Clumping cat litter was one of the first inventions in cat litter technology after its longtime predecessor, regular clay cat litter. As the years have progressed, this litter has improved both in its odor control and its clumping factor, making it one of the most popular and long-term litter-box solutions on the market.

As its technology has improved, the clumping has improved as well, meaning that the clumps themselves are harder and don't break apart. This makes it much easier to clean cat boxes and to reduce or eliminate odor, since waste is completely encapsulated in clay (often with odor controlling elements such as perfumes or silica included), and can be completely removed simply by running a slotted scoop through the box and sifting out the clumps to dispose in a trash receptacle.

Clumping litter is also one of the most cost-effective cat litters, since owners can fill a cat box completely and only remove soiled litter, leaving only fresh, clean litter behind, so that there is never any waste. Many cat owners like this, since the entire box almost never needs to be changed. Therefore, there is no waste of clean litter and every bit of litter is used. As a result you're buying litter less often than you would be if you needed to change the entire box.

Environmentally, it's also quite cost-effective, since only the clumps of waste are removed and therefore, the volume used is much less. With traditional clay litters, usually, an entire box is changed (often up to ten pounds or more at a time) even though some "clean" litter remains behind. However, the entire box must be changed simply to control odor, which results in some waste of clean litter.

Clumping litter is also very readily available in the market, and you can get it almost anywhere. Unlike some of the more specialized litters such as pine cat litter, you should not have to buy it on the Internet or get it at a specialty pet store. because of this, it's also usually quite a bit cheaper than some specialty litters. Competition means that prices must remain relatively reasonable.

Of course, one of the disadvantages environmentally is that it must be disposed of in a trash receptacle, which of course contributes to landfill waste. Nevertheless, there is going to be some type of waste and environmental impact when you've a cat litter box; clumping litter is no more wasteful than other types of litter, and in some cases, it's less wasteful, as when compared with traditional clay litter.

Therefore, of all of the types of litter on the market today, clumping litter is both the most popular and likely the most cost-effective of any litter today. it's still a litter that most cats "prefer," because its texture is soft enough that cats don't mind it, and will use it faithfully. because of their natural digging and scratching tendencies, clumping cat litter also allows them to bury their waste as they would naturally in the wild. And of course, owners like this type of cat litter as well, because it's good at controlling odor and makes cleaning the litter-box is relatively easy. Therefore, of all the litters available on the market today, clumping cat litter may be the one that is the most useful overall.