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Silica cat litter is a far better version of the first cat litter introduced to the public in the 1950s. As it was, sand was the first cat litter material that was used before clay. Silica, the purer and crystallized form of sand, on the other hand, is now used since it has a far better absorption of moisture than its impure form.

Sodium silicate in granular form is porous and can easily mold into any container. Upon contact with water, however, it will become sticky and will transform into a solid mass similar to the by-product from a clumping cat litter. It also has excellent natural odor-masking property that is comparable to the flushable cat litter. It is also available in two shapes: either in small granular beads or in lumps.

There is, however, a problem that can arise from using the silica cat litter. It still requires the manual scooping of cat feces while continuously stirring the litter. This is done so that pet owners will avoid the silica cat litter from reaching its saturation point. The pet owner usually has no idea when it reaches its saturation point that when the pet cat urinates on the litter box, a pool of urine will instead be formed at the bottom.

Nevertheless, silica cat litter is very lightweight as compared to the clumping cat litter. The cat litter also has a shelf life of about 30 days, after which, it becomes saturated and has to be replaced quickly before it causes a bad smell worse than the cat feces. This shelf life, as compared to the clumping cat litter is long enough since five pounds of the silica litter will equal about 30 pounds of the clay or clumping litter in shelf life. This is another one of the good characteristic of the silica litter.