ökocat Natural Wood Cat Litter, 12-Pound, Clumping

I reviewed this product quite awhile back and was thoroughly unhappy at the time because of tracking and scooping issues. I still object to those problems. I can't find my old review but wanted to submit a new one.After several months, I can now say that I like this stuff very, very much. I'm currently switching from World's Best and Swheat Scoop. I abandoned Arm & Hammer's disappointing corn-base litter long ago, and I find Blue Buffalo litter a bit on the heavy side, and the odor control isn't in the same league with this stuff.Pros:- Odor control. Wow. Some of the best I've encountered, either with natural, clay, or unnatural (e.g., silica-based). It works remarkably well w/o heavy masking scents. I have three very large cat boxes; I use World's Best (or Swheat) in two, and Oko in the other. The first two boxes need to be scooped out at least once a day and emptied completely after 3-4 weeks. With the Oko, I confess I've gone as long as 4-5 days without scooping at all (while I've been away). After 5 days w/o scooping, the Oko smells about the same as World's Best or Swheat after 1-2 days.- Dust. There isn't any, to speak of. I notice this when vacuuming the mats under my litter boxes. No dust at all around the Oko box. I thought the other "natural" litters were good about dust, but this is the best, as far as I can tell.- Weight. Fantastic. I have a bad back, but the containers are light and easy to handle. Environmentally I prefer the cardboard containers to World' Best's plastic bags. I have an Oko subscription; both my package delivery people and I are much happier these days. Also, even heavily used Oko litter can be dumped out of the box and carried with much less trouble than other lightweight litters.- Quality control. I've had moldy batches of both World's Best and Swheat. Also, rodents are sometimes attracted to both the corn and wheat-based products. They seem largely uninterested in wood.Neutrals:- Clumping is ok but not the tightest on the planet.- Texture. It's different. With a fussy cat, I'd mix litters for a few weeks and then continue with the Oko litter. Mine don't mind it at all; they don't seem to prefer the other litters when given the choice between boxes.- Environmental issues. I simply don't know how this compares with other option. I have personal objections to corn subsidies, and wheat is problematic on several levels. I don't know enough about the Oko production process to evaluate its impact on the environment, sustainability, or any potential hazards to pets or humans during its creation or use.Cons:- Tracking, tracking, tracking. It's not a particularly trackable litter, ironically; the problem is that whatever does track consists of large particles that are highly visible and painful to bare feet (and believe me, you don't want the stuff anywhere near your bed). Since I'm not presently using the long-haired breed version, I find a lot of it sticking to my long-haired cat's backside. I recently ordered a box of the long-haired version and will review it later.- Scooping. You may need to replace your litter scoop. The particles are too large to go through the fine scoops that normally work well w/clumping litters.Conclusion: I've tried other wood-based litters, and this is far and away the best of the lot. In terms of odor control, weight, dust, and economics, this is one of the best of ANY litters on the market. It could be better, but I'm still giving it five stars because I think it's that much better than everything else I've tried.Oh—and alas, I did NOT receive this product free, so this really is an unbiased review.

When did this come out and why haven't I heard of it sooner?? I was so tired of disgusting gray microdots all over everything in my house I started searching for a better solution. Cats tracked the standard 'best-clumping' litter all over the place. 2 of my cats have really long thick coats like a Maine Coon and even have fur on their foot pads so thick their toes look like small pebbles hiding in a wheat field. They were the worst tracking offenders though I knew they did not like all that annoying junk stuck on them anymore than I did. I tried the new Breeze system but the pellets were a huge flop. None of my cats much cared for them. (To be fair, that system seems well though-out in design and I did not do the recommended acclimation method of gradually integrating the pellets into the familiar litter.) I also bought this (medium original blue box) okocat litter at the same time. The box was a little over 13 lbs, so an easy-to-handle weight. I dumped a full box among 3 litterboxes. The smell.. was nice! Not perfumy. Just a natural scent of wood chips, which I quite like. There was not a lot of dust, which is also a nice feature. The cats didn't seem to mind the new texture/smell. The granules are similar in size and feel to what they were accustomed to. I've been using this litter for about 2 months now. It really does absorb odors way better than clay litter. It clumps great, soaks up waste more efficiently, and doesn't track near as much. It's pretty miraculous, actually. I am still using the sieve litter boxes, so the clumping got stuck in the middle pan with the holes, which was my own dumb fault. I recommend using a traditional litterbox and not the sieve style with this litter. The upper layers scooped out easily. This lasts longer. Like a lot longer. I went from using 40lbs $20 clay litter a month to 13lbs $13 of okocat! That's a huge savings in cost and labor for me. Even the uber long-hair cats don't track this stuff! I don't think I have found any bits of it in the house though I am STILL sweeping up clay pellets after not using them for 2 months! If you're having the same annoyances, this litter will probably solve your problems as well. :)

There are a lot of things that I like about this litter. It's super lightweight which makes it easier for me to lift and carry. It's natural and clumping and doesn't have a lot of dust. But something that I don't like about it is that it molds very quickly and my cat stops using it. Regular clumping clay litters can be scooped out and you can continue using the same litter for a couple of weeks as long as you clean it out every couple of days and maybe add a little more litter to it. But this litter starts to MOLD very quickly, within a few days and you have to dump the whole litter box and replace it with a whole new box of litter because the cat will not use moldy litter. It's quite disgusting. It's not enough to just clean out the clumps every couple of days or even every day because it's made of wood and the wood gets wet with urine and begins to grow mold almost immediately. I've tried to leave the litter in the box for a week like I do with the clay litter and my cat starts peeing next to the litter box instead of in it and he's never been one to do that before. So as much as I like certain things about this litter, I think I'm going to have to stop using it because it can't be healthy exposing my kitty (or myself) to mold and economically, it doesn't make sense if I have to put in a whole new box every few days.

This litter is great for my cat with chronic upper respiratory problems. Virtually dust-free and no artificial scent. It just smells faintly like wood. Granuals are larger so there is less tracking outside of the litterbox. ( I have never met a cat litter that doesn't track). But it's easier to see and sweep up. This litter clumps well and masks odors without using any artificial scent. Because the texture isn't as fine as typical litter, it doesn't pass through the standard litter scoop I have. I recommend looking for a scoop with larger holes for this litter.

I have an older cat who doesnt take care of herself very well anymore. She was getting clay litter caked in her paws. The vet suggested newspaper type litter but it was awful. I found okocat and tried it. I have been pleasantly surprised. It clumps for easy pick up. The smell is nice and the litter box does not smell. I am very happy with this product. I also like that it is so lightweight.