Fresh Step Extreme Mountain Spring Scent Cat Litter
14 and 37 lb Boxes
Clay Composition
Mid-priced
Pros:
Great Scent
Good Clumping
Great Odor Control
Minimum Tracking
Cons:
Occasionally Sticks to Scoop
Perfume Weakens Over Time
Fresh Step Extreme Mountain Spring Scent Cat Litter Review
Last Updated by Brandon F. on 9/22/2020
Overview
Fresh Step continues to expand its already large selection of cat litters with one of their newest offerings: their Extreme Mountain Spring Scent. This cat litter will enjoy many of the similar benefits of Fresh Step’s other popular Extreme-series cat litters but with the inclusion of a refreshing Mountain Scent that is designed to not only help cover cat waste odors but also help to freshen up your entire home. This cat litter currently falls in the mid-price category and comes in 14 lb and 37 lb (2x 18.5lb) offerings.
Clumping Ability –
We have no gripes with the clumping ability of this cat litter. The clumps seem to handle liquids (urine) particularly well, resulting in hard clumps that last a while. The amount of litter used to clump is about average. If we had on (minor) critique, it would be to come up with a litter formula that results in less litter being used to create clumps. But again, this is a minor gripe.
For solids, the litter does a good job of encasing the waste. This helps to lock in smells and makes for easy cleanup. Any normal scoop should do fine in picking up the waste and you don’t have to be super gentle with the scoop like we have seen on other products.
Scent –
We must say that we enjoyed the Mountain Spring scent. It was refreshing and not overly intense. That can be a common issue on some of the scented cat litters we have come across: they perfumes are TOO intense!
As expected, the initial perfumes do lessen after a few hours. But whenever your cat kicks the litter around, it will reignite the smells (but not as much).
As for how the cat litter handles the cat waste smells, we are also impressed. The ammonia smells from urine are locked in and you shouldn’t have to deal with these smells as long as you are timely with removing the clumps.
For cat solids, the smells are also kept in check. The key here will be timely litter box maintenance. If you can remove waste within 48 hours, then you should enjoy an essentially scent-free home.
Fresh Step advertises that this litter is capable of up to 10-day odor protection. This may be a bit on the excessive side, there is no denying that it will have some long odor protection.
While Fresh Step doesn’t advertise it, this litter is capable of handling multi-cat households. You will just need to be prepared to remove litter in short intervals.
Messiness –
The biggest negative of this cat litter is its messiness. The clumps, while hard, can still sometimes have areas on them that are mushy. These mushy areas can stick to your scoop or the litter box. We didn’t see this happening every time but it did happen twice so it is worth noting.
Tracking isn’t an issue with this litter. The granules are large enough to stop your cat from kicking the granules around for the most part. And being made of clay, they are also heavier.
Another positive of Fresh Step’s Advanced series is their minimal dust levels. They state that this litter is 99.9% dust-free. We aren’t sure how they quantify this but we agree that dust is minimal for a clay cat litter.
Value –
This litter seems to be falling in about the mid-price range right now. This is about average for Fresh Step litters. And considering the nice all-around performance, we feel that this price is more than fair.
Overall Rating –
If you are looking for a solid-performing cat litter that comes with a pleasant Mountain Spring scent, then look no further than Fresh Step Advanced Mountain Scent Cat Litter. Similar to the other Fresh Step Extreme lineups, you will enjoy great clumping and superb odor control. And the perfume scent, while certainly present, isn’t overly powerful. We found that this litter has solid clumping and is pretty easy to maintain with timely litter box maintenance. Our only minor issue was some occasional sticking to the litter box/scoop of areas of cat waste that didn’t fully clump. But this was only an occasional problem.