I don't remember what led me down this path, but I had recently discovered that there are brands of natural cat litter out there, clumping and non-clumping, that are made of 100% natural ground clay. So I figured...well let's see if it breaks down into mud.

The first one I bought was Special Kitty Premium Clay Litter. It's a non-clumping clay litter, and the only ingredient listed is ground clay. I've got a small sample in a bucket with water and I'm seeing how well I can mix it until its smooth. So far, it's getting muddy but it still has plenty of tiny clumps that haven't broken down. I'm waiting to see what happens with it.

Another I have my eye on is one from Litter-Robot Premium Natural Clumping Clay Litter. So as a litter designed to clump, I'm curious to see if this one smooths out more than the one above. This one is made of 100% natural Bentonite.

Where I live, there's no place I can go nearby that sells big bags of dry clay mix. But natural cat litter is something I can pick up at any pet supply store.

Has anyone tried using this?

It ain't glamourous, but if it's 100% something then that's what it is. I've played around in Bentonite before and it was pretty great so I imagine your second option will be superb, although you may need warm water to help it on its way.

Let me start by saying that I am not a real mud connoisseur so take anything I say with a grain of salt, but I have made a small mud pool. This was back in my broke college days so I used whatever the cheapest kind of kitty litter Walmart sold at the time. I mixed it up in a 5 gallon bucket using hot water and a paint stirring attachment on a power drill, then dumped it in an inflatable pool. It did not come out like the creamy mud I had seen in sploshing videos. It did come out as a nice sloppy material good enough for the mud wrestling we were doing at the time.

-JD

I actually did this many years ago. I bought 2 very large pails of cat litter which was listed as 100% clay. I mixed in water in a larger container, but found it not mixing well, and sort of gravely. But the next day, many of the gravely chunks were melting in the water, as they slowly absorbed more and more of it. After a few days of gradually adding more water and stirring constantly, it became what I had hoped for . . . except for one thing. There seemed to be little stones in it, very small pieces of hard gravely rocks. I don't know if this is added intentionally or part of the clay extraction process, but I wasn't happy with the little sharp pebbles. Aside from that though, it worked awesome! I wonder if the brand I had bought was the problem? I'll never know, as I won't be trying it again.

Bottom line: Be patient! Mix a little every 12 hours and don't over-add water, but do add enough to bring the texture back as it will keep thickening as the more stubborn pieces eventually dissolve. Good luck!

Two excellent reasons why this is not a good idea. As mentioned, some brands will be somewhat grainy. However, the main reason is that you are paying far more per pound than you would if you just bought pottery clay. Buy pottery clay in at least a 50lb bag to get a decent price...

Thanks for all the advice.

I'm putting my hand in the Special Kitty Premium Clay Litter mud mixure I made this morning. So far, every small gravel-like piece I examine can be further crushed into clay dust with my fingers, so theoretically this stuff has the potential to smooth out. I'll keep working on it. A paint stirring attachment on a power drill is a good idea.

Thank you also, quarryman. Unfortunately for where I'm at, that much quantity of pottery clay is something I can't just drive out and get, but I'll search around a bit more. Meanwhile, this brand of litter I picked up was about 10 bucks for 50 pounds, which beats out the prices for pottery clay that I'm seeing on amazon as an example. To be fair though, so far every other brand of litter available in my vicinity is WAY more expensive.

So if the Special Kitty Premium Clay Litter doesn't do the trick, I'll probably go the modeling clay route if possible, and other natural clay litters as a plan C.

If it's actual clay, once you add water it should become pretty muddy. However, there could be other fillers included in kitty litter to make it go further. Anything that doesn't get soft could be filtered out.

Besides kitty litter there is are similar products like Quick dry. These products are intended to soak up spills like oil or other chemicals and could be found at your local auto parts stores. In many instances, Quick dry is basically kitty litter but without the perfumes.

You may want to check the prices to see which will get you the better bang for the buck.

If you live in or near a larger city, there might be art stores which carry bags of clay. I used to buy bags of clay this way for many years. The problem with bags of dry clay is they are hard to transport in large quantities unless you have a truck and harder to store. But there's more ways to get clay.

The hard way is to dig up some. If you're lucky to live someplace where clay is naturally occurring in the soil, a shovel, a screen and a lot of time can net you plenty of clay at little to no cost.

If it's too much work or there isn't much clay in the soil, you might be able to buy a truck load from a local dump truck/construction/landscape service. You may find that you could buy a lot more in bulk than buying it in individual bags.

EdwinR

There are definitely ceramic supply stores in the Houston area, like https://store.ceramicstoreinc.com/

You can also check in with MuddyMcMudd on here. He's from Houston and has built his home pit with (I think) mostly bagged dry Red Art clay, so he can tell you where supply is. Most likely you will get a better result with less work using clay powder.

Those of us in cities with ceramic suppliers have the advantage of going there to pick the heavy bags up. But, it might be worth looking into some of these companies to see if they have a low/slow freight charge. Maybe even a break on larger quantities.

I buy lots of RedArt clay, because I like the red color, it is low grog (smooth), and cheap. It is currently selling for $25/50lb bag which is up from $17/bag 2 years ago. I add a bag or 2 of EPK (Edgar Plastic Kaolin), which is a bit more expensive ($35) but it adds a creaminess to the mix. I am in my pit a lot and keep it stirred up and mixed with my body and hands. Sometimes with a few mud buds along for the ride! The clay also lasts for a long time (it's old already!), and I add a little diluted bleach or chlorine to the pool to thelp it stay free of organic matter.