Cat Litter

 

Studies on cat litter preferences published in “Veterinary Medicine”  by Jacqueline C. Neilson, DVM, DACVB, could be helpful to you the next time you find yourself in the pet section of your neighborhood grocery store.  Remember that your cat is an unique individual and might not prefer the same litter that the test cats chose.  The studies in this article were conducted on a variety of cats in a shelter environment.

One study unfortunately showed that house-soiling was a leading cause of owners giving up their cats to shelters.  Often cats that have exhibited house-soiling behavior are banished to the outdoors.  It is important to remember that there could be a underlying medical problem that is causing a cat to miss the litter box.  If your cat does have house-soiling episodes then take him/her to your vet for a physical exam .

Overall, it was found that there’s no substitute for daily scooping of litter and box washing.   However, in between cleanings here is what the cats  in the studies were partial to:

• Cat’s in the study preferred cedar scent litter and avoided floral and citrus scents.
• Cats were found to prefer clumping litter
• Cats in the study demonstrated a preference for litters with activated carbon over sodium bicarbonate
• Cats showed a preference to large litter boxes over small ones
• A study with two leading litter brands found that cats preferred Fresh Step Scoopable with activated carbon over Arm & Hammer Super Scoopable litter