Cat Litter Review -- Tidy Cats 24/7 Performance

Tidy Cats 24/7 Performance clay cat litter was the first cat litter we ever used.  It seemed fine while all the litterboxes were confined to the basement.  But soon after we introduced the first box onto the main level, we realized we needed a product that produced less dust.

Here are what I consider the pros and cons to Tidy Cats:

Great Packaging
Tidy Cats comes in study containers that can be repurposed.  Depending on the size, it comes in either jugs or pails; both are plastic and resealable.  Even though we stopped using it many years ago, we still have a few pails left that we use to store bird seed, sand or spent cat litter.

Flows Well Through Scoop

The individual pellets are spherical and uniform in size, so they flow well through even the finest scoop.

Good Odor Control
Odor was never a problem unless a cat peed outside the box or didn’t bury the Number Two well enough.

Ubiquitous – even our grocery store carries it
It’s convenient if your go-to brand of cat litter is available at the local “Brick & Mortar” stores you regularly shop at.  Back in the days before Internet and automatic delivery, I’d buy the stuff in a regular store.  Occasionally I’d notice that it’s marked down in price at the grocery store.

Good clumping
It clumps fairly well, yet also seems to drain.  It was important for us to keep up the depth of the litter in the box.  Otherwise, a messy, stinky slurry of clay and cat pee would remain on the bottom of the box.  World’s Best is better at clumping, but it doesn’t drain well.

Low “unit” cost
The higher cost of other cat litters was what kept me hooked on Tidy Cats for so low.  But my method of comparing prices is not well-suited for comparing cat litters.  I usually choose the product with the lowest unit cost, where the units are weight.  However, the important unit of measure for cat litter is volume.  Once I realized that, it put competing brands on a more level playing field.


What we didn’t like:

Dust
As noted above, dust was the main reason we stopped using it.

Not Compostable
Used clay cat litters either go into the trash or get dumped onto a pile in our woods.

Extremely Heavy
Even the smallest portion is 14lb.  Larger sizes are 20lb, 27lb, 35lb.