Why We Quit Pretty Litter for Dr. Elsey's Ultra (And How We Fixed the Odor)
We wanted to give a very detailed review because we tried using reviews to choose litter, but it was very hard to do because often the reviews vary wildly in describing the same qualities of the same litter. In the US market of 2026, finding an honest opinion is rarer than a calm cat during a bath! We’ll start by saying we’ve tried Fresh Step, Tidy Cats, Arm & Hammer, Pretty Litter, and various other silicone litters before settling on this one. We have one short-haired, older female kitty who has one litter box.
For a long time, we used Arm & Hammer clump and seal litter. We didn’t hate it, but felt like it didn’t clump as well as it could and we wanted to try something else. So we switched to Pretty Litter for a while because we liked the color-changing aspect for monitoring feline health.
However, we started to notice that it wasn’t lasting as long as it was supposed to and we didn’t want to keep paying that much for something that wasn’t doing what it was supposed to. We liked the no-clump aspect, but it seemed to irritate our kitty’s toes. She was constantly picking stuff off the hair on her feet (and she doesn’t have long hair at all) and we felt like it tracked a lot. We then tried a few different silicone litters, but the more affordable ones were too hard to find regularly in the stores.
So after all that experimentation, we had a few qualities we were looking for:
Low dust
Low tracking (We live in a very small apartment where there aren’t many steps between the litter box and the couch or the bed)
Low odor
Hopefully non-clumping
We ended up compromising on the non-clumping part, because Dr. Elsey's Ultra UnScented Clumping Clay Cat Litter meets our other wish list items so well.
The "UnScented" Truth: Why Scents are a "Cover-Up"
According to the Cornell Feline Health Center, a cat’s sense of smell is 14 times stronger than a human’s. Many hypoallergenic cat litter unscented options are still ignored by cats because of the chemical smell of the clay itself.
Source: Cornell University - Feline Sense of Smell & Litter Box Care
This is where Dr. Elsey’s shines. Odor control was probably the main selling point for us. We’ve honestly forgotten to scoop the box a couple of times because WE. NEVER. SMELL. IT! Even when scooping it, it hardly smells. Only towards the end of its life cycle does it tend to stink much, but again, that’s only when scooping. And we use the scent-free one! We hate the smell of scented cat litter (it gets too strong for us and in our head it’s a “cover-up” smell, like spraying perfume on a dirty shirt or pants lol). We think this is the best quality of this litter. If odor is your sticking point, we’d definitely recommend trying this.
Clumping Power: The "Rock-Hard" Verdict
As we said above, this clumping aspect was what we compromised on. But it clumps EXTREMELY well. Honestly sometimes it’s a bit like scooping a rock. The heavy non-tracking granules absorb moisture before it hits the bottom of the tray, preventing that gross cement-like sludge.
If it’s a larger clump sometimes we have to put in some effort to break it in half with the scoop. We have a Litter Genie, so it’s not too much of an inconvenience. Actually, our only (very minor) complaint would be that the clumps get too heavy to fill the Litter Genie bag as full as we’d like, but it doesn’t bother us that much. The hard clumping clay is just too efficient!
Dust & Tracking: The Small Apartment Battle
We haven’t tried some of the “natural” litters like the ones made from corn, wheat, etc., so we can’t speak for those. But otherwise we have used many of the popular litters and we have concluded that there probably isn’t a 100% dust-free litter. It’s just the nature of such a product. However, this has less dust than any other litter we can think of and we love that. It doesn't create that "mushroom cloud" when you pour it.
Again, we are not sure if there exists a 100% no-track litter. But in our experience, this tracks the least. We did notice after we were sick for a couple of weeks (still scooping ofc but not as worried about cleaning up the litter on the floor) it did start to get a little spread out and ground into the carpet. But as long as we were vacuuming regularly we barely noticed any tracking.
Price & Longevity
We haven’t sat down and figured out how this one compares to the others in terms of price, but it’s at least comparable and we think very reasonable for the quality of what you get. The 18lb bag is a little more than enough to fill up the litter box, and has been lasting about a month. For a best litter for multi-cat households, the 40lb bag is an incredible value.
We are so glad we decided to try Dr. Elsey’s! We hope this review is helpful to anyone else shopping around for litter like we were.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Does it control urine odor? Yes! The specific clay formulation is excellent at locking in ammonia odors immediately.
Is this litter good for multi-cat homes? Absolutely. It was designed specifically to handle the high-traffic needs of multi-pet households without breaking down.
Can it be used in automatic litter boxes? Yes. The medium-grain clay makes it perfect for sifting or mechanical litter boxes.
Does it create a lot of dust? No. While no litter is 100% dust-free, this formula is 99.9% dust-free, making it one of the cleanest on the market.
Is it fragrance-free? Yes, this specific "Ultra UnScented" version has zero added perfumes or fragrances.
