I've always had an issue with cat litter tracking. Cat goes to pee / poop, and after climbing out of the tray, their paws bring a bit of the litter onto the floor. A bit of sand doesn't matter, but when human or cat re-walks on said floor, the litter goes along, and scatters all over the house! plus it feels pretty yucky to walk on a cat littered floor. It's sandy and uncomfortable, and worse when your feet are wet. then the sand 'melts' onto your feet! yucky indeed!
No go with changing cat litter cos' pine like materials (Pee Wee and similar products)! While the bigger pellets are easier to sweep, my dear princess wouldn't have any of that chunky things underneath her dainty paws! She held her pee for a day and a half and I got so worried, I immediately gave her normal clumping sand! Crystal litter? Once I saw a crystal stuck to her paw, and she was cleaning/licking her paw and I saw her swallow it!!!! No point risking her health just so I can have a clean floor!
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| pellets too huge for princess muffins! |
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| Muffins once swallowed a crystal - can't be any good swallowing this into her intestines right! so i stopped this litter! |
Fine, clumping sand litter it is (but i still don't like it cos' it's dusty and bad when they breathe it in, and also soooo much tracking). I reckon the old school method of peeing directly into the gully would be most environmentally friendly cos' no litter is used and saves you money! but can be a bit messy if your cat is not careful. Some also use a toilet bowl thingy for their cats, but Jackson Galaxy does not recommend it cos' you can't monitor the cats' pee and poo, plus when they are old, they might not be able to climb, and also if they are in a different place (e.g. vet or cat lodging), they might get stressed cos' they dun have their usual toilet bowl to pee/poop into, etc. but in terms of environmentally friendliness and wallet friendliness, the gully would be best i suppose. Then again, that's not for me to decide. The cats decide how they wanna defecate! Okay, I'm rambling.....back to the cat mat...
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| No you don't change my cat litter without my permission! |
STILL a nice clean floor would be nice, just that it cannot involve changing princess darling's clumping sand litter! I subscribe to Hauspanther (oh, you should soooo join her mailing list! so many new recommendations and pretty things are featured on her blog! but you have to know how to restrain yourself!!), and when I saw the blackhole cat mat being featured, I was so eager wanted to get it! But shipping from the US is soooo expensive and the exchange rate is not favorable now. Surprisingly I searched on Qoo10 and there was a seller! It was still ex, but shipping was so cheap! $2.50! from korea! so heck, why not.
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| Muffins checking out the parcel! |
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| I got 2 mats. Parcel is bulky, but v light. Mat was folded. |
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| Mats had some fold lines, but after using for a week or so, it flatten. Ah Bai also checking out the mats! He's a lot more accommodating to changes in his litter! |
I have been using the blackmore cat mat it for about 3 weeks or so, and i LOVE it! Loads of the sand gets trapped in the holes, and even when the humans walk on it, the sand is trapped btw the 2 layers, and doesn't touch the humans feet or cat's paws! so it doesn't get brought along to the other parts of the house!
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| positioned the cat mats where the cats usually exit from the trays! |
Quality
- other than a slight tinge of smell initially that went away after a few days (my nose is hyper sensitive to such rubber smells, but this was ok! so you may not smell anything), quality is really good and top notch. Nice sturdy mat, good quality stitching etc. I saw muffins try to scratch on it, and I think it will definitely hold up cos' the mat is really quite sturdy and hard! But if your cat's a crazy scratcher, then over time might fray i suppose!
Cost
- at SGD75 per mat, I find it expensive. But heck for the convenient, comfort and quality, it is really a value buy especially if you are a tad OCD and hate tracking and the constant sweeping.
Comfort
- It is a little hard (aka slightly painful) if you stand on it for too long (when cleaning their pee/poop!), and Muffins initially hesitated and avoided the mat as far as she can. Once I noticed her hesitation, I encouraged and praised her lots and guided her onto the mat, and amazingly she responded! She is definitely more okay with walking onto the mat now, though she doesn't really like the feeling (probably a bit hard), but hey! she uses it now!
-While it is not so comfortable standing on the mat for long, it is definitely more comfortable walking across a clean mat without the sand sticking onto your feet!
Pros
- Reduces tracking by quite a lot! I reckon 90%!
- Cleaner house cos' less sand and dust over the house...which also means less frequent sweeping - esp good for lazy yet OCD peeps like me.;)
- Easy to clean the mat cos' all you have to do is to pour it out (there are holes on either side of the mat).
- More comfort in terms of not stepping on yucky sandy litter left on the floor.
- Good Quality - good stitching, sturdy construction.
Cons
- Expensive
- Probably need more than one mat. While it is a fairly big mat, for my 3 litter trays, I needed minimum 2 mats to cover the areas.
- Slightly uncomfortable to the feet cos' it can be quite hard if you stand on it for long.
- If your cats are uber uber fussy, you might need to encourage them that the mat's not gonna eat them up! Lucky muffins was okay after some encouragement!
- Not suitable for pee wee and super large granules cos they will remain on top of the mat! I also use Oko clumping pine, and while much larger than clumping sand, 90% still gets trapped in btw the mat.:)
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