Year Long Test & Product Giveaway: World's Best Cat Litter™

After careful consideration, from time to time I write a product reviews. If you see it here, it's because, at LEAST I think it's worth you knowing about even if I have an issue with it and, at BEST, I think it's amazing and we should all have one, two or more of whatever it is I'm reviewing. I get NO reimbursement for writing these reviews, though to write a review I am supplied with the item, as I was in this case. This review is MY OPINION, ONLY. The result you experience using this product may differ.

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Normally my reviews are based on a modest test period that's long enough to determine whether or not it's appropriate for cats. In this case, the testing period is over A YEAR in the making. In fact, I ended up switching to this litter as a result of the test. Also, my dear cat, Bob was still living during the initial testing, so he's included in some of the photos, below.

I was a die hard Sodium-bentonite-loaded-clumping-cat-litter-user. With EIGHT CATS I need their litter to clump and be good at odor control. Even if it would gum up my cat's paws and be very tough to scrape out of the litter pan, even if it left this TERRIBLE dust ALL over the place (that was difficult to clean-and even though it was declared that the product was 99% dust free), I used it. It clumped. That's what I cared about. I'd tried litter made from other materials, such as pine, wheat, newspaper and more. They all were lacking in some way. Some failed to clump, some had a nasty odor or texture and the cats wouldn't use it. The only other time I used any different litter was when I was fostering very young kittens, who are known to eat their litter. In that case I would use clay, non-clumping litter, but even then, I was sorely tempted to sneak a layer of clumping litter below the clay layer so I could still clean the litter pan with some measure of ease.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson.

I decided to try World's Best Cat Litter™ after receiving a seven pound bag of their Multiple Cat Clumping Formula, along with a cute litter mat. I started my test with a BRAND NEW litter pan that I purchased, to make sure the cats were getting only the smell of the new litter. I also offered my cats, in a separate, new litter pan, the litter they were used to using-clumping “concrete” litter.

The litter, itself is a nice golden color and the granules are small. The more like sand, the better my cat will like it. It has an odd odor since it's corn, slightly sweet, but it didn't overpower me and I don't notice it other than when I refresh the litter in the pan.

The test period was supposed to be a few weeks. Instead, I ended up switching my litter to WBCL, so my observations about the product have been going on for over a year.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. You can tell this was taken awhile ago. Blitzen still looks like a baby!

World's Best Cat Litter is made from whole kernal corn grown in the United States. On their web site, they list their product benefits. Some are included, below. My comments about their benefits, follow.

Because it's made from corn, it's generally safe to just flush down the toilet, even if you have a septic tank. Now remember, septic tanks are designed to contain waste from only a certain number of people living in a home. Adding lots of flushed litter is like adding another person's waste to your septic tank (depending on how much you flush), so use common sense if you chose to do this. I do not flush my litter and I do have a septic tank.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. Um..wait until I put the litter in the pan!

World's Best lasts longer than the same amount of other litters. I found this to be the case, as well. Though we scoop the litter pans at least once a day, we don't find ourselves racing out to buy more litter as often as we did prior to using WBCL. That said, we feed a raw diet to our cats and they produce less waste overall. I also tested this on Kitten Associates foster kittens, who had to be over 8 weeks old, as is suggested on the package. The amount of waste was much greater in the kittens and I found the multi-cat begin to lose its' effectiveness between the last litter cleaning at night and the first in the morning. The odor control was not effective. That said, I had up to 6 foster cats using just one large litter pan and to continue to clump well or provide good odor control is a lot to ask of any litter. The litter DID clump well, even in a loaded pan, but the odor control failed. I would say the tipping point is when more than half of the pan is made up of waste...and that is A LOT of waste!

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. Bob gets in his first sniff (and nibble) of the litter.

Easy to Scoop. Yes! Indeed. You don't need a chisel to scrape the bottom of the pan. The litter clumps very well and is easy to lift out of the pan. Compared to what I was accustomed to, I found it to be not as rock solid, but how strong of a clump do you need? As long as it clumps well, you can effectively clean the pan.

DUST! Everyone HATES dust! The silica based litter I used was AWFUL. There was a layer of thick dust I constantly had to battle with. It got EVERYWHERE and I worried about what it was doing to my lungs and my cat's, as well. With WBCL, I do NOT have a similar issue about dust. One litter pan is near a TV set in the foster room. The screen would be covered in dust every day with the old litter. Now, I only dust it as I'd do the rest of my house. I don't see any buildup or feel like I'm choking in a cloud of particulate when I pour the litter into the pan.

Issues, weirdness, wondering...

I'd heard this through the grapevine that cats EAT WBCL. It's true. Some of my cats nibbled at it. I do believe some of them ate it when I wasn't looking. Two cats got sick. One with helicobactor pylori and the other with a mysterious infection. I CANNOT SAY FOR CERTAIN if it was from eating the litter, but I do have x-rays that show the litter inside one of the cat's digestive tract. There was NO other explanation of those granules appearing on x-ray. The cats only eat canned grain-free food. If your cat eats the litter, you have to stop using it.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. Smells like corn!

At the time, we weren't certain about the litter involvement. One cat does not use that litter any more (just to be safe) and the other does. There has not been a repeat of any illness that could be associated wtih eating the litter. I also feel that if you were to scoop a bit of dirty litter into the WBCL when you first start to use it, you may not have this issue. You're clearly telling your cat what the litter is for, so hopefully your cat won't be tempted to nibble.

A few moths ago, WBCL came out with a Lavender scented litter using 100% all natural oil in a very small amounts. My guess is that adding the scent, keeps the cats from eating it. Their stated reason for it is because owners want a scented litter. I find this a bit odd since most owners should not want ANY scent in their litter. Cats have refined sense of smell and can become litterbox averse over the smallest change. I did a short test using the scented and one cat used it without a problem, but I did not care for the smell.

©2010 Robin A.F. Olson. Bob and Blitzen were immediately interested in the new litter.

Another weirdness-It's been over a year since I started using WBCL and in the past few months I've noticed my cats urinating on the BAG. At first I thought it was due to some sort of territorial marking, so I moved the bags into an area away from the cats. A few days ago, I discovered my foster cats were doing the SAME THING and they're in a room by themselves so this can't be a behavioral issue. I'm not sure why they peed (a lot) on the opened bags. I asked a representative from WBCL about it and no one else has mentioned this as being an issue. They are looking into it, but so far, my cats are either freaks or something is going on with the bags.

The Pros and Cons-

I like World's Best Cat Litter MUCH BETTER than silica based clumping, newspaper, wheat or pine litters. It's more expensive if you compare it based on cost per pound versus other litters, but it DOES last longer. The scent of the corn litter is a bit odd. I think in a small space sometimes it makes me sneeze quite a bit, but...I will still use it because I did NOT have an issue with it being dusty-far from it. It clumps well and now that the cats aren't eating it, I can trust using it. I DO NOT care for the 17 pound sized bag and I don't have the strength to handle the 34 pound sized bag. It's NOT easy (at all) to open the bag and once open it's difficult to manage. I liked the box style litter that other brands use. It's a much easier to handle. I hope WBCL rethinks their packaging for bags over 7 pounds in weight. My cats easily made the transition to using the new litter and preferred it over their old clumping litter by FAR and I would rather they have corn on their paws and in their lungs, than chemically enhanced clay.

Even with some mild concerns, I'll still keep using World's Best Cat Litter and suggest others give it a try.

If you'd like to Win a 7 pound bag of World's Best Cat Litter™, I'm doing a Giveway to FOUR LUCKY FOLKS. Simply post a comment in this blog post and include in the title: “I WANT THE BEST FOR MY CATS”. In the comment section, add your name and e-mail address.

If you would prefer to e-mail me your entry, you can contact me at info@coveredincathair.com Put “I WANT THE BEST FOR MY CATS” in the subject line, your name and email address in the body of the message. DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS OCTOBER 15, 2011 AT 5PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME. Winners will be notified via e-mail. Open to residents of the United States of America, only.