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The curmudgeonly Feline Product Evaluator, General, has experienced some health issues in the past year. He recovered and is living his best lazy life. Now that he’s cost an arm, a leg, and an ear, we’re trying a health monitoring litter subscription to help keep us informed. Let’s see what General thinks of it.
About PrettyLitter
Our pets can be pretty stoic and often they don’t start acting differently until a serious medical problem arises. This is something we have seen with General. He’s so grumpy normally that we can’t use that as a metric for how he’s feeling.
This is where PrettyLitter comes in handy. PrettyLitter is a silica-based health-monitoring litter for cats. When your cat uses their plastic throne, the litter changes color to communicate potential changes in their health.
Please note that this is NOT a replacement for regular visits to the veterinarian. PrettyLitter also cannot diagnose your pet, but it may help you get your cat to the vet faster if there is a problem.
PrettyLitter comes with two fragrance options, unscented and lotus. They also recently released a clumping version. We have tried both.
Pricing
PrettyLitter recommends one bag of litter per cat per month. With that assumption, here is the pricing:
Original PrettyLitter
- One cat – $24/month
- Two Cats – $44/month
- Three Cats – $66/month
Clumping PrettyLitter
- One cat – $30/month
- Two Cats – $56/month
- Three Cats – $84/month
Shipping is free in the US, but they charge a sneaky $1.99 handling fee on each order. They claim their litter costs less than others, but with the handling fee it’s basically the same price or maybe even a little more.
We also found, particularly with the original version, that the litter needed to be changed about every 10 days. If we let it go longer, General would start peeing outside his box. This litter is does nothing for odors and as the urine builds up at the bottom it gets pretty bad. This means, we need to order like we have 3 cats per month for a single cat.
The clumping version is lasting about 3 weeks per bag, so it is actually cheaper to spend the extra on the clumping litter. Another plus regarding the clumping version is that you can get some idea how much urine your cat is passing just like any traditional clay litter.
Pros & Cons of PrettyLitter
What I Love
- Lighter than clay-based litter
- Free shipping in the United States
- Discount for multiple cats and/or quarterly shipping
- Provides peace of mind if you have an aging cat or one with past health issues
The Less Desirable
- The yellow-green (healthy) color can be really hard to see
- With the original formula, urine pools in the bottom of the litter box and it’s stinky.
- Doesn’t last a month, as the website claims. We get about 10 days out of the original formula and 3 weeks out of a bag of clumping litter.
- Expensive – was costing us $68/month for non clumping and $43/month for clumping vs $20/month for traditional clay
Verdict
General was okay with original PrettyLitter as long as it was changed every 10 days. The silica crystals are not absorbant of urine so it pools at the bottom of the litter box. It was gross and smelly. The cat has hygiene standards and PrettyLitter was not living up to them.
It was also costing a LOT of money and, quite frankly, it was a rip off to have to pay $68+/month for litter for one cat.
His royal highness prefers the clumping PrettyLitter which is significantly better as it lasts about 3 weeks. While it’s still more expensive than using basic clay litter, it’s not quite as painful. The clumping version also has better odor control, but only because urine clumps are removed daily.
Since this is not a money saving subscription, the main positives are peace of mind if you have a cat with health issues. Since changing the litter is pretty routine without much variance in the schedule, getting the litter as a subscription lightens the mental load.
I question the value of using it as a daily litter for a young cat that hasn’t had any health issues. However, General has had some health issues in the past so it makes sense for us. Since the switch, it helped catch a UTI before General was displaying noticeable symptoms so he was able to get to a vet and be treated the same day. It likely saved us money on vet bills and General suffered a much less.
Based on our experience, we only recommend the clumping version. It’s nearly impossible to find on their website, so we have linked it for you here.
Alternatives
There are alternative brands that are silica based out there and they are all basically the same. I’d expect the results to be similar to PrettyLitter where they need to be replaced very often.
Since what we currently order is working, we likely won’t try any more litters. We also haven’t found another clumping health monitoring litter that is as comprehensive as PrettyLitter.
Not in to Commitment?
- Fresh Steps Crystals is comparable to the original PrettyLitter and available without a subscription. If you try this one, expect to change it often.
- PetKit’s Occult Blood Monitoring Litter – Like the name suggests it just monitors for blood, so if you have a UTI prone cat, this might be the best choice
- Pidan Tofu Cat Litter with Occult Blood Test – Also only monitors for blood, but is highly rated and doesn’t get tracked through the house as much as the silica based litters
