PRACTICAL VIEW : The Scoop on Kitty Litter

* The product: Cat-box filler, commonly called “kitty litter,” although that is a registered name.

* What’s new: A “clumpable” litter that when moistened by cat urine “clumps” into hard balls that can be scooped out of the cat box. In the year since clumpables moved from specialty shops to supermarket shelves, they have jumped to almost 25% of the litter business in sales.

“People either love it or hate it,” says Doug Jones of Excel-Mineral, which makes Jonny Cat. “The same with cats.”

* Why it matters . . . the numbers, please: Cats are the No. 1 household pet in the United States. According to Pet Food Industry magazine, there are 62 million cats; dogs come in at 52.1 million.

There are 2.1 cats per household.

Cat owners bought $415 million worth of litter last year, according to Supermarket News. (That’s more than a million tons.)

There are up to 75 brands of cat litter, including an arsenal of odor-preventing, disinfecting formulas with trademarks such as Acti-Guard, Green Card Odor Control and Moisture-Activated Baking Soda.

* Home alone: With increased apartment and condo dwelling and more two-career families, no one has time to walk the dog, says John Chadwell, editor of Pet Product News magazine. So cats are the ideal pet.

“Cats can be left alone in the apartment with their own little ecosystem of food, water and toys,” he says. “It’s a huge industry, and the (clumpable) litter thing was a natural evolution.”

* Upside: Clumpable litter lets cat owners scoop out only used litter (a metal scoop is said to work better than plastic), and it needs changing only once a month. Fans also say it is virtually odor-free. (Conventional litter needs changing every two or three days, and despite researchers’ efforts to make it sweet-smelling, cat owners report that their homes sometimes smell as if 10,000 cats live there.)

* Downside: The fine-grained clumpable litter sticks to feline paws and is tracked throughout the house as kitties sit on the dining room table, snuggle into the guest bed and sun themselves on the piano keys.

The “sand stuff” resists the vacuum, and when damp mopped, it turns to clumps on cue. (One solution: Put a bristly doormat in front of the litter box to catch the grains).

* What’s the price: Clumping litter costs more, but because it lasts longer, it’s considered cheaper in the long run. A supermarket sample:

Tidy Cat Tidy Scoop--7 pound jug, $3.49.

Tidy Cat 3 conventional litter--10-pound bag, $1.79.

* Up and coming: Pet suppliers now stock enclosed litter boxes with charcoal deodorizers activated by the cat’s activities, litter boxes with attachable rims, and cat-pan liners with drawstring tops so the liners become their own little garbage bags.

* For the truly optimistic: An apparatus to mount on the toilet seat with a booklet on how to teach your cat to use it.

* 800-mania: In the heated competition between regular and clumpable litter-makers, customer service is a priority and every supermarket litter bag worth its whiskers has an 800 number for a cat-box expert. Among those who dial (800) 444-MEOW, the most frequently asked questions concern flushability and safety of litter ingredients.