Testing Ground: PrettyLitter

Andrew Gaug, St. Joseph News-Press, Mo.
·2 min read

Oct. 15—If you're a cat owner, there's probably been some point where you were scooping clay litter and thought, "There's got to be a better way."

The crystal cat litter product PrettyLitter ($24, prettylitter.com) makes big claims that there is a less offensive, easier way to neutralize cat waste. As you can see, it comes at a cost.

Besides the obvious reasons why it's not fun cleaning up after cats, clay litter on its own has always left my sinuses screaming. PrettyLitter's crystal formula is odorless and scentless, so there's none of that clay dust flying in the air when you pour it or when your cat does its business.

The bigger claim it makes is that it eliminates odor and moisture from the cat's waste, so there's less of a smell. While it feels weird to say this, this is the claim I was most looking forward to.

Anyone expecting this to be the silver bullet to all litter box smells will be disappointed. While it does a great job of mostly getting rid of that ammonia-like smell, everything else is still going to stink and have you running for your litter scooper and waste bag.

Because PrettyLitter is lighter than any litter out there, it's much easier to scoop. They also claim one bag of their product, which is far lighter than any clay litter bag, lasts one month per cat. So if you hate lugging those big, hefty containers of litter around, it might be worth paying the premium price.

There are other claims that PrettyLitter makes that, because I have two healthy kittens, I couldn't verify, like having a health monitoring system via the litter changing certain colors when a cat urinates.

I assume that for many, the premium price will be the sticking point. If issues like dust from clay litter causing sinus problems or the weight of litter bags have been persistent, this would be worth giving a try. If you're looking for a magic product that will cause you to never smell cat waste again, this is not it.

PrettyLitter is good for what it is, but I imagine most can wait until the other big litter companies get around to making their own cheaper version.

Andrew Gaug can be reached at andrew.gaug@newspressnow.com.

Follow him on Twitter: @NPNOWGaug