There are many different types of cat litter available on the market today and it can be difficult to choose which type is best. The best cat litter can be different for each cat and cat owner depending on your preferences.

Cat litter is something that your cat will step in and potentially track around your house. As you watch your cat lay in bed licking their paws, leaving particles of litter behind, it’s only natural to wonder what is in your cat litter.

What is Cat Litter Made Of?

There are several different types of cat litter available. Deciding on one can depend on your cat’s preferences and how often you want to clean your litter box.

You should also be aware of how often you should change the cat litter too. This is will mostly depend on how many cats you have, although some types of cat litter can hold in scent better than others adding time between changes.

Clay Litter

Clay litter is the most popular and comes in both clumping and non-clumping varieties. They vary in consistency from fine particles to heavy. Clumping litter is popular for those that want to scoop the urine waste out of the litter box.

Non-clumping litter is good if you just want to dump the entire box when needed and is usually the cheaper alternative. This way may be more work but is great for minimizing the aromas of a litter box.

Paper Pellet Litter

Paper pellet litters can be made from processed, recycled paper, or shredded newspaper. The benefits of paper pellets are that they are very soft if your cat has a paw injury and are also dust-free.

They have no fragrances and are very absorbent. The drawback of paper pellet litter is that they do not clump and have poor odor control, so they need to be changed more often.

Silica Gel Litter

Silica gel litter is made of the same silica gel that comes in the packets that you see in shoe boxes. It is typically more expensive than clay but is growing in popularity because it is less dusty than other litters, traps urine well, has excellent odor control, lasts longer, and is sometimes preferred by cats.

Pine Litter

Pine litter is another popular choice. It is made from pine trees and has great odor control. It is lightweight, absorbent, and has very little dust. Pine litter is more environmentally friendly than clay litter and comes in clumping and non-clumping varieties.

Other Litters

There are other less common, natural cat litters available as well. These biodegradable litters come in options such as grass, corn, walnut shell, and wheat. These offer a more environmentally friendly option than others and are pretty similar to each other. They each have limited dust and good odor control.

How To: Cat Litter Disposal

As a pet owner, you should know how to dispose of cat litter the green way or sustainable way. Whether you are using an eco-friendly cat litter or a non-eco-friendly one, you will need to properly dispose of it.

You must remove cat feces and clumps of urine from your litter box daily. If you are using non-compostable litter, the best way to dispose of it is to throw the waste into the trash can, but you should put the waste into a bag first. If you just throw the waste directly into the trash, you will have litter and feces particles entering the air and creating an unpleasant smell.

If you use a natural, compostable litter material for your cats, we recommend using an electric pet waste composter to dispose of your cat litter. With beyondGREEN’s electric pet waste composter, you can simply scoop up your cat’s waste into one of our sustainable bags and place it in our organic waste composter.

Cat Litter Bags

Our cat litter bags are made from FSC Certified Paper and are compostable. Simply scoop your pet waste into the bag and tie the handles together to create a seal. The bags are unscented and once tied will contain the worst of the smells.

Pet Waste Composter

Our pet waste composter safely brings pet waste composting to your home. Our unit is all-electric and can be used indoors or outdoors. Simply add your cat’s waste, still in the bag, to the upper chamber and when full, move to the lower chamber to keep curing. It can process up to 5lbs. of waste per day and have finished compost in as little as five days.