ökocat® Original Premium Clumping Wood Cat Litter Review 2024: An Expert Guide

What Is ökocat® Original Premium Clumping Wood Cat Litter? How Does It Work?

Healthy Pet is owned by the J. Rettenmaier & Söhne Group (JRS), a family-run company and one of the world’s leaders in natural plant fiber processing for pet care products.

Healthy Pet’s ökocat® Original litter will appeal to any cat owner tired of using messy and stinky traditional clay litter for their pets. It’s not only much lighter than clay (50% to 60% lighter), but it’s also less dusty and smelly.

This litter is great for anyone interested in eco-friendly pet products and sustainability. It is made from sustainably sourced biodegradable wood fiber and is designed to absorb liquid on contact. In addition, it transforms feces into solid clumps, making it easy to scoop up. The litter is 99% dust-free, keeping the air in your home healthy and easier to breathe for you and your cats.

Healthy Pet also manufactures several other cat litters, so if the original doesn’t work for you, you can try their super soft or featherweight litter. They also have a dust-free non-clumping paper pellet option. In addition, the company has a line-up consisting of natural paper fiber dog litter, carefresh® small pet bedding, and CritterCare® paper pet bedding.

ökocat® Original – A Quick Look

ökocat® Original Pricing

ökocat® Original Premium Clumping Wood Cat Litter is available in three sizes: 9.9 pounds, 13.2 pounds, and 19.8 pounds with the prices increasing as they get bigger. Strangely, at the time of writing, it is cheaper to purchase two smaller boxes than one of the larger-sized boxes.

What to Expect From ökocat® Original

If you order this litter from Amazon as I did, expect a simpler box than the one you see in stores. Mine arrived in a plain brown box lined with a sturdy plastic bag.

I have seen this litter in the store in a much “fancier” box, so the plainness of the one delivered to me took me by surprise. The box acknowledges this with a statement that says it’s “exclusive online packaging.” It’s the same product inside, so the décor outside the box doesn’t make a difference.

I will say that the litter you’ll find in stores has a carrying handle, while the one that came directly from the manufacturer does not. This isn’t a deal breaker for me, but it might be for people with strength issues who’d rely on a handle to get their litter inside. So if you prefer a carrying handle, you may want to try your local pet store.

ökocat® Original Contents

Unparalleled Odor Control

The plant-based fibers in this litter absorb liquid on contact, not giving pet odors a chance to stink up your home. In addition, these fibers naturally stop enzymes from bonding with your cat’s liquid and solid waste, preventing the creation of ammonia.

Nothing is worse than walking into a cat owner’s house and knowing immediately by the smell that there are cats nearby. Healthy Pet’s ökocat® Original Premium Clumping Wood Cat Litter ensures your home smells fresh. Though the litter has no fragrance, its natural and fresh scent smells like the great outdoors.

Clumping Capabilities

Cat litters that clump are easy to clean as the urine and feces meld together with the litter for simple scooping. This not only makes cleaning your cat’s waste much easier, but it also extends the lifespan of your litter. The more absorbent it is, the better it’ll clump, and the less you’ll have to waste when changing the box.

The ökocat® Original is great at clumping, so changing the litter is a breeze. You may need to drop a few dollars on a new scoop with larger slots, but it still beats many other litter options in this regard.

Environmentally Friendly

One of the best features of this sustainably sourced litter is that it is responsibly resourced.

Healthy Pet diverts millions of pounds of wood and paper remnants from landfills yearly. They rework and refine the wood remnants and other plant-based ingredients to upcycle them to create products catered to your cat’s needs.

Healthy Pet’s cat litters are biodegradable and flushable. They degrade fast and cleanly, unlike clay litter which is not biodegradable, sitting in landfills forever.

Yes, this litter is also flushable. You need to be careful with how you flush it, however. Ensure you’re only flushing one clump at a time to prevent any issues with your sewage system. In addition, it’s worth checking local regulations before sending it into a public or septic system. Please do not flush the litter if you have a low-flow, water-saving toilet.

Is ökocat® Original a Good Value?

I believe the ökocat® Original litter provides great value for cat owners. A box is cheaper than most boxes of clay litter you can find here in Canada and lasts much longer.

This is one of the biggest selling points, in my opinion. Not only is this wood litter better for the environment, less dusty, and better at masking odors than clay litter, but it’s cheaper, too.

Frequent Asked Questions

What Kind of Wood Is Used to Create This Litter?

This litter is made of a blend of several wood types, including spruce, fir, and pine. The wood is all dried at high temperatures to remove any volatile oils and phenols that may otherwise be present.

Are There Chemicals Used in the Manufacturing Process?

No chemicals are added during the processing stage of litter production. There may be additives, however, though the company says they are ones commonly found in the production of any household goods like tissue paper or items made for human consumption.

How Long Will One Box Last?

This really depends on how many cats you have at home, but the company’s website suggests that one box can last as long as 7 weeks. Other consumers report that a single box lasts as long as 4 months.

What Kind of Litter Scoop Works Best With Wood Litter?

The best kind of scoop for this litter is one with larger slots. We recommend the Catit Litter Scoop, as its oversized holes are perfect for larger wood pellets.

Our Experience With ökocat® Original Premium Clumping Wood Cat Litter

I’ve been tired of using clay litters for several years, but after trying other “natural” litters, I was always left disappointed. Then, I stumbled across ökocat® Original. I read hundreds of glowing reviews online, so it almost felt too good to be true. Regardless, once my box arrived in the mail, I was very excited to put it to the test to see if it lived up to its online reputation.

I could immediately see and smell a huge difference when I opened the box. The litter smells natural—just like wood. I suppose this is because it is natural and non-fragranced. It doesn’t feel soft, per se, but it has a different feeling than clay litter.

The wood pieces were not uniform in size and smaller than expected, perhaps because I was expecting pellets like the natural litter I had tried previously. The pieces can squish between my fingers and turn into dust, making me worried that the advertisements claim it wouldn’t be 99.9% dust-free.

Following the instructions on the box, I filled a freshly cleaned litter box halfway with the ökocat cat and halfway with our usual clay litter. And then the waiting began.

My cats didn’t waste a second jumping into the box to inspect all the new smells. And, much to my satisfaction, they didn’t take long to become more deeply acquainted with the litter, if you catch my drift. I was so excited to see the first poop in there, as my notoriously picky cats never wanted anything to do with the previous natural litter I tried. And, after the first cat christened the box, my others came to follow.

My first time scooping the litter didn’t go well. It didn’t scoop how I expected it to, immediately making me worry that the litter would be a bust. But as time went on, I became accustomed to scooping this style of litter. However, I did need to buy a new scoop—one with bigger slots—which made a world of difference.

If there is one downside to the ökocat® Original litter, it is that it tracks. When I first set up the litter box, I didn’t have my usual litter-catching mat underneath, as I felt it would be easier to gauge tracking if there weren’t something there to catch all the stray pieces. And track it did. But I’m not entirely disappointed by this, as their clay litter gets everywhere, too.

The ökocat® litter isn’t as annoying underfoot as my cat’s original litter. I also haven’t found any litter particles in my bed, which I always did with the other litter. However, I find that the Healthy Pet product is easier to see. The brown pieces stick out like a sore thumb on my gray flooring.

In Conclusion

ökocat® Original Premium Clumping Wood Cat Litter is a high-quality, affordable product with sustainability at the top of mind. This litter provides great value for consumers looking to switch to a more natural and sustainable cat litter. It does track quite a bit, but its odor-fighting skills and clumping ability more than make up for it.