Best Litters For Cats With Asthma & Chronic Bronchitis

Having a cat with asthma requires a very special care in all aspects of the cat’s life. Feline asthma happens when the cat has been exposed to a chronic allergen which causes inflammation in the cat’s respiratory system, specifically the lungs. Chronic bronchitis ends up in asthma overtime.

Choosing a top litter for your cat with asthma avoids triggering an allergic reaction. It’s important to consider unscented natural cat litters with no additives or chemicals that could trigger an asthmatic reaction. Clay clumping cat litters use additives to create fast clumping when in contact with the cat urine or feces. These are allergens that need to be avoided at all cost.

What I excluded from my list:

• I excluded cat litter brands made of crystals due to the chemicals present in them.
• I also discarded grass, corn, or wheat cat litter types from my list because there are no organic options so far. By not being organic, genetically modified elements could be present in the formula and also harmful pesticides such as glyphosate. Another “con” of corn, grass, or wheat litters is the chance of the formula developing some type of mold that could contain aflotoxins, which is a bad carcinogen. Lastly, these types of natural cat litter could harbor small tiny bugs.
• Cat litters made with Cedar have plicatic acid, naturally found in this type of wood, which can damage the respiratory tract of your feline.
• I used to like Naturally Fresh Walnut Shell cat litter, made of walnut shells, but it seems like the recent formula (2019) added a fragrance that doesn’t go well with an asthmatic cat.

Best Natural Litters For Cats With Asthma

After doing extensive research I came up with two good cat litters for asthmatic cats. I would have loved to offer more options but the main goal is to advise a good cat litter that won’t cause an asthmatic reaction on your feline. These may not be the most convenient cat litter to scoop nor the ones that will eliminate odors, but they will certainly keep your cat’s asthma at bay.

Purina Yesterday’s News Paper Cat Litter Unscented

Rating: 4.1 stars
Made of: Recycled paper

Purina Yesterday’s News is a non-clumping natural cat litter that is made of absorbent gray-colored paper pellets, no longer than half an inch. The paper is recycled, it absorbs urine, and it keeps the odor under control only if you clean the dirty area. This paper-based cat litter doesn’t work like clay clumping litters that you can leave dirty and you won’t notice much smell. Even though the pellets are made of recycled paper, it doesn’t contain ink and it won’t stain any surface or your cat’s paws.

PROS

• Perfume and chemical-free
• Non-existing dust
• Environmentally friendly

CONS

• The litter can’t be sifted when scooped. You need to dispose of the dirty pellets.
• Paper doesn’t have good odor control
• Not good for declawed cats
• Not good for multiple cats

How to scoop this cat litter: you need to find the spot where your cat has urinated, scoop it (no sifting), and dispose of those pellets. Replace with new pellets right in that spot. Clean your cat litter box every other day. It may sound expensive but it won’t trigger your cat’s asthma and it may save your kitty’s life. Get Purina Yesterda’s News Paper cat litter on Amazon with free shipping by visiting this link.

Ökocat Natural Wood Clumping Cat Litter (regular version)

Rating: 4 stars
Made of: Wood fiber

Ökocat Natural Wood is a cat litter made of wood fiber that has natural clumping properties. The wood fiber consists of a mix of spruce, pine, and fir collected from reclaimed timber. The formula I like is the regular (white w/light blue in the box) because it clumps better (in my opinion) and it doesn’t track as much. This version has the consistency of shredded cardboard. If you have a declawed cat the soft formula (pink) may work better because it has a fine consistency, similar to clay cat litter.

PROS

• 100% Natural
• Zero dust
• Environmentally friendly
• It clumps well
• Litter is scoopable

CONS

• It doesn’t work well with automatic litter boxes, such as the Litter Robot.
• Odor control has declined in quality over time
• The regular version creates more litter-tracking

How to scoop this cat litter: it depends on the version of the Ökocat cat litter you use. With the “regular” version you may want to use a good metal litter scoop with wide slots because its consistency is much coarser than the pink soft version in which case you can use any scoop. This cat litter is scoopable like clay clumping type, but you need to clean it much more often due to the odor control not being excellent. Get Okocat cat litter on Amazon here.

What to do if switching cat litter doesn’t help

Consider that managing and controlling asthma in cats could be challenging. You may never find out what are the allergens that trigger your cat’s asthma. However, there are various causes for your cat to develop chronic bronchitis or asthma attacks. If you are a smoker, you must stop doing it, at least in your house. Cats suffer the effects of being a passive smoker, just like people do. If you have a large yard with lots of flowers and trees, pollens may be the cause of these attacks. Also, avoid scented candles, sprays, and anything that adds fragrances to the ambiance. Cats that suffer from asthma can’t breathe anything other than pure air, free of toxins.

It’s not the cat litter; it’s the room

Your cat’s asthma could get triggered in certain rooms of the house. Sometimes the triggering allergen is located in one place of the house and you can determine what it is and eliminate it. Some cat owners even get allergy testing done to find out what’s the cause of their cat’s allergies that trigger the asthmatic attacks.

Tips to manage the litter box of an asthmatic cat

• Vacuum the house instead of sweeping it’s a good idea. If you have a carpeted house, you need to vacuum ideally every other day.
• Don’t pour down the cat litter right into the cat litter box. Pour cat litter outside the house in a lidded container and then use a cup to pour litter into the box. This reduces the creation of dust. If you don’t have a patio where to do this, make sure you pour down the litter slowly, leaving almost no distance between the bag and the litter box.
• Keep the litter box clean at all times. Chronic bronchitis or asthma can worsen with bad odors in the litter box. Since natural plain cat litter doesn’t control odors as well as the ones with additives and fragrances, you need to clean the litter box as much as it takes to keep it odor-free.
• Consider that most natural low-dust cat litter types are lightweight, hence you will experience much more litter tracking around the surfaces. To make your life easier, get a handheld cordless vacuum that you can use right away.

How to switch to a 100% natural cat litter

Don’t switch to a zero-dust cat litter all of a sudden. Your cat may not agree with your change and do its business outside the litter box. You need to slowly introduce the new cat litter by mixing the old litter with the new one as follows:

• First week: 25% new litter and 75% old litter
• Second week: 50% new litter and 50% old litter
• Third week: 75% new litter and 25% old litter
• Fourth week: 100% new litter

By choosing a good litter for your asthmatic cat you will be controlling effectively one important factor in purifying the air your cat breathes. This will keep your cat’s respiratory system without inflammation or irritation and will save your cat’s life.