Which is the best litter for cats?
Which is the best Litter for Cats?
When we have a cat in our home we want to give it the best. Therefore, it is important to discover the best products and get hold of them. These, in addition to satisfying your pet, will give it a great quality of life. For that reason, we have prepared the following text where we will tell you which is the best litter for cats or which one best suits your needs.
Remember that cats are very neat animals, so it is important that you keep a good amount of the best cat litter you can find and clean it from time to time, otherwise your pet will start to create chaos in your home.
The best litter for Cats
There are different types of cat litter on the market and each of them will provide you with specific benefits. For example, conventional sand is the one that we all know and that most use to care for their pet. This class is much cheaper than other options, especially if we understand that it was the first type of sand that was marketed.
Although this is not the best litter for cats, the truth is that it is a valid option for those who want to maintain the hygiene of their feline. This type of product is composed of clay materials, mostly sepiolite, which is a mineral that absorbs due to its great porosity. Similarly, components such as calcium silicate or attapulgite can be found.
Types of litter for Cats
There are many types of litter for cats: those composed mainly of sepiolite, an absorbent mineral that has, for these products, the appearance of small pebbles; those of biodegradable elements, such as corn husks, wood waste or even recycled paper; those of silica, or silicon oxide, which are in the form of gelatinous crystals or pearls that absorb the liquid; and those of bentonite, a colloidal grain clay composed mainly of montmorillonite, a phyllosilicate that can agglomerate or bind moisture and that expands on contact with water.
After decades testing different arenas for the cats that accompany him since he was a child, and after six years dedicated daily to testing and comparing these products in his store – where he also receives permanent customer opinion – Sebastián Quintanila has a verdict: the arenas binders, made with bentonite, are the most efficient on the market.
Personal Experience
«I have come to this conclusion through trial and error,» he says. “The biodegradable ones, for example those made from corn cobs, or also those made of wood, are terrible. As they do not cake the pee well, they are very uncomfortable to clean for you and also for cats, who end up spilling it and making their place more dirty ”.
Silica, although they have their audience, does not become a very majority since the material is harder and not all cats adapt well to it. The advantage is that they change color on contact with urine, in addition to hardening, facilitating cleaning. «They control odors well,» Quintanilla says.
The sepiolite ones, which are also the cheapest, the owner of Lofis Catstore does not advise them. “They require cleaning it more than once a day and, since they don’t reduce odors well, they often lead you to change it completely, which in the end doesn’t end up being convenient for your pocket. If it is very cheap, it will also become a paste that sticks to cats on their paws and you on the shovel ”.
For this reason, what he calls “binders” —and that in the description or packaging should say “based on bentonite” – are the most convenient. «It is true that they are more expensive, but they are worth it: you will spend less time cleaning it, it is not necessary to change it so often and it has a very good odor retention»
The Besr Litter
The characteristics that a good binder sand should have, according to Quintanilla, are a great binding power – «that is, it completely cakes the pee and covers the poop well, and thus does not fall apart when cleaning it» -, good absorption – «that do not spread the moisture all over the sand ”- and that it does not release a lot of dust -“ that is, that a cloud does not come out every time one throws it ”.
Canada Litter sand, for example, agglutinates quite well but releases a lot of dust when deposited, which often comes from talc that some brands add to flavor them.
«By using Canada Litter,» says Quintanilla, «it just needed Michael Jackson to come out behind the dust he left behind.» That excess talc, too, can be harmful to the health of cats in the long term.
