Curiosity Killed the…

Pixel was the old gray cat Mike had when I met him. She was the first cat I ever lived with. What astounded me most of all about living with a cat was kitty litter. Those little pieces (which can be so sharp) were everywhere! All over the floors, even in the bed and her box was far from the bedroom. I forgot what litter-free carpet felt like after awhile.

And the dust! It was horrible. Every time I added new litter to her box I’d get hit with a mushroom cloud. Every time Pixel scratched, I’m sure she got a face full of it too.

Mike used Tidy Cats. I think it was the cheapest brand the grocery store carried. After Pixel passed away I vowed to never use Tidy Cats (or Jonny Cat again).

Oliver came into our lives when he was 18 days old, too young to use a litter box. But it was bound to happen and I needed an alternative.

I picked up a bag of Yesterday’s News (like Tidy Cats, it was made by God-awful Purina). I liked that it came from recycled paper and that the pieces were big.

It was perfect for kittens because it doesn’t clump and clumping litter is not safe for little baby kittens. (Everything a kitten is curious about goes in his mouth and clumping litter is not something a kitten should be digesting.)

Yesterday’s News was great litter, Oliver liked it and so did kitty number 2, Annie. I liked that the pellets were so big; it made it easy to clean up and they never traveled far from the box. My only concern was that it was from Purina, a company I did not want to support.

I tried Feline Pine for awhile but I just couldn’t get over the smell, a little too earthy for my taste. Though I did appreciate the large pellets.

To my delight I found Good Mews not long after. It was the same shape and texture as Yesterday’s News but it wasn’t put out by Purina. I was in Heaven. Until we adopted Penny. It was great for one, and even 2 cats, but not for three.

From Good Mews I switched to Healthy Pet’s Dust Free Fiber. I loved the way this litter smelled fresh from the bag. Like Good Mews it was non-clumping (which I didn’t mind) and the pieces were a good size so the kitties didn’t track it around the house.

But with the addition of Stella, our fourth cat, I knew it was time for a clumping litter.

I chose World’s Best Litter as a friend of mine raved about it years ago. It had an odd smell but it clumped very well. The tracking wasn’t too much of an issue and I loved that it was flushable and practically dust-free.

But then Oliver decided he liked it a little too much. When I would pour clean litter into the boxes, he would eat it. Since I couldn’t watch him all the time, I had to switch. Again.

Now I’m not a fan of adding deodorizers to my litter. If boxes are cleaned regularly (once or twice a day) they do not smell. I currently have 5 cats (Finnegan is the latest addition) and my 4 boxes don’t stink. That said, I bought the lavender scented litter from Vetbasis with the sole hope that Oliver wouldn’t eat it.

He didn’t, but I didn’t feel right about forcing strong scents upon the noses of my kitties. But like World’s Best, I did like the flushable and dust-free aspects.

The last litter I tried was made by Next Gen Pets, their Green Tea Leaves litter. I love this litter. I love it so much. When I open a new bag I love that it smells very faintly of Chinese restaurant green tea. It clumps softly, is flushable, and dust free.

Best of all, Oliver doesn’t eat it.

Completely delighted by the look of a nice looking litter box, I was sure I had found gold when I stumbled across Cats Rule. Great look, great name, I was sure the products would be great too.

How could they not? Look at them!

Simply gorgeous. I decided on a covered box for 3 reasons. (1) The box was going to go in our dining room (not formal, rarely sees food), (2) I really loved the cat face-shaped opening, and (3) I loved the color ’steel.’

As gung ho as I was, I was also hesitant. I read some horrible reviews on Target.com. Horrible! But, they were cute so I bought one anyway.

Since it was downstairs it was to be used by slinky Annie, short Penny, and giant Maine Coon-mix Oliver. The statement on Cats Rule read that the covered boxes easily support cats up to 26 pounds so I didn’t think Oliver would have any trouble at all.

This box was nothing but trouble. It came with a free filter disc to be placed in the disc holder at the back of the box plus a liner. I am not a fan of liners. Liners are plastic which is easily torn up by scratching kitties.

This liner had little adhesive strips so it wouldn’t move around in the box. Brilliant, I thought. In actuality since the liners didn’t wrap around the body of the box, litter kept getting kicked underneath it and un-sticking itself from the box. So little Penny, a ferocious digger, kept getting her sharp claws stuck on a bunched up liner.

But no big deal, liners can be removed. The trouble continues on though.

Oliver is a very large cat. He’s 12 pounds of muscle and fur. Not particularly gigantic, but he can hold his own. He didn’t fit in the box. His head and front legs would stick out when he went to the bathroom. He then had to walk all the way and back in, head first, to cover. That is too much work to do something simple like pee.

But that’s not the worst of it. The filter for the box is at the back, not the top like with traditional covered boxes. Oliver is a tall cat with long legs. He is also a boy. Sometimes he pees straight backwards. So not only would his pee hit the filter rendering the filter completely useless, but his pee would dribble out the back of the box onto the Cats Rule mat, which was porous. The mat, of course, was on carpet.

I was so very disappointed. And angry. But it was pricey and I didn’t want to just get rid it so I cleaned it out, added fresh litter, and put it in our walk-in closet for little Stella to use. Charlie’s Box works just fine for a small 6 pound cat.

I can’t possibly be the only person who’s suffered this aggravation. I should really do something about it.