Science Freya here.
Science Freya
I’m afraid that this may be a little controversial, and I really don’t want to offend anyone.
I’ve noticed a lot of talk recently about Cats Against Clay, and it struck me as a bit strange that this perfectly natural product is so harmful.
During the course of my snooping, I noticed that the cats against clay website is actually run by Natures Earth Products. You can see this in the tiny writing at the bottom of every page of their website. It struck me as a little suspicious that a non-clay litter manufacturer was making a big fuss about how dangerous their competitors’ products were.
At the moment, I’m guessing that this looks like a pretty dodgy viral advertising stunt, threatening to sucker in a lot of very decent-minded bloggers.
During my research, I found a very informative Google Answers page, that has a lot of information, impartially listing a lot of references for AND against.
http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=286497
It seems that the evil product is not the actual clay, but Sodium Bentonite. This is a chemical that is a clumping agent, and swells to approximately 15 times it’s original volume.
NOT ALL CLAY LITTERS CONTAIN THIS! On my bag of Sainsbury’s clumping cat litter, it just says the ingredients are Natural Clay. Maybe the ingredients in American Cat Litter are different, I don’t know.
Conclusion
Having read both sides of the story, including the citations, I can only conclude that the evidence against all clay litter products appears to be scattergun-like, sketchy and exaggerated at the very least.
I’m not trying to persuade anyone strongly either way, but just suggesting that you look a little further than a viral advertising website for your facts.
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I think this is a very informative post! We like our Breeze litter box–although we have heard that other cats like to eat the stuff and it’s a very bad thing (we don’t chew). So I think it always depends upon the cat. When the Woman was growing up, her mother would use dirt from the back yard for their cat’s litter pan.
I checked to see if my clumping litter had clay in it, and we can’t find it anywhere. however, mom does buy the clumping crystals and I seem to do okay with it.
We have heard that kittens can ingest clay and it causes major problems. We don’t know what to think!
I also finks this is a furry good post.
You haf to look at all sides of an issue.
I’s haffed several emails from folks asking mine opinion on tha clay litter controversy.
We use tha corn litter because it works so good an because mine Mom ML is very allergic to tha dust from tha clay litter.
And Cheysuli brought up sumfing inneresting… we always wondered what people wif indoor cats used before there was all these products in tha stores.
Fanks fur a good artickle, Science Freya.
Love & Purrs,
KC
[...] Freya discusses the Clay Litter Controversy on hers bloggie [...]
We have been offline for a month and didn’t know there was a controversy about clay litter. We have always used it since we were kittens, (ten years) and never had a problem with it. Ours goes into clumps but mum checked the bag and it says 100% natural clay on it.
Our dad uses it in the garage too. If you get an oil spill, it is very good for cleaning it up.
We do not like clay mostly because it is so dusty. We changed to Feline Pine because it does not have any added perfumes or dyes, on account of Harley’s EGC. And our Mommeh likes how it is so lightweight.
I have crystals in my litterbox. Dad says it absorbs smells better. That is all.
It is good to investigate these things…I have seen a lot of buzz about the anti clay thing lately, and was suspicious of it myself.
My human’s biggest concern about clay litter is that the way it is mined is not good environmentally. She uses World’s Best for my litter box. That’s a corn litter. I have also heard of a soy litter that’s very good, called Close to Naturenow that’s supposed to be good. She is all about eco-friendly products.
Personally? I say whatever works, and don’t make it too stinky with fake perfumes.
We are transitioning from Dr. Elsey’s Precious litter to Tidy Cats for Multiple Cats. It is a natural clay litter. It has excellent clumping, excellent odor control, is much lighter and has very minimal dust. We all took to it right away so we must like it.
We love Science Freya, that was a fantastic post.