“Tidy Cats Lightweight Litter is made with perlite which is extremely abrasive…”
Perlite is also known as “volcanic glass”.
Below is an anonymous comment on another well-known article on the subject of Tidy Cats Lightweight Litter. I wrote the article in which I state that there is evidence indicating that it is dangerous because the fine dust that it produces is inhaled by cats and cat caretakers alike. Through users of this product, there is good evidence that it causes severe respiratory health problems in cats.
Although I cannot verify that the comment which I have reproduced verbatim below is genuinely by a former employee of Tidy Cats, it definitely looks it. Anybody is free to comment on it and do their own research on the subject.
In order to protect this website I would wish to state that the below comment is an allegation against Tidy Cats until proven absolutely by further evidence.
The Tidy Cats light weight litter is made with perlite. Perlite is extremely abrasive. It wears holes in metal pipes at the plant in a week.
They had to replace all kinds of equipment and use stronger alloys that can withstand the abrasion factor of this stuff. All the kitty litter, really, is hard on a respiratory system whether man or cat.
I developed asthma while working there before light weight litter, but the dust off this stuff made me cough blood. The guys that unloaded the perlite would wonder what this stuff was doing to them. If you look it up it’s supposedly just an irritant.
I would say real research needs to be done to see the effects on animals and people. I’m sure there are cats that have pulmonary issues that aren’t diagnosed so exposure to any dust can only aggravate that. Besides the perlite the litter also has scent added to it that will take your breath away if too much is added to the product.
Tidy Cat light weight litter itself is just perlite and bentonite then additives are added to it before packaging. The other light weight litters look different and I don’t know what the heck is in those. I just know about Tidy Cat because I worked where it is made.
Just one factory, that’s in Missouri, makes it. I gave some to my parents and I used the stuff I got from give away product and it was dusty and tracked. They are still working the bugs out to reduce dust and uncoated perlite, after all it’s still fairly new to the market.
If you read the comments on the other page about this product you will note that the underlying theme is that cats developed respiratory problems and, as I recall, there are instances of bleeding. If that is the case then you can see how this links up with the abrasive nature of the product as described on this page.
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sort of late here . I recently tried “Cat’s Pride” because it was lightweight. Within a week I noticed my cat’s fur was ratty and felt rough. Didn’t make the connection until his bowels started acting up. Poor guy, now almost $400 later he is still having problems, Vet found strong evidence of inflammation in his rectal mucosa. His coat is much better since I switched to sWheatone, but My judgement i still out on that. The grooming behavior of Cats can expose them to these sharp silica, and the stuff is hard to wash out of their fur.
Thanks Barbara. I guess that you are saying that Cat’s Pride contains the same abrasive substance. I will use your article to do a short post on this.
I love that it is light weight, but I have decided today not to use it anymore. It is constantly stuck to our csts fur, it is all over our lsps when they jump up, but more importantly I had to clip chucks of it off my cats feet today. Her poor toes/pads were glued together with globs of litter. Very unhappy as this litter is so expensive and I can’t take it back
Thanks for commenting, Joyce. It is a very bad litter. Advise friends to avoid it please.
My healthy 5 year old cat developed asthma symptoms just a few weeks after I switched to lightweight litter! Dumped it and back to Dr Elseys Precious Cat litter!!
Thanks for sharing Lynn.