Customer Reviews

Swheat Scoop Natural Wheat Cat Litter Bag, 40-Pound

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Reading the other reviews of this product is fascinating. Bugs? Dust? Gooey messes? Allergic reactions? My experience with Swheat Scoop has been, happily, quite different. Heretofore, I've used clumping clay-based litters, most recently Arm & Hammer brand. With all of them, though, I've observed that they are very dusty when being poured into the litter box, that they cake onto the cats' feet and are tracked through the house, and that they do little to mask the odor of urine or feces. By contrast, Swheat Scoop has none of these drawbacks.

After using a 15-pound box for the first time with two cats, I have observed that:

- There is minimal tracking out of the litter box, and what there is is easily swept up, unlike clay litter which, when wet, sticks to the tile floor.

- There is only a pleasant, natural odor which completely absorbs all urine and feces odors, making the litter box room much more pleasant.

- There is no evidence of any dust whatsoever, even when pouring from the container into the litter box.

- Clumping is satisfactory. Sheat Scoop does not clump as tightly as clumping clay litters but is still easily scooped out of the litter box with a scoop designed for that purpose. It does not adhere to the sides or the bottom of the litter box as clay litter does, and the box has stayed much, much cleaner than when it was filled with clay litter. I realize that this directly contradicts some other reviewers' comments, but it is what I have observed.

- Again in contradiction to several other reviewers' observations, no weevils or any other insect life form infested the box of Swheat Scoop. It was perfectly lifeless!

- Although the instructions advise acclimating cats to the new litter by putting a layer of the old litter to which they are accustomed on top, I switched the litter completely and suddenly, and both cats took to the Swheat Scoop immediately. They had no adjustment problems whatsoever.

- The instructions also advise that some household pets may look upon the wheat content as food and try to consume the litter. However, my omnivorous canine, who would eat himself into oblivion if opportunity permitted, has never once attempted to nibble on the litter.

In short, this is the cleanest, best-smelling, and most effective cat litter I have ever come across, and both cats took to it immediately. I am thoroughly pleased with its appearance, odor, cleanliness, and performance. (And I can't believe that I'm actually writing a review of kitty litter, but this product is worth it!) I'm not discounting the negative experiences which some other reviewers have reported, but I cannot explain them unless there are environmental conditions at work. My first box of Swheat Scoop was purchased and used in semi-arid states low in humidity and with pretty low winter temperatures. Were I in a wetter, warmer southern state, perhaps my experience and satisfaction with Swheat Scoop would have been different.

I have used World's Greatest Litter for a couple years, and saw this on the shelves. So I decided to try it. Here was the result:
1. Swheat Scoop is cheaper than World's Greatest
2. Swheat Scoop is more fun to say.
3. Swheat Scoop is less dusty than World's Greatest

Now for the bad part:
1. I am very allergic to the dust Swheat Scoop causes
2. The clumping sticks like glue to the bottom of the box, no matter how deep I filled it.
3. The instructions on how to use it were in the bottom of the bag, which didn't halp until I'd already used most of it.
4. The litter tracks much worse than World's Greatest, since the clumps are harder, they stick between paws easier, and are transported to all areas of the house.
5. The litter is harder, so when you step on a tiny clump with bare feet, it hurts more. Only thing more painful is Litter Pearls.

So overall, I am not impressed. Your mileage may vary.

I was given a box of this when I purchased my kitten. He loves it and we love it. It scoops well, isn't dusty, is safe for kittens and isn't scented (I am chemically sensitive so this matters a lot to me). Even if he ate it it wouldn't harm him since it is just wheat. If I keep the minimum of 3" level in the litter pan it doesn't stick to the bottom. I've been amazed at how well it scoops. I just scoop it morning and evening and it doesn't get smelly at all.

You may want to get this locally since, after shipping, the discount usually works out about the same.

Because this litter is a wheat product, it attracts meal bugs. My bag actually came with the bugs in it - when I opened the bag, left it in the bathroom, and came back a few hours later, the bugs were crawling out of the bag and up the wall. I have done everything to eliminate the bugs. Naturally I disposed of every crumb of Swheat Scoop. But once you have these in your house, it is very difficult to get rid of them permanently, due to the life cycle of meal bugs. You think you've eliminated them, and then a few months later, they're back. Do not buy this product, even if you think it works great as a cat litter. You run the risk of being plagued by bugs forever.

I only recently bought a bag (a few days ago) and already feel good enough about it to write a review. All we've ever used is clay litter with all our cats over the past 15 years, and we were fine with it. It wasn't until the past couple of years or so that I became aware of the hazards of clay litter (causes respiratory problems in cats, dangerous for young kittens who haven't mastered the art of pottying [they step in their pee, litter clumps to the paws, kitten licks off litter and injests it, kitten dies]). But the healthier stuff is so expensive, and I believed that the stuff we were using was safe enough (we were buying relatively low-dust clay litter). Then we found another kitty on the streets and my brother had a baby, and we became aware of the smells of the litterboxes. There was a definite smell that we hadn't noticed before. So we started trying different stuff, like the 99% dust-free clay, which I still believe is the best of the clay litters. But the smell still remained, no matter how many fans you turned on or how often you used fragrance sprays. I pondered trying Feline Pine (great price at Walmart) or crystals but worried about how my cats would take to weird-looking "kibbles."

So a few days ago we took the plunge and bought a bag of Swheat Scoop, which I'd been wanting to try for the past year, and the first thing I noticed when I poured it into a clean box (I didn't bother slowly converting it, the clay litter went into the garbage) was that there was no dust. And just 10 minutes later, the room was obviously much more, well, smell-free. As an experiment, we're using only one box with Swheat Scoop, in my bedroom, and the other two litterboxes downstairs still have clay litter. It's a great way to find out if a cat doesn't like the new stuff without the cat pooping on the floor in a corner because she feels there's no other choice. Plus, being in a small room, it'd be easier to smell anything. So far, the results are obvious. The downstairs stinks, but the upstairs, even the bedroom in particular, is smell-free. Fortunately for me, my bedroom is right across from the bathroom, so I don't have to worry about treking across the house several times a day to clean the box. This is my favorite part, that I can flush it. My back is in heaven! My knees are thanking me! My skin has stopped crawling! All I have to do is bend over, scoop up the poop or pee clump and go to the bathroom and chuck the waste into the toilet. If needed, I return to the box and repeat the process. It's definitely much better than kneeling down and trying to breathe while scooping dusty poop and pee into a bag, then hauling the thing outside (I don't think it was ever an option having exposed poop and pee lying in a garbage can inside the house, lol). I don't know yet if there is a difference when it comes to completely cleaning it out, that is, by dumping out the litter iself and starting over fresh. It must be, because now I don't have to fret about where to put the litter (can't distribute it in the alley driveway, since when it rains, a mess ensues, and if I put it in a bag and put it in the garbage by the back door, you get attacked by the offending smell when you leave or enter the house). Maybe I can dump the Swheat Scoop into the garden at the front of the house, but it'll be at least a few weeks before I have to decide, so we'll see what happens.

As for clumping, it works great. It takes a little bit longer for the clumping to actually clump than clay does. When Molly (the newest cat in the family) tried out the litter during the first day we had it, she peed and then tried burying it, but she's a vigorous digger, so she started digging THROUGH the pee, which hadn't clumped yet. So I had to stop her and wait for teeny tiny clumps to form so I could get as much pee out as I could. But if the cat avoids distributing the pee throughout the whole box because she's paranoid about not burying it, everything is fine. Just wait 5 minutes (or less! I haven't exactly timed it yet, lol) and it'll be clumped well enough to move it to the toilet. So far as I can tell, Molly uses it the most, but I don't think Willow has tried it yet (she has sensitive toesies, so I really think she'll like it once she tries it) and I think Buffy has used it only once. SOMEBODY besides Molly has used it at least once already, because the poop I found in there yesterday wasn't the mushy poop that comes from Molly's sensitive tummy. And it's possible that Willow has peed in there by now because I found a Willow-sized clump of pee last night.

All in all, I've VERY satisfied with Swheat Scoop and I think it'll be worth the jump in price to keep using it.

I tried and tried to like this product, as I despise the clay based toxicity of most kitty litters, but there is one "con" that outweighs every "pro": BUGS. The first time I noticed what I believe are called wheat weevils, I threw away the litter in the pans and the fresh litter sealed in an airtight container, and cleaned EVERYTHING. I purchased new Swheat Scoop and, weeks later, past what should have been the next egg hatching cycle, I found what looked like millions of the bugs in a fresh box. They clearly are Trojan Horsing themselves into my life via the factory. I CANNOT get rid of them. I am having to have an exterminator come to my house and the company says I have to throw away all the grains in my home on top of it all. I have switched to a non-food based litter. I know that the invasion of these bugs is wholly due to chance, but I would like to warn those considering the purchase of Swheat Scoop: there IS a chance these bugs will move in and they will do everything in their power to stay.

I have been trying various cat litters that are made from things other than clay, so that my cats have less impact on the environment and so that I can flush everything down the toilet. I tried World's best cat litter, which is basically just toasted cracked corn, and it worked quite well, even in my automatic litter box. However, it's expensive - about [...] a pound. You end up spending close to [...] a month for litter for two cats.

So when I saw Swheat Scoop for about half the price I thought I'd try it. It was similar to World's Best in that it's made from wheat so it's flushable and natural. Only problem is it works horribly in the automatic box, although they claim it can be used there. The cat's liquid waste turns the litter into a pasty, sticky gob that sticks to the litter box bottom and/or to the rakes when they come by to clean the box. It simply isn't worth the price savings if you want a natural cat litter, at least if you have an automatic box. I guess it would be passable if you have a conventional litter box.

I've been using Swheat Scoop for years - switched from World's Best(which, alas, had too much dust for me. Swheat Scoop is fine with the cats and doesn't get tracked around as much as some other brands.

There is a problem with food moth infestations in our now hotter summers. Cure: crumple up a few bay leaves in the open litter tray and pop a few in the bag of unused litter. This also works to protect your herbs, dried beans, grains, etc.

I have 6 cats and I love this product. I don't have to worry about the clay getting digested by my cats or my family for that matter. One of my cats was getting sick from the clay, so I tried this since it was natural. Voila, healthy kitties!!

Sure it may not work in new fangled litter boxes but I don't think it was made to do that. It's a scoop litter that must sit for probably more than 10 min. to stay in a ball.

I love it and that's all that counts to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Plus this price is awesome. I usually have to travel 2 and a half hours to get this so the shipping is worth my gas and travel time!! Thank you!!!

I switched the litterboxes in my home to Swheat Scoop with the rabbit's safety in mind, but it has also done very well in controlling cat odors. I generally use a liner, but I've not had much trouble getting solid bits at the bottom out when I don't. Then again, the main box is round, so there are no corners for dirty litter to stick to, and the plastic of the box is a slippery-type, so that could play a part in it.

Those with concerns about dust in the litter should go with smaller sizes rather than the 40-lb. bags: because of they way they're packed and stacked, some in-bag grinding of the grain is inevitable.