Arm & Hammer Essentials Natural Clumping Cat Litter Review

Pros:

Affordable

Acceptable at masking odors

Little dust

Cons:

Poor clumping

A lot of tracking

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Arm & Hammer Essentials Natural Clumping Cat Litter Review

Advertised Product Description

Last Updated by Brandon F. on May 6, 2020

This is our Arm & Hammer Essentials Natural Clumping Cat Litter Review.  Arm & Hammer Essentials Double Duty Natural Clumping Litter is advertised as being able to eliminate both feces as well as urine odor.  This is accomplished through a proprietary blend of natural corn fibers which are combined with feces odor neutralizers as well as pure Arm & Hammer baking soda.

The corn fibers assist in absorption while the odor neutralizers and baking soda help to subdue the scent.  The corn fibers are highly absorbent, with promises of being able to absorb twice as much urine and clay litter as competitors.   This litter is available in 10.5-pound bags.

Who This Cat Litter is Intended For

This cat litter is directed towards people with single cat households or multiple litter boxes for multiple cats and that want to go with an all-natural litter recipe made of corn instead of the conventional concoction of clay.  Also, they want to go the natural ingredient route without paying a premium price, which is common of the non-clay litters.

What Makes This Cat Litter Unique

This is one of the few litters on the market that achieve the all-natural ingredient tag while still being budget-priced.  While it may have to make sacrifices in some of its performance attributes, it still strives to be a viable eco-friendly litter while being affordable.  Also, the fact that it decides to use corn instead of plant extracts, wood, paper, etc. makes it stand out, as corn is a much less common ingredient to use.

Clumping Ability –

While the corn fibers can absorb a lot of liquid and mass, clumping ability is only so-so.  The clumps can take a while to harden and even then can have issues of falling apart during removal.  If you can clean the litter box at timely intervals (daily or every other day) then a single bag can last a while.  However, there are much better clumping alternatives out there and you shouldn’t consider using this for a multi-cat litter box.

Scent – 

The scent of this litter is quite strong.  Calling it “natural” is a bit of a reach, because it smells more of overpowering perfume than natural corn smell, which you would think a corn-based litter would smell like.  The enjoyment of this scent by both owners as well as cats will vary on a case by case basis but it is important to understand that it is there and it is quite potent.

That being said, this product does mask cat odors quite well, particularly for only being made of corn.  For many, the choice between dealing with cat smells or artificial perfume smells is an easy choice to make but it still needs to be acknowledged.  Depending on who you ask, simply covering cat waste odors may be what primary consideration.

Messiness – 

Since this is corn-based litter, dust is basically non-existent.  The trade-off for not using a more conventional clay-based litter (which can produce a lot more dust) is that this tracks much more easily.  There have been issues of cats tracking this out of the box and it also remaining stuck to their paws or on the side of the box.  Cleanup of clumps is all about timing, where performing it too early on results in them falling apart and making a mess and doing it too late wastes litter.

Value – 

This litter is in the budget price range online.  This is a great deal for an all-natural product and something that you don’t see often since eco-friendly cat litters are typically in the more expensive price tiers.  This makes it a good choice for someone who wants to try out a litter of this type without breaking the bank.

Overall Rating – 

A so-so litter for those that are looking for a cheap option while still maintaining the natural label.  It has mediocre clumping ability and the strong perfume scent can be a bit off-putting. However, it does a decent job of locking in cat smells without making an terrible mess as long as you allow the clumps to adequately harden.  There could be several areas of improvement but for this price, you can’t complain too much.