How do the different types of litter work?!

[moggle]

We’ve had our two cats for nearly 8 years and for the whole duration we’ve used Oko plus cats best litter in a covered tray which has been fantastic. Clumps, is flushable, no smell, and as long as we (DH actually) scoops every night we only need to empty/clean the whole tray out every few weeks. BUT it tracks terribly. We’ve always been able to live with it as the granules are large so they don’t go too far from the tray and are easy to hoover up; but recently the quality has nosedived and after a few days or a week we have a tray of sawdust which the cats track EVERYWHERE which is gross.

I’m 36weeks pregnant with twins and just can’t hoover as much as I used to (DH does his bit but honestly it probably needs doing several times a day and he’s at work) and I don’t want this dust everywhere with the new babies (I’m no hygiene freak; lost count of the times DD used to come to me with a bit of litter asking if it was biscuit crumbs!!)
Am going to try Worlds Best which is similar idea but more expensive but does anyone have other suggestions?

My main stumbling block is I don’t know how other types of litter work?! Which ones do you just keep for a few days and dump in their entirety? Which do you scoop poo, and/or wee from? Etc. I don’t want to make too much work for us... from an eco point of view the idea of digging clay out of the ground, drying it, packaging it and then me putting it in landfill after a few days has always mystified me but I’m willing to try anything to make our life easier for the next few months!

Not having a tray isn’t an option btw.

Non clumping means pee sits in the tray so it needs cleaning out completely more often. Clumping means you remove pee and poo and it needs a full clean less often. I have been using cats best nature gold (pellets) mixed with worlds best and it seems to work ok and tracks a lot less than cats best oko plus which was terrible. The nature gold seems to be in short supply just now as I think the packaging/name is changing so I am just about out of it. Normally get it from zooplus/bitiba

Cat's Best have a non-tracking version of the same litter you were using. It used to be called Nature Gold and is now called Smart Pellets. It's available online from Zooplus etc.

It's out of stock just now on zooplus as I'm waiting to order it again

Sorry, I didn't read the reply from dementedpixie properly and then basically posted the same info.

I've changed to top entry litter trays and find them fab .

I'd bought a little hand held cordless Hoover that I was using twice/three times a day for litter, now I use it (for litter) about once a week when I do a big clean out.

I made my own with Ikea storage boxes and cheap Ikea doormats on the kids, hold on and I'll find a pic.

*lids! The one on the left is the one I made.

I’d forgotten the top entry box idea. Thanks! And clever you making one yourself! Might look at this if these babies ever arrive.

Honestly me and DH have spent/wasted so much time and money trying to minimise the problem even before they changed the litter. The best was a cheap MDF blanket box with the tray in and a hole in the other end, which forced them to walk over a mat before they came out into the lounge, but unfortunately they often pee quite high up and eventually this soaked into the box and it had to be chucked. We could never find a covered litter box that would fit with the box lid down. A plastic trunk / huge storage box would be ideal and I’ve seen some in Homebase but they are so ugly. And will still need regular scrubbing out.

We’ve bought every mat advertised as stopping tracking and they either don’t work or take more work to empty than just hoovering.

We shut our cats in our (large) living / play room at night because DH gets snuffly if around them 24/7 and they don’t stop scratching at our door all night if it’s shut. This leaves very few options for siting the tray unfortunately to somewhere where the tracking would be less of a problem. (They’ve never been allowed out at night)

I will keep an eye on the smart pellets / nature’s gold- They look worth a try - I buy food from zooplus already. Thanks!

I use intersand. It tracks slightly but is like sand so you don't notice it. I've also got a top entry box as well. It's brilliant. My cats are long haired so probably more prone to tracking as it gets caught in their floof. Good luck with the babies.