Cat Litter Information

If you don't want to go through the trouble of picking the best litter and maintaining a litter box, you may want to explore an option that's become increasingly popular among cat owners: toilet training your cat.

As you can imagine, toilet training a cat is an involved process that requires plenty of patience and ingenuity; success is not guaranteed. The key thing is to start training early (a full-grown cat is too set in its ways to learn how to use a toilet bowl) and to be slow, gentle and persistent.

There have been reports of a connection between the flushing of cat feces and the death of sea otters in California caused by infection from a parasite found in cat feces. Kate Benjamin looks at the facts behind this controversial topic in her blog post, "Toilet Training Your Cat...; More Information May Make It Okay."

Kara Wynn's website has an excellent article about kitty toilet training.

Kick Litter by Pierre DiCarlo is a humorous book that gives actual directions for teaching your cat to use the toilet.

WorldWise.com publishes an excellent article listing the different types of cat litter, along with their pros and cons.

This article on Petfinder.com by ASPCA adviser and certified pet trainer Jacque Lynn Schultz debunks the notion that the chemicals in clumping cat litter can be harmful to cats. She points to a 1990 study showing that cats vastly prefer finely grained clumping litter, often leaving organic litters untouched.

This helpful article about "Types of Kitty Litter" on an informal cat-care website provides a chart describing the pros and cons of various kinds of cat litter with examples of each type.

Petco, a retailer, also offers a chart to help in "Choosing Cat Litter & Accessories", with some specific suggestions for each type.

Consumer Reports suggests a use for cat litter that you might not have thought of. Put a bag in the trunk of your car as part of an emergency kit for winter driving. It can help provide traction on slippery roads.

You can find detailed ingredient information and instructions for use on the following manufacturer websites:

Arm & Hammer

Feline Pine

World's Best Cat Litter

Tidy Cats

Dr. Elsey's

Pestell

Pet Gold

Scoop Away