The good, the bad and the muddy
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2023 | Rating: 4/5 | Best Sellers in Pet Supplies
we recently adopted an adult cat whose litterbox habits have resulted in going through 60 lbs of litterbox sand in just the four weeks that weve had her we didnt realize how easy our previous cats rip made litterbox maintenance for them we used a lightweight hardclumping litter and they would do their business tidily atop the litter cover it up and be done making it easy to just skim the clumps off the surface leaving dry litterbox sand beneath so we only needed to wash the box and completely replace the litter about once a month with our former cats but our new cats litterbox habits may break the plastic scooper as well as our petsupply budget time to buy a sturdier metal scooperwhen she urinates our new cat likes to scrape away all the litter even though we fill the box so the litter is quite deep then she wees directly onto the bottom of the box pretty much negating the main function of clumping litter she then pushes the cat sand over the pool of wee creating a cementlike mess that lurks hidden underneath and practically bonds with the base of the litter box the box gets sifted several times a day but after 34 days the entire box needs to be completely emptied washed and refilled with another massive amount of litterbox sand which is where this new litter comes inbecause our cat creates such a muddy mess at the bottom of the box the much finer granules of the lightweight litter we were using before was getting stuck between her toes depositing it all over the house and in the mornings wed wake up to our bed covered in clumps of dirty damp sand so out with the finergrained lightweight sand and on to something different we noticed that the dr elseys litter seemed a bit grainier though still offering clumping properties and thought wed give it a try it tracks a lot less and what little is tracked is easier to see and sweep up due to the larger size of the granules and so far those larger granules havent been sticking to our cats feet but this litter is heavy our cat doesnt have any issues pushing the sand around a good feline fitness workout but because of her odd litterbox habits it still gets stuck to the bottom of the litterbox and takes a lot of effort to scrape off so it appears that well just be spending a lot of time and money on litterbox maintenance whatever we try and the wet clumps are super heavy so taking out the garbage is a weightbearing exercise tip we replaced our litter genie with the largest size of the oxo compost pail which has a much larger opening is so easy to fill and empty and we can use any sturdy plastic bags to line it  no need to buy those litter genie refills so it quickly pays for itself and the oxo compost bin also keeps any unpleasant smells from escaping before emptyingso to sum up the litterbox saga seems im not alone as others appear to have epic issues when it comes to dealing with the litterbox situation• if your cat doesnt have a problem pushing around a heavier type litter we found dr elseys to be great at clumping if you go really deep when filling the box but one downside to its hard clumping is that if you have a cat who likes to dig close to the bottom when urinating the hard clumps adhere like cement to the bottom of the litter box making it no job for a plastic scooper so a heavyduty metal scoop is a must• tracking is minimal and the larger granules make it easier to see and sweep up any tracked bits• so far the larger granules have eliminated the issue with sand getting stuck between our cats toes so any tracking stays within a close distance to the litterbox and doesnt end up on furniture and beds• does well at controlling odor provided box is sifted at least once a daywell continue buying the dr elseys litter and though we expect that every bag will be a bit different were hopeful that it will continue to solve some of the problems we had with the finergrained lightweight types of litter theres likely not a litter on the market that can quickly absorb urine deposited directly on the bottom of the box and not create heavy sludge or really hard clumps that adhere like cement so for now this is as close as were likely to get to the holy grail of litterbox sand122023 update ive purchased two 18lb bags from amazon in the past 5 weeks at a little over 11 per bag now the price has increased to over 16 i know were in inflationary times but i cant help but question the need for this particular increase other than sheer avarice not suggesting the increase is amazons decision  it may well be their supplier but still my local pet supply store is still selling it for just over 8 for the 18lb bag while i appreciated the convenience of having it delivered to my door im going to have to stop being lazy and just make the short drive to my nearby pet store because the amazon increase to 16 just breached my annoyance threshold as well as my budget