Product Review
Chewy Made Cat Litter Review: Less Dust, More Deadlifting
How the Toe Bean Rating System Works
Purring activated. No complaints were filed.
Most cats approve. Figaro doesn't care.
Pumpkin and Pie held an emergency meeting and meowed their concerns.
Multiple cats expressed disapproval through strategic swatting.
Callie felt dirty and immediately scheduled an emergency grooming session.
Ratings are determined by usefulness, durability, human convenience, and whether the product survived contact with ten opinionated cats.
Pros
- Dramatically less dust than Fresh Step in our house
- Good clumping when the litter is deep enough
- Decent odor control
- About 15–20% cheaper per pound
- Unscented
Cons
- Odor control isn’t quite as good as Fresh Step
- Still tracks
- Needs at least 3–4 inches of depth
- 40-lb bag is heavy and awkward to pour
When you have one cat, you probably don’t spend much time thinking about cat litter. You find one product you like and you stick with it.
When you have 10 cats, managing litter boxes is a physical, sensory, and financial journey.
I have used Fresh Step cat litter for years. Specifically the unscented variety, because floral-scented poop is somehow worse than regular poop for my migraines.
When scooped as needed, which for us is multiple times a day, odor control is good. And if that were the only factor, I wouldn’t experiment with other litters.
But, there is also dust.
So.
Much.
Dust.
I have an air filter that sits within about 5 feet of the litter box in my office. I work in there, so air quality matters quite a bit. My work involves computers, which don’t particularly care for being coated in a fine layer of clay.
Honestly, neither do my lungs.
When the litter box with Fresh Step is used, the air filter quickly ramps up – showing a particulate matter reading above 500. Pouring fresh cat litter in could kick it higher.
The chronic dust battle occasionally motivates me to try other litters. This month, that litter is Chewy Made – formerly Frisco – brand cat litter. All my deliveries come from Chewy anyway – so why not?
The result was surprising.
Dumping an unwieldy 40-lb bag of cat litter into the box next to the air filter still generated some dust – as expected – but the air filter never read higher than 200.
Cat’s using the box? Under 200.
Scooping? Still under 200.
This isn’t my subjective opinion. It’s not science, either. It’s my home-quality, non-precise air filter, yelling slightly less about it’s workload.
Let’s be honest. The Chewy litter isn’t quite as good at odor control. It still tracks when the cats hop out of the box.
But I can breath.
My computer can breath.
My monitors no longer look like they’ve been in a smoke storm.
For us, that’s a win.
Another win is the price. At the time of this review, the Chewy Made litter is running about 15-20% cheaper then Fresh Step, with both being delivered through Chewy.
One caveat of this litter?
Depth Matters.
Use at least 3 inches – maybe 4 – in the box. Anything less and the pee may reach the bottom before it fully clumps.
If that happens, you may need a jackhammer to remove the architectural pee structures the furry goblins create.
Beyond that, my biggest complaint with the Chewy litter, so far, is the packaging. It comes in a sturdy, 40-lb bag.
FORTY pounds.
That’s heavy. It’s bulky. I’d rather build muscles lifting the chonky cats.
Yes, I could by a smaller bag – but more packaging means more cost. And honestly, we go through so much the FedEx guy probably has nightmares about our deliveries.
I did see a Lightweight version – which I’ve just ordered. Once I’m done with the collection of litters I’ve already got, I’ll be trying that out too.