Dr. Elsey’s Premium Clumping Cat Litter – Ultra – 99.9% Dust-Free,

I wanted to give a very detailed review because I tried using reviews to choose litter, but it was very hard to do because often the reviews vary wildly in describing the same qualities of the same litter. I’ll start by saying I’ve tried Fresh Step, Tidy Cats, Arm & Hammer, Pretty Litter, and various other silicone litters before settling on this one. I have one short haired, older female kitty who has one litter box.

For a long time, I used Arm & Hammer clump and seal litter. I didn’t hate it, but felt like it didn’t clump as well as it could and I wanted to try something else. So I switched to Pretty Litter for a while because I liked the color changing aspect. However, I started to notice that it wasn’t lasting as long as it was supposed to and I didn’t want to keep paying that much for something that wasn’t doing what it was supposed to. I liked the no-clump aspect, but it seemed to irritate my kitty’s toes. She was constantly picking stuff off the hair on her feet (and she doesn’t have long hair at all) and I felt like it tracked a lot. I then tried a few different silicone litters, but the more affordable ones were too hard to find regularly (ie often out of stock).

So after all that experimentation, I had a few qualities I was looking for:
– low dust
– low tracking (I live in a very small apartment where there aren’t many steps between the litter box and the couch or the bed)
– low odor
– hopefully non-clumping

I ended up compromising on the non-clumping part, because this litter meets my other wish list items so well.

– Dust: I haven’t tried some of the “natural” litters like the ones made from corn, wheat, etc. so I can’t speak for those. But otherwise I have used many of the popular litters and I have concluded that there probably isn’t a 100% dust free litter. I think it’s just the nature of such a product. However, this has less dust than any other litter I can think of and I love that.

– Tracking: again, not sure if there exists a 100% no track litter. But in my experience, this tracks the least. I did notice after I was sick for a couple weeks (still scooping ofc but not as worried about cleaning up the litter on the floor) it did start to get a little spread out and ground into the carpet. But as long as I was vacuuming regularly I barely noticed any tracking.

– Odor: this and the low tracking were probably the main selling points for me. I’ve honestly forgotten to scoop the box a couple times because I. NEVER. SMELL IT! Even when scooping it, it hardly smells. Only towards the end of its life cycle does it tend to stink much, but again, that’s only when scooping. And I use the scent free one! I hate the smell of scented cat litter (it gets too strong for me and in my head it’s a “cover up” smell, like spraying perfume on a dirty shirt or pants lol) I think this is the best quality of this litter. If odor is your sticking point, I’d definitely recommend trying this.

– Clumping: as I said above, this was what I compromised on. **This IS a clumping litter.** But it clumps EXTREMELY well. Honestly sometimes it’s a bit like scooping a rock. If it’s a larger clump sometimes I have to put in some effort to break it in half. So because of that and how great the other qualities are, I was fine with switching back to a clumping litter. I have a Litter Genie so it’s not too much of an inconvenience. Actually, my only (very minor) complaint would be that the clumps get too heavy to fill the Litter Genie bag as full as I’d like, but it doesn’t bother me that much.

– Price: I haven’t sat down and figured out how this one compares to the others in terms of price, but it’s at least comparable and I think very reasonable for the quality of what you get. The 18lb bag is a little more than enough to fill up the litter box, and has been lasting about a month.

So glad I decided to try Dr. Elsey’s! I hope this review is helpful to anyone else shopping around for litter like I was.

We recently adopted an adult cat whose litterbox habits have resulted in going through 60 lbs. of litterbox sand in just the four weeks that we’ve had her. We didn’t realize how easy our previous cats (R.I.P.) made litterbox maintenance. For them, we used a lightweight, hard-clumping litter, and they would do their business tidily atop the litter, cover it up and be done, making it easy to just skim the clumps off the surface, leaving dry litterbox sand beneath. So we only needed to wash the box and completely replace the litter about once a month with our former cats. But our new cat’s litterbox habits may break the plastic scooper, as well as our pet-supply budget. Time to buy a sturdier, metal scooper!

When she urinates, our new cat likes to scrape away all the litter (even though we fill the box so the litter is quite deep). Then she wees directly onto the bottom of the box, pretty much negating the main function of clumping litter. She then pushes the cat sand OVER the pool of wee, creating a cement-like mess that lurks hidden underneath and practically bonds with the base of the litter box. The box gets sifted several times a day, but after 3-4 days, the entire box needs to be completely emptied, washed and refilled with another massive amount of litterbox sand. Which is where this new litter comes in.

Because our cat creates such a muddy mess at the bottom of the box, the much finer granules of the lightweight litter we were using before was getting stuck between her toes, depositing it all over the house, and in the mornings, we’d wake up to our bed covered in clumps of dirty, damp sand. So, out with the finer-grained, lightweight sand, and on to something different. We noticed that the Dr. Elsey’s litter seemed a bit grainier, though still offering clumping properties, and thought we’d give it a try. It tracks a lot less, and what little is tracked is easier to see and sweep up due to the larger size of the granules. And so far, those larger granules haven’t been sticking to our cat’s feet. But this litter is HEAVY! Our cat doesn’t have any issues pushing the sand around (a good feline fitness workout!), but because of her odd litterbox habits, it still gets stuck to the bottom of the litterbox, and takes a lot of effort to scrape off. So it appears that we’ll just be spending a lot of time and money on litterbox maintenance, whatever we try. And the wet clumps are super heavy, so taking out the garbage is a weight-bearing exercise. (TIP: we replaced our Litter Genie with the largest size of the OXO compost pail, which has a much larger opening, is so easy to fill and empty, and we can use any sturdy plastic bags to line it — no need to buy those Litter Genie refills. So it quickly pays for itself. And the OXO compost bin also keeps any unpleasant smells from escaping before emptying.)

So, to sum up the litterbox saga (seems I’m not alone, as others appear to have epic issues when it comes to dealing with the litterbox situation):
• If your cat doesn’t have a problem pushing around a heavier type litter, we found Dr. Elsey’s to be great at clumping if you go really deep when filling the box. But one downside to its hard clumping is that if you have a cat who likes to dig close to the bottom when urinating, the hard clumps adhere like cement to the bottom of the litter box, making it no job for a plastic scooper. So a heavy-duty metal scoop is a must.
• Tracking is minimal and the larger granules make it easier to see and sweep up any tracked bits.
• So far, the larger granules have eliminated the issue with sand getting stuck between our cat’s toes, so any tracking stays within a close distance to the litterbox, and doesn’t end up on furniture and beds.
• Does well at controlling odor provided box is sifted at least once a day.

We’ll continue buying the Dr. Elsey’s litter, and though we expect that every bag will be a bit different, we’re hopeful that it will continue to solve some of the problems we had with the finer-grained, lightweight types of litter. There’s likely not a litter on the market that can quickly absorb urine deposited directly on the bottom of the box and not create heavy sludge or really hard clumps that adhere like cement, so for now, this is as close as we’re likely to get to the Holy Grail of litterbox sand.
12/20/23 UPDATE: I’ve purchased two 18-lb. bags from Amazon in the past 5 weeks, at a little over $11 per bag. Now the price has increased to over $16. I know we’re in inflationary times, but I can’t help but question the need for this particular increase, other than sheer avarice. Not suggesting the increase is Amazon’s decision — it may well be their supplier, but still… My local pet supply store is still selling it for just over $8 for the 18-lb. bag. While I appreciated the convenience of having it delivered to my door, I’m going to have to stop being lazy and just make the short drive to my nearby pet store, because the Amazon increase to $16+ just breached my annoyance threshold, as well as my budget.

Reading some of the horror stories of some reviewers, I was nervous about trying this different kind of litter. My kitty’s box sits out on my balcony. So, I wondered if I would wake up to find her box filled with a cement block of this clay litter. And, being basically outside, would there be too much moisture?
But, the low dust feature, and the promise of better odor control, plus the reasonable price motivated me to give it a shot. I had not begun to use it when the snow came and I had to drag the litter box inside. In a small one bedroom apartment there are not many options for cat box location. It goes behind a chair in the living room. And, I just want to say my sweet, soft little kitty has a super power: Stinky Poop that can knock people out. I keep a can of air freshener nearby for when the inevitable stinky business happens, and there are times when even the spray isn’t enough. I have to open the door and use a fan to find relief from the smell. The cold air that comes in is more relief than annoyance.

After a couple weeks I was able to put the box on the balcony again, just about the time I started adding Dr Elsey’s to the box, a little at a time. I checked daily for cement blocks in the box—happily that didn’t happen. Gradually the Elsey’s filled the box, and as long as I scooped the box regularly (never more than two days) all was well.
Then, the snow came again. The box came back inside and I braced myself for the attack of incredible odor. And, here’s where it gets WONDERFULLY WEIRD:

Not one Whiff of stink! This incredible kitty litter is the most effective odor control I have ever experienced! It has been three weeks of the litter box inside and I have not once smelled even a little bit of kitty poop stink. And, secondly but not to be ignored, no dust. Even the “99% No Dust” brands still fill the room with a mist of dust every time I add more litter. This one doesn’t.
I have tried and used many many brands. Dr. Elsey’s is the ONLY one that has completely killed the odor. I am so impressed!

So, here’s the one downside, if there is one to be mentioned: The weight of the bag. I ordered the 40lb bag because it was the best price. At 69 and no strong sons or neighbors around, I should have known better. Well, fortunately it comes in a bag, in a box. I managed to push and slide the box into a corner, then had to just scoop the litter out into a smaller container I use to pour it into the box. For the benefit of this exceptional litter, I will put up with that. This is the Best Litter Ever. I give it 10 Stars!

I am very impressed with this litter so far. When I first received it and added it to my cats’ litter box, I was pleasantly surprised not to be able to smell anything at all from the box. Normally, there’s always a little bit of odor when I walk past the laundry room, no matter how often I scoop. This litter completely smothers any odor when the litterbox has been scooped, and I can still barely smell anything when walking past the laundry room even if the box needs to be scooped. It’s important to note, however, that I have a hooded litterbox with a flap over the entrance, and I scoop the box usually every other day. I have two cats, and they fill a litterbox quickly. However, keeping 4 or so inches in the box allows them to bury things better and means I can scoop the box less and smell odors less. I haven’t kept 3-4 inches in the box in the past because it takes so much litter that I would have to buy two pails just to fill it to 3-4 and then have clean to add to it as I scoop it. However, this litter’s granules are larger than most others’, and the 40 lb. bag is excellent for the price. After adding 3-4 inches of litter to my cats’ XL size hooded box, there’s still at least 2/3 of a bag left. After scooping, the litter left in the box looks clean and doesn’t get discolored and wet like other litters I’ve used. So far, I haven’t added any extra litter to the box. With other litters I’ve used, I usually feel the need to add some on top often after scooping because the litter in the box gets stinky really fast. With this litter, I can see myself only adding more when the level in the box gets lower, and that’s what I want. I originally searched for another type of litter because one of my cats has a coughing problem, and I wanted to see if switching to an unscented, dust free litter would help. I wish it was completely dust free, but 0.1% dust isn’t much to complain about. I haven’t noticed any dust at all, and my cat rarely coughs any more. One thing of note about this litter is that it is EXTREMELY heavy. I say this as a man who regularly lifts upwards of 100 lbs. at work. This stuff feels like it’s made of lead. I think the fact that it comes in a bag, without many places to gain purchase, makes it harder to lift. I recommend lifting it up and hugging it with both hands on the bag when pouring instead of trying to hold one corner of the bag, as this makes the litter pour out very slowly. That being said, it’s also best to support the "spout" (or the corner you cut open) with one hand. Otherwise, the top part of the bag is going to go limp and dump a ton of litter into the box. The weight of the bag does make it cumbersome, but I’m willing to deal with the logistics of it for the quality of the litter. However, I do recommend getting a metal litter scoop. The plastic one I have bends unless I’m careful about how fast and at what angle I scoop. It makes getting into the corners difficult, and I expect the plastic scoop to break soon. I’ll definitely be getting a metal scoop when that happens. Despite the heaviness of the litter, it’s very easy to scoop. My cats love to dig in the corner of the box and pee, which makes the pee get stuck on the side of the box. This litter is very easy to scrape off the sides, however. It also clumps very tightly, and even weaker clumps, like those formed by the urine scraped off the side of the box, have the consistency of a thick, sandy paste and are very scoopable. I haven’t had any clumps fall apart on me. Also, an unforseen benefit of the heaviness and coarseness of this litter is that my litter mat can catch tracked litter a lot better. Since switching to this litter, there have been a lot less stray granules all over the laundry room floor, and I haven’t seen any litter clumped in the fur on the bottoms of my long-haired cat’s paws, which is what happened with the last litter I was using. Overall, I’m very pleased with this litter, especially considering it’s about $17 for a 40 lb. bag. I could easily see one bag of this litter lasting me two months, even with two cats. That being said, I’m concerned about the price fluctuations and discrepancies in quality noted by other reviewers. If the price does go up beyond how much I’m willing to pay, I will probably search for another site to order this litter from or just look for another brand. The value of this litter is a huge factor of how much I like it, so taking that away would definitely turn me away from buying this litter regularly and exclusively, which is what I plan to do if everything remains the same as with this first order. If I receive a bag of product with bad quality, I won’t be ordering this litter from Amazon again and will try to find somewhere else to order it from instead. But that being said, I’m very pleased with the product that I have received for this first order, and I will definitely be purchasing this product again.

Cat litter.

It’s dusty. Dusty and gray. Also, granular. Decidedly less so upon being used, it forms a foul smelling hillock that waits for the low-man-on-the-totem-pole of the household to reluctantly scoop it. It smells of…cat litter? What else does cat litter smell like? I dunno. It’s the medium in which we expect our pet cats to expel their waste.

That’s it.

That’s about as much brain real estate each of us has devoted to the rousing topic of "Cat litter" and deservedly so. Cat litter is one of those things that is so inconsequential in our lives, so banal of a product, that any amount of conversational effort devoted to it is too much. That is, when it works.

And yet…here I am reviewing it on Amazon.

In addition to having a decent (boring?) enough of a life that I can devote time to reviewing cat litter on Amazon, I have two cats. One is a white flame-point ragdoll cat that is the reincarnation of Steve McQueen that’ll befriend a Rottweiler within minutes of meeting (Tucker) and the other is a painfully shy siamese that closely resembles a raccoon that swallowed a medicine ball – we call her "the basement troll" for her penchant for cool, dark spaces and cardboard boxes. Formally, however, she is known as "Bailey".

While Bailey is extremely sweet, she’s very nervous and scares extremely easily. She hides in the basement whenever anyone comes to the house and hates being carried. While Tucker is as cool as Billy Dee Williams and makes the Dos Equis guy look like Don Knotts, Bailey is more sensitive than an open cavity. As a result, she’s suffered from chronic bladder infections for years.

While both of these cats are polar opposites of each other, both had one thing in common – they both had a penchant for leaving tootsie rolls just outside of their litterbox. In addition, because Bailey suffered from routine bladder infections, we were starting to see rust-colored spots in not-so-inconspicous places around the house (essentially every carpeted corner in the house). While I certainly don’t condone the tendency for families to throw their hands up in the air in exasperation and send their pet cat straight to the kennel when this happens, I can understand how it happens.

If only there was some sort of miracle product that keeps such tragedies from happening…

Yes, Precious Cat Ultra Premium Clumping Cat Litter is that product. How incredible is this stuff you ask? I’ll tell you: it’s so damned good that here I am, semi-supine in my cozy bed on the last Tuesday before Christmas and instead of figuring out how I’m going to get every last gift that I’m obligated to buy, I’m reviewing this cat litter. That’s how f—ing great this stuff is. It’s simply sublime – transcendent even. In a world where every product is so over-hyped, brightly packaged, and intrusively advertised on every screen in your house and yet is woefully and ultimately ineffectual, here’s a product that’s the equivalent of a circa 1974 George Foreman right cross packaged in a manila envelope.

Before I continue, I would just like to say that this isn’t one of those inane, dipsh-t "ironic" reviews that self-entertained hipsters write in the hopes that they get recognized by Buzzfeed – I’m as sincere as I can be – this is the Alpha and Omega of cat litter.

With that out of the way, the first thing that comes to mind about this litter is that it saved our carpets, piles of dirty laundry and sanity from Bailey’s sketchy bladder. Cynical as I am, I was fully expecting the worst for Bailey – her bladder infections were a more consistent recidivist than Tyron Biggums and there was no end in sight. Like seemingly all pet ailments, I was fully expecting Bailey’s treatment to be outrageously expensive.

Thankfully, we’re blessed with a vet that had long since paid off her exorbitant student loans and rather than recommend more "tests" (i.e. $$$$), she recommended Precious Cat Litter. Always in favor of the cheapest, easiest, and simplest answer, I happily ordered it from Amazon. I replaced all the litter in the house (Tidy Cat) with the Precious Cat stuff and was ill prepared with how fast I saw results. Literally minutes later, there were fresh clumps in one of the litter boxes. Both cats took to this stuff like a fish to water. No longer do we find "surprises" propped up against the litter box when it comes time to clean them out and that’s pretty damned nice.

So, I give this stuff an easy 5 stars right off the bat due to its ability to coax Bailey to start using the litter box again, and thereby curing her bladder infections for good. That alone makes this a 5 star product. It fully exceeded my expectations. What really makes this stuff special is the comorbidity of the following:

1.) Cost – This litter is significantly cheaper than the major brands you see in large jugs at just about every supermarket in the country. For the longest time I couldn’t understand why cat litter was so expensive – I mean it’s not like clay and "proprietary scent crystals" are rare earth metals. Precious Cat Litter brings sanity back to cat litter pricing. It’s also pretty sweet that a 40lb. bag of this stuff ships with free 2 day shipping with an Amazon Prime subscription. Thus, the value proposition is off the charts with this litter.

2.) Scent – There is none.

No, I’m not just talking about the actual scent of the litter – I’m talking about after it’s been used. Bullsh-t you say? I can’t blame you – every friggin’ litter I’ve ever used that advertised such a claim has failed miserably. Cat urine is so putrid and so powerful that it causes many landlords to refuse cats to be present on their premises. I wish I had known about this product years ago because it effectively renders this objection null and void. The way this stuff absolutely smothers cat urine smells is positively game-changing. We have four cat litter boxes in our house – one is in the upstairs laundry room right at the top of the stairs. Normal cat litters would assault the olfactory senses of any poor soul unfortunate enough to walk upstairs in our house. Not so with this litter.

It’s ability to c-o-m-p-l-e-t-e-l-y void the stench of cat urine is truly other-worldly, maybe even a little bit spooky. Absolutely nothing should work this well at canceling out one of the worst smells known to the human race. Thus, I have no other choice than to conclude that simple logic dictates that Beelzebub himself MUST be involved somewhere in the supply chain of this product – there’s no way humans alone have unlocked the superpower of neutering cat urine funk. However, this raises a philosophical question unto itself – how bad could the devil really be if he/she/it is involved with such a flawless product? Eh? Think about it.

So, Precious Cat litter is not only super good at eliminating cat urine stench, but it also forces consumers to deeply ponder some of life’s most mysterious philosophical questions. Tidy Cat don’t do that, jus sayin’…

3.) Clumping performance – To me, next to the puke-inducing smell of cat urine, scooping soggy piles of cat mess is the absolute worst part of changing the litter box. With the mainstream brands, I’ve noticed there’s about a 50:50 chance that the litter will clump. When it does, things are a-okay. When it doesn’t, you might as well don a painter’s mask and goggles to deal with the resulting acrid fumes. Once again, Precious Cat punches far above its weight here. This stuff clumps so consistently and so tightly that Detroit should consider using this stuff to fill potholes. Cleaning the litter box with Precious Cat is a much faster, much easier, and much less painful experience than ever.

So, I conclude my review. Is Precious Cat a fantastic cat litter? Indeed. However, it’s something better than that – it’s a product that transcends its meager goals, which is to merely be a substance that cats crap into. For one, it’s absolutely unmatched in its ability to do what no other cat litter can do, namely "leave no trace" that a cat resides in your house, a "silent warrior" if you will. Yes, I said it – it’s essentially the Navy SeALs of cat litter. It’s also cheaper than its inept competitors. Perhaps most importantly, it can be the difference between a cat being happy and comfortable in a loving home and a cat finding itself in a shelter. Lastly, it’s so outstanding that after witnessing its perfection, you’ll be highly motivated to write paragraphs about it on Amazon.

Cat litter.

It’s Precious Cat or nothing.