Classic Cat Litter

We have tried a variety of this new style cat litter. We find this one, marked for seniors, to be the best. It doesn't get out of the litter box as much as the others, probably because it might not get caught between the cat's paws. Not sure, but compared to the products we have tried this one leaves the floor around the cat litter boxes the most 'clean'. All of them result in some cat litter being on the floor, but this one by far is the best. Lasts a long time, we have two cats. Keeps the litter box from smelling. Very little 'dust'.

THE STORY: I have two cats. The male is 13 years old and weighs 14 lbs. He's not really fat, he's just a big cat overall. The female only weighs 9 lbs, but she is approaching 16 years of age or more. (She was a rescue, so I can only go with the age the vet approximated). Recently, one of them started defecating on the rug in front of the box instead of inside the box. I have concluded that it is because the regular clumping clay litter hurts his/her paws, so they don't want to be in the box for any longer than they have to be. (Obviously urinating is quick, so he/she still does that in the litter box, for which I am oh so thankful!).MY GOOD RESULTS: I have been using it for about a week and, so far, they seem to love it. I never even had to put old litter in it to draw them to it - I just showed them the box; they are very smart kitties, LOL. Anyway, I think they have stopped using the old litter boxes that have the clay litter because there has been nothing to clean from those boxes for the last 2 days. So it looks like I will be switching all of my boxes to this kind of liter. (I'm thinking I may try other brands due to the cons listed below, but the same kind of litter. We will see).Now for the DOWNSIDE: 1) It is EXTREMELY dusty, but from what I read, that is part of what helps coat the feces/urine to help neutralize it, so I think that's just how it's going to be. 2) It appears that it is going to be more expensive than other litters because, while you can scoop out the feces, you do not scoop the urine; therefore you have to throw out the entire contents of the litter box after a certain amount of time. (every 2-3 weeks, or so I have read, depending on the number of cats using it).Overall: Do I care about the price? Well, I do wish it was cheaper, but those are my two babies and nothing is too expensive for them! I would go to the moon and back for those two, so if they like it, I LOVE it! I may experiment with different brands, but if needed, I will stick with this brand. I will update you later if any of this info changes.

Minimal clumping as this is crystal litter. Very fine and soft - feels like sand. This was an amazing alternative to the crystal litter that’s so chunky and painful to step on. No smell. My senior kitty finally went back to using his box after I purchased this and I will purchase again.

The value of the litter to you depends a lot on your specific needs and what litter solution you are coming from. This is basically silica litter cut into tiny pieces – about the consistency of sand. There is a plus and minus to that consistency. The finer particles are definitively softer on your cats’ paws than regular sized silica litter which tends to be jagged with some sharp edges. And consequently, it is lot more comfortable if you happen to step on it.The drawback to the finer particles is that they do not absorb the urine very well. This can be a bit problematic depending on how much urine your cat produces and how they bury it. I sometimes see pools of urine with this litter on top. Even if it soaks through the first layer, the urine can often pool at the bottom of pan. Adding more litter to the pan mitigates this problem. Regardless of what you do, this litter just does not perform as well with regards to odor control as some of its competitors with larger more absorbent particles. That does not necessarily mean you should eliminate the product from consideration. If you are coming from run-of-the-mill clay litter, this litter’s odor control will seem miraculous.Dr. Elsey’s recommends you clean the litter daily. If you do this, your results will be better. Of course, that is true with all litters. If you do not do this, the litter’s performance depends heavily on the proportion of cat waste to litter. The crystals themselves have limited capacity and everything just works better when the waste is buried.I cannot speak to the health claims. My cats never experienced any of the issues they claim to prevent prior to using this litter.I have not used this with an automatic litter box, but I have used automated boxes in the past and I believe that size of the crystals here would make this a good choice. Obviously, read your devices instructions.I cannot think of a litter that is not dusty when poured. It is better than some, but it is not dust free. I just pour the litter in the garage or outside. It helps to pour it closer to the box. It is dustier if you pour it from height.Tracking performance is hard to judge. The fact is that the smaller crystals are less noticeable. I use a large mat and it does capture a fair amount of the litter, but the litter still makes it into other parts of the house. One potential drawback is that the little can more easily get caught in your cat’s fur (if you cat likes to do more in their box then relief themselves).One of my cats tends to be a bit of an excavator. The lighter nature of Dr. Eisley’s litter meant that more of it would land on the floor, and it would be spread out further.I ended up going to Dr. Eisley’s for a time because it was the only available litter for a time during COVID. I originally used this litter as the only litter in the box, but later found it was more useful to me as one of several litters (in the same box at the same time).Silica litters tend to cost more than other types of litters and Dr. Eisley's is no exception. The bags are 8lbs and Dr. Eisley recommends one box per cat. My cats require larger boxes to ensure the urine makes it into the box. This means that using Dr. Eisley’s litter exclusively is an expensive endeavor. For about the same price, I found PetSafe’s ScoopFree Premium Crystal Cat Litter to be a better performer with regards to overall odor control. The drawback of the PetSafe product is that its larger crystals are quite jagged.I found Dr. Eisley's litter to be a little more difficult to clean when compared to the crystal litters with larger particles. The main challenge is urine because it can often pool in the litter or go straight to the bottom of the box. The PetSafe litter does a much better job of absorbing the urine.My solution for saving some money is to put the PetSafe litter in the box first where my cats urinate most and then add a layer of Dr. Eisley’s litter over the top to help cushion their paws. I then pour a much larger layer of Petco’s (So Phresh) relatively inexpensive silica litter over the top of the Dr. Eisley’s layer. The combination works exceptionally well and amazingly, the layers mostly stay in place.Dr. Eisley’s is an excellent choice for litter, especially if you want to use silica litter and are concerned about the jagged edges of competing products. If used the way the manufacturers recommend, I think most people would be happy with it. Of course, if you can do that, choosing Dr. Eisley’s over any other product is probably going to be more about factors beyond odor control.

I have been using this litter for about 2 years now, and it works very well. I also use a natural deodorizer with it as directed and there truly is no potty smell wafting through the air (per visitors' report) ;-)I use the small granules and my cats are absolutely fine with it. I do have my cat boxes in a "hidden cat house" and mats made to catch any granules stuck on their feet, so any granules are contained in there. Easy to clean up with a hand broom.