Okay, I admit, it’s been a while since I’ve posted here. That’s because I’ve been working on a major redesign. From now on, this blog will focus on something that’s tremendously important to me: kitty litter. It will feature:
In-depth reviews of cat litter – every brand available in supermarkets and pet stores, plus alternatives like sawdust, shredded newspapers, and other homemade formulas.
A litter taxonomy, providing a standardized way to categorize litter by consistency, primary ingredient, color, scent, density, and aerodynamics.
Fun interactive contests, including:
- Litterbox caption contests.
- Litter identification contests – based on a picture, who can come closest to guessing the brand of litter, number, age, sex, and breed of cats, amount of time since the box was last scooped, and what the cat(s) were eating?
- Name that tune – after listening to the sound of a cat scratching around in a litter box, can you identify the sex, age, and breed of cat, brand of litter, and amount of litter in the box?
- Premium subscribers can also participate in weekly deluxe contests – these are just like the standard litter identification contests, except that instead of working from a photograph, you’ll receive a sample of litter mailed to your home.
I hope you’re all as excited about this as I am. If not, you can always check out a story I wrote that went live on Flash Fiction Online today.
Unlikely Explanations 
Is this your way of saying you’re not speaking to me? :-)
Well not exactly. But my talking points on kitty litter are lacking.
Actually I commented. Wonder where it is!
I think it was abducted by aliens. Your name isn’t linked to your blog in that non-comment, either.
Who knows where the comment goes … It shows for no one …
Last night I spied, amidst the glare
A comment that just was not there.
It wasn’t there again today.
It seems to want to stay away.
It’s probably in the litter box.
Life is like that.
How did she even comment without commenting? Is she magic?
Hahaha! You almost had me there. But I hope you’re serious. Litter aerodynamics is a topic near and dear to my heart.
Just wait until I get to litter thermodynamics.
I can’t resist leaving a serious comment. (Laura, you probably had no idea that there are some very strong opinions out here about cat litter…) When I lived in Alaska, my neighbor Al once took care of my cats for me for ten days while I was away. At the time, I lived in a one-room cabin with a loft, and the kitty litter was in two cat boxes in the loft. It was the clumping kind of litter, which meant voluminous quantities had to be scooped out and disposed of. And my cats were the kick-it-around-the-floor kind. A particular problem with this setup was that there was no running water up in the loft, so that any cleanup was, well – complicated.
Anyway, Al, who had a 20-year old cat himself, gave me a lecture when I got home. He said forget the clumping stuff – the method he’d used for 20 years was to line the bottom of the litter box with a generous amount of baking soda and to put old-fashioned, non-clumping litter on top of that. Much less stuff to remove from the box, much less stuck to the bottom of the box, and the baking soda kept it from smelling. Much cheaper, too.
I put particular stock in Al’s opinions, because he was a real Alaskan (even though he was from Michigan) and had the most impressive beard I’d ever seen (in fact, it was Al’s beard that inspired me to let my short hair grow long.)
I used his method for the rest of my cats’ lives, in both Alaska and Oregon. In Oregon I bought both the baking soda and the litter at my handy dollar store, for a fraction of what I’d been spending before..
I will never go back to non-clumping litter. Of course, my litter boxes are about two steps away from the bathroom sink. (BTW, I put up with stuff landing outside the box for years until it finally occurred to me to trade in my “large” litter boxes for enormous ones).
Wish my mom would “spring” for the good litter. Meowwww.
Nice!
Weird. I was just wondering about you last weekend! I’m so glad you’re back and that you’re writing about critically important consumer products!
Yes! A blog can come back after a long hiatus. *Looks pointedly in your direction.*
Will there be anything about the optimal scooping techniques, like whether it’s better to go in straight lines, or in circular motion, and if the latter, clockwise or counterclockwise? And do I scoop pee lumps or poop lumps first? Oooh, I have so many questions!!!
Welcome back. Hope there’ll be a little shorter periods between your posts. :)
Thanks! I need to start making some instructional videos.
Nice to have you back. One can never have too much kitty litter analysis, even in my day job as a kitty litter tester.
I wish I had a day job as glamorous as yours.
I miss having my cats. The way they’d neatly cover up their bidnezz and in the process kick out every ounce of litter straight onto my laundry room floor. But I suppose having kids really isn’t any different now.
Awww, sorry you’re catless. If you want, I can start mailing envelopes of kitty litter to your kids and ask them to spread it around the laundry room floor for you.
It’s been “a while.” A WHILE?
We’d love to hear from you. Even about kitty litter.
My original plan was to wait a year and a day after my last post and then deny there was any gap at all.
Caption: Shop the look! Non-clumping litter ($3.99) and royal blue plastic box ($6.99) from Petco, color coordinated acrylic coated spring from Cat Call Fashion ($14.99).
Remember, you saw it first right here on catboxfashion.com.
Kitty litter giveaways too?
My cats were so excited until they discovered you have not yet put out a second article. Now they think you’re just another untrustworthy human. :)