[Bob]

Years ago cat litter was just a bunch of grainy sandy stuff you tucked some place far away. Then every other day you put it in a plastic bag and threw it out, trying not to retch.

But with modern technology and marketing savvy, today the choices of what to do about your puss's daily waste — and the promises about how wonderful it will be — seem endless.

Test Drive checked out eight brands of cat litter: four traditional ones and four of the more newfangled types. We rated the stuff out of five stars on:

Dustiness — the amount that flies in the air when you pour it in and out of the box.

Kickability — how much the feline manages to fling out of bounds when doing its business.

The paw print factor — or how much gets stuck to kitty's feet and tracked around your house.

And, of course, the retch factor — how well the litter contains odour.

In all cases we scooped out the clumps and solid waste morning and night.

After the eight-week saga was over and our poor cats were totally confused, here are our conclusions.

Again, everyone has his own preferences (even cats), so give a few types a try and see what you like.

[Thumpar]

i use formy diabetic cat by dr elsea cat litter sold ONLY at pets mart- about12-14$ per bag, last 1month b4 u change absorts the amonia smell. wroks great-NO DUST.

[RustyK]

We used a cheap, generic kind of cat litter, and it was not very good - basically doing the job, but nothing special, no odor control, no clumping for easy cleaning of the litterbox. I have switched to Tidy Cats, and I think we actually spend less now, even though it is more expensive, because it lasts longer - I just remove the clumps, and the rest of the litter is still good and usable.

[KattyCakes]

I used multi-cat litter from Scoop-Away. It retains odor fairly well, and it clumps, so the urine can be scooped out as well, allowing her to use the rest of the litter. We used to use the one with odor control crystals, but those ended up irritating the cat, so we switched to the normal gravel stuff.