Green Cat Litter?

Amarillo

The stuff that Moonrakerz linked to is really good. We got a bag free with our cat (as you do !) and though I raised an eyebrow at the cheesy name I had to admit that as cat litter goes it is excellent.

Contains_Mild_Peril

ruthie wrote: »

I got a couple of bags of SMARTCAT on line when I ordered my cat food. It is made of recycled paper, and cost £9.99 for 10 litres.

How much? I hope that's a typo!:eek:

I then got to thinking how good it would be if I could make my own litter out of yesterday's news. Has anyone heard of a machine that makes newspaper into cat litter?

The same thought occurred to me, but I've never heard of such a machine. Maybe we could invent one and make a fortune! I've heard of machines which compress old newspapers into logs for the fire, and also wood chipping machines which should work on paper logs too, so combining them into one machine shouldn't be too difficult.

shelly

Lizzieanne wrote: »

All other times he wees in the tray and goes through the cat flap for his other business!

Why on earth has your cat got a tray at all?!?! I can understand for times when he's locked in but not all the time, surely? We moved recently and our cat was kept in for 2 weeks. She had a tray to use then but hubby fitted a flap on saturday and the tray is gone. If she can do no2 outside she can wee out there too!!

froggy_girl128

shelly wrote: »

Why on earth has your cat got a tray at all?!?! I can understand for times when he's locked in but not all the time, surely? We moved recently and our cat was kept in for 2 weeks. She had a tray to use then but hubby fitted a flap on saturday and the tray is gone. If she can do no2 outside she can wee out there too!!

What about when its raining!

shelly

froggy_girl128 wrote: »

What about when its raining!

:rotfl: I'm taking that as a joke, please tell me if Iv'e got it wrong

LNORRIS

ThriftySquirrel wrote: »

Thank you all for your replies:T .

moonrakerz, thanks for the link, loads of ideas on there.

asea, I think I'll give yesterday's news a go, at least it's made from recycled paper.

Lizzieanne, your cat sounds funny :rotfl: :rotfl: He must be a very tidy boy!

morg_monster, I'll have to keep the cat indoors for the first month and then I hope she's going to go in the garden too. My neighbour's cat sometimes poos in my garden but it's not in flowerbeds, it's underneath bushes, well hidden away so I'm not too bothered about it.

I have a very posh cat and he gets stressed out alot so he sometimes feels the need to use various other spots to have a wee.....thank god he trys and it is usually somewhere near the litter tray.

I spoke to the vet and asked what the problem could be, he said he might not like the cat litter - so I asked what I could do, he said cats like soil and grit and find it cleaner...so off I went with my spade and starting digging.

I have used it a little bit and seemed to solve the problem & its cheap.

I have gone back to using a tesco brand now and again he seems to have over come his little bad aiming!!!!

Pandora123_2

teapot2 wrote: »

Hi ThriftySquirrel,

we've adopted 2 x 13 year old cats who have never gone out because their previous owners lived by a very busy road. So they both use a tray and we're really pleased with this litter. It claims to be environmentally friendly and is called 'Cats Best', we order ours from the link below

http://petfoodwarehouse.co.uk/browse_91

Costs about £21 for 40 litres including delivery and lasts ages and it really does clump. You flush the solids and pee which also clumps and the remainder is supposed to be compostable tho I haven't tried that [am new to composting this year].

We've had cats for over 30 years and can say its the best one we've found in terms of being long lasting, easy to use, light weight and smelling fresh [most of the time tho the female doesn't bury her poos] and not having to carry it home from the shops is a huge bonus for me [no I don't work for them]

Good luck with your new moggie, they are great
Teapot

I'm going to have to try that one, thanks. Checked my favourite pet supplies place, zooplus, and it's a bit cheaper (£20 for 40 litres), though you have to order over £29 worth of stuff for free delivery. First order is £3 off as well and if you go through Quidco you get another 5% off.

:A

Shambler

If you really want to be green you should train your cat to use your toilet facilities! :cool:

Just remember to leave the lid up and it also gets rid of all the 'you left the lid up!' comments to us gents

sandy2_2

LNORRIS wrote: »

he seems to have over come his little bad aiming!!!!

obviously a boy cat

angelahorn

Shambler wrote: »

If you really want to be green you should train your cat to use your toilet facilities! :cool:

Just remember to leave the lid up and it also gets rid of all the 'you left the lid up!' comments to us gents

Just in case anyone thinks this is a joke... you *can* train cats to use a human loo. Here is a website about it:
http://www.toilettrainedcat.com/toilet-train-cat.php

And another:
http://www.catsofaustralia.com/cat-toilet.htm

I haven't done it with my 4 indoor cats as I have enough trouble training my 5 children to use the toilet But it's there on the to-do list, for one day. One of ours uses the bath, right near the plug, if I haven't changed his ltter recently.

As for cat litter in general...

The reason for using an absorbent cat litter is that the bacteria which cause the wee and poo to decompose, and release ammonia, need moisture to work. The idea is that if you're using a very absorbent litter then the waste products can't decompose and therefore won't smell.

Clumping litters allow you to scoop out the wet bits, but there are concerns about health and environmental risks - see
http://www.greenlivingonline.com/HomeGarden/bad-kitty-litter-bad/
If you use a non-clumping variety, once you've scooped out the poo, give the litter a stir to distribute all the wet bits. This reduces smell as the dry particles suck out moisture from the saturated bits.

I use Tesco Value or Sainsburys Basics, scoop the poo out several times a day and change the litter every 3 days or when it starts to smell. However, a cat breeder gave me a top tip. You can use poultry crumb food as cat litter. This is a powdered meal which is used by farmers to feed chicks (surprise, surprise!). The cat breeder found it was very similar to World's Best cat litter, but you can buy it for £3.99 for 5Kg instead of paying £8.99 for 3Kg of World's Best Cat Litter. The only reason I haven't used it is because I haven't found a local supplier, but I did try some the breeder gave me and it was great. Here are some threads about it:
http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2193546

http://kelliamanda.wordpress.com/2007/09/04/yay-for-chicken-feed-crumbles/




Cheers,
Angela