Much Ado About Poo
(Part of my Green This House program.)
A couple of years ago, back when sustainability was a catchphrase rather than a household motto, and my lifelong emotional malaise was spiraling ever more downward than usual, we invested in an electric-powered automated litter box to make our lives a little bit easier. Now, of course, it’s become the 800-pound gorilla dogging my ongoing efforts to green our lives, especially considering the litter box uses disposable plastic containers. (Mon dieu!) Despite conventional wisdom that you do WHATEVER THE 800-POUND GORILLA DAMN WELL WANTS, we’ve gone over all our options, including dumping it (waste of money and resources), giving it away (no difference, just palming off our guilt), or simply disconnecting it and using it as a regular, old school poop shack (”That’s just stupid,” said the hub, who lacked the will and I the energy).
Finally, we met ourselves halfway with what I thought to be a decent compromise: Disconnect it for most of the day, flip the switch once after work to clear the byproducts of Chekhov’s daily contemplations, then turn the litter box off again. We also decided to reuse the plastic receptacle instead of tossing it and its hapless successors in the trash every week. The automated litter box wasn’t going to vanish into nonexistence as much as I wished it would, and this way, the hub reasoned, we’d be reducing its ecological footprint—which wasn’t going to be the case if we had given it away—while still reaping its benefits.
At around the same time, a post by Clay and Wattles up north inspired me to do some research on flushable cat litter, since, like most people’s cat overlords’, Chekhov’s pathogen-laced caca ended up in the landfill, where, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, it is “mummified for generations in plastic bags.” From the same story:
“American dogs and cats produce 10 million tons of waste a year, and no one knows where it’s going,” said Will Brinton, a scientist in Mount Vernon, Maine, and one of the world’s leading authorities on waste reduction and composting. “That’s really beginning to be looked at as a nightmare.”
Further investigation led to the discovery that clay litter is strip-mined, an environmentally devastating excavation process. (Merde!) Not only is the clay sediment permeated with carcinogenic silica dust that can coat Chekhov’s little lungs, the sodium bentonite that enables the litter to clump can poison him through chronic ingestion. That’s not the worst of it, according to Care2.com:
Sodium bentonite acts like an expandable cement, which is why these litters should not be flushed: they swell to fifteen to eighteen times their dry size and can be used as grouting, sealing, and plugging materials.
Cats often lick themselves after using the litter box, ingesting pieces of the litter. If litter gets inside them, it expands just as it does in the plumbing.
An article on the sheer nastiness of clumping clay litter had me clutching my kitty to my chest and bawling apologies for endangering him through my ignorance.
Very soon after, we started mixing the naturally clumpable and flushable corn-based World’s Best Cat Litter to Chekhov’s regular litter for a less traumatic transition for our change-adverse cat. World’s Best has no clay, silica, odor-absorbing crystals, or any synthetic additives, and, because it’s produced from corn kernels, Chekhov can ingest it during grooming without any problems. One cat-lover has some reservations about whether the corn is actually organic, however, but she agrees that it is a far safer alternative to conventional litter. (She reviews a multitude of alternative litters here.)
So far, we’ve been very pleased with this litter and Chekhov has taken to it without much fuss. Quite unexpectedly, my asthmatic sister, who is staying with us for the duration of her summer internship, no longer suffers the persistent wheezing she used to during prior visits. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen her whip out her inhaler even once. I guess the proof, as they say, is in the pooping.
Kathy said,
May 30, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Colby is fascinated with the idea of toilet-training cats. I find the notion laughable. But I told him if he was willing to stay home from work for two weeks in the hopes of babysitting an adult cat into using the toilet, he was more than welcome to try. We picked up a box and some “Feline Pine”, the other day. I let him talk me into the complicated and highly plasticised cat box with moving parts, but no plug, fortunately. Once again your thoughtful post has given me a full day’s reading in the meantime.
Robyn said,
May 30, 2006 at 5:40 pm
I really must thank you for your posts. The timeliness is amazing. I have recently been trying to greenify, if you will, my life, my home, my family, everything that I can afford to do. Kitty litter was one of the next thing son my list. Thank you so much for sharing this information. I di dhave a question about knitting. I kno wof some places that use organic wool, I guess you might call it, but are there places that make organic cotton yarn?
Janelle M. said,
June 1, 2006 at 12:24 pm
I switched my cat over to “Yesterday’s News” cat litter (http://www.yesterdaysnews.com/GetPage.aspx?ContentID=156&D=5461057&T=3374661) Not too sure about it’s environmental impact but at least it is recycling newsprint and is non-toxic for my cat.
Sleepycat said,
June 2, 2006 at 2:10 pm
If you want another option we have used SweatScoop for years and love it. Same concept but made from wheat. Scoopable and flushable and doesn’t track any more than any other scoopable litter. It’s not organic but it is affordable ($20/40 lb bag) and relatively easy to find - they even have it at Target in the midwest.
Sleepycat said,
June 2, 2006 at 2:11 pm
Oops - that should b SwheatScoop -> http://www.swheatscoop.com/
The Worsted Witch » Pinnacle Pine Cat Litter said,
June 8, 2006 at 9:38 pm
[...] I managed to convince mi madre to pick up Pinnacle Pine’s natural pine-based cat litter for the family kitty. (We couldn’t find World’s Best, while the Feline Pine the pet store carried only came in gargantuan sacks.) Made from pine wood shavings from the Cariboo area of Western Canada—the company claims no new trees are cut down to make the litter—Pinnacle Pine is flushable, biodegradable, dust-free, and contains no chemical additives or dyes. Bonus: It’s far more eco-friendly than clay, which is strip-mined. [...]
The Worsted Witch » Updates & Miscellany said,
August 14, 2006 at 6:22 pm
[...] Cat litter Remember our non-sustainable litter box? I finally managed to convince the hub to unplug the beastly thing. Because the corn-based cat litter we use is biodegradable and flushable, it’s easy to just scoop any kitty byproducts when we visit the bathroom and send it whoohing down the toilet. Chekhov sometimes leans over the toilet to watch, a bit aghast. Most notably, our bathroom doesn’t smell as it sometimes did before. [...]
Dustywheat said,
September 21, 2006 at 1:27 pm
So I did switch to this litter after my wonderful sister-in-law, yes you, and the vet techs at my vet’s suggested it. One suggestion, don’t get the muli-cat formula if you have 2 cats. The odor is slightly stronger and I think it was the last straw that sent my cat on a bed and owner peeing (yes she peed on me while I was sleeping on our couch) spree. We have since won her over to both her new cave like litter box and the litter.
But I do love the fact I can flush the stuff!
The Worsted Witch » What to Do With Doggy Doo said,
September 22, 2006 at 6:25 pm
[...] Related article: 1. Much Ado About Poo [...]
Solidly Average » Blog Archive » Cat Litter said,
October 28, 2006 at 4:48 pm
[...] I was browsing over at Worsted Witch when I came across this post on The World’s Best Cat Litter. She states World’s Best has no clay, silica, odor-absorbing crystals, or any synthetic additives, and, because it’s produced from corn kernels, Chekhov can ingest it during grooming without any problems. [...]
The Worsted Witch » Purrfect Fence for Sneaky Cats said,
March 1, 2007 at 8:46 am
[...] Related article: 1. Much Ado About Poo 2. Kitty Goes Organic [...]
PDXmouse said,
November 14, 2007 at 6:33 pm
Just need to say that i’ve been trying relentlessly to find a green approach to the cat litter situation, and World’s Best Cat Litter is everything it claims to be. i dont know how i ever used that clay stuff. The corn based litter clumps tight, scoops easier than clay, is flushable, and doesnt track like some other non-clay brands. to top it all off, it doesnt have any fake smells or dust when you finish scooping. check it out! (BTW: i’m in no way affiliated with the company)
Mary E. O'Brien said,
May 1, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Please do not flush litter down the toilet. there is a brain -eating parasite that cannot develop unless it has been through a cat’s intestines. The sea otters dying in California may have it. I heard it on the TV yesterday. I have also read about it in a health letter that reported 60 million Americans have this parasite. I don’t where they got that information but it certainly scares me. I came across your site while looking for St. Aubrey’s Hairball remedy. My cats love it and won’t touch any other remedy I’ve tried. Walmart’s no longer carries it and I can’t find it.