I saw a post where you discussed cat litter. I can’t find it. I’m looking for something that’s dust free. A lot of the brands claim to be 99% dust free, but it’s not true.
Need help.
and
Just as a spoiler for Friday’s litter question, I am sold on (and even somewhat hoarding) Arm & Hammer “Cloud Control” litter. It made a huge difference.
I can tell you that I use Tidy Cat litter, but it’s certainly not dust-free. For true dust-free litter, I think you’d have to use the crystal type litter (though I am thinking I’ll give the Arm & Hammer litter a try now!) I am hoping that others will chime in with litter suggestions – please, if you have a dust-free litter suggestion, let us know in the comments!!
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I just noticed that your compatibility chart doesn’t include Charlie. Inquiring minds want to know!
It’s been updated! It had been a few years since it was updated last, and there have been some changes in relationships since then.
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Don’t get me wrong I adore Jake but I just don’t see him capable of serious scheming beyond a good nap or getting some guishy snack food. Bless his heart.
Jake is really good at coming up with schemes and plans, but not so great at remembering (or implementing) said schemes and plans. Great thoughts enter his brain and then mosey right on back out.
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Is it just me, or is Mimosa a purr machine? Oh my goodness, that rumbly motor purrrrrr. <3
That girl is a serious purr machine – and the longer she’s with us, the more she purrs!
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Does she [Mimosa] sleep with you, Robyn?
She does not sleep with me at night, no. She spends all her time in the foster room. I’ve taken the occasional nap in the foster room (I love having a couch in the foster room!) and she hasn’t shown any interest in cuddling up for a nap. She’ll come to me for love and petting, she’ll even climb into my lap for a few minutes, but when it’s time to sleep she either curls up in the bed at the end of the couch, or on top of the cat tree, and sometimes on the rug on the floor.
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Why no catnip for pregnant mamas?
It’s a uterine stimulant and can cause premature labor. (Though I suspect that the occasional catnip toy doesn’t hurt. But better to be safe than sorry!)
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Mimosa’s eyes are gorgeous, and the amber/honey color made me wonder…Is there such a thing as actual mimosa honey?
Turns out there is! and it’s almost the exact color of Mimosa’s eyes in the photo on Wed. where you talk about her eye color. And it’s an amber-colored honey!
That is REALLY cool!
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Your timeline and birth day guess reminded me of the weather peeps predicting a snowstorm. Giggling.
I need a green screen!
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ATTENTION: The Forgotten Felines of Huntsville February online auction starts TOMORROW MORNING and goes through February 19th.
There will be 155 sets to bid on (new stuff going up every morning!), and it includes some really cool stuff. Go follow the Forgotten Felines of Huntsville Auction page on Facebook – all proceeds will benefit the Forgotten Felines of Huntsville general medical fund.
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Mimosa’s expectant face of “Is it dinner time yet?”
Sweet girl in the sun.
Keepin’ that belly clean!
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That chair is a folding chair I bought from Aldi last summer; it’s serving as one of the chairs at our “dining room table”, which is just a folding table because we still haven’t gotten around to buying a real dining room table, and who knows when we will? It works well enough for now. Anyway, Alice never showed any interest in that chair and then suddenly she did. She gave it a try, decided it was comfy, slept there every day for a week, and then totally lost interest and hasn’t been back. She likes to keep us guessing.
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Posted on social media (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Tumblr) yesterday.
We’ve been fostering Mimosa for a few hours shy of 2 weeks now. In that time, her belly has gotten bigger (as you can see), and she’s gone from 10 pounds, 10 ounces (4.8 kg) to 12 pounds, 6 oz (5.6 kg). Last week I said that I thought she’d have her kittens at some point between February 19 – 28th, and I still think that’s right. I haven’t seen any kitten movement yet (and haven’t felt it either, but also if my hand is on Mimosa’s belly, she expects me to be rubbing that belly not just sitting there with my hand on her belly.) Pregnancies progress differently with different cats*, but generally speaking kitten movement can usually be seen in the last two weeks of pregnancy. I’m still hoping for kitten on February 22nd, but I’m ready whenever she is!
*Mimosa is the 15th pregnant cat we’ve fostered; overall, she’s foster #458. We’ve been fostering since 2005 and are currently fostering for Forgotten Felines of Huntsville here in Huntsville, Alabama. When her kittens are weaned, she’ll be spayed. When her kittens are old enough (around 3 months old), they will be spayed/neutered. All will be up to date on their vaccinations, and will be available for adoption.
Back in 2010, we fostered 4 little bottle babies we named after some of our favorite book characters – Reacher (Lee Childs’ Jack Reacher series), Bolitar (Harlan Coben’s Myron Bolitar series), Rhyme (Jeffery Deaver’s Lincoln Rhyme series) and Corbett/Corbie (Robert McCammon’s Matthew Corbett series). Reacher, the little gray and white kitten, was adopted by Kathy (who would go on a few years later to adopt another of our fosters, Mr. Stripey (now Gladstone.))
Reacher’s 12th birthday was on Tuesday, and here (the bottom two pictures) is what he looks like today. Kathy said “Happy birthday, Reacher! Lordy you’re 12. What rhymes with 12? Not much. But you’re a sweet, good boy, even if you’re such a feral-acting scaredy cat that the vet has to sedate you to touch you. I always know when you’re hiding nearby – that super loud purr fills the room and gives you away. I’m glad to be your person! ❤ I wish you would get to know other people, but as long as you lurrrrve me and your adopted brother, we’ll be OK.”
I seriously cannot believe it’s been 12 years. Happy (belated) birthday to Reacher, as well as Rhyme and Bolitar, wherever you are. (We adopted Corbie ourselves, who passed away unexpectedly at the age of 5.)
YouTube link
I wasn’t thinking, and gave Mimosa a catnip toy (I try to avoid giving pregnant cats catnip, because it can cause premature labor – though I don’t think a little here and again hurts) and she immediately got hiiigh.
Happy Thlurrrpsday! from Mimosa.
YouTube link
Mimosa snoozing and air kneading and purring. Oh that girl, she is just the sweetest!
Mimosa’s keeping an eye on the back yard (I love that you can see her reflection so well.)
Good night innernets. (Mimosa)
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Previously
2021: “Come here, lady, I gots a knuckle sammich for you.”
2020: Isabella nesting.
2019: When we gonna have kittens, you ask? I dunno!
2018: No entry.
2017: No entry.
2016: My only consolation is that Fred had ZERO doubt that she was pregnant, so he’s wronger than I am, and that’s always a comfort.
2015: “We was just talking about how weird you are, lady.”
2014: “TO BITE YOU WITH MY TEEF.”
2013: No entry.
2012: No entry.
2011: Kara would like me to know that she’s got her eye on that smug little princess brat.
2010: No entry.
2009: Kitten’s all “::Gasp!:: It’s Tom Cullen, the Ambassador of Love!”
2008: Apparently atop the air conditioning unit is quite the hopping social scene.
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Robyn, didn’t you previously use Dr. Elsey’s cat litter? I think I started using it after reading one of your reviews (and still do). Why the change to Tidy Cat?
I did previously use Dr. Elsey’s, but I was adding activated charcoal to it to help with the litter box smell. When I saw that Tidy Cat had an unscented litter with activate charcoal already in it, I decided to give it a try. It works well and is a little cheaper, so I’ve been using it for a few years now. I will say, I think the Dr. Elsey’s clumps a little better than the Tidy Cat.
What do you feed your permanent residents?
For kibble, I mix Merrick Purrfect Bistro Grain-Free Real Chicken + Sweet Potato Recipe Adult Dry Cat Food with Blue Buffalo Wilderness Duck Recipe Grain-Free Dry Cat Food. They also get canned food in the morning – usually some flavor of Fancy Feast.
Thanks! I’m assuming the mixture of two different ones is because of different nutritional values. Do you free feed them the dry as well?
The mixture of the two is actually because some like one kind more than the other, and I’m too lazy to keep two different bowls filled with two different foods, so mixing them works well. (I had a hell of a time finding two foods that everyone would eat, too.) We do free feed the dry; some of our cats don’t like canned food at all and prefer the dry.
I have recommended the A&H Cloud Control to a couple people with bad allergies and/or asthma. I would like to use it because I have cats with respiratory issues but unfortunately, it’s cost prohibitive for me with the number of cats I have.
I agree that crystals are probably the best for dust free.
I agree Arm & Hammer Cloud Control is more expensive, but it is the first litter we’ve tried in 16 years of cat care that is dust free, and it controls odor without being perfumey. I did save my receipts and get the cat charm bracelet that is mentioned on the box, so that was a bonus. I really love it; Wally World and I think Rural King or Target sometimes have the gigantic box which saves some money. I’ve never tried the crystal litters. I have to have the kitty box in my main bathroom, and it is worth the extra cost not to have that fine clay dust on all surfaces.
I switched to pine pellets. Absolutely no dust or tracking, and it’s way cheaper than regular cat litter. This is the video that convinced me to switch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhgynG941D8
I second pine pellets! Incredibly inexpensive, and everything in my house is no longer coated in a layer of litter dust. The smell is much better as well. I will say if you have a cat that really likes to dig in the litter box (like one of my fosters did last year), they can kick out pellets and sawdust, but it’s easy to clean up.
Mimosa looks like my foster cat Bunny, a former feral who’s turned sooooo sweet. She’s a longtime foster because I can’t take her to adoption events. She’s pretty much our cat at this point.
Cutting and pasting comments from Facebook, just in case anyone’s interested in the topic of litter and doesn’t do Facebook:
Liz Brown: World’s Best Cat Litter is dust free.
Diana Autumn Skye: We use So Phresh which is a grass seed litter and I find it to be extremely dust free.
Megan Bayonet: We use Tidy Cat Breeze system. Totally solved the dust and tracking problems. The normal size works well for our 8 pound cat and The Giant Cat makes it work but the XL would be better for her. Ashley Trunko: Another vote for the Breeze system!
Hillary Pettegrew: I use both World’s Best and CatSpot litter. For me the former is low dust but not really dust free (I think that may be hard to get with a clumping litter), but the CatSpot is much better (maybe because it’s made of coconut, which has the added benefit of being biodegradable-every few weeks I dump it in my flower beds after removing the solid waste; it naturally breaks down and supposedly improves the soil). I believe you can only get CS online. It’s on the pricey side but very lightweight and it’s been efficient and long lasting.
Robyn Beech: I use the crystals it works a treat,an my cats don’t get hayfever.
I adore the original Yesterday’s News.
With 2 diabetic cats I ended up mixing 50/50 Tidy Cat clumping and generic clay litter.
Dust wasn’t the problem. Cost and them tracking litter through the house was.
This mix greatly reduced the tracking & cost, but still clumped great!
(Clumping litter was a wonderful discovery with my diabetic rescue cat flooding the clay litter boxes daily.)
I use one X-Large Tidy Cat Breeze system. I cut down a dog pee pad to place on top of the expensive made to fit pad and change it daily. I also dump the tidy cat pellets into a bucket and wash and rinse with bleach and spread out on a sheet in the sun to dry. Buy reusing the expensive tidy cat pellets it saves a huge amount of money, you still have to buy some replacement pellets since they get thrown out with the solids. I have two homemade litter boxes with drilled holes, and I use the equine pine pellets in the bottom box to catch the pee and the tidy cat breeze pellets in the top. About once a week I change out the pine by dumping it or I should say composting it on our acres. This system is the most environmentally and cheapest way to go being dust free for me. There is a video of a lady explaining how she uses the tidy cat breeze box with the pine litter instead of the expensive tidy cat breeze pellets. The pine dust falls through the slats to a plastic container, and you just add more pine each day. Empty the pine dust every couple of days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGhQc-B3euM