The latest cat litter that is available in the market is the cat litter made of silica. It differs from others in its ability to absorb and also dry out the liquid of cat urine, which helps to reduce the odor from the box. It can easily be put in the box at a depth of one inch and when the cat uses the box, its urine is absorbed and it also dries up so that there is no smell and the litter remains dry too. The cat poop has to be scooped out and either flushed or disposed off on a regular basis.
The greatest advantage of this litter box is that just one inch of litter may last for two weeks to about a month for a cat. Due to this, many cat owners recommend this type of litter as it makes the maintenance of litter box quite easy. But, there are a few drawbacks that it has, especially in relation to your cat's health.
Silica litter may be rough and sharp for your cat's feet whenever the cat uses the box. Although, the producers have tried to give it a softer texture, the problem still persists. In addition to this, there is also a concern, rather a fear that the cats may swallow silica particles during the act of cleaning themselves. Ingesting silica can be very dangerous.
Another issue is that it is not very healthy for the litter to remain the same and not change for almost a month. This litter is not like in clumping litter where the waste is taken out in a solid form. In silica litter, solid waste that has been "pertified" is removed. The liquid waste also dries up and there may be some bacterial action that may become unhealthy for the cat if it continues using it for a longer period of time.
On the flip side, the greatest advantage of silica litter is that it is very cost-effective for the owners as one litter box can easily last from about two weeks to almost a month for one cat. It is also not much trouble to take care of it as solid waste is needed to be removed only on a daily basis. Additionally, there is a need to change the litter box itself only one or two times in a month for one cat.
There is a midway that you can adopt. You can purchase scooping litters that are mixed with silica to control the odor. In this case, you can get all the benefits of silica without the disadvantages. Also, this kind of litter box will prove to be more comfortable for your cat.
The health issues concerned with the silica litter are quite a lot and also the sharpness that may injure your cat's feet is another issue. So, it is ideal to make use of a combination litter that has a small amount of silica with a good clumping litter which can give you odor-controlling results with much less risk to your pet's health.
