Green Cat, eco-friendly cat litter that works: a review

The following is a sponsored post, but all opinions expressed are fully mine.

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I’ve always had at least one cat at a time since I was little, but most of the time they were outside and didn’t really use much cat litter. For the past six years, though, we’ve been living in a 4th floor apartment and it’s not possible for our cat to do her duty outside. Our bathrooms are small, so the cat litter is in a regular room that we use frequently. So it’s really, really important for us to have a good quality cat litter that will not stink after the first time it’s used. Then there’s also the ecological factor. Cat litters that you can generally find in supermarkets and in pet stores are made out of materials such as silica, bentonite or sepiolite which have to be excavated. They also have a negative impact after use because they have to be disposed of in landfills. In the United States, more than 2 million tons of cat litter ends up in landfills (source). In Italy the number is more like 350 thousand tons (source). I therefore am always on the lookout for a more eco-friendly cat litter. A while back I read a very funny post about cat litter recommending the brand Swheat Scoop, which is made out of wheat, however this brand doesn’t exist in Italy. I tried brand after brand of cat litter, some clumping, other not. Some more eco-friendly, some less. But I was never happy with them. That is until I found Green Cat, an Italian brand of cat litter made out of inedible barley waste.

Yes, barley! A material that can be grown over and over. But what’s even better is that it’s not grown just for the litter. The part used for the litter is the leftover waste from barley grown for other uses. So, not only are we not using unrenewable resources, we’re using what would’ve been discarded otherwise.

But it gets even better. While all those mineral cat litters have to get thrown out in the trash, Green Cat is totally natural and can be composted or flushed down the toilet. And you know how cats sometimes lick their paws after using the litter box? If there’s any litter stuck to their paws and they end up eating it, it’s no big deal. And you know how some cat litters make huge clouds of dust when you dump them into the litter box or when you clean it, making you cough? Green Cat has very little dust and what little there is is free of synthetic fragrances. Does the dust of typical cat litters make you cough? Well, just think of all the yucky stuff your cat breathes in when digging around in it.

But I still haven’t gotten to the best part: Green Cat litter works really well, better than any other brand I’ve ever tried. Urine clumps wonderfully so you can remove it completely without it falling apart. The rest of the litter stays super clean and doesn’t stink. Most cat litters I’ve used start stinking terribly after a week and I end up having to throw out a bag full of smelly, urine-soaked litter. Green Cat works so well that three weeks go by with no problems and I eventually have to add more because it’s been used up bit by bit and the litter box is nearly empty. But still no stink.

I contacted the folks at Green Cat and they proposed that, in exchange for some bags of litter, I write a review of their product. I was more than happy to because this is truly a product that I love and wholeheartedly recommend. So let me show you just how well Green Cat works.

First of all, dispose of the old cat litter and wash out the box. I rinse the box out and then sprinkle about one tablespoon of baking soda in the bottom. I use an old sponge (which I keep aside ONLY for the litter box) to scrub all parts of the box, rinse it out, dry with a rag and leave it out on the balcony to finish drying completely.

Then I dump the contents of a 6-liter bag of Green Cat into the box. You will notice right away that there’s relatively little dust and the smell is very natural, not of synthetic fragrances.

The pieces are on the large size and tend to stick to cats’ paws and get tracked around the house much less than most other cat litters.

Let’s let kitty do her business. If you are going to be offended and/or disgusted by pictures of cat stuff, please don’t read on.

It’s hard to see in the photo, but this clump of cat litter is actually a clump of urine. See how it physically sticks out from the surface, even after shaking it to the top for the photo?

And see how the clump remains intact even after shaking it around with the pooper scooper?

If you were using a mineral-based cat litter, you would have to throw it in the trash. But with Green Cat you can just dump it into the toilet!

After a week or so, you might want to mix a couple of tablespoons of baking soda into the cat litter to help fight odors, but I usually don’t have to with Green Cat. Then when it’s time to get rid of what little is left at the bottom of the litter box, you can just compost it. Doesn’t it feel great to know that you’re helping the environment and your and your cat’s health?

So are you convinced? Then go buy a bag, or two, or ten! Green Cat isn’t found in most supermarkets and pet stores, but here is a list of some of the places you can find it in Italy. I personally discovered it in an Ipercoop store, but you can also order from the online shop. Green Cat is also distributed in many GAS (Gruppo di Acquisto Solidale) groups in Italy, so you can also contact them directly to get more information about that.

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Question of the day: Are you a cat person or a dog person?

I’ve always loved cats. My family still to this day remembers when I was a little girl and told my mother that I wanted “a kitty that goes meow all by itself”! We got our first cat shortly after, not so much because I wanted one, but because it helped keep away the mice!

Salva