Long-Haired Cat Litter?

New kitten Maggie, about 7 months old, is half Maine Coon cat. Fur is getting longer and thicker now that she's on a healthy diet and all (came from a rescue, where she got vaccinated, wormed, spayed, all on one day, and then shipped 600 miles north the next, we found out when we got her papers the day we took her home a month ago, undersized and underweight, no wonder.)

Have been using Tidy Cat Free and Unscented clumping litter with no problem. Latest jug is suddenly very dusty, and Maggie is now getting litter stuck to the back of her legs. Today it's bad because she played in the still-wet bathtub, then ran through the litter box. While I think it's because this batch of litter is sub-standard, clearly we cannot trust the quality of this kind, and should get something better.

Never had a long-haired cat before. Have had some intellectually sub-standard cats (who we loved dearly) with pottying issues, but no one has ever had litter stuck to them. I see many of the cats here are long-haired, can you recommend litters or set-ups or something for us? Right now the litterbox is in the family room, next to the kitchen, because she's new and little and being restricted from the rest of the house, so odor is a big issue. Also, the perfumes they put in many cat litters bother me, so less scent is better as well.

 

I love Okocat clumping wood litter. Both of my cats are long-haired. They don't play in wet back tubs though. My sister was having an issue with her cat getting wet litter stuck to the back of his legs, and once she switched to Okocat, she stopped having that issue. It has a very light, pleasant wood scent, and it clumps really well. Excessive dust has not been an issue.

They do make one for long-haired cats, but I have not tried that one (looks more like a pellet to me). They also make a totally dust free one, but that is paper pellets. Here are the kinds they have: https://www.healthy-pet.com/okocat/products
I usually buy mine at Chewy.com.

UPDATE: I wanted to add that the reason I tried Okocat in the first place was that I was looking for a litter that was healthier for my cats. The wood is natural and biodegradable. It can be flushed, if you so desire. It is lightweight and controls odors well, too.

 

the only litter that doesn't stick on long hair cats that we have tried is pellet litter and crystal litter. from what i recall, the bluish natures miracle i think it was called was the best at odor control and was medium crystals instead of the typical larger crystals that hurt our cats paws, but, it doesn't clump which is actually a good thing when you have a curious kitten.. we use so phresh and chewy's grass seed litters now and it just sticks some to both my long haired cat's paws and rarely their fur but, they don't go a running and playing in it wet like your little one lol.

if kitty is playing in wet tub, your best bet is probably the pellet litter (not the paper ones, those were horrid after peed on) she is still young and may take to it well, not much on odor control but, adding something like crystal deodorizers (we used fresh purr back then that put out a nice light apple scent in air) helped keep odor at bay. really a good economical litter too, wish my cats would of took to it but, only the two young ones really did. a bag of horse pellets costed like $5-6 for a huge bag at tractor trailer. the horse pellets are same as the more expensive kitty ones, you want pellets like these ones below and not ones that say fuel/etc on them. https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/p...-pine-pellet-stall-bedding-40-lb?cm_vc=-10005 . btw if kitty is hesistant to start using the pellets, spray top layer of pellets with a bit of water, it will soften them up in a few minutes or you could just put an inch layer of her current litter on top to get her use to it..

 

About 4 years ago we went to Okocat for our two big guys. The first few boxes were good. Then we got one that was more like sawdust, and it was just horrid. The stuff tracked EVERWHERE. We had several layers of 'litter retention' set up, as half the house was being renovated so the cats were restricted to the other half, which meant no litterbox in the basement, where we didn't much care how messy they were. But this last box was just fine shreds, tracked everywhere, and the big male cat got serious bladder issues, peed blood one day--emergency trip to vet followed, etc. He has never, ever, had any issues since we got rid of the Okocat. Could not, just can not, ever consider it again.

Maggie LOVES water. Loves the bathtub. Loves the sink. Loves trying to drink from a trickling faucet. Loves a running faucet (so much fun trying to get your hands washed and the soapsuds down the drain before she comes flying in!). Since she's a kitten, she just loves EVERYTHING, it's all just so interesting!

The wood pellets look interesting, and love the idea, we are rural and they could then just compost in the edge of the woods. (Even if flushable, we have our own septic system and that would just work against us.) Would need something for odor, tho, will have to look into some of those additives? Or how about just some ground charcoal (like fish tank stuff), that's evidently what's in this new TidyCat, and I will say the odor control is great, even if the rest is now a failure.

Gee, know what else is just SO interesting? My fingers clicking on the keyboard, the letters moving on the screen, and the mouse pointer moving, too! Getting hard to defend my computer here! Been such a long time since we had a small kitten, so much energy bouncing around! (fingers being bitten, giving up now)

 

That is so bizarre. I have been using it for quite some time now and have not had any 'bad' boxes at all, nor has my sister. Someone here who also loves it referred me to it. Sorry you had a bad experience. (I doubt it caused bladder issues though, so maybe it was coincidental that you were using it when your cat had those problems. It's just wood.)

 

I use worlds best clumping cat litter (https://www.chewy.com/worlds-best-cat-litter-scoopable/dp/30237). It is made of corn and I find the smell quite pleasant. It is clumping but not in the same way as the clay litters. I have a black cat and occasionally I see a fine layer of dust on her back paws but no sticking litter at all. We used to use crystal litter but I find this one is not only cheaper, but works better and lasts much longer.

 

I have a Maine Coon cat (not the diabetic one in the picture). I use Dr. Elsey's Ultra cat litter. It does not stick to his fur, clumps well, and does not have any scent.