We used to use primarily pine pellets from a farm store. The problem with pellets was not all cats like to use pellets and it's harder to scoop. So we would use clay for those who didn't like pellets. We then got a few donations of breeze system boxes and used those on a few of our more long term cats. They were great for smell and created less garbage. We then got a donation of okocat original litter. We were in love with it, it's clumping wood. It's more expensive than wood pellets but because it last longer with regular scooping we saved on our garbage bill. We went from needing two garbage bins to only needing one garbage bin due to the decreased waste. We still use some breeze system boxes but have switched from the breeze pellets to the pine pellets in those and just empty the shavings regularly that fall through to the potty pad underneath. The pine pellets last a lot longer when the pee and shavings fall to the bottom. We use paper pellets or crumbles for cats with paw injuries or other special needs.
Pros and cons of each litter we have used below
pine pellets
pros: good smell, low cost, eco
cons: lots of waste, not all cats like pellets, harder to scoop
clay
pros: hard clumping
cons: smell, dust, weight, harder to clean/sanitize boxes between cats, messy, more respiratory issues
okocat original
pros: soft clumping, light weight, easy to scoop, eco, less waste, smell
cons: cost
paper (crumbles or pellets)
pros: good for injured cats
cons: smell, paper crumbles get everywhere, harder to scoop, some cats don't like the pellets
breeze system with breeze pellets
pros: smell, less waste, easy to use
cons: cost, hard to clean between cats, bad for cats with diarrhea, not all cats use pellets
for the breeze system we have only used boxes that were donated, have not purchased any more
breeze system with pine or other sifting type boxes
pros: cost, less waste, smell
cons: harder to clean between cats, not good for diarrhea, not all cats use pellets
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Christy Schwarz
Cat coordinator, medical team coordinator
Oregon Friends of Shelter animals
OR
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Original Message:
Sent: 01-10-2023 11:46 AM
From: Jeff Okazaki
Subject: Cat Litter Usage Benchmarking
In the last year and a half we've had real challenges with finding usable litter. Our previous litter was discontinued by the manufacturer and after that, our litter cost increased by 70%. We've been scrambling to try and find other options, but either the litter we have found is too dusty, even more expensive, or stores (even Walmart!) told us they can't order in bulk for us. We've also tried using wood pellets and paper pellets but our staff find it to be too messy as it rapidly dissolves and too many cats dislike using it. We've also tried generic shop spill clean up clay, but it was either too dusty or not available in our area.
We are already spot cleaning our cages and using paper scoops to clean litterboxes without dumping them, but it still seems like our usage is high so it has me wondering what other shelters do for litter and if we're just way out of whack with the amount of litter we use.
Specifically it would be interesting to know:
- Your total cat intake over 1 year
- Your annual litter usage
- Anything else about your process, do you dump, scoop, etc?
So for our shelter, we served about 700 cats and went through 25 tons (50,000lbs) of litter last year.
#DataandTechnology
#OrganizationalManagement
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Jeff Okazaki
Humane Society of Jefferson County
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