Do Homemade and DIY Cat Litters Actually Work with Cats?

Cat litter is one of those essential items you really need to keep a cat at home. But, it's also a hassle, a continual expense, and can even have ethical and sustainability repercussions, not to mention potential health issues for both you and your fur baby.

If there were a way to stop buying kitty litter, would you take it?

As it turns out, there are a handful of different ways you can replace kitty litter with alternatives. The real question is, is it worth it, or are all of those DIY alternatives just kind of bad? Let's take a look.

What's the Problem with Commercial Cat Litter?

Why would you want to switch to a DIY cat litter in the first place?

If you already have a good reason, you can certainly skip this section. But, if you're encountering the concept of DIY cat litter for the first time, I thought it would be worth talking about why you might consider switching.

After all, you can't know if a DIY option will solve a problem if you don't know what the problem is, right?

Commercial cat litters have a few issues.

One of the big ones is just the constant expense of buying more cat litter. You have to clean the litter box constantly, and even if you're just scooping waste and saving as much of the untouched litter as possible, it is a consumable. How much you go through and how expensive it is will depend on a lot of factors, like the number of cats you have, the number of litter boxes, the type of litter, and the cost of the litter by the pound. But most people find they average around $30 to $50 per month.

Sure, that's not a huge cost, but it's still a cost, and if you could cut down on it, wouldn't you? I know I would.

Some litters also have issues based on what they're made out of. Some have perfumes or scents that can be unpleasant and, in extreme cases, even toxic. Some are dusty and leave residue on everything, and can be dangerous to your cat as they clean the dust off themselves. Some just don't work very well.

I also mentioned ethics and sustainability. Some litters are made of synthetic ingredients that are bad for the environment, and don't decompose, so they end up just adding to our landfills. Others are a little more sustainable but are still bad for the environment to harvest, including some of the popular clay clumping litters. It's a lot better than it was a decade or three ago, but there are still some bad companies out there.

DIY cat litters help address all of these problems. Ideally, you can find a DIY litter option that is cheaper (or even free), that biodegrades more readily, and that doesn't require strip-mining clay out of old-growth forests or anything crazy like that.

What Are Your Options for DIY Cat Litters?

So, what kinds of homemade cat litters can you make?

Wheat or Grain Litter

The first option is one you actually can find as a commercial cat litter, aimed specifically at people shopping for a sustainable, organic litter alternative.

Wheat!

Wheat grains can be purchased in bulk, ground down into a sandy kind of powder, and used as a litter. This can be especially good for cats that have spent some time outdoors and were used to doing their business in actual sand.

Wheat is the most common grain for this, because something about the organic structures makes it naturally somewhat clumping. It's not really as effective as clay and other clumping litters, but it's not bad. Maybe it's the gluten?

That gluten is a bad deal if you're gluten intolerant, though. It's also a food item, which means it can attract insects and rodents.

Some people have tried other grains, like oats, rice, or corn, in place of wheat. They can still be ground down and work as a sandy kind of litter, but they don't clump the same way, so they won't be as effective.

Newspaper Litter

Newspaper is probably one of the most common alternative, homemade litter materials. Or, at least, it used to be, before print newspapers started dying off and everyone started getting their news from TikTok.

If you have a supply of newspaper, you can still give it a shot. It's not as easy as just tearing up newspaper and lining the litter box, though. Your cat needs to be able to scratch and bury their waste, after all.

Shred the paper, put it in a bucket, and soak it in warm water with a dash of dish soap. This helps dissolve and get rid of the ink and other chemicals, and break apart the paper fibers. Then, drain the water and squeeze the paper to get as much liquid out as you can. Put it back in another bucket with warm water, but no soap, to get the soap residue out.

After all this, drain it again, sprinkle it all with baking soda, and knead it up. You'll work it into a pulp, which you can then spread out on a surface to let dry. It'll take a couple of days to fully dry, at which point it can then be used as litter.

It's time-consuming and labor-intensive, but at least it can be cheap if you have a hookup for newspapers!

Wood and Sawdust Litter

One big example of an alternative cat litter is sawdust or wood shavings. There are a lot of commercial cat litters made out of pine and other wood shavings, so why not make your own?

Unfortunately, it's not easy.

• Woods like pine contain phenols that need to be removed; otherwise, they can be deadly to cats.

• Sawdust is too fine and can cause breathing problems and track everywhere.

• Wood shavings can be harder to come by.

Most wood litters are processed and compressed into pellets that act sort of like clumping cat litter, but the key is that they're processed. Unless you have the equipment to process it, you need to be very careful with sawdust.

On top of all of that, are you doing enough woodworking to get a significant supply of sawdust, or do you know a wood shop nearby you can work out a deal with? Make sure you know what kinds of woods they work with, too, because you don't want treated or chemical-infused sawdust in your litter, either.

Treated Sand Litter

Another option you might be able to use is sand. Cats outside tend to like to use sandy patches of ground when they can, so why not just sand at home? It's not a terrible idea.

You can't really just make sand at home, of course. So, you'll need a place to get sand, either a place you can dig it up on your own or a place you can buy it. Don't just go to the beach and steal wagon-loads of sand, please!

Once you have sand, you want to treat it. All this means is adding some baking soda, usually about a cup of it for a litter box's worth. You may have to adjust that ratio to find something that works. The sand naturally has some clumping ability, and the baking soda deodorizes, so you don't want to go light on it.

The downside is the continued expense. Buying a bunch of sand and baking soda might not actually end up any cheaper than commercial cat litters.

Are There Downsides to Making Homemade Cat Litter?

Unfortunately, as you might have guessed from looking through the options, DIY cat litter isn't necessarily going to be an improvement in every way. There are a few paw-blems with it that you probably don't want to deal with.

For one thing, sourcing the materials might not be easy. If you're making DIY newspaper litter, it means you need a lot of newspaper. That means you need more than a couple of newspaper subscriptions, or a way to buy newspapers in bulk, or a bunch of neighbors willing to give you theirs, and it's not always easy to set that kind of thing up. Even if you do, it might not end up any cheaper!

The same goes for other litter alternatives. Wood shavings can be costly if you don't have a connection with a wood shop, and even buying bags of sand adds up.

That's not even getting into the labor part of it. Whether you're grinding wheat, shredding newspaper, or whatever else, it can be a lot of work, and it's not a task you can just put off or not do. Well. You can, but your poor fur baby is going to make you regret it in short order.

DIY cat litters also usually don't have the same kind of absorbent properties as commercial cat litters. Even if there are a lot of ways to criticize companies making litter, you can at least be sure they've put some serious time into studying odor-reducing materials. DIY litter is probably going to smell bad in unavoidable ways.

Frequently Asked Questions about DIY Cat Litter

Finally, I wanted to round things out with a few points I didn't find a place to make up above.

I saw someone recommend bentonite, what is that?

Bentonite is a type of clay. It's very absorbent and sucks up odors just as much as commercial cat litters, and makes for a very good litter option.

So, why don't I have it on the list?

One, it's not all that easy to source. But more importantly… it is commercial cat litter. Clumping cat litter, the kind you buy at the store, is pretty much just bentonite pellets. So your DIY option is just the same as buying it normally.

Why do litter at all when you can potty-train your cat?

This is actually something I wrote about before! Being able to potty-train your cat to go in the toilet can be a useful choice if you live in a very small space, like a city condo.

Unfortunately, there are some real downsides.

• Your kitty won't get to scratch and bury their leavings, which can stress them out.

• If you have multiple cats, they might fight over territory and bully one another out of access to the toilet. It's a lot easier to add a litter box than it is to add a toilet!

• If your cat slips and falls in, not only do you have a wet cat to deal with, but they'll be a lot less likely to go back and try again.

• You can miss medical problems you would otherwise notice in a litter box.

• Older cats can find it much more difficult, especially if they have mobility problems.

Overall, I don't recommend potty-training a cat. Yeah, litter is a hassle, but it's not as big a deal as problems with toilet habits.

What if my cat just doesn't like the DIY options?

Some cats are just picky. If you want to switch to a DIY option, what can you do if your cat just doesn't like it and refuses to use it?

Well, you have two choices.

First, you can do a slow swap instead of a sudden change. Stick with your old litter you know they like, and slowly mix in the new litter bit by bit. Gradually increase the amount of the new litter you're using every week or so, until you've shifted the balance. Ideally, your cat will get used to the new litter and will be comfortable using it.

If they still don't like it, though? Well, you just can't go that route. It's not like you can really force your cat to use a litter box; if they're really dissuaded by a strange litter, they're just going to go on the floor and make it your problem.

Overall, I admire the attitude that pushes some people towards DIY cat litter, but I think it's more of a hassle than it is beneficial. You're going to spend nearly as much money and a whole lot more time to make something that isn't as good as what you can get off the shelf. I don't think that's a very good trade.

Do you have any additional questions about DIY cat litter that I didn't cover in this article? If so, be sure to leave a comment down below, and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!