Published by: Ingrid King. Last Updated on: June 23, 2023 by Crystal Uys
I’ll be honest right from the start: I use clay litter. Even though there’s an ever growing array of more eco-friendly, alternative litters on the market, I have yet to find one that Allegra and Ruby will actually use – and when it comes to cat litter, ultimately, it’s your cats’ call of what goes in the box, right?
I’m always interested to learn about new products, and when we had a chance to test the new ökocat Natural Wood Clumping Litter from Healthy Pet, I was intrigued. As the name implies, this litter is made from wood. The pellets are said to provide 7-day odor control, and absorb 500% of it weight in liquid. Because it is made from wood, it will also inhibit bacteria growth. The litter is advertised as safe to be flushed.
The texture of this litter is very different from traditional clay litter. The pellets are larger, but they’re pretty soft. The litter has a natural faint wood scent which becomes more pronounced when it gets wet, but it is otherwise unscented, which is a must for me when it comes to cat litter.
It took the girls quite a while to even approach the box with the ökocat litter. Eventually, they started to dig around in it, but in the week I had it out, they never once used it for its intended purpose. So while I can’t comment on odor control for urine and stool, I did test it with water, and it clumps nicely, although not as firm as the clay litter clumps I’m used to. However, removal of the clumps from the box was easy, and, as an added bonus, there was no residual litter stuck to the side of the box, as often happens with clay litter.
The litter had virtually no dust. It did scatter quite a bit even from the tentative digging my two did in our test box, but what did scatter outside the box didn’t track. I consider that a big plus over clay litter.
I really wish the girls had been more enthusiastic about this litter, because I like everything about it. I’ll keep trying for a longer period of time, and we’ll see what happens.
ökocat is available in four different formulas: the Wood Clumping Litter we tested, a Natural Wood Long Hair Clumping with denser, smaller pellets, Natural Wood Pine Litter, and Natural Paper Dust-free Litter.
All of the ökocat litters are available from Amazon with free shipping for Prime members. They are also available at other online retailers, and in select retail stores.
About the author
Ingrid King is an award-winning author, former veterinary hospital manager, and veterinary journalist who is passionate about cats.
