Using Compost As Cat Litter?

kboss2010

Hi,

I was wondering whether using shop-bought compost would be a suitable replacement for cat litter & whether it would be safe?

Anyone have any insight into this? Cheers.

Brambling

I haven't tried it for mine but when I picked him up from the cat protection in March they advised me that he preferred soil in his litter tray and that bags brought from the garden centre or dug from the garden would be fine. His second choice was pine pellets which is what I went with (it seems he had 3 trays with different options). Now that he's going out he won't use a litter tray and waits in the morning for me to let him out so I don't think he was used to a tray. I did think with soil it wouldn't be so obvious that he had used it.

Callie22

I wouldn't. Apart from the issues of it being less absorbent and a lot messier, I have heard of cases of gardeners contracting fungal diseases (aspergillosis?) from breathing in compost dust. Given that a cat will be digging and sniffing it I don't think it would be very safe.

Farway

I used to use compost, but that was in the days when it was peat based

I no longer have a cat, but these days with a lot of recycled stuff in it you may find, like I have, bits of glass & wire in the compost, which a cat may get in it's paws

But I also just chucked the normal soiled cat litter on the garden, back of the border sort of area and left nature to get to work on it

grunnie

I used soil from the garden for our cat and then emptied on to the compost heap.The cat lived to be 17 and didn,t seem to mind.Saved us a fortune when you think of 17 years of kitty litter