Shooooot!
Poor kitties have to potty indoors because of the deep deep snow. I had to buy more litter and carefully scanned the boxes at the grocery store to ensure that I didn't bring home the stuff that "clumps." I have a septic system instead of city-sewer. It seems to me that flushing kitty-poops that have the clumpy litter stuck to it would be a very bad plan for my plumbing.
But today when I opened the new box to change their litter, I discovered the small print instructing me how to use clumping cat litter. Now what? We are accustomed to cleaning out the box every single time a kitty uses it. The kitties are too; they don't like a dirty litter box. But what am I going to do with poops that cannot be flushed? Right now, I am envisioning an environmentally-dangerous (and expensive) amount of plastic bags being used to dispose of smelly kitty-litter clumps multiple times daily.
Right now I am [perversely?] almost glad that Rosie accidentally missed the box when she gave it her first try. I picked the poops up off the floor next to the litter box and flushed them, and didn't have to deal with the nauseating smell remaining in the house. But then again, I really really don't want to be finding turds on the floor of the bathroom for the next month or so.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
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Switch to the pelleted sawdust kitty litter. It smells like fresh-cut pine, it barely sticks to the poops, and what little does turns into sawdust as soon as it hits the toilet-water, so it won't clog your toilet.
ReplyDeleteIt breaks down into sawdust as it absorbs pee, so I dump the peed-on sawdust right into my flowerbeds or compost pile.
The brand-name one is Feline Pine, but the big-box pet stores have a generic version of the same thing.
It's SOOOOO much nicer. If I let the box go to long, I get a damp, barn-ey animal smell, which is so much less objectionable than that fake-flower smell of regular kitty litter. I scoop poops every day or so, and refresh the pellets once a week.
I've never scooped the cat box into the toilet. We've scooped it into the household trash which is taken out pretty often. Since it's covered in litter it doesn't really smell.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we would ever put litter covered poop in the septic since traditional litter is made of clay.
We use pelleted sawdust for the horse trailer and I love it. As Elephant's Child mentioned that might be a good alternative.
I'm just curious why you would put it down the toilet at all? When we had indoor cats we always threw it away and now I wouldn't want to waste the water necessary to flush it.
We scoop the kitty litter frequently throughout the day, placing it in plastic shopping bags from Walmart. The bags are immediately taken outside to the trash bin. No extra expense. I've never heard of someone scooping a litter box into the toilet.
ReplyDeleteKim, we just always flushed it to get rid of the smell right away.
ReplyDeleteFrom what you guys say, the pelleted sawdust sounds good. But how painful is the price?
I'll tell you a secret about the pellet sawdust litter, it's the same thing as wood stove pellets.
ReplyDeleteWe can get a 40 pound bag for about $6 at the hardware store. We put it in the trailer and mist it with water to get it to expand and soften just a bit. That makes it more absorbent. I know it sounds strange that you would add water to make it absorb stuff but it works.
Kim, I'm so glad you said that! I've often wondered if it's the exact same thing as wood stove pellets; wasn't sure if they're processed differently, since pine oil compounds are hazardous to cats.
ReplyDeleteWe get ours at Pet Smart. It's called EquisiCat and it's $8 for 20lbs. It doesn't "use up" the same as regular litter, though, so it's hard to compare price wise.
We'll try the wood pellets next!
Elephant's Child-
ReplyDeleteI don't know if all pellets are the same but the ones here are just compressed sawdust. I found out that the pellets sold in pet stores and wood stove pellets were the same from a couple of horse boarding facilities here who use them. I haven't noticed a difference but you may want to check the label before you buy them just in case.