Greenwashing: Fresh Step Naturals

6 by Becky Striepe on November 15, 2010

A box of Fresh Step natural cat litter.

I always wait until the last minute to get kitty litter. That means that I sometimes am running to whatever store is open to try to get more litter. Last time this happened, I found myself in the cat products aisle at the Target staring at an empty space where they normally stock the Feline Pine. D'oh!

Scanning the shelves, I looked for an alternative. They didn't have Yesterday's News or World's Best, and I just don't feel right filling the box with those scary, chemical-laden crystals. That's when the Fresh Step Naturals box caught my eye. It was that off-white color with lots of greens and browns that can mean either an eco-alternative or some good, old fashioned greenwashing. I hoped for the former, but a quick glance at the ingredients revealed that I wasn't that lucky.

So what's the problem? It proudly proclaims over 99% natural ingredients right there on the front! What could be in there that's not so hot?

Unfortunately, natural doesn't mean eco-friendly. The side of the box listed the ingredients:

Natural clay, wood chips, carbon, minerals.

Its the clay that got me. Clay litter is terrible for the environment, and most of the problem happens before you pick up the box at the store. To get all of those little, grey pellets, companies use strip mining, which is just a shade less destructive than full on mountaintop removal mining.

Making the Switch to Eco-Friendly Cat Litter

When you decide to ditch the clay, the key is to make a gradual switch. Our kitties handle change pretty well, but pickier cats will get upset if you change their litter. You don't want them to retaliate by going outside of the box! If your kitty is finicky, take a few weeks to switch, starting with 1/4 new litter to 3/4 old, then 1/2 and 1/2, then 3/4 to 1/4, then finally a whole box of the new litter.

It can be tricky to find an eco-friendly cat litter that you and your cats both like. I definitely went through several sorts before settling on Feline Pine. We tried Yesterday's News and Schweat Scoop before settling on this one.

Do any of you have a favorite sort of earth-friendly kitty litter? I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Betsy

Yes Becky, I use a great product here in Western Australia called wonderwheat – made from wheat it clumps together and lasts for ages. It is also flushable but litter that is only ‘wet’ I put in my compost. Here is a link to their site:
http://www.wonderwheat.com.au/
Regards,
Betsy

Becky Striepe

Oh nice! Thanks for the link.

OzarkGypsy

Feline Pine is THE way to go!
As my husband & I have always had the honor of helping cats that have lost their way, we had to find something better than what was going on.
Feline Pine IS the answer!
About 2 yrs ago, all but a couple of the Walmarts in town stopped selling FP, instead offering their “replacement” which at least does not say Great Value, but still it is the “Walmart Version” and it is NOT compareable at all !
Now my DH goes 4 miles out of the normal route to bring home FP to our crew.
The cats are happy, we are happy.
Personally we have found several “other” uses for this TRULY natural product.
Perhaps I will email you a list of other super uses it has and you can pass them on to the world.
Blessings!
Gypsy

Becky Striepe

Glad to hear you guys are digging the Feline Pine, too!

http://www.promotiontoyou.com/ โปรโมชั่น

hi, i use Feline pine too. i have 4 cats in the house and 2 cats around the house. for in house cats, 2 can use toilet like human… they are so good and save money for me. but when 2 more come and join the family, we have to use litter for them. at first i use the cheap one like cat’s sand. but there are problems about the smell and insects. So i have to change to the pine type. the problems are gone and i saw the environmental friendly on the package. that make me feel good even the price are higher. Hence, i have to cut off my own shopping money for all my 4 bosses. but i plan to practice them to use toilet soon. just let the 4 of them feel friendly to each other. after 7 months, they still can’t get along well.

Becky Striepe

It’s definitely rough when you add pets to the family. I’ve heard that a dab of vanilla on the back of cats’ necks can help. It makes them all smell similar, so they can get to know each other with a bit less fighting.

That’s awesome that your cats are using the toilet. We thought about that with our kitties but never got around to doing it. How long did it take to train them?