Tired of scooping and sifting heavy and clumping cat litters? Then it’s time you get the best lightweight cat litters for the convenience of cleaning your cat’s litter box.
Litter is the basic essential in every cat household but having to clean and sift the litter is not everyone’s cup of tea. Carrying heavy buckets and bags of dirty, clumped litter to the trash bin is very tiresome and difficult.
Moreover, scooping and lifting the litter box with heavy amounts of litter each time is not an easy task. Heavy clumps and particles are difficult to manage and clean, which would lead to nothing but a dirtier litter box. For a convenient and manageable choice of pellets, what helps is lightweight cat litters.
Suitable for most litter boxes and types, lightweight cat litters offer the ease of lifting and pouring pellets easily while cleaning or replacing litter from the box. For the same reason, we help you choose the best lightweight cat litters for you and your furball.
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The Best Lightweight Cat Litters of 2023
1. Purina Tidy Cats Light Weight Cat Litter
Purina Tidy Cats Light Weight Clumping Cat Litter is one of the best lightweight cat litters due to its feather-like consistency and quick clumping action which is also suitable for multi-cat households.
The lightweight offers more amount of litter for the same price meaning, it is cost-efficient and convenient to clean as well. It forms no dust clouds, making it easy to clean and pour into the box. The ammonia blocker technology prevents odor for up to 2 weeks.
Features
- Size: 17 lb
- Material: Clay
- Type: Clumping Multi-Cat Litter
- 50% lighter than regular litter
- Comes with clear springs scent
The glade clear springs fragrance also keeps your cat’s litter box area smelling pleasant and works on tough ammonia odor effectively. It is 50% lighter than any other regular litter.
To conclude, we think this is the best light weight cat litter.
- Strong odor control for multiple cats
- Easy to store and pour due to lightweight consistency
- Prevents ammonia odor for up to 2 weeks
- Strong clumping action
- The litter is very dusty
2. Cat’s Pride Fresh and Light Multi-Cat Litter
Cat’s Pride Fresh and Light Multi-Cat Litter is one of the most premium quality lightweight cat litters as if offers ultimate clumping action and is hypoallergenic. It is also suitable for multiple cat households.
The lightweight litter offers superior quality odor control and forms strong and firm clumps for ease of scooping and cleaning from the box. The litter offers ultimate performance and lasts for up to a month.
Features
- Size: 10 lbs (2 jugs)
- Material: Clay
- Type: Hypoallergenic Clumping Multi-Cat Litter
- 50% lighter than regular litter
- Dust Free and Low Tracking Formula
You get two 10 pound jugs and each jug lasts for about a month producing 140+ clumps. It produces no dust and thereby prevents litter tracking. Cat’s Pride Fresh and Light is the perfect partner for your cat’s litter box. It can be counted as one of the best no-tracking litter.
- Forms quick, firm and strong clumps
- Lasts up to 1-month providing superior efficiency
- Suitable for multi-cat households
- 50% lighter than regular clumping litter
- The litter is very sticky and needs to be scraped
3. Frisco Clumping Lightweight Cat Litter
Frisco Lightweight Clumping Cat Litter is one of the best lightweight cat litters under a budget. It is 50% lighter than any other clumping litter and is also suitable for multi-cat households.
The soft granular texture and the lightweight feather like consistency feels soft on your cat’s sensitive paws. The all natural clay formula comes with a mild fragrance to effectively eliminate strong smells and odor.
Features
- Size: 10 lbs
- Material: Natural Clumping Clay
- Type: Floral Fresh Scented Multi-Cat Litter
- 50% lighter than regular litter
- Fast clumping and low dust formula
It shows quick clumping action and produces low dust for easy maintenance and cleaning. The lightweight litter is is easy to pour into litter boxes as well as store and carry to trash cans.
- Highly absorbent and quick clumping
- Smooth texture
- Extremely lightweight particles for ease of sifting and cleaning
- It is very dusty
- Sticks to the walls of the litter box, difficult to clean
4. Fresh Step Clumping Lightweight Cat Litters
The Fresh Step Lightweight Clumping Cat Litter is absolutely unscented and is 30% light in weight than regular clumping litter. It also offers a 10-day odor control with no added artificial fragrances.
The litter is known to clump quite effectively which aids in easy scooping. The ClumpLock Technology absorbs liquid and forms firm clumps. The low dust formula ensures clean floors and cleaner air to avoid allergies and respiratory disorders.
Features
- Size: 15.4 lbs
- Material: Clay
- Type: Simply Unscented Clumping Litter
- Low dust formula
- 10-day odor control
The lightweight clumping litter by Fresh Step is recommended by vets and is made keeping in mind the health and happiness of your pet and your family. The lightweight formula is easy to lift, pour, and store. It has activated charcoal for bacterial odor elimination.
- Offers 10-day odor control
- 30% lighter than regular clumping litter
- Contains no artificial fragrances and scents
- Causes litter to spill out of the box
- Produces dust
5. Arm & Hammer Clump and Seal Lightweight Cat Litter
The Arm & Hammer Clump and Seal Lightweight Cat Litter is suitable for multi-cat households and is 50% light in weight than any other regular clumping litter. It offers 7-day odor control and has extra strength to eliminate dirty smells.
The lightweight litter is known to seal odor particles and does not produce any dust. Moreover, the lightweight allows in easy pouring and scooping of litter.
Features
- Size: 30 pound
- Material: Clay
- Type: Clumping
- 100% Dust Free
- 50% Lighter than regular litter
- 7-day odor control
The 100% dust-free formula does not cause any litter tracking and clumps effectively for ease of cleaning as well. It has Arm & Hammer baking soda for odor elimination which helps in effectively reducing the strong ammonia smell from urine.
- Smooth texture and lighter than regular litter
- Offers strong odor control
- Suitable for multi-cat households
- The texture of the litter is very grainy
- Tends to track cat litter everywhere
Buyer’s Guide
Lightweight Cat Litters are suitable for any type of litter boxes, especially mechanical and high sided ones which require manual and frequent cleaning. It can also help in the efficient use of litter, as it forms smaller, firmer clumps that are easy to scoop and sift.
We suggest you some features for choosing the best lightweight cat litters for your kitty.
Read the difference between clumping and non-clumping cat litter for fruitful knowledge.
What is Lightweight Cat Litter?
As the name suggests, lightweight cat litter is lighter than the standard forms of litter and is usually made of clay or natural materials like paper, shells, pine, or wheat.
There are no different ingredients or materials used when it comes to comparing standard and lightweight cat litter. The different manufacturing processes and the size of the particles make most of the difference. Lightweight cat litter may get dusty and can cause respiratory issues.
However, with appropriate care and handling and by choosing a suitable high sided litter box, these dust associated issues can be avoided.
There have also been speculations about using harmful ingredients in lightweight cat litter in order to attain light and smooth texture which is not true. Moreover, there are various advantages of using lightweight cat litters as it offers ease of cleaning and scooping dirty clumps.
Benefits of Using Lightweight Cat Litters
As the name suggests, lightweight cat litter is not heavy making it suitable to carry and sift. But it has more than what meets the eye. Take a look below to find out:
Efficient Litter Use
Lightweight Litter forms tight clumps with less amount of litter used. This makes it easy to sift and scoop as the clumps remain firm and don’t fall apart. Moreover, the amount of litter used to form lumps is less.
This is also an eco-friendly way of using and disposing of as less litter used will lead to lesser waste, and thereby, reduce your ecological footprint.
Easy to Clean
Lightweight makes it easy to carry and lift. There might be instances where you may have to lift the litter box for cleaning or shifting its location.
Moreover, litter boxes with sifting pans need to be lifted with the dirty litter which can get heavy. Heavy litter makes the box heavy, which can get difficult to manage for people with joint issues or old aged members.
Therefore, lightweight cat litters make it easy to lift, scoop and sift the litter without making the litter too heavy.
Easy to Dispose
Say goodbye to heavy trash cans and heavy garbage bags filled with large clumps of litter. Lightweight litters don’t make you carry heavy trash bags to the garbage bin, making it easy to clean and dispose of automatically.
Good as Standard Litter
The only basic difference between standard litter and lightweight cat litters is the manufacturing processes. The particle size is smaller, which makes the particles light in weight.
Nevertheless, the ingredients used are the same and lightweight pellets are equally efficient as standard forms of litter.
Value for Money
Since the litter is light in weight, you get more quantity of litter for the price you pay. It weighs less, so you get more volume in the packet, which makes it very cost-effective as it offers use for a longer amount of time.
If you are using a certain quantity of standard litter, you may have to use two to three times lesser the quantity of lightweight litter to fill up to the same capacity.
How to Choose the Best Lightweight Cat Litters?
Here are the steps you must consider before choosing the best lightweight cat litters for your kitty:
Material
Lightweight cat litter can be made of any material or ingredient that is involved in making standard litter. It is only the manufacturing process that changes whereas the ingredients and material remains the same.
Cat litter is mostly available in different materials like clay, silica gel, or natural materials including wood, paper, cornmeal, etc.
Each material has its own individual properties but it is a generally known fact that litter made of paper and clay would be lighter than any other form of litter. Most lightweight litters are made of clay which helps in easy clumping and scooping.
Reduced Weight
It is always best to compare the weight of lightweight cat litters with that of standard litter. Generally, lightweight litters should weigh 25-30% lesser in comparison to standard litter and the difference is certainly noticeable upon lifting each type.
Scented or Unscented?
While scented litters help in masking the dirty smell coming from your cat’s litter box, felines don’t prefer the overwhelming fragrance that accompanies after eliminating the dirty odor.
Moreover, artificial fragrances may cause allergies to your cat and it is best to keep such types of litter at bay. Cats generally prefer natural scents over artificial fragrances as it gives them a natural, homelike feeling which attracts them more towards the box.
Therefore, unscented lightweight cat litters is the clear winner.
Clumping or Non-Clumping
Its a known fact that clumping litter offers better convenience of cleaning than non-clumping counterparts. Therefore, if you are buying lightweight litter for the convenience of cleaning and sifting, then clumping litter additionally aids the cleaning process.
Non-clumping litter on the other hand does not form hard and firm clumps and mostly includes natural varieties like paper, walnut shells, etc. They are safe but difficult to manage.
Dust Proof and Non-Tracking
The most common problem associated with lightweight cat litters is that they are very dusty since their particles are small in size. They can easily spill out of the litter box or even spread in the air due to their small size and light texture.
Moreover, lightweight cat litters can cause dust allergies and respiratory disorders to family members as well as your cat. Since the particles are very tiny and feather-like, they can easily cling to your cat’s paws and cause litter tracking outside their box on your floors or carpets.
Look for lightweight cat litter brands that mention of being dust proof and cause low tracking. Additionally, you can also look for tracking mats or ramps and place them under the litter box. These mats help in keeping the dust stuck to the mat’s surface so it does not spread around the house.
Cat’s Choice
What if your cat refuses to use the litter box due to the litter itself? What is she does not like the quality and texture of the lightweight cat litter you get for her. In that case, it is experimental and you may have to try a few types of litter before your cat zeros down on one.
Generally, felines prefer, clumping clay litter as it is soft for their sensitive paws, has tiny granules, and helps them to dig inside their litter box. Therefore, choosing lightweight cat litters that offer easy clumping action, are the best bet.
Type of Litter Box
If your cat is an extensive digger, and has a habit of throwing litter outside the box, then lightweight cat pellets are susceptible to spreading outside quite easily.
Each time your cat enters or exits the box, she may carry some amount of litter in her paws which may lead to the tracking and spreading of particles outside the box.
Therefore, if you have chosen lightweight cat litter for your feline’s box, make sure the box has high sided walls or a top entry to prevent litter from spreading on your floors and carpets.
A high sided cat litter box will make sure that the litter particles remain inside the box and not go outside of it.
FAQs
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Are lightweight cat litters safe for kittens?
Whether lightweight cat litters are safe for kittens depends upon the type of litter.
Natural lightweight cat litters are safe for kittens whereas the ones made of clay can cause respiratory problems and intestinal blockage. Kittens have a habit of ingesting litter and lightweight clay litters are not suited for kittens.
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How is lightweight cat litter made?
Lightweight cat litters are made of the same ingredients as that of standard litter but follow a different manufacturing process than the usual process.
The general procedure includes gathering, drying, and sorting. Lightweight cat litter has a smaller particle size which makes it almost as light as feather.
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Is lightweight cat litter better than standard litter?
Yes! Lightweight cat litter is better than standard litter as it is easy to clean and sift, making it convenient to handle.
It is also cheaper and more cost-efficient as compared to standard litter and hence preferred by most cat parents.
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How much do lightweight cat litters cost?
Lightweight cat litters cost anywhere between $7-$27 depending upon the ingredients, quality, odor control, and various other factors. One of the best lightweight cat litters is the Purina Tidy Cats LightWeight Cat Litter that costs around $20-$22.
A premium quality lightweight cat litter would be the Cat’s Pride Fresh and Light Multi-Cat Litter which costs around $25-$27.
For a budget purchase, you can opt for the Frisco Clumping Lightweight Cat Litter which costs around $7-$10.
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What is the best lightweight cat litter?
According to us, one of the best lightweight cat litters is the Purina Tidy Cats Light Weight Cat Litter which is almost feather-like and gentle on your cat’s sensitive paws.
A premium quality lightweight cat litter would be the Cat’s Pride Fresh and Light Multi-Cat Litter which is 50% lighter and offers superior odor control.
One of the most pocket-friendly lightweight cat litters would be the Frisco Clumping Lightweight Cat Litter that comes with a fresh glade scent for odor removal.
Final Note
Lightweight cat litters are being preferred by most cat parents simply because they are convenient to lift and handle with a litter box. Lightweight cat litters make it easy to lift, sift and pour litter inside the box and are very soft in texture. They are easy to carry and dispose which also makes it suitable for travel cat litter boxes.
One of the major issues with lightweight litter is that they cause high tracking and dust allergies. This can cause respiratory disorders in various households that are prone to allergies. However, if used with an appropriate high sided litter box, the dust and litter particles would not spread anywhere outside the box.
Our reviews on the best lightweight cat litters will help you choose an ideal feather-like litter that is easy to lift, sift, and manage.