Note: the Tidy Cats Lightweight Litter was given to me free of charge; all opinions in this post are completely honest and mine alone.
Back in August, I was given the chance to review Tidy Cats Lightweight Litter. I had just made the switch from the super-dusty Fresh Step to Cat Attract, so I was initially uninterested in adding another kind of litter to the mix (my cats are pretty flexible and patient, but even they have their limits after all). But after some consideration, I decided to give it a try. Why not, right?
I got an 8.5-pound container of Tidy Cats Lightweight Litter in the mail about a week after I said I’d like to give it a try, in a wonderfully sturdy box that the cats thought was awesome. (And then, story of my life, someone peed in the box a few weeks later, so I had to get rid of it. “Someone peed in it” could be my motto.)
It was just about time to empty, clean, and refill the litter boxes in the laundry room, so I decided I’d do a dust-comparison between the Tidy Cats Lightweight litter in one litter box, the Fresh Step (I still had a bag left over from the last time I’d bought it) in another, and the Cat Attract in a third. AND I videotaped it for y’all, because I’m always thinking about YOU. Please note that I shot these videos in mid-August, so those kittens you see snoopervising are the Dragons, who’ve all since gone to their forever homes.
I think you can pretty easily see that the Fresh Step is horrifyingly dusty, the Tidy Cats is less dusty, and the Cat Attract is practically dust-free.
So the first good thing I noticed about the Tidy Cats litter is that the 8.5 pound container filled my litter box to the preferred depth. It takes a 20 pound bag of Cat Attract to do the same.
I made no special point of using a special litter box or putting the litter box in the most-used location, because in my house the cats have their own random schedule that they don’t share with me. Sometimes the litter boxes in the laundry room get all the use, sometimes all the litter boxes in the front room get all the use, and some days they’re standing in line to use the litter box in the upstairs bathroom. There’s no rhyme or reason to it, so I just went ahead and filled one of the litter boxes in the laundry room with the Tidy Cats litter.
The next morning when I scooped, the box with Tidy Cats in it had been used a couple of times. I liked that the litter was easier to scoop, since it was so lightweight. I didn’t like the dust, the fact that it was scented litter, or that the litter tracked out of the litter box so easily. The litter did clump really well and the clumps didn’t fall apart at all when I scooped.
I left the litter in that box for about a month. It got plenty of use, and continued to vex me with the dustiness and the way it tracked all over the laundry room. It did a great job of clumping hard right up until the day I decided it was time to scrub out and refill the litter box, and it did a good job of odor control, too.
So in the plus column the Tidy Cats Lightweight litter is light, clumps well, scoops easily, and does a good job of odor control. In the minus column it’s dusty (though not as dusty as that horrifying Fresh Step), it tracks a lot, and it’s scented.
I won’t be switching to Tidy Cats Lightweight due to the dustiness and the scent. If we only had a couple of litter boxes the dust might not bother me as much – but then again, I’m not sure I particularly want the cats breathing in the dust, either. The scent itself isn’t unpleasant, but with scented litter the cats tend to smell like they’re wearing perfume, and over time I start to associate that scent with unpleasant things (okay, poop. I start to associate the fragrance of scented litter with poop. I can’t help it!), and then my brain does this thing where I think I smell poop but it’s actually the perfume of the litter.
I happened to see the 8.5 pound container of Tidy Cats Lightweight in Petsmart earlier this week (reminder: the 8.5 pound container fills one of my litter boxes), so I can report to you that it cost $13.99. That’s a little more expensive than the 42-pound bag of hugely dusty Fresh Step at Sam’s Club (which is about $12, but will fill two of my litter boxes), but a couple of dollars cheaper than a 20-pound bag of Cat Attract ($16) (which fills one of my litter boxes).
Links: Tidy Cat Lightweight Litter, Dr. Elsey’s Cat Attract, and you can just Google Fresh Step litter on your own. That dust is ridiculous and I recommend you just stay away from Fresh Step. You might save a few dollars, but you’ll end up needing a lung transplant after dealing with that dust.
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Just in case you missed it earlier this week, please gaze upon Meadow’s happy little face. Oh, these kittens. They’re killing me!
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Previously
2012: No entry.
2011: Now he’s the whiniest little complainer I’ve ever seen.
2010: Melodie, doing some heavy-duty flirting, is apparently annoying Martin.
2009: Maybe we’ve got some little Houdinis on our hands.
2008: Zoe got adopted over the weekend!
2007: No entry.
2006: I wouldn’t say he LIKES her, but he’s not scared of her (much) anymore.
2005: “His real name is Sad Eyes?”