9 Cheap Cat Litter Alternatives

In this article: Finding cat litter alternatives that can control both odor and cost can be tough. Our frugal readers share their most cost-effective (and odor-effective!) solutions.

Cat litter can be one of the biggest expenses of day-to-day cat care. Like everything else, the price of cat litter continues to rise. We asked our frugal readers to share their favorite cheap cat litter alternatives that can effectively control odor and are safe for our feline friends.

Cheap Cat Litter Alternatives

Some of the tips we received were for cat litter alternatives. Others can help you reduce the cost of store-bought litter. Either way, you should find a tip or two that can help you reduce kitty litter costs.

Note: We aren’t animal experts and can’t speak to the safety of these reader solutions. You may wish to consult a vet before switching your kitty’s litter.

1. Horse Bedding Pellets

We have five cats in our home and are always looking for an inexpensive litter alternative to the clumping, odor-control stuff you can get at the grocery or pet store.

Go to a tractor supply or feed store in your area and get horse bedding pellets. A big bag sells for cheap, and it smells great. More importantly, the cats love it! We rarely have to change the litter completely. The pellets are very absorbent. I just need to scoop out the solid stuff in the morning and evening, as usual.
Linda in Reston, VA

2. Ground Corn

Ground corn works beautifully as a cat litter alternative. It clumps well, has a soft texture and is non-toxic. Adding a shake of baking soda after filling the litter pan increases odor absorption. After scooping out the waste, the remaining corn litter may be put into the compost or tossed around the yard for fertilization. Ground corn makes an excellent fertilizer with anti-fungal properties. It can also be mixed with water to make a soothing dip for pets with flea or skin allergies.

Ground corn may be purchased at feed stores, farm and ranch supplies and many nurseries. Be sure to ask for ground corn, not corn meal.
Kristie in Boerne, Texas

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3. Chicken Mash

If you live near a feed store, try chicken mash. It’s similar to World’s Best Cat Litter, but it’s much cheaper. Clean the box daily and odor shouldn’t be a problem.
Linda (via Facebook)

4. Pine Litter

We use pine litter. I was tired of all the dust and tracking from clumping litter. It has a fresh, natural scent, masks odors, and doesn’t create dust. It also solved a behavioral problem we were having with a cat spraying in the house.

It can be expensive, but I recently found that I can buy it for a third of the cost of the pet store if I buy it at the local hardware store in a bag labeled as horse bedding.
Anne Marie

5. A 50/50 Litter Mix

Mix the scoopable brand of kitty litter with a plain generic brand of kitty litter. Do this at a 50/50 mix. This still allows the litter to clump up from the moisture but will stretch the litter further. You might want to try to mix it with more of the generic litter until you see that the litter doesn’t clump anymore. My mother has done this for years, and it really works well!

Also, if you could be more flexible, shredded paper (even newspaper) can be used instead of cat litter. There’s no dust, and it’s very affordable. Simply change the paper every day. Line the pan with used plastic grocery bags or some other plastic liner before placing the paper inside, and it will be even easier to clean up.
Candy in Alabama

6. Rabbit Food

We buy a 50-pound bag of rabbit food (compressed grass pellets) at the feed store. We put about a 1/2-inch in the bottom of the litter box and scoop out the clumps every evening and refill. It’s biodegradable, doesn’t smell, doesn’t make much dust, and our cat seems to like it well enough.
Brenda in Washington

7. Toilet Training

Our daughter and son-in-law taught their kitty to use the toilet! There’s no smell and no litter! It worked. Hartz has a tutorial on how to toilet-train a cat.
Karen

8. Shredded Paper

A few years ago, tired of paying the price of kitty litter, I gradually switched my cat over to shredded paper. Because he was older, it did require a little bit of graduating him over by mixing his regular litter with the paper until he understood the paper was fine to use. This is completely free but does require a little more frequent changing to keep odors under control. We shred all of our incoming mail in a cross-cut shredder after we’ve taken care of it. Between junk mail and paid bills, we have a sufficient supply of shredded paper.

On litter changing day, I line the pan with a thick layer of flyers, sprinkle it with some baking soda (optional), and then put down a thick layer of shredded paper. Our cat is happy that the paper still allows him to bury his waste, and it costs us nothing. Using a pair of latex gloves, I can roll up the bottom layer of flyers with all the waste inside to make changing the litter easier, but my husband prefers just to dump it all into a garbage bag.
Cindy

9. Biodegradable Cat Litter

Try a biodegradable cat litter made of wheat, corn, pine or recycled newspaper. We use feline pine. Not only does it work well, but also it’s not any more expensive than any other litter. It smells good and it absorbs the odor better. Plus, our cats love it. At first, they weren’t crazy about it, so we mixed it with the clay kind of litter and gradually added more pine and less clay. If all that isn’t enough, it’s also good for the environment.
Prana

A Few Final Tips When Using Cheap Cat Litter Alternatives

Regardless of which cat litter alternative you use, if you have an odor problem, a regular sprinkling of baking soda should help keep it under control. There is no need to spend extra to get the baking soda marketed for pet odors. Some cat owners regularly mix baking soda with litter for this reason.

Also, cleaning the waste from the box at least once or twice a day will help odor control and prolong how much use you get out of each batch of litter.