TIDY CATS LIGHTWEIGHT CAT LITTER INCLUDES ALL OF THE BENEFITS OF TRADITIONAL LITTER, WITHOUT THE WEIGHT
First, I’m really excited to announce that I’ve been asked to join the Tidy Cats’ Insider Program (follow on social media at #TidyInsider)! As part of the program, I’ll have access to new and exciting products, and many times ahead of the public. While I am being compensated for my reviews, I am committed to being very candid about my experiences with these products, using them with my own cats. As always, I will provide honest reviews and will share the pros and cons with you as I experience them.
With that said, the first product that I was asked to try was Tidy Cats’ Lightweight 4-in-1 Formula. I was a bit skeptical about this product and the importance of litter weight in general. Purina Tidy Cats sent me two jugs of the litter to give it a good try. I’ve been using this litter for about two weeks. I’ve also continued to use my other litter in order to compare the two products, and to ensure that if my cats didn’t like the new litter, they would still have the litter that they were familiar with to use.
Note that when changing litters, you need to be very careful in transitioning as cats are very sensitive to textures and scents. Changing your cat’s litter should be done very slowly and you need to observe their litter box behavior carefully to determine if they are amiable to the new litter. I recommend putting the new brand of litter in a fresh litter box that is the same style as they’re accustomed to using. Then, allow your cat to choose and explore the new brand of litter at their leisure. Be sure to keep their old litter around in case they don’t like the new litter as much as you do.
Pros & Cons of Tidy Cats’ Lightweight Litter
Pro: Lightweight. This litter is very light, in fact over 50% lighter than other litters. When lifting the jug, it was really nice to be able to carry the litter to the litter room without straining. If you’ve ever brought home the 40 lb. jugs, you know how heavy they are!
Pro: Strong clumping. The lightweight nature of this product has no adverse affect on its ability to clump. I was relieved that the clumps were very hard and didn’t break when scooping.
Pro: Very easy to scoop. While the container is much lighter, I hadn’t considered the reduced resistance of actually sifting through the litter box with my scooper while cleaning. In other words, scooping this litter was so much easier because the scooper glides through the litter and actually feels kind of fluffy. It sounds crazy, but I actually look forward to cleaning the litter box with the Tidy Cats’ litter because it’s such a pleasant and easy experience.
Neutral: Dust. One of my biggest pet peeves about litter is the dust. Tidy Cats Lightweight appears to have less dust than traditional Tidy Cats’ formulas. When pouring an entire container into a new litter box, I saw no dust cloud. With that said, I poured the litter from a distance that was just a few inches from the box. When refilling, I held the jug up much higher (about 8-12 inches) and noticed a dust cloud. I haven’t used this product long enough to really know if there’s a significant amount of dust.
Neutral/Con: Tracking. Like every litter, your cat will track this outside of the box. I didn’t find it to be any more than any other litter. However, I did notice on a couple of occasions some paw prints outside the box on my wood floors. The clumping might be taking a little longer to harden, but that’s my own speculation.
Neutral/Con: The scent. Tidy Cats Lightweight 4-in-1 litter has a very strong perfume-y scent (to me). It’s a very pleasant scent, but I think it’s very strong, particularly if you’re accustomed to using unscented litter. I have several cats that are very sensitive to scents, and they opted for the unscented (heavy) litter we were using before.
I went to the store to see if I could find an unscented variety to test that out. I opened each type of lightweight litter (I think there were 4 varieties) and took a whiff. While I didn’t find an unscented formula, I did find Tidy Cats Instant Action Lightweight litter. It’s still scented, but not as strong as the 4-in-1 variety or the Glade-scented variety. Upon trying this formula, at least one of my other cats started using this litter. I’ll continue to watch carefully and will report any changes.
Conclusion?
I actually really loved this product and will continue using it because it’s so much more pleasant for me to use when scooping. Since I don’t have 100% consensus on this litter, I will have to continue using my old unscented litter alongside this new litter and monitor use of the lighter-scented Instant Action formula.
Note that if you clean your litter boxes daily, they shouldn’t smell. I scoop our litter boxes several times daily, so smell isn’t an issue in our house. If Tidy Cats made this litter in an unscented variety, I would attempt to switch over completely and gain buy-in from all of my cats… but as we all know, those decisions are ultimately made by them.
The Fine Print
This post is sponsored by Tidy Cats. The Catnip Times is part of Tidy Cats’ Insiders Program which allows us inside access to Tidy Cats’ newest products so we can try them out and let you know (honestly) what we think. The Catnip Times will only cover products that we feel will be interesting to The Catnip Times’ community.
Want to try this litter?
It’s available in stores now, visit the Tidy Cats Store on Amazon to find a Tidy Cats product that fits your cat’s lifestyle.
Review by Lauren M., Founder, The Catnip Times