Save $400 on Cat Litter by Using Chicken Crumbles

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For almost two years I've been using chicken crumbles (corn chicken feed) as cat litter, in place of World's Best Cat Litter. I find it funny how World's Best can charge so much for something as simple as ground up dried corn even if it is the one of the best and safest cat litters to use. I spent a lot of money using scoopable clay cat litter. I was using Fresh Step and it is almost up to $0.75 per pound now, and 25lbs fills only 1.5 boxes (I have 4 boxes, 1 per cat +1 extra). So on average would go thru 50lbs+ a month.

The problem with World's Best is the cost of $1.00 per pound. While the cost might scare you the reasons to use corn litter over clay litter will scare you even more. I have a cat with a urinary issue and another that wheezes. When researching corn litter I found that clay litter can be a culprit. Clay litter sticks and clumps, its not biodegradable and the dust can stick to the urinary tract and nasal passages. Corn litter is great, it clumps nicely, smells great, isn't sticky, and last twice as long as clay scoopable litters.

So how do I overcome the financial burden and health issues from clay litter while not paying more for the safer World's Best. I found online about using Chicken Crumbles instead. I used to work for Tractor Supply and knew what crumbles were and knew it looked a lot like corn litter. I purchased a small bag (20lb) of Dumor Chicken Starter Crumbles for $8.79 (more expensive that standard 50lb crumbles because of the ingredients) to try out, and this one bag filled 3 boxes.


The cats use it happily. It does clump quite nicely, however, it does so at the BOTTOM of the pan, which means you might have to scoop the pan to find where the cat peed, and literally scoop the clump off the bottom. It does make a nice round ball in the box. The clumps come right up and don't stick, like clay litters have for me. And it smells nice and clean. To transition from one type to the other I did use some of the old used clay litter and mixed it in with the corn to get the cats acclimated. Only one of my cats tried to eat a little bit outside the box but since its corn it isn't harmful unlike clay litter if ingested.


Now you might ask where do I keep everything. We keep the litter boxes in the garage (uncovered) and added a cat door to the door so the cats can go in and out as they please. I purchased a plastic feed container with wheels that holds the entire 50lb bag. And use a feed scoop to add a little litter as needed.


So how much do I save? 
Fresh Step 25lb - $22 x 24 boxes per year = $528
Worlds Best Cat Litter 18lb - $18 x 18 bags per year (apx since I never used it) = $324
Dumor Layer Crumbles 50lb - $13 x 10 bags per year = $130

Comments

  1. Jack EzelNovember 11, 2011 at 12:58 PM

    I had heard that, so I went and bought some Starter/Grower chick feed- LOVE it. The picture you show is not the Starter/Grower kind though- does the regular (adult?) chicken feed work as well? If so, I'll start using that, because it costs even less than the Starter/Grower!

    ReplyDelete
  2. GettinJigglyNovember 11, 2011 at 2:36 PM

    Yes it does. Only mentioned the starter because of the smaller bag size. Easier for comparison and if you just want to try.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Jack EzelNovember 14, 2011 at 10:14 AM

    Whoo hoo!!! Thanks for replying so quickly, WWadeII- I'm nearly out of the starter/grower bag, so I'll be heading to Tractor Supply this afternoon for a 50lb bag of the adult! haha! Too funny to get so excited over cat litter- tiny things please tiny minds, I suppose :-D

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousAugust 10, 2012 at 5:37 PM

    I purchased a 50lb. bag of Purina Chicken Crumbles for approx. $9.00 It works like a charm. It clumps better than the advertised clumping litter and if you scoop daily, it does not smell horrible like clay litter. Because it clumps so well you may have to add more crumbles through the week. It tracks but so does clay litter. I is just more visible than clay litter because it is a gold color. I've been changing it out once a week but I think one could easily go two week if you scoop every day and replace the litter you took out with fresh litter.

    ReplyDelete

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