The claim: Fresh Step has revolutionized kitty litter once again by adding natural plant extracts to its line of litters. The plant extracts work with the activated carbon and high-quality clay to eliminate odors naturally, providing even better odor elimination. The plant extracts in Fresh Step litter contain two main ingredients: chlorophyll and essential oils. Chlorophyll actively binds to odors and eliminates them from the air. Meanwhile, the essential oils act as a force field, blocking odors before they leave the litter box. Coupled with the activated carbon in Fresh Step litter, the ingredients help remove odors naturally, for even better odor elimination.
Cost: $10.29 for a 20-pound box
Where: Pet, grocery, mass-merchandise stores
A nyone who owns a cat probably agrees that the last thing you want is for people to “know” you own a cat as soon as they set foot inside your front door. Because they can smell the cat litter.
There's nothing worse.
I've tried all kinds of cat litter and bought the Litter Genie system, and one of my daughter's daily chores is to clean the litter box of our 3-year-old calico cat, Sophie.
But some cat litter seems to work better than others at masking the odors of the messes that cats naturally leave behind, or clumping the evidence of what is left to make cleanup easier.
We tried the new Fresh Step Triple Action Litter, which the box said contained activated carbon and added plant extracts designed to fight all three sources of odor: urine, feces and bacteria.
We got a 20-pound box, and even though we clean the litter box daily, that box lasted more than a month. And, this cat litter worked better for us than many of the brands I have tried in the past few years. It has a fresh scent and was easy to scoop and clean. I don't think I ever really smelled the typical cat or litter-box smells while we were using the Fresh Step cat litter, so I definitely think this is our new brand.
Our cat Beebs is a “foster failure,” meaning my wife and I fostered her as a kitten for the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society, then took to her so much that we kept her. Among her many curious traits — including sleeping in the hamper and grooming the family dog — Beebs often climbs into her covered litter box, does her business, then runs in place for 45 seconds while covering the evidence. It's cute, I suppose. But mostly, it's just loud and odd.
Such peculiar behavior stopped last week, however, after we swapped out her old litter for Fresh Step's Odor Shield scoopable cat litter. Now, she simply enters and exits, without the production.
I take it as Beebs' approval of the heavily scented litter. As for me, cleaner of said litter box, I also approve. No longer am I forced pull my shirt over my mouth and nose while cleaning up after her because the scent is so powerful — almost too powerful, like an overly perfumed colleague. But it clumps well, Beebs seems to like it and the prices are comparable (Fresh Step costs about a dollar more than her old litter for a 20-pound container). So, our family will switch. And Beebs will have to run in place elsewhere.
I have several cats in my house at any given time, because I foster for a rescue group, so odor control is a top task for me. I frankly prefer pine litter over all other litters, especially clay, because of the texture, biodegradability and superior odor control.
I have been trying to wean my cats to all pine, but they won't have it — they like clay litter the best and use the box with clay more than any other litter box. While anything clay is not my top choice, Fresh Step definitely is one of the better brands, with its odor-control ingredients. Cats typically aren't big fans of the scented kind of litter, but my kitties didn't seem to mind.
The cats love Fresh Step, and their opinion, since this is their potty, matters the most. So I give this a thumbs-up.
