Michu Health-Monitoring Cat Litter Review: We Tested It for 1 Month

Kellie Gormly / Cats.com

I recently completed a review on the large line of Michu tofu-based cat litters, which come in many scents, colors, and formulas. We decided to omit a few formulas, as they required a kitten, an automatic litter box, or a cat showing symptoms of a urinary tract issue in order to evaluate them properly. I had none of those three at the time.

But then, one of my male cats, Kringle, started showing symptoms of a possible urinary tract infection. While you should always take your cat to the veterinarian for signs of a UTI—especially with male cats, who are prone to life-threatening blockages—it is very helpful to have a way to monitor the urine of cats at home, and be alerted to potential problems. I made a vet appointment and immediately ordered Michu’s two health-monitoring products: Michu Health Monitoring Tofu Cat Litter and Michu Health Monitoring Pellets. This was the purrfect time to review these two specialty litter products, which generally turn green with healthy urine that is pH-balanced, blue for alkaline urine, and orange for acidic urine.

Why Trust Cats.com

Our team has tested just about every litter on the market, so we understand what makes a good litter, and what traits cat owners consider undesirable.

I purchased both Michu health-monitoring litter products and spent one month testing them. I paid close attention to the color of the products when soaked with urine, as the color changes based on the pH of your cat’s urine, with different colors indicating urine that is overly alkaline or overly acidic. We did not receive these products in exchange for a favorable review; we purchased the litter with our own money.

Brand Overview

An Australian man in his 30s named Qinghua Siluo, an avid cat lover based in Melbourne, launched the Michu brand in April 2022 as a premium pet brand specializing in tofu-based cat litter. The company, which began in a garage, was a huge hit and generated more than $10 million in sales worldwide during the first three years. Michu expanded into the U.S. market through Chewy and Amazon in 2025, so this brand is still fairly new in America.

Siluo, who has eight of his own cats, was inspired by a desire to make the more unpleasant parts of cat ownership—namely, dealing with the litter box – more fun and cool. He found standard cat litter and related products, like standard litter boxes and accessories, to be “boring and old,” Siluo told the Australian outlet news.com.au.

“It won’t excite me when I’m cleaning the cat’s business,” Siluo told the news outlet.

He also wanted to create a litter out of environmentally friendly materials, since clay comes from strip mining and doesn’t biodegrade.

You can order Michu health-monitoring products directly from the website, and at retailers including Chewy. The Michu Health Monitoring Tofu Cat Litter is also available on Amazon, but I can’t find the Michu Health Monitoring Pellets available anywhere but Michu and Chewy.

The Michu brand also includes items like litter boxes in unconventional styles, cat trees, toys, a cat grass kit, and more.

What Kind of Litter Does Michu Offer?

Michu offers five types of tofu-based plant litters that are identical except for scents and matching cute colors. The company also makes a line of mixed litters, with both clay and plant-based materials, along with specialty litters for automatic litter boxes and kittens, and the health-monitoring products that monitor the pH of cat urine and alert cat parents to potential health problems. Michu does emphasize that using this litter or these pellets alone does not diagnose a health condition, and that you should also take your cat to the vet if you detect a problem.

Here are the two Michu health-monitoring products we used and reviewed.

Health Monitoring Tofu Cat Litter (available in bags of 5.5 pounds)
Health Monitoring Pellets (available in 20 g bags)
Here are our evaluations of the two Michu health-monitoring products.

#1 Michu Health Monitoring Tofu Cat Litter

$16.03 At Chewy $22.99 At Amazon

This basic, unscented tofu litter has a subtle natural smell that is difficult to describe; maybe a slightly sweet dough smell. The ingredients are soybean fiber, pea fiber, cassava starch, corn starch, calcium carbonate, guar gum, and pH chromogenic agent.

Kellie Gormly / Cats.com

First, let’s look at the clumping ability. After your cat urinates in the litter, the wet areas quickly turn from little thin sticks into a clump into soft clumps with a texture often compared to Play-Doh. The soft, bendable clumps are covered with dry pieces of the litter, giving them the appearance of a scoop of ice cream covered in sprinkles. I find the clumping ability very good, and I was especially pleased with this litter because the clumps didn’t stick to the litter box as much as some other similar brands. The clumps dry out more and lift out easily when scooped, and they leave little residue. The clean sticks fall through the slats of your litter scoop easily when you shake it.

The plant material, even without a scent, seems to have good odor-neutralizing ability. This litter produces no dust, and the pieces are too big to stick to your cat’s paws and track far beyond the litter box.

Now, for the reason you buy this litter: How does it monitor your cat’s urine pH? Within seconds of your cat urinating, a colored clump begins to develop. The general color scale says that green is good; a green shade means your cat’s urine is in a healthy, balanced pH range. Shades of blue mean the cat’s urine is overly alkaline, and shades of orange mean the urine is overly acidic; each condition can be associated with urinary problems such as struvite crystals and calcium oxalate stones, respectively. The darker the shade of blue or orange, the higher the risk, according to the color scale on the Michu website and the bag.

As expected, Kringle’s urine color ranged from spearmint bluish-green to light blue with this litter, which indicates a likely mild problem. So, that function works well. I don’t have any cats that seem to have a problem with overly acidic urine, so I tested that by pouring a little white vinegar on a clean spot in the litter. Sure enough, an orange clump formed.

Category	Rating
Price	1/5
Clumping Action	5/5
Odor Control	5/5
Dust/Mess	5/5
Scent	3/5
Easy to Scoop	5/5
Urine pH Monitoring and Color-Changing Ability	5/5
Overall Rating	4.1/5

What We Liked:

The urine pH-monitoring feature worked as described
Lightweight and easy to carry, with a built-in handle on the bag
Environmentally friendly with biodegradable, renewable plant ingredients
No dust and low tracking
Very good clumping ability with minimal sticky residue

What We Didn’t Like:

This litter is much pricier than more conventional cat litters. The list price, $22.99 on the Michu website, amounts to $4.18 per pound. Chewy, as of early October, sells the litter at a discount for $16.03, which is a better per-pound rate of $2.91. But that is still a premium price. (I say it’s worth it for the health-monitoring abilities.)
Like most other Michu litters, this formula comes in only a small, 5.5-pound bag. This will fill a fresh, average-size litter box with at least an inch, but leaves no room for replenishment after scooping – and it won’t last long in a multi-cat household. We wish Michu would offer this product in larger sizes at a more economical price.
The color scale on the back of the bag is confusing, with the darker color dots looking almost exactly the same. Stick with the chart and information on the Michu website; it’s much easier to read.

#2 Michu Health Monitoring Pellets

$6.23 At Chewy

These yellowish pellets are designed to be sprinkled on top of clean litter in a freshly filled litter box. Naturally, they won’t stay neatly on top of litter that your cat digs in, but they get blended into the litter over time. When your cat urinates, the individual pellets turn into colored dots rather than changing the color of the entire clump, as the health-monitoring litter does.

Kellie Gormly / Cats.com

Green is good, while blue and orange indicate alkaline or acidic urine and potential health problems. When you scoop the clump, you will see these dots, but you might need to break up the clump if the pellets are buried within it. Some clumps will contain few or no pellets, while others will contain many, depending on how they distribute throughout the box.

Note that these pellets can be used with any litter, though I suspect the colors would be a lot harder to spot if the litter is traditional clay, pine, or some other darker color. I paired this with the off-white-colored Michu Original formula. This provided a good, neutral, light background that made the colors stand out.

As expected, the colors in my cat’s litter box where I used this product ranged from green to blue. I poured a little white vinegar to test the acid response, and the yellowish pellets did turn a darker orangish shade.

Category	Rating
Urine pH Monitoring and Color-Changing Ability	5/5

What We Liked:

The stated purpose of monitoring cat urine pH does what it says.
The pellets are flexible and can be combined with any cat litter, but we recommend something whitish.

What We Didn’t Like:

With random scattered small pellets, these are not as easy to read as an entire colored clump, which the health-monitoring litter provides.
Like most other Michu litters, this formula comes only in a tiny 20 g bag, which works for one litter box for one filling. We wish Michu would offer this product in larger sizes at a more economical price (the small bag costs $6 plus change), which would help people with multi-cat households.

What Did the Test Cats Think?

I have a Brady Bunch of six cats at my house and several litter boxes, usually with at least one filled with clumping clay, at least one filled with a pine litter, and two others that serve as wild cards where I rotate different litters. During this test period, I had two litter boxes with the Michu health-monitoring products: one with the litter, and the other with Michu Original Tofu Cat Litter topped by the sprinkled pellets.

Clumping clay litter remains the top choice for all of my cats, no matter what else I try. The boxes with clay always have more waste than the others, especially “number two.” I rarely saw poop in the boxes with tofu litter, but at least some of my cats regularly peed in the boxes containing a health-monitoring product – and that’s exactly what I needed.

Note that in a multi-cat house, it gets a little tricky identifying whose clump is whose. I got lucky because I’ve been in the litter area a few times when Kringle, the cat suspected of having a urinary issue, was urinating in the tofu boxes, so I know when a clump is likely to be his.

What Do Customers Think of Michu Health-Monitoring Products?

Positive Reviews:

There are only five reviews of Michu Health Monitoring Tofu Cat Litter on Chewy as of early October, but most rate the litter with four stars. There are no reviews of the litter on Amazon.

“One of my cats had a bladder stone removed a few months ago, so I wanted to get a litter to keep an eye on his pH as we try prescription food to prevent him from getting another stone. This litter has been great. I used regular Michu litter before, but now I put this product in one of my litter boxes and I’ve definitely noticed different pH colors with my different cats. … Overall, I really like this product and will keep purchasing.” – Alyssa, May 11, 2026

Negative Reviews:

There aren’t any very negative reviews of Michu Health Monitoring Tofu Cat Litter on Chewy. One two-star review, though, takes an issue with the scent.

“I was hopeful of this product as it clumps great and less tracking than my other tofu brand. … Problem is, the fragrance is very strong for myself and my cat refuses to use this box. … We are used to a non-scented litter. … Great product if you like scented litter, but for us an expensive experiment.” – Dian, March 29, 2026

(Note that I did not detect any strong scent.)

Overall, Are Michu Health-Monitoring Products a Good Choice?

Yes, I think these products are worth the investment, especially if you have a cat that is prone to urinary tract problems and need ongoing monitoring, or if you have male cats, with whom a bladder problem can turn into a lethal blockage and early detection can save them. Tofu litter has a cleaner feeling than clay, and the clumping ability and odor control are fabulous. I plan to continue buying these products to monitor my cats’ urinary health.

Similar Brands

We reviewed the popular PrettyLitter, a litter that also has color-changing crystals that monitor urine pH. We reviewed the Purina Petivity Smart Cat Litterbox Monitor System, a high-tech product that monitors many factors about your cat’s litter box habits and potential health issues.

We recently reviewed the Dofu Cat line of tofu and other plant-based litters, which are similar to Michu. We reviewed a few other tofu litters, like TofuKitty and ViviPet, that have been discontinued. Check out our recent roundup of the seven best tofu litters, which includes the Michu Original formula.