Best Non-Clumping Cat Litter: Our Top 5 Picks

Non-clumping cat litters are the cheapest type. They come in a whole range of materials, and they often have less dust than even the best clumping cat litters.

But which is the best non-clumping cat litter?

In this article, we’ll take a look at our top 5 picks.

The Non-Clumping Cat Litter: Our 5 Top Picks

If you just want to know which products we recommend, have a look at the table below. If you want to know more about that product, click the ‘Read Our Review’ link.

Catsan Hygiene: Best For Most Cats

4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0 (4.1)

Catsan Hygiene does everything well. It’s well-priced, absorbent, traps odours and it’s easy to scoop and clean. It’s well-reviewed online too.

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Sanicat Diamonds Aloe Vera: Fantastic Odour Control & Long Lasting

4.3 out of 5.0 stars4.3 (4.3)

Sanicat Diamonds is the most expensive cat litter on our list but it’s excellent at trapping odours and lasted the longest during our tests. Our test cats loved it too!

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Catsan Hygiene Smart Packs: Best For Convenience

4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0 (4.1)

If you prefer the speed and convenience of lust lifting out and replacing a full tray when cleaning the litter box, Catsan Smart Packs are for you.

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CJ’s Premium Wood Pellets: Best Cheap Eco-Friendly Litter

3.8 out of 5.0 stars3.8 (3.8)

If cost is your main concern, CJ’s Premium Wood Pellet cat litter is almost dust-free, absorbent, and does a decent job at containing smells.

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Breeder Celect Paper Cat Litter: Best For Kittens

4.0 out of 5.0 stars4.0 (4.0)

Breeder Celect Recycled paper cat litter is best for kittens and cats with sensitive feet. Very absorbent and controls odours well.

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Why Should You Trust Us?

Here at Pet Checkers, we’ve been scooping cat litter trays every day since 2013. 

That puts us in the unique position of being able to;

1. Test lots of different types of litter
2. With different types of cats
3. Every single day

As such, we understand the frustrations of smelly cat litter that tracks all over the house!

How We Picked Our Cat Litters

When choosing different cat litters to test, we;

• Relied on our experience as professional cat poo scoopers
• Spoke with our customers to see what they do and don’t like about the cat litter they use, and
• Looked at online reviews on sites like Google, Amazon, Zooplus and Pets at Home

This gave us a range of different litters to test.

How We Ran Our Tests

To test our chosen cat litters over the course of a month in a ‘live’ environment, with the help of our customer’s cats.

That means we;

1. Bought the cat litter for our customers
2. Agreed to scoop and clean their litter boxes every morning and evening

We did this every day for four weeks and scored each product on;

• Cost – we calculated the average cost (per kilo) when buying them online.
• Dust – we wanted to see how dust it kicked up when pouring it into the litter.
• Odour – to see how it trapped odour, we stuck our faces in the litter tray.
• Tracking – we wanted to know hw far the litter tracked when cats jumped out of their tray.

Non-Clumping Cat Litter Reviews: A Closer Look at Our Top Picks

After testing 10 different non-clumping cat litters over 4 weeks, we’ve narrowed our recommendations to our 5 top picks.

So let’s take a closer look at why we think these are the best.

1. Catsan Hygiene: Best For Most Cats

Catsan Hygiene non-clumping cat litter is one of the UK’s most popular cat litters. And for good reason, it does everything well.

It’s well-priced, easy to pour and it’s almost dust-free.

And because it’s made from quartz dust and chalk, it’s white, unlike the grey colour you get with clay litters. So it always has a clean, ‘fresh’ look.

Scooping out solid waste is easy. It absorbs the wet stuff really well and it does a good job at holding onto smells.

It does track a bit. It’s not so fine that it gets stuck in your cat’s paws and ends up all over the house, but it does track. On the whole, though, we like Catsan Hygiene a lot.

2. Sanicat Diamond Silica Cat Litter: Long Lasting With Excellent Odour Control

If you hate the slightest whiff of smell from your cat’s litter box, try Sanicat Diamond Aloe Silica cat litter.

Silica litter works a bit different than other litters. It soaks up cat pee, locking in the smell and then slowly releasing all moisture. We found it was super absorbent. Even to the point of dehydrating solid waste which was easy to scoop. And because silica litter is designed to release moisture, you don’t need to scoop out wet crystals.

And the crystals are big enough to not get stuck in your cat’s paws, so they don’t track very much at all. We found a bag of silica litter lasted longer than any other type of non-clumping cat litters.

Good job too, as it ain’t cheap when compared to other litters on this list!

3. Catsan Hygiene Smart Packs: The Most Convenient Option

If your life needs that extra bit of convenience, Catsan Hygiene Smart Packs are for you.

They contain the same litter as the original Catsan Hygiene. But instead of pouring it into the tray, it comes in a ready-made tray liner.

This makes changing your cat’s litter tray super easy. All you have to do is lift the tray liner out, tie it up and put it in the bin. Then replace it with another.

The liner itself has an absorbent layer on the bottom to catch any liquid the litter might miss.

If you only have one cat, then a smart pack should last a week. If you have cats that share the same litter box, they might only last 2-3 days. That said, you can extend the life of each Smart Pack by scooping out soiled litter and adding clean.

4. Breeder Celect Recycled Paper Cat Litter: Best For Kittens and Cats With Sensitive Feet

If you have;

1. Kittens that you’re litter training or
2. A cat that’s sensitive about their litter box

Then try Breeder Celect Recycled Paper cat litter.

The recycled paper pellets are much softer on cat’s paws than wood, silica or clay.

In fact, while we were testing, we had a few cats avoid using other types of litter. It was only when we tried this softer litter that they were happy to use their tray. This surprised us!

Thankfully, it works better than we expected it to.

Because it’s paper, it’s lightweight and dust-free. It’s also super absorbent and contains the stink better than we thought it would.

And because they’re pellets, it doesn’t track.

However, because it’s so light, we found some cats;

1. Would kick it out of their litter box while covering up their eliminations.
2. Could tip up their tray if they like to perch on the edge of their tray when toiletting. This happened and made a mess!

Like the wood pellet cat litter, Breeder Celect recycled paper litter is biodegradable. So you can compost it or put it in the green waste.

5. CJ’s Premium Ultra Absorbent Wood Pellets: Best Cheap Eco Cat Litter

CJ’s Premium Wood Pellet Cat Litter also made it onto our list of the best eco-friendly cat litter.

At around £0.86 per kilo, it’s cheap. But that doesn’t mean it’s no good.

Because it’s made from wood pellets, it’s not dusty at all. And it doesn’t track as finer litters do.

The pellets themselves are very absorbent and during our tests, soaked up cat pee really well. The pellets break down into sawdust and then dry out. So it doesn’t smell.

That said we did find that if we didn’t keep on top of scooping out the sawdust, it became a bit mushy if it kept getting wet.

And instead of chucking it in the bin after use, you can either compost it or put it in your green waste bin. So it’s better for the environment.

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