Cat litter - merged

Bexstars

Gaia wrote:

He's a rescue cat (from the Cats Protection League) and refuses to use the cat-flap or even go out of our flat. We've tried to encourage him to but I'm not going to force him poor love.

ps, wish I had a garden!

awww, my cat used to be like that and to this day she is still a little weary and shy but has grown so much in confidence. How long have you had him?

Gaia

About a year and a half now and wouldn't be without him for anything! We were 'fostering' him but fell totally in love with him, he follows me everywhere, so ended up adopting him. He's so adorable, a real lap cat. Loves people and hates other cats :>)

He'll venture out onto the landing outside the front door and up or down one flight (so long as the front door is wide open!) but that's it. Go to close the door and he's in like a shot. Loves (and demands) being picked up and cuddled - but not by the open front door, he'll pelt into the living room like a shot.

Gaia

Bexstars wrote:

maybe try chopping up the paper that has been shredded with some scissors so its finer and give it a try before spending any money on a cross cutting shredder. My cats are out at night but on cold winter nights we do keep them in and we tend to use the wood chip cat litter from morrisons but havent had to by any snce last year so not sure on the cost

That's a good idea.

Zziggi

I'd be interested to know if this works. I have 1 cat, lots of paper shreds and spend a fortune on cat litter....

angel

lizzG wrote:

Why can't he go out into the garden to do his business??

Cats really should be kept in at night as they can be attacked by foxes. Also, when cats are stolen it's usually at night. If you home a cat from Cats Protection you have to agree to keep the cat in at night.

angel

Gaia wrote:

Our adorable monster likes neither granular nor wood wood-based litter. He likes compost but I don't like the resultant mud on the floor and carpet!

You could try mixing granular or wood based litter with soil and then gradually reducing it over a month or so.

At the cattery where I work we've just started using a new litter that's made from corn and it's been very successful, they've all taken to it. They now use it at the National Cat Centre at Chelwood Gate too. I could find out the name of it of you want to give it a try.

Gaia

Zziggi wrote:

I'd be interested to know if this works. I have 1 cat, lots of paper shreds and spend a fortune on cat litter....

Why don't we start a trial? How about it?

Anyone that wants to try it can post up the results and we can compare. Bearing in mind that different cats have different preferences anyway, it would be interesting to see if it works.

Crazychik

When my mum moved and couldn't take her cat with her, (the cat too was from Cats Protection League) she came here, Ive got 2 cats of my own, and they both use the granual cat litter (tesco value).
Mum's cat would only "go" outside. So we brought some soil in from the garden (where mum used to live) and mixed it in with the litter granuals. Gradually, we reduced the soil and she was fine.
Since then, Mum brought a cat flap for us, which has been fitted, and all 3 cats "go" outside now, still occasionly using the litter tray.

Would be interesting to know if cats would get on with the "shredded paper" version. How about combining both paper & granuals?

steve_r123

The only problems I can see with shredded paper is that it would stick to longer haired cats fur. You would be forever hoovering up after them. Also, that it won't actually subdue the smell of the number 2's will it?

Would love to hear if it works though, cos we spend a small fortune on litter.:eek:

jcr16

for about 6 months i used ripped up old newspaper's for my 3 cats. we were hav ing a tight month about 4 years ago. and was running out of cat litter. so i mixed a small amount of cat litter with shredded newpaper , andf then as i ran out of cat litter it ended up just newspaper. it works fine. but the only prob i had was i was changing it more often as it didn't take away the smell. but i figured i was gonna throw the paper out anyway so i might as well make it a bit dirtier before i did so. the only reason i stopped doing this , was because we moved house and we weren't living right by a main road so could let cats out again. but i would certainly return to using newspaper if i needed to.

bear in mind it isn't perfect soloution, but i found for us ( well our cats ) it worked really well.