Can Sand Be Used in Cat Litter Boxes?

If your cat is a newbie to indoor life, sand may be able to make her litter box transition process go significantly more smoothly. Remember, outdoor cats are comfortable with and adapted to eliminating in the dirt, not litter from the supermarket. When a cat seems to have a problem with commercial types of litters, whether due to clay textures or strong fragrances, sand may be helpful in making the pet feel more at home.

If you're not too keen on the idea of using sand as a permanent litter option, you may be able to use it only temporarily. Encourage your kitty to go in the litter box using sand, and then slowly but surely start adding in your commercial litter of choice. If you do this gradually over a course of two weeks or so, you'll have nothing but "real" litter at the end -- and hopefully, your cat won't even notice that anything is different at all. Changing from sand to commercial litter abruptly may be a shock to the system for your cat, so take things slowly.

Sand can be a more economical litter choice for your cat, especially if you prefer to thoroughly clean the tray out every day. Adding in new litter all of the time can get pricey, and fast. To keep your cat's litter box situation as fresh and pleasant as possible without having to break the bank, sand may just be the way to go. Other inexpensive traditional litter alternatives, apart from sand, are shredded newspaper, soil and sawdust.

Apart from just opting for genuine sand, you may also want to consider using a litter that feels similar to sand -- think fine-grained options rather than clay, for example. These types of litters not only might feel a lot like sand, they also might be a lot smoother and more comfortable on your wee pet's paws -- a definite advantage there.