money in the long run. The more expensive stuff actually works out a lot cheaper in the end as you'll use a lot less of it. Not to mention the hassle it'll save in terms of general maintainance.

You'll find the cheaper stuff needs to be scooped CONSTANTLY to keep it from being completely disgusting, and it'll need to be entirely changed at least every day or two, whereas something more expensive will be a lot easier to keep clean and will only need to be completely replaced about once a week if you clean it properly.

Tabitharose

what bounty hunter said I use beauticat - wood pellet litter - buy it in large sacks from the pet shop

mjffey

We get our woodpellet catlitter from Jollyes in enniskillen. 20 litre bag for around 7 Pound Sterling.
We use a garden sieve and so the used catlitter falls through and the dry litter you can put back in the littertray.

Irish-Lass

I use sanicat and its €11.50 for a 30 liter bag (I think thats the size) it comes in a yellow bag.

galah

I use Sanicat as well - but here in Galway it only costs 10.99 ;-)
Good stuff though!
I would not recommend the Aldi or Lidl brands - I find they do smell faster, you have to change the litter constantly, and it turns into grey mush that the cats drag all through the house on their paws...

FranknFurter

Just don't use Catsan, blue bag, very sand-like, turns like cement and has to be scraped from tray soon as it gets wet.

b

KTRIC

I tried Catsan and numerous other brands and found them all a bit wanting. We finally selted on the Lidl own brand and we've used it for the past year.

I find it great for oder control and actually have to check the toilet (enclosed type) to see if its been used.

Shewhomustbe...

For the long term I would recommend this
http://www.litterkwitter.com/en/index.php

I'm in the process of toilet training six house cats and slowly I'm getting there.
I hated using wood pellets but that was probably because I've so many cats. I find World's Best Cat Litter to be just that! Nothing handier than just flushing it down the toilet. For a multi cat household I find it works out quite economical, for the moment.

bounty_hunter

Shewhomustbe... wrote:

For the long term I would recommend this
http://www.litterkwitter.com/en/index.php

I'm in the process of toilet training six house cats and slowly I'm getting there.

Just got that a couple of weeks ago too We're slowly starting to make progress!

artieanna

Are all the cats house cats or do they get out and about .... see, we trained our cat and she will only use the toilet indoors in an emergency otherwise she lets us know by going to the door or window when she wants to go out...

We rarely have to change the litter as its not really used. Believe me train your cats to go out (if you can) and you'll save heaps!!!;)

as for the litter as it not used very often we use waste turf bits (turf moul) and empty and disinfect the tray when its used...

bounty_hunter

artieanna wrote:

We rarely have to change the litter as its not really used. Believe me train your cats to go out (if you can) and you'll save heaps!!!;)

And allow them to foul up everybody else's gardens? Where there are likely to be small kids who like to touch everything? Nice.
Nothing against you personally, but I just think that's extremely irresponsible, not to mention disgusting.

By the way my cats are entirely indoor cats, so training is going well.

Garth

Congrats on your maine coon. Presumably you've discovered the delights of discovering human-sized poos in the litter tray by now! LOL

We use chick crumb for our cats -- similar to World's Best but at €10/25kg it's a far cry cheaper. Available at every agri supply shop (can be seasonal).

Have wanted to try the litter kwitter, any reviews?

Anna1

I've heard of it and have ordered it for my 2 new cats, I'm hoping to start using it next week when it arrives. I've been searching the web for either good or bad reports. Does anyone know of anyone who has managed to train their cats with this... it totally makes sense that it should work but then again cats are cats so i guess i'll have to wait and see .....

luckat

May I suggest that you shouldn't put cat litter on a compost heap? You shouldn't put carnivores' poo on a compost heap for fear of spreading bacteria and picking them up on your hands when gardening. Herbivores' poo breaks down well, though.

And before buying a big lot of litter, try out a small bit - some cats just won't use a particular kind. Some don't like the feel of sand on their paws; others find that pine-scented stuff stings their eyes.

It also helps to put a newspaper under the litter in the tray - much easier when cleaning it out. And the covered trays are good for privacy and lack of smell - face the door into the wall, leaving a gap of 12cm or so for the cat to get in.

Good luck with the kitty!

artieanna

bounty_hunter wrote:

And allow them to foul up everybody else's gardens? Where there are likely to be small kids who like to touch everything? Nice.
Nothing against you personally, but I just think that's extremely irresponsible, not to mention disgusting.

By the way my cats are entirely indoor cats, so training is going well.

well pardon me!!! Look mate I live in the country where the cats, cows & crows can **** where they want and theres no problems with kids, neighbours etc; so irresponsible I am not......Fine you're cats are indoor cats in a built up area..I wasn't talking about cats in built up areas. Cats using the outdoors is NOT disgusting unless its done on the doorstep, and that don't happen...

whats to stop kids playing with the litter tray if you don't watch them!!:rolleyes:

Jules

Catsan be the worst one i have ever, ever some across. Totally agree FF, if ya need one holes in your wall fixed my better stuff. I would have to go for the biodegradable stuff myself which can be flushed or put into the garden.. but yes not to poos themselves, they should be flushed!

Our man in Havana

We use a wood pellet litter called tact works well for my 11 cats - the tray does not need to be scrubbed which is a BONUS! & it smells pleasent!

bounty_hunter

artieanna wrote:

well pardon me!!! Look mate I live in the country where the cats, cows & crows can **** where they want and theres no problems with kids, neighbours etc; so irresponsible I am not......Fine you're cats are indoor cats in a built up area..I wasn't talking about cats in built up areas. Cats using the outdoors is NOT disgusting unless its done on the doorstep, and that don't happen...

whats to stop kids playing with the litter tray if you don't watch them!!:rolleyes:

If you read that again you'll notice I did say "nothing against you personally" :rolleyes: I was referring to the fact that next to nobody is able to do that safely, so it's highly irresponsible to encourage people to train their cats to go out. And for the record, my cats are not indoor cats in built up areas.

You don't put the litter tray where kids can access it, simple. And in any case, those are your own kids. Not somebody else's who your cat could be inadvertently poisoning. Now I don't want to talk about this anymore, in the light of Barry's recent death I think it's inappropriate to start an argument right now. If he was still alive he would be along at any minute to talk some sense into both of us.

Shewhomustbe...

Garth wrote:

We use chick crumb for our cats -- similar to World's Best but at €10/25kg it's a far cry cheaper. Available at every agri supply shop (can be seasonal).

Is there a specific brand you use as I'd be interested in using this if it's the same as WBCL and flushable. I'm trying to move from the red tray to orange one in the toilet training and most of the cat litter is going down the toilet unused while they figure out the hole situation.

city girl

I'm interested in hearing more about the wood pellet litter option... can the wood pellets used for stoves be used?

Shewhomustbe...

Garth wrote:

We use chick crumb for our cats -- similar to World's Best but at €10/25kg it's a far cry cheaper. Available at every agri supply shop (can be seasonal).

Using same quote again but,
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU,
best piece of information I've received so far this year (and will be a doozy to beat)
Was going to be charged 62.80E for a 15kg bag of WBCL in a pet store, decided to try my luck at the agri store and got a 25kg bag of chick crumb for 11E,
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Garth

Don't thank me! It's just worth it to lurk on the Kitten Adoption forum!

http://kittenadoption.proboards80.com/index.cgi

Tabitharose

city girl wrote:

I'm interested in hearing more about the wood pellet litter option... can the wood pellets used for stoves be used?

I have never tried to use wood pellets that weren't specifically sold as cat litter - I don't know what the wood pellets for stoves are like - sorry :rolleyes:

Puddles

I've used Thomas for years and it worked okay. I don't know what it is about the Lidl brand, they seem to really like it. One of my cats actually comes in from the garden to go to the toilet inside in the litter tray. Unbelievable.