Clumping Litter

We started to have trouble with one of the Litter Boxes not clumping, all
the litter was damp. So we took it out of service for a cleaning and now one
of the other boxes seems to be showing the same symptoms. So is it the
Litter or does one of the cats have very acidic urine?

W. Leong...

I don't think it is the acidity of the cat urine. Rusty's urine pH is around
5 because of
his infection and the litter still clumps, unless it only take effect with
pH under 5. That would
be very worrisome.

Yowie...

When I was doing research in how to unplug a drain that had been plugged by
clumping litter getting into it, I tried a number of different substances
trying to un-clump it.

Vinegar was one of those substances and it didn't budge the clump. Vinegar
has a pH of about 3 =/- 1 depending on strength and type. Even if the
vinegar I as using had a low acid value for vnegar, and had a pH of 4 (the
lower the more acidic) it wouldnstillbe far more acidic than cat urine,
which at worst has a pH of around 5.

So its not the acid level that is affecting the clumping ability of your
litter.

Clumping litter works - as far as I can tell - by causing a dry clay to wet
and stick together. The clay is dried beyond the normal 'dry' so that it
naturally absorbs water very quickly and reverts back to its normal state of
hydration. But it would no doubt also absorb water slowly from the
atmosphere and slowly lose its ability to clump as its no longer in a state
of 'hyper' dryness.

I would be guessing that your dud batch was probably old or stored
incorrectly so that it absorbed more water out of the atmosphere than usual.

You could try baking the unused stuff in th oven at above 120C for a few
hours to see if it recovers, but its probably just easier to get a fresh
batch.

Jo Firey...

If that were happening here it would mean I picked up the wrong kind of cat
litter at the store.

jmcquown...

The clumping litter works for me, even when Persia had a UTI. Maybe it's
the brand that has changed? I use inexpensive stuff I can buy at Walgreen's
called Kitty Diggin's. It works every bit as well, if not better, than Tidy
Cats Scoop for multiple cats but costs a lot less.

Monique Y. Mudama...

I've used clumping litter with Oscar for years, and it always dries
the clumps. I used to use Fresh Steps; I got sick of the perfume-y
scent, so now we use Scoop Away.

EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)...

I like Fresh Step Cedar (because it's NOT "perfume-y"), but
not everyone carries it, and it's a bit more expensive than
some of the others. I bought something called "Clump &
Flush" at Petco, last time (not that I'd ever court plumbing
problems by flushing it). It's made from corcobs, which I
thought was ecologically a good idea, but it seems to clump
at the very bottom of the litterbox, and wants to stick
there, making it hard to scoop out.

dnr...

ROFL..."Clump & Flush" would sure play the devil around
here in litterbox, as not only do the short furry people *eat*
organically-based litter brands, such as SWheatshoop and
LitterGreen, but they *love* corncobs and will try to fish
them out of garbage late at night. I can just picture their
delight if I bought that brand. We'll stick w/Tidy Cat

Bill Stock...

I'm wondering if we got a bad batch and now that there's one less box the %
of bad stuff is increasing in the other boxes. We use Simplicity that
PetsMart and Costco sell.

Multiple Cat Hard Clumping, LOL.

Clumping Litter - NOT