Tidy Cats Lightweight Litter: Reports It Is Dangerous

There are reports that Tidy Cats Lightweight Litter is dangerous to cats.  It just needs to be flagged up at this stage. There are countless other alternatives so if there is even a small chance that it is dangerous, I believe that people should stop using it until we have conclusive evidence one way or the other.

On Facebook, there is a page about this cat litter.  Kelly Sanford, says she tried this litter recently. She says it is extremely dusty and is so light it clings to her cat's fur because of static electricity on the fur attracting the tiny particles of cat litter.  Then of course it can be licked off and ingested. She says that at the moment there has been no response to these allegations about the litter from the manufacturers.

Nina Minster states quite categorically that people should not use this cat litter. She says people should stop using it immediately and throw it away. Nina belongs to a group of cat lovers with 450 members and she has learned through her connections that two cats have died within a couple of days from using the same litter brand.  That's what she says.  Your need to check it out yourselves (An Amazon commentator states "7 deaths among cats").

She goes on to say that both cats that passed away developed lung issues after only one sack of the litter had been used. In other words it happened very quickly. One of the cats was 14 years of age and the other one year of age.  They lived in different households.  Nina states that a veterinarian, in both cases, blamed the litter.  Nina has contacted the manufacturers who said that they are trying to get in touch with the owners of these 2 cats. She stresses that it is only this specific formula that is under review at this time.

Apparently, this litter is claimed to be 99% dust free!  I'm not sure about that but clearly it is not.

Erin Christy states that it is the worst cat litter she has used because it does not mask smell and it is so dusty that she has to scrub down her entire basement and it gets tracked everywhere.  She likens the use of this cat litter to "a complete dust storm".

Lynn Colson states that the problem with this litter is the dust.  She is very disappointed because her home is now covered with white dust.  I'll quote her: “both containers were a shower of dust when poured. It spread through my home and is leaving me with a lot of extra work."

In addition to the health problems alleged, the price has gone up and now it appears to be overly expensive.

Cindy Shepard on this site states that “I tried it for about 10 days and quit using it because of the dust."

Yasmine Lambrecht states on FB that one of her FB cat friends and a dear lady has recently lost her cat to severe breathing difficulties. She is not sure whether it is due to Tidy Cats Lightweight Litter, but she does state that it is probably due to it.

Tidy Cats Lightweight Litter Contains Crystalline Silica

It seems that the manufacturers wanted to make cat litter lighter because in large bags it can be heavy, and it is often the lady of the house who has to deal with it.  So, it was a clever marketing method to make it lighter.  In order to make it lighter they made the particles smaller. The science behind it is probably that smaller particles result in more air being between the particles so in the tray there is more air. This may be why it is less effective.  I don't know and I am just making a supposition.

I don't think I need to go on. This as you may have gathered is a USA product and all the comments come from Americans living in America.

In defence of the product, you will see quite a number of websites stating that this cat litter is good and highly functional so I must make clear that on this page I have quoted criticisms of the product in the interest of cat welfare but at this stage they are what we call anecdotal evidence, and more work needs to be done on this.  That said, where there are reports and where there are alternatives it makes sense to not use the product until the situation has been clarified. Source: FB Page.

Note 1: As this page has become more noticed I am a little concerned that some comments might have been "planted" by paid reviewers to counteract the negative ones. I don't know but these things do happen. Please read comments with caution and decide for yourself where the truth lies. However, many thanks for the comments. They help provide information to visitors and are useful, therefore.

Former Employee at Tidy Cats Lightweight Litter Plant Blows the Whistle on the Abrasive Nature of this Product

Note 2: One of the comments is by a person who worked at a factory where they made this litter - see link above to a post by him. It is very interesting and provides insider information. The comment is towards the bottom of the page. Load all the comments to see it. If the comments fail to load you can read this article based on his comment.

Note 3: Please read this page about Tonkinese kittens being allegedly killed by this litter.

P.S. Cat caretakers should not assume all is well because they can't see any health problems. Dust ingestion can cause a gradual build up. The health problem may become apparent later when it is too late to do anything about it. Just a word of warning. Cats sniff litter and they are much closer to it than humans. Plus, they kick it up. Just because you can't see it does not mean it is not there. P.P.S. 02-04-2021: I am of the firm opinion that this cat litter substrate is dangerous. I would advise cat owners to avoid it. You may harm your kitten and cats. There is nothing worse than causing injury or death to a family member who you love because of carelessness.

Update 12 June 2022: just a quick update to say that Purina deny that there is anything wrong with their product. They blame social media for spreading lies and that the people who complain about it are always anonymous. I'm afraid it seems to me that they are the ones who are lying because on this page there are named people who have first-hand experience of this product harming their cats. There is also talk online about Purina compensating people for harm caused to their cats by their product. Although apparently there is no firm evidence to support this perhaps because if anybody has been compensated, they do so under a gagging clause. I am speculating because I don't know.

Further update: Going back as far as September 2012, Scientific American recommended not using cat litters made of silica because of the dust which has been linked to upper respiratory issues and the chemical fragrances in some litters can be toxic to cats. Buy fragrance-free.

And sodium bentonite clay as you know is in non-clumping litters and if a cat ingests it can cause serious harm for obvious reasons.

Therefore, they tend to recommend wood-based litter and paper-based litter as both are safer in their view. Paper-based litter is made from recycled newspaper and is reportedly 3 times more absorbent than clay. It is non-toxic and contains no scented fragrances. It is claimed to be 99.7% dust free but I will leave people to make up their own mind.

RELATED: How do you make cat litter environmentally friendly?

Plain old sawdust if you can get your hands on it is a good litter substrate. I would certainly do your research and avoid silica and avoid lightweight dusty litters. Personally, I always favoured wood-based litter and I also believe that it is more environmentally friendly although all cat litter has an environmental impact which is regrettable. And as more people are keeping their cats indoors full-time nowadays more cat litter is being used and therefore there is a greater environmental impact.