My Cats Try Tofu: A Litter Experiment

Hi, I'm Dr. Karyn! Read my introduction to learn more about me and meet my five hilarious cats: Clutch, Cyril, Alex, Zelda, and Zazzles.

I’ll be honest; I’m not the best vegetarian in the world. More often than not, I’m throwing away the spoiled fruits and vegetables on Friday that I had such high hopes for at the supermarket on Monday, and I’ve never been a huge fan of the bean curd creation called tofu. Recently, I have tried to incorporate it into more recipes as a good, clean, healthy source of protein, and I’ve found that if you marinate it, season it, or soak it in sauce, it stops tasting like tofu and just tastes like whatever you’ve drowned it in! However, I hadn’t considered how tofu might feature in my cats’ lives.

Relax, I am not trying to force my cats into a vegetarian lifestyle. Not only do I think it’s unhealthy, I also believe it’s unethical. Although many devout vegans will insist that cats can be healthy on a plant-based diet, they are obligate carnivores, and the source of their taurine should be meat. There is simply not enough evidence to convince me that felines can live completely meat-free, nor should they. Although we humans may have an ethical and moral obligation to at least consider reducing our use and abuse of animals for our comfort and pleasure, forcing our moral values onto our pets is misguided and, in some cases, irresponsible.

You might be wondering, then, why on earth I’m introducing my cats to tofu. Well, I’m not putting it in their food bowls but using it at the opposite end of the digestive process. That’s right, I’m trying out tofu cat litter.

Did You Say Tofu Cat Litter??

The first time I read those words, I assumed it was a typo. Tofu cat litter? Are you serious? But this is no mistake. These days, there seems to be no end to the types of materials we are turning into cat litter, and I am here for it. Apart from the traditional clay, you can find cat litter made from corn, wheat, grass, paper, wood, silica, walnut, and, of course, tofu. What’s great is that most of these are either by-products of pre-existing industrial processes or make use of recycled materials. The other bonus is that many of them can be disposed of in the toilet, with tofu being one of the most suited for this.

I have been using the same type and brand of cat litter for over ten years now. It is a lightly scented, fine-granule clumping clay litter. With five indoor cats, good clumping and odor control are at the top of my list of priorities. I use top-entry litter boxes, so litter tracking isn’t a major issue for me, but it does still happen. It also likes to stick to Zelda’s furry little trousers, which is not ideal. So after I’d established that tofu cat litter was actually a thing, I thought I’d give it a try – what have I got to lose?

First Impressions

Being used to lugging 2 x 12kg (26 lbs) bags of my usual litter up the stairs – something my weekly kettlebell training with @KORCoaching has prepared me for – these 2.7kg bags felt like I was carrying nothing, so if nothing else, this litter is good for my back!

After rescuing most of the litter that I had skillfully spilled on the floor, I was surprised to find that the two packs did provide a good depth of litter in the deep boxes. Even so, it would cost me about twice as much as my regular litter to fill my three large litter boxes. The litter feels nice to me, sort of like uncooked rice, but what matters is how it feels to the cats.

The Verdict

I am impressed.

The litter was used three times overnight, so the cats have obviously accepted this new offering.

The odour control is great, and the lightweight material is much easier to sift through. It takes a little longer to feed through the scoop, but that’s not exactly a deal breaker. Unlike the clay litter, which leaves little bits of damp litter behind that break away from the clumps and fall through the sieve, the tofu clumps – that look like little hedgehogs – don’t crumble, and the litter left behind seems to be completely dry, which means that the litter should last longer.

What can I say? It looks like tofu is going to become a regular staple in our house, both in the kitchen and in the litter boxes.