# Does anyone use non-clumping cat litter, and for the love of Og WHY??! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 13, 2004, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-non-clumping-cat-litter-and-for-the-love-of-og-why/279661 "2004-12-13T21:18:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-non-clumping-cat-litter-and-for-the-love-of-og-why/279661/21 "2004-12-14T04:35:14Z")
> [@Ferret Herder](#): > > I’d assumed it should be moved to the automobile department, to be used as traction on slippery spots in winter. > > I use “non-clumping” litter for my ferrets, but it’s not the clay-based stuff that you could mistake for the clumping kind. (Clay-based litters aren’t recommended for ferrets, IIRC for respiratory issues.) I get litter called Yesterday’s News, made of pelletized recycled newspaper. It’s absorbent, I think it might even be flushable (I don’t do that, so read the label first), and it’s non-toxic to my lil furballs. Our ferrets get Fresh Step Crystals. That stuff does wonders for odor control. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-non-clumping-cat-litter-and-for-the-love-of-og-why/279661/22 "2004-12-14T04:42:28Z")
Interesting – I have 2 kittens, one of each, and use clumping litter. They haven’t objected to using it. I also haven’t noticed a problem with them breaking up each other’s clumps. But the litter kicking is a pain in the butt. I’ve gotten into the habit of vaccuuming the room where the box is every day or every other day. It’s amazing how much crap two wee fuzzy bastards can put out… (and I say that with love) [semi-hijack] One odd thing: Daniel is a slob, which surprised me when I got them. He doesn’t cover up very well, so the reek chokes everyone in the apartment. His sister Juliet has gotten into the habit of hopping in with/immediately after him and then covering up his leavings. Nice sister, eh? (I have to wonder if this sloppiness is due to his polydactyly or just to having general poor coordination – and I have the leg scars to prove that. He has something like seven or eight toes each on his front paws.) [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-non-clumping-cat-litter-and-for-the-love-of-og-why/279661/23 "2004-12-14T04:51:43Z")
> [@Severian](#): > > My cat won’t use it. How she can tell the difference I do not know, but she just sits and howls if there’s anything but the standard clay Fresh Step in her box. If I ignore her she’ll get in the box and do her business over the side. > > I don’t bother digging through it though, so the fact that it doesn’t clump doesn’t matter to me at all. The whole thing just gets dumped out and refilled weekly. We’ve got three cats and they don’t like the clumping stuff either, so we empty the box 2-3 times a week instead. And I’m suprised people have gotten their ferrets to use litter…we tried a few kinds before giving up. The ferrets got it into their heads that the litter box was **ground** , and would empty it in their attempts to tunnel out of the cage while we were sleeping. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-non-clumping-cat-litter-and-for-the-love-of-og-why/279661/24 "2004-12-14T05:02:47Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > And I’m suprised people have gotten their ferrets to use litter…we tried a few kinds before giving up. The ferrets got it into their heads that the litter box was **ground** , and would empty it in their attempts to tunnel out of the cage while we were sleeping. We’ve pretty much given up on getting our pair to only use the litter but at least they know not to dig it it. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-non-clumping-cat-litter-and-for-the-love-of-og-why/279661/25 "2004-12-14T14:36:52Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > We’ve pretty much given up on getting our pair to only use the litter but at least they know not to dig it it. Same thing. One of my girls will often back up to the litterbox (never when I’m looking, though). My previous boys didn’t have this issue. I’ve stopped them from using most of their room’s corners as a litterbox by placing betting in the most of corners (old t-shirts that they’ve slept in) and putting a litter box in the remaining corner. It’s about 75% effective and, of course, they pick the most inaccessible place for humans for the other 25%. When each of the pair were babies (they’re six months apart), and living in wood shavings (separate from the older, now deceased, pair), I trained them on a litter pan by figuring out which corner they were using, placing the pan there, and seeded the pan with some ferret droppings. They didn’t dig where they pooped, but had planty of other digging material. After 2 months, when they were integrated into the big ferrets cage, they were used to litter boxes. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2004, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-non-clumping-cat-litter-and-for-the-love-of-og-why/279661/26 "2004-12-14T15:08:54Z")
Putting regular baking soda in the bottom of the litter box will help absorb odor, and is much cheaper than the specialty stuff. Do not use a plastic litterbox. Plastic absorbs odors. A metal roasting pan makes the perfect litter box–cheap, easy to clean, non-odorous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-use-non-clumping-cat-litter-and-for-the-love-of-og-why/279661.md?page=1)