Disclaimer: This product was provided to our researcher at no cost by Chewy. We received no payment for the review itself, but the article below does contain affiliate links that help support our site.
For most cat owners, litter boxes are the least favorite part of their duties. The regular scooping of smelly clumps of cat waste is a less than ideal task. The best way to make this undesirable chore more bearable is by using quality cat litter. As cat owners, we want litter that masks the smell of our cat’s waste and clumps well. I had the opportunity to try and review Fresh Step® Clean Paws™ Calm Cat Litter that is exclusive to Chewy. There are four factors I took into consideration: dust control, odor control, clumping, and tracking.
Fresh Step® Clean Paws™ Calm Cat Litter lived up to the challenge of regular use by my two cats. I was overall impressed by how well it masked the litter box odor and how easy it was to scoop. Here’s the breakdown for how this litter performed in each category.
Dust Control
You’ve probably scooped a litter box and with each scoop sent a plume of dust into your face. Not only is litter box dust gross for humans, it’s not good for a cat’s health. Overly dusty cat litter can lead to respiratory issues in both cats and humans. Fresh Step’s Clean Paws has only a moderate amount of dust. This factor is curbed by using large grain sizes of litter and less small particulates. I was easily able to scoop the litter box daily without having to pause and shield my face of dust.
Odor Control
Here is by far the most important factor when considering any litter: odor control. If litter cannot fight the smells of cat waste, it isn’t doing it’s job. Fresh Step’s Clean Paws is scented with rose, chamomile, and natural hemp seed oil to fight odors and give off a relaxing scent. I can’t speak to if the cats enjoyed the smell of the litter, but I found it wholly pleasant without being overbearing. I only got faint whiffs of the scent while pouring the litter into the box.
When it came to odor control, this litter had absolutely no problems. The litter box is located in a common space in my home and I never smelled it even after one of the cat’s had recently used it. Fighting standard litter box odor was a breeze for Clean Paws.
Clumping
Litter that clumps well is litter that doesn’t stick to the sides of the box and scoops easy. It ensures that scooping a litter box is as easy and painless as possible. Clean Paws litter clumped about as well as I would expect from a standard litter. The chunks of cat waste did not fall apart as I was trying to scoop them nor did they stick to the sides of the litter box.
The only downside I found was the litter’s thick consistency. The large chunks of litter help with clumping and prevent tracking, but it also means that I went through the entire box of litter in about 10 days. This might look different depending on how many litter boxes and cats you have.
Tracking
Scooping a litter box regularly is one thing, but also having to sweep around the litter box each time you scoop it is another task entirely. If you’re like me, you’ve also found tiny pieces of litter on the floor of rooms that are nowhere near where the litter box lives. It’s inevitable that litter sticks to cat’s paws, but some litters are better at preventing it from being tracked all over the house. Fresh Step’s Clean Paws uses bigger pieces of litter which help prevent excess litter from sticking to cat’s paws. I found that each time I scooped the litter box, I didn’t have to do nearly as much sweeping around the box as I normally would with lighter litter types.
My biggest drawback with Clean Paws was how quickly I went through the litter. However, this was quickly overshadowed by the incredible odor and dust control. The litter itself had a pleasant yet subtle scent that helped mask the smells of cat waste. If the strengths of Clean Paws litter stand out to you, definitely check this one out.
This product review was provided by a guest writer, Audrey Webster, and of course her two cats, Theo & Poe.
