Customer Reviews

Yesterdays News Original Cat Litter - 30 lb

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I HATE clay litter. Most of them have perfumes which I'm sensitive to, and the pieces get stuck in the cats' paws. Since my husband insists on allowing his cat to sleep in the bed with us (I don't mind this) the pieces of clay litter also ended up in the bed, and as you can imagine (or perhaps don't have to imagine) those pieces are incredibly uncomfortable to lie on. I also never enjoyed stepping on them on the floor. There's also the dust issue. I tried Swheat Scoop, which I was happy with because it didn't have such a perfume smell to it and it was made from a more renewable resource, but it's VERY dusty. More so, I thought, than the clay litter had been. So I went back to clay litter for a time, then found Feline Pine clumping litter. It was softer, so if pieces made it to our bed, I couldn't feel them, but the pieces that got onto our microfiber furniture were very hard to remove. I liked this for a short while...it worked well enough, but my husband complained about the furniture issue and I couldn't clean the litter box without a layer of dust coating the lenses of my glasses. I soon realized there was a film from it on my bathroom door, floor, and everywhere else.
We had always used clumping litters, so I was hesitant to try a non-clumping version, but I really liked the idea of Yesterday's News. I've been using it for a month or two now and I'm very happy with it. There really isn't any dust and no pieces make their way to our bed or the furniture. The cats kick a few pieces out onto the floor when they leave the litter box, but nothing is getting stuck in their paws and the pieces on the floor are easy to see so I can avoid stepping on them.
Another review talked about how difficult it is to clean the litter box with Yesterday's News. I, too, have 2 cats and I initially tried cleaning out the feces and urine-soaked pieces of litter, and also found it near impossible (much more with the urine-soaked pieces than the feces). The urine actually sinks to the bottom, so I have to agree with the other reviewer that it would be good if there was a way to just remove the bottom 1/4 of the litter. But I've found that with my 2 cats, it's easiest to just change the litter box completely every 4 days or so. This may seem like a waste, but given the amount of clean litter I was scooping out while trying to clean out the soiled litter, I think it's an even exchange.
I think I've finally found a litter that both my husband and I can be happy with. :)

The idea of using recycled newspaper for cat litter is awesome. A great re-use for a used product in ample supply.

Unfortunately, as cat litter it falls way short, in my opinion.

I've had cats most of my life, usually 2 in the house at the same time since 1988. I've tried both clumping and non-clumping litter for over a decade each. I saw this "Yesterday's News" product for the first time about 6 months ago, thought it was a great concept and thought I'd give it a try.

The litter is very absorbent, as it claims to be, and also not dusty like clumping litters. But aside from that, it has downsides:

--Difficult to find and remove soiled litter. It absorbs but doesn't clump. So getting rid of the urine-soaked pieces versus the non-soiled pieces is a challenge. Ideally you'd like to completely remove the bottom 1/4 inch of litter pieces in the box, but of course that's very difficult. Finding feces pieces is also a bit tough since the litter is similarly-colored.

--Very stinky to change. While I did my best to remove used pieces as the box was being used, a lot of them remained and when it came to time change the entire box it was just about the smelliest and most urine-y litter box cleanup job I've ever had to deal with.

--Congealed bottom pieces also a challenge. Since it's difficult to remove the used pieces, they would tend to congeal at the bottom of the pan. And for me, trying to scoop that congealed layer would cause the scoop to slip sending litter flying out of the box and all over the floor. Now, I admit there might be better ways to change the whole box, but this was a real bummer for me.

So maybe I didn't follow the directions closely enough or maybe I don't *get* it, but no cat litter should be this difficult and unpleasant to use. Therefore I don't recommend this cat litter. It might be good for specific implementations like for folks who truly have bad health problems with other litters' dust or if you have sick cats, but for routine use it doesn't cut the mustard. I gave it 2 stars instead of 1 only because using recycled newspaper is a good concept and it does indeed absorb well. I'll be going back to clumping litters which are easiest and best to use IMHO.

I absolutely love this kitty litter! I don't know what others are referring to when they say they have a hard time scooping it. Maybe my scooper has larger slots in it than most so the unused pellets fall through.. As far as the pellets that have been peed on, where are your troubles coming from? I clean the litter box daily and have no issues scooping out anything. I love that this a recycled product, less waste for the earth. Plus you don't get the dusty smell of the clay litters.

After reading all the other postings, I had to post my own review of this product, rather than just comment on some of the others.

After using clumping litter for many years and going through brand after brand (some claiming to be "dust-free" or "99.9% dust-free"), I just got really sick of it and the constant floor/room dusting. We have an extra full-sized room at the back of our house that is just for storage and the cat's litter boxes; even so, I can't stand a dust-covered room.

So #1 reason I recommend this litter - it is literally DUST-FREE. I don't have to worry about wearing my contacts when cleaning litter, or the fine dust that can scratch your glasses, or getting it in my contact-free, glassless eyes! I don't have to breathe in the stuff, or feel like I need to wash my hair and take a bath after scooping it.

2nd reason I recommend it: contains odor very well. Granted I don't have a problem - as some apparently do - in distinguishing poop from litter, or in cleaning out the litter box daily. Perhaps I have a brighter lit area to work with, so I can see the poop better? Also, my cats don't have a problem digging into it and covering up their mess. One of them initially didn't like the change and left their poop at the top, but, after about a week, got over that/figured it out and stopped that behavior. Lastly, I like a clean house and clean litter boxes, so I do wash out the pan (after all, sometimes their pee hits the sides of the box) once every week or two. It only takes about 10 minutes on the patio w/a hose & then leave to air-dry - what's the big deal? Granted, in the winter-time I have to be satisfied with pouring a small bucket of warm, soapy water in the empty pan, switching it around and then pouring it in the toilet to clean it....As for the other issues some have of urine congealing, etc., you'll have to read to the bottom of this post for a solution.

3rd reason I recommend it: no perfumed odor! I don't smell like cat litter and don't have a perfumed-by-cat-litter smelling room! Who wants to smell like perfumed cat litter? I used to like the perfumed smell of some litters (it made me think "fresh"), but after scooping litter for so many years, I just came to associate it with - well, cat poop!

4th reason I recommend it: when throwing away small lots or the whole lot at once, it won't require a specially reinforced trash bag (or doubled trash bags) to do it.

5th reason: when used properly, it is NOT as expensive as some find it to be. You simply don't have use/waste as much as some claim. (again, read on for an explanation)

6th reason: does not track practically at all. Easier to sweep up what does than grainy, traditional litter. Not sure why some reviewer's cats track it/spill it out of the box as much as they claim they do....too much litter in the box? Cats playing with the pellets?

We didn't start out happy w/this litter. Our vet recommended we use Yesterday's News after our cat's surgery, which our 2 cats were already using because of some allergy issues one of them had. We only just switched to YN and, though it seemed to contain the odors and the cats were fine with it, we were frustrated because we thought we had to throw away the whole thing after only a few days - rather costly compared to the clumping litter. But the vet instructed my hubby to buy a sifting type of litter pan (with "pee pad"). Looking at the sifting pans and the litter, we couldn't understand how it could possibly work. After reading a posting from another on this site, the light bulb came on!

I place the pad / cheap trash bag at the bottom of the pan, add 1" litter, lay the sifter on top of that, then add the final layer of 2 - 3" of litter. Every few days, I throw away the bottom layer and replace that layer.

I also realized I was using too much litter in the pan initially, and made that change as well. It took us a while to go from clumping to this type of litter. You cannot think of it and use it the same way at all, but being really and truly dust-free and not having all that litter weight to work with, and being free of that perfumed cat litter smell is much appreciated!

In my opinion, Yesterday's News does not work well compared to clumping cat litter. I only have one cat, and after a day you can smell the odor pretty badly (even with our filtered, covered litter box). The large pellets do not cover the feces at all, but they do absorb the urine. Another thing is, you pretty much have to empty the whole litter box every time you change it because you can't use a pooper scooper very easily. I would definately recommend getting a clumping litter instead, unless you are allergic or something.

I use Yesterday's News, unscented, for my rabbit. He seems to prefer it over other newspaper litters.

The only trouble I have is in finding it! I wish it was on the Subscribe & Save program at Amazon, as I imagine shipping costs would kill the bargain.

Yesterday News Cat Litter is the worst product ever conceived. After paying an exorbitant amount of money ([...]) to feel eco-friendly at the local Petsmart, I was thoroughly disappointed. This stuff is junk:

-When a cat pees on it, it turns to mush and there's no way to get it out of the box. Which mean it stinks and you have to replace all the litter more often. That makes the product even MORE expensive.

-Trying to hunt down feces in it is no easy task. The litter camouflages the feces because it's the same color.

-Once you do sight a turd, you can't just scoop it up alone. It comes with a handful of litter. (See #1 about burning through more litter.)

This product was purely created by Purina marketing to take advantage of customers that want to want to be better stewards of the planet. What they accomplished is robbing and alienating them.

I am disgusted with this litter. After disliking other natural litters I decided to try one more. I'm assuming I bought Unscented (not sure, but it was the only variety at my small-town store).

I agree with another reviewer. The pellets dissolve when peed on and since it's unscented, smell like pee. And, of course, the poo doesn't get covered by pellets (for whatever reason my cat won't dig in pellets to bury it...) so my bathroom ends up smelling like cat piss and poo. Actually, no, it ends up smelling like that but ENHANCED. And this is using a litter box with a front flap and air filter on the lid. Not even air freshener around the area helps. After a few days the box smells so bad I have to throw what SHOULD be a week's worth of pellets away.

I was so fed up that I decided to go back to clay clump litter permanently. I also mixed clay litter in with the last of the pellets, even though I should have just thrown them out.

Worthless.

Prior to using Yesterday's News, we had always used Fresh Step litter. We thought the Fresh Step was fine other than the normal tracking of it and dust smelling like kitty litter. We chalked all of that up to what you put up with to have an indoor cat. Then our cat became very sick and was eventually diagnosed with hyper thyroidism and kidney failure. I can't say whether licking the Fresh Step off her fur contributed to either of these conditions, but we decided to pursue a more organic option for litter. Yesterday's News isn't perfect, but we will use it from now on. The litter itself doesn't smell at all, but right after our cats poops we have to scoop right away because the smell is quite bad. Most of the time, the ammonia smell is not too bad, but it does occasionally become quite strong. Our cat is a Maine Coon and has long hair, including hair on the bottoms of her paws, so she drags a few pellets out of the box, but it's not too messy. At the end of the day, this is simply the only kitty litter that I feel is safe for the cat, so we would rather contend with its problems than endanger our cat.

I began using this litter for my ferrets because I don't like Marshall'sm but I also use it for my cats from time-to-time (they are spoiled so it's a slow transition lol) its not difficult to clean at all to me (I just use a ferret scoop, the wider slots let the dry pieces fall through) it absorbs odor pretty well & doesn't make a mess when the kitties jump out of the box.