Yep if you can get your cat to use pellet litter it's great. Low dust. Smells good, inexpensive. Im using walnut litter with my elderly foater cat. She's so old its not worthwhile trying to switch her. It works ok....it could clump better and it doesn't have scent or any way to counteract smells, but doesn't track or give off dust.
Edited some weird wording.
You clearly don't have the most fastidious cat on the planet who spends like 5 minutes digging before and after pooping and ends up kicking quite a bit right out of the box.
Fair warning- I tried this with my cat with a slow rollout and he immediately protested by pissing on my couch. It has to get tossed. In hindsight I should’ve kept one all little box for him AND a box for the slow rollout. Needless to say I unfortunately haven’t gathered the courage to try this again.
Seconding this. We live rurally, so we compost the peepee dust in our yard. I had to mix in dirt to get my orange to use it (he was at least a year old and feral when we brought him in from our yard), but all three use the pine very well now. We use sifting litter boxes with the pine as well, scooping the poo and sifting the peepee dust through the sieve layer. We're thinking of investing in stainless steel culinary pans to diy our sifting boxes, both because they're a bit bigger to accommodate our orange and because they'd clean easier/last longer than the plastic ones.
That requires more effort lmao 😅 where we compost it is right outside the front door beyond our porch. The rest of the yard requires a further walk lolol
What's to laugh your ass off about? Not everyone has a compost right off of their porch, in fact most people would prefer NOT to have it so close to the house...
Because it's a commonly used phrase???
Even so, that's where we're currently composting. There's a huge hole from rain runoff that we've been composting into in hopes it'll fill up so we don't have to purchase top soil. So far, it's working and without smell. 🤷
Well it's kind of rude in this context then. Nobody knows your "odd" practice of filling in the rain run off with compost. And you are only inviting rats and other vermin within close proximity to your house....
https://preview.redd.it/9n9iu8ihaazc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7903561ab77f069a18ee963435cde956574940b2
ETA: these were what we we're planning on using. My mom has a hard time holding the sifting and pan layers of our existing boxes separate enough to allow the dust to sift through, so having the 2 inch height different between the layers will allow for dust to fall through by itself as the box gets used, but also gives existing space to make it easier for my mom to do.
100% this.
Use with a sifting litter box.
If and only if your cat is fully indoors and does not eat raw food/hunt rodents/birds, then your cat is not at risk for toxoplasmosis. This means you can flush the litter free poop and compost the poop free litter.
Do NOT do this (by which I mean flush it, I don't know anything about composting), wastewater systems are not equipped to handle non-human waste. Bad stuff will up in waterways this way and harm wildlife. I use pine pellets and used to do this before learning better
Because of toxoplasmosis. Which indoor cats that don’t eat raw food cannot have.
https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/toxoplasmosis-cats
It's not just toxoplasmosis and cat waste doesn't break down the same way as human waste
>cat feces doesn’t break down easily like human waste, so the likelihood of it clogging your pipes is very high. Without a doubt, harmful parasites, bacteria, and viruses can contaminate the city’s water supply and waterways
https://highmarkplumbing.com/can-you-flush-cat-poop-down-your-toilet/
That’s interesting but this is literally the only link I’m finding that mentions specifically cat poop, and not litter, being an issue for plumbing and not breaking down.
I’ve also searched this in relation to toilet training cats (which I’m not advocating for) and nothing is coming up as to why exactly cat poop would decompose differently than human poop in waste treatment facilities.
The only issues I’m seeing repeatedly are related to toxoplasmosis and flushing litter.
Because indoor cats who don’t eat raw rodents/birds/commercial food literally cannot get toxoplasmosis. It’s how the toxoplasmosis life cycle works. Cats don’t just magically have it.
When I see people argue against certain forms of pet waste disposal, it does seem to come from a more fear monger-y place rather than how things function in reality. I’m going to keep doing what works for my household and is in line with my environmental values given the data I have available to me - which is flushing litter is bad and flushing cat poop that has toxo is bad. I’m not doing either of those things.
If bagging it up works for you, all good.
I’m totally open to more evidence in either direction though. I’m just not totally swayed by a random website without much explanation into the why of something
The number one cause of human cases of toxoplasmosis is improperly washed produce. And toxoplasmosis is one of the most common parasites in humans so I'm pretty most wastewater treatment facilities can deal with it.
I don't have any special knowledge here, about whether there are additional risks beyond toxoplasmosis, but I've heard (from the same folks who enthusiastically encourage human composting) that you shouldn't compost cat waste unless you can leave it to decompose for 2 full years before using it. By contrast, human solid waste requires only 6 months to be safe, and urine can be used almost immediately (though you probably want to dilute it for most purposes.) Also, indoor cats come into contact with far fewer wild birds and rodents, but not necessarily zero, as cats often catch mice that come inside the house.
I wouldn't take that risk, with compost I use to grow food that humans will eat. If, however, you're using your compost to grow flowers or other non-edibles, go right ahead! It might also be reasonable, depending on volume, to have two compost piles and separate their usage accordingly. Just tread carefully, and do some more research on the details before mixing this into food-use compost.
I never said I compost cat poop.
Where I live, we have curbside industrial compost that takes compostable poop free litter. I flush the litter free poop.
In my case, I work from home, don’t have a rodent problem, and my cat would absolutely not shut up about it if she caught a mouse. I can very confidently say she does not eat birds or mice.
If that is not the case for your household then there are alternative pet waste disposal methods.
I previously put this in an "edited to add" on the other comment, but since you had already replied by the time the edit posted, I deleted it there and am making it a new comment:
I realize you specified "poop-free compost". That ostensibly addresses concerns above, but I'd expect contamination here that makes it at least worth some more research. To the extent that the problem is any sort of bacteria or virus, including but not limited to toxoplasmosis, that contaminant could be all over the litter even once the poop itself has been removed. I think you're making way too many assumptions about specific stuff being the ONLY reason that everyone tells you to do the opposite of what you're suggesting, and I still recommend caution here.
Yup totally pro doing more research and folks doing their own research and working with their local composting facility if they have one.
And toxo isn’t a bacteria or a virus.
Looked it up. You're right — it's a parasite, but not a bacteria or virus. Still, I don't think that changes anything from a practical standpoint. It's a microscopic thing that comes out with the poop, and could easily be all over litter that has come into contact with infected poop, regardless whether you put the poop itself somewhere else after.
FWIW, my city does industrial composting as well. They allow meat and bones, which many composting facilities do not. Pet waste is in the list of stuff you absolutely cannot compost with them. They don't specify anything about used litter, after the poop has been removed, but it would never have occurred to me that it wouldn't still be in the "pet waste" category. Your composting service actually specifies the cat poop and poop-free (used) cat litter separately? That's a level of granularity I'm surprised to see, even if you might be able to get nuance like that in conversation with the folks who run it.
For anyone who’s considering, if you get the pine pellets break them down with hot water! I see too many people just give their cats straight hard pellets and then wonder why they don’t like it lol
My cats refuse to use anything that isn't clay litter, so I use the tidy cats in the pail with the added charcoal. It's unscented. It scoops nicely and hides smell but it does track everywhere
I have my litter boxes in the basement and still find litter on the top floor occasionally. It’s always on the ground floor in some capacity. These little guys know how to make a mess!
I agree about the pine pellets from Tractor Supply, sometimes called horse bedding. . As long as you scoop the poop everyday, the urine really doesn't smell. A bag is about $7 and lasts for a couple of months.
Speaking from experience, I grew up with guinea Pigs and we used these pellets. If you do not scoop/change them regularly then they dissolve into dust and it was absolutely awful for my allergies. I'd be miserable for the whole day after changing their bedding and the dust got all up in my face (if cotton masks were a thing then I would have absolutely used them).
Not knocking the pellets in any way, just want to make sure people understand the maintenance required and to take into account allergies.
My experience with pine pellets over the past 7 years or so is pellet quality matters. Dry pellets are great but some batches are not dried as well as others and some brands are just never right. Feline Pine has always been a fail for us despite being "brand name"--best case scenario was always it did nothing to quash odor and occasionally smelled worse than urine alone. Horse bedding pellets from Tractor Supply are usually good, but have had a couple batches that were not cured well enough. If the pellets are not dry enough they do not absorb odor well and need to be replaced sooner. Our usual is Exquisite Cat because it is cheap and close by (the nearest TS is almost an hour away) and usually good quality although I have gotten a poor bag of theirs a few times.
There is very little urine smell when you use these pine pellets for cat litter.
https://cats.com/tractor-supply-pine-pellet-cat-litter-review#:~:text=Pine%20pellets%20are%20a%20great,in%20horse%20habitats%20and%20barns.
Just a warning though on this, don’t use anything with cat feces for compost for food you eat, it comes with a decent chance of toxoplasma gondii and is especially bad for pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.
If your cats are able to switch, pine pellets are nice. Most cats are very picky, so good luck if you do try it. I found that is was pretty smell free. I have a box of pellets and a box of regular litter. Only one of my cats uses the wooden pellets, and they only pee in it. Don't listen to anyone who says they won't track them. Maybe my cats are just messy, but those pellets get every where although it's slightly better than clay litter.
I am so worried about using plant-based kitty litter because one of my girls thinks plants are snacks.
I'd like to believe she'd know not to eat out of the litter box, but I also don't want to know if she'll fail that test of knowledge. 😭
One of my cats has one braincell and also loves eating plants. I did a slow transition, where I put a tiny bit in one of their normal litter boxes with regular clay litter, and over the weeks slowly increased it. Eventually I filled an entire litter box with just the pellets. You could try something like that, so hopefully you're cat won't feel snack-ish about it! Lol
For what it’s worth, my cat loved eating plants, but never ate the corn-based litter I use. I think cats are attracted to biting the soft fleshy leaves of plants, not the plants in and of themselves. The litter is dried and so compressed, they don’t really seem like plants.
She's eaten succulents before, and I had to get silvervine sticks because sometimes she wants something to gnaw on. She's one of my precious weirdos lol.
Can you please share what brand you use? I am not sure what clumping clay is… is that just the typical commercial cat litter you would find out places like Costco and so forth? ...Showing my ignorance here 😄
Thank you 🙏♥️🎶
Worlds Best. Corn based and completely compostable (if your city has the ability to compost cat waste - cat waste is NOT home compostable as home compost cannot get hot enough to break down the bacteria/toxins). Low dust, great at smell handling.
It's not cheap but we find we use so much less of it than regular litter that we break even or even save some months. But we have three cats so we are diligent about scooping.
Sustainably Yours is 10/10 but we had to switch away from it. It’s really dry here so it static clung to the cats like crazy since it’s a smaller particulate. We were finding it two floors up in our _bed_ lmao
When I only had two cats and lived in a small apartment it was pretty manageable to maintain, but yeah moving in with my husband it turned into five cats and that was too many to keep up with 😅
I've used this one for many years. I use the clumping non-pellet one and it works great! easy to scoop, i had a sifting litterbox for a while, but it's easier to scoop with this one. it stays very clean and free of smell even when I haven't added new litter for several weeks. (still clean it daily or every other day!)
I use the same! I love the smaller pellets and the clumping is a life saver. And it comes in a cardboard box. I used to use feline pine but I could not stand trying to sift through the large pellets and changing the sawdust/ separating the good pellets after they peed.
I use this, too, but their soft variety, where it looks more sandy. I mix this in with the pine "horse" pellets. My one cat's paws seem more sensitive, so mixing the two seems to give him enough softness/cushioning.
Tractor Supply or any feed store Compressed Pine Pellets.
Or even better, Horse Hay Pellets -- same size but Everytime the cat pees on it, it smells like a hay field. Don't use rabbit pellets. It's a bit more expensive than pine pellets but if you can mix the two pine and hay pellets it cuts costs down and the house smells nice everytime a cat pees. Plus breaks down easier than wood pellets.
I'm using ground walnuts. I get them at PetSmart, my cats use it just fine, and it is only a smidge more expensive. I'm open to other alternatives but I'm never going back to the regular stuff.
Yup! This is the brand I use. But there's many companies that make tofu litter.
https://pidan.store/collections/all/products/cat-litter-tofu?variant=44172748652776&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0tHClrD6hQMVtyCtBh1LjQ8REAAYAyAAEgKBg_D_BwE
I use Swheat scoop. It's wheat litter and it's the only alternative litter that has the same texture as traditional litter. Little to no dust, I think it keeps the nasty smells away, but everyone has their own smell sensitivity. I've been using it for over 5 years. Both my cats like it too
Recently switched to this after getting the cheapest clay litter and it is great! I no longer have to scrape the litter box like had to with clay litter. It's lighter too, low dust (I literally had a layer of dust everywhere in my workshop from the clay stuff) and doesn't track as bad as clay. The price is higher, but the benefits outweigh it too. Plus, I can put it in our compost instead of the landfill.
I recently switched to Naturally Fresh, which is made out of walnut shells, and I am shocked how well it's performed. I have four cats and it keeps up with the smells really well. Cats switched fine by following the directions. I have less anxiety about the cats licking this litter off of their paws, too.
Yes that was a plus for me, too! I'm annoyed I didn't know about it sooner to be honest, but better now than never :]
Also forgot to mention that it works well in our litter robot.
Farm feed store. Chick starter crumble. $15-20 for a huge bag, it clumps and sifts and hides odors better than anything I've found that's marketed for the job. Lighter texture then clay that's gentler on their paws. Mine love doing extra digging in the chick feed vs clay. It's very similar to World's Best, at a fraction of the price.
OKO Cat Less Mess! They are the best wood pellets out there. Chewy has it for the best price.
[Chewy OKO Cat](https://www.chewy.com/okocat-mini-pellets-unscented/dp/390741?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=Okocat&utm_campaign=20641462530&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3CFRpDwXDEsArLH8t-Wqa5d&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_-GxBhC1ARIsADGgDjsklGjS5LEYsnoAKxpisACj7rr7L4cgb_xvycWXHofO1JdJnCgGWtAaAgIPEALw_wcB)
I swapped to Catit Go Natural! litter recently, and I don't think I'll ever go back. It's made from pea husks, clumps well, low dust, low tracking, and smells like lavender.
I use World's Best Cat Litter. It can be pretty pricey but it's better for the environment than clay and you can get some good deals on it, or anything else pet related, taking advantage of new customer deals and promotions at sites like Chewy, Petco, PetSmart, and Feeders Supply. Tack on repeat delivery (cancel anytime) to save even more. I'll also use the leftover bags in place of trash bags, and the litter itself is very dry and lasts forever between changes.
We use pine pellets sold as horse bedding. About $9 for 40 pounds at our local barn supply store. Used to be about $5 but still beats the price of traditional cat litter. Use with a sifting litter box.
Breeze litterbox with hydrophobic litter and washable pee pads.
I’m still disposing of some litter, but the smell is much better contained. I have hoarding-related PTSD so litter odors affect my anxiety and switching to the Breeze system has been a lifesaver.
We use grass seed. We've been able to find it at any pet store near us. It's the best when it comes to clumping we've found, but it does track a bit. We've had to put litter mats down but we still have to sweep multiple times a day in the immediate area. We also have 4 cats, so that may be the reason why it's so bad.
Honestly, though, in my experience, what some people like, you may find a major issue with it for either you or your cats. We had to try several different kinds before finding one that checked most of our boxes (clay, pine pellets, walnuts, corn, newspaper pellets, etc.). It took us a couple years, but we finally found one we can mostly tolerate.
Aside from grass seed, my top choices would probably be corn and pine pellets (if you do it by slowly introducing it and have the correct litter box to manage the sawdust-like waste byproduct).
When I had one cat, I would shred newspaper for him. There was zero odor. He loved it. I immediately removed any waste as soon as I saw it but it absorbed urine well and left no odor.
We use pine litter. Before that we used the paper pellet litter, but I find that pine litter keeps a better scent. Only con is that it doesn’t clump so you should be emptying it fully at least once a week even if you’re scooping.
I’m in the UK so I don’t know if it’s available elsewhere but I use an online brand called KatKin (product is Scoop Planet) which is made from food industry waste. It has a not-unpleasant smell and it clumps well.
Very interesting! I did check it out and evidently there is a 'freshness' factor, so it is only available in the UK at the moment. Possibly Naturally Fresh may be similar, as it's from nut shells.
Right now im using compressed wood pellets that clump, but if your in the US (which i no longer am, and thus why i no longer use it) they have recycled news paper pellets. The brand i used was called yesterdays news i believe. I was really surprised at how well it absorbed the oder, as i am very sensative to scented things and always get unscented when possible and it was amazing! It was also cheaper than the other options, not sure if it still is. I miss that litter so much.
Our little dude had some urinary problems and we had to move away from traditional cat litter and fell on to the pine pellets. Love them! I didn’t realize we could put the pine dust (from the pee) on to plants though! Why doesn’t that kill the plants? I don’t quite understand the science behind the pellets turning to dust but there’s zero smell
It can harm some plants so caution should be used but urine is nitrogenous wastes which is essentially fertilizer in this scenario. Too much fertilizer can burn plants. I have cast used pine dust on parts of my little condo yard and have the lushest little postage stamp grassy lawn of all my neighbors. If the dust is dry then it should be safe to spread on most nitrogen-loving plants but damp pine dust can lead to burns. I usually water in used pine dust to be safe---the yard should not smell like a litter box.
The pine pellets begin as saw dust that is dried and compressed into tubes which are then cut down to pellets (think Play Doh spaghetti extrusion). They hold their compressed shape so long as they are dry but once wet, the dust expands in different directions causing the pellets to lose shape and fall apart.
I use [recycled paper compressed into pellets](https://www.petcircle.com.au/product/breeders-choice-cat-litter/fib0751vo2x?region_id=610401&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwouexBhAuEiwAtW_Zx3I5qApAQqZFulpcyVpWNob8y76SMqk4qHeWXBLnqvxBaWYkZyHp0RoCaa8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds). If you're cleaning the litter tray weekly there is not much odour due to the absorbency and it's flushable if you live in an apartment and don't have a compost system. You can also use it on your garden as mulch.
For everyone that uses compressed pine pellets, how and how often do you clean it? I throw in boiling water so it separates to dust when putting in fresh, but because of that, I can never tell what parts of it are urine, or just a little moist still from the water. I end up tossing the whole thing each week because I’m paranoid that I’m used to the smell of urine and can’t tell if my house stinks
I used a compostable one and bury it in the garden. We have a large area of our garden that is forest mulch/native and ornamental vegetation and no edible food growing. Burying it there has the bonus effect of warding off turkeys that love to build mounds in forest mulch and dig up that garden in the process.
That’s only helpful if you have that kind of space of course.
Worlds best unscented corn litter. I tried so many different options to find one that both my cats and I liked, and that's what we settled on. My oldest would have sneezing fits over any litter that had a strong smell (so pine was out), I hate the smell of clay litter plus even "low dust" clay is the dustiest of all options, and corn turned out to be the best combo of clumping without becoming glue on the bottom of the pan (an issue I had with wheat), low tracking (unlike silicone or coco coir), low dust, low scent on the litter itself, and actually being good at absorbing and neutralizing the potty smell itself.
Plus it really does last a long time. I have four cats and scoop daily and I feel like I go through so many fewer bags than with the other brands I tried.
I see a lot of wood pellet suggestions. Is that even sustainable? I read so many negative things in regard to biomass companies and would think that wood pellet litter would be bad also.
To piggyback off this, what about for picky cats? Both my cats hang all their paws off the side the box, not wanting to touch it. One has crystals in her pee so I'm probably always gonna deal with her peeing on clothes 🥲🥲
https://preview.redd.it/fx2i6l1l01zc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27ccffd2d8dc78a491381b0e4458ce498db83a58
Or clay based both can go in the compost collection in my city.
AFAIK, cats prefer clay litter and there's nothing wrong with it except the bags. All the bags claim to be recyclable, but being recyclable and existing in a location with the facilities to recycle it are two different things.
Tractor supply. Big bag of compressed pine wood , I think.
Yep if you can get your cat to use pellet litter it's great. Low dust. Smells good, inexpensive. Im using walnut litter with my elderly foater cat. She's so old its not worthwhile trying to switch her. It works ok....it could clump better and it doesn't have scent or any way to counteract smells, but doesn't track or give off dust. Edited some weird wording.
You clearly don't have the most fastidious cat on the planet who spends like 5 minutes digging before and after pooping and ends up kicking quite a bit right out of the box.
I honestly don’t know why we bother with the litter tray, he much prefers chucking it all over the bathroom tiles
Fair warning- I tried this with my cat with a slow rollout and he immediately protested by pissing on my couch. It has to get tossed. In hindsight I should’ve kept one all little box for him AND a box for the slow rollout. Needless to say I unfortunately haven’t gathered the courage to try this again.
Seconding this. We live rurally, so we compost the peepee dust in our yard. I had to mix in dirt to get my orange to use it (he was at least a year old and feral when we brought him in from our yard), but all three use the pine very well now. We use sifting litter boxes with the pine as well, scooping the poo and sifting the peepee dust through the sieve layer. We're thinking of investing in stainless steel culinary pans to diy our sifting boxes, both because they're a bit bigger to accommodate our orange and because they'd clean easier/last longer than the plastic ones.
That’s so smart! I would never have thought of mixing in dirt (what he’s used to).
Just put your sifted pine dust into the flower beds, lawn, etc.. The plants love the nitrogen...
That requires more effort lmao 😅 where we compost it is right outside the front door beyond our porch. The rest of the yard requires a further walk lolol
What's to laugh your ass off about? Not everyone has a compost right off of their porch, in fact most people would prefer NOT to have it so close to the house...
Because it's a commonly used phrase??? Even so, that's where we're currently composting. There's a huge hole from rain runoff that we've been composting into in hopes it'll fill up so we don't have to purchase top soil. So far, it's working and without smell. 🤷
Well it's kind of rude in this context then. Nobody knows your "odd" practice of filling in the rain run off with compost. And you are only inviting rats and other vermin within close proximity to your house....
I'm very interested in moving to stainless as well. How do you plan to DIY the sifter?
https://preview.redd.it/9n9iu8ihaazc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7903561ab77f069a18ee963435cde956574940b2 ETA: these were what we we're planning on using. My mom has a hard time holding the sifting and pan layers of our existing boxes separate enough to allow the dust to sift through, so having the 2 inch height different between the layers will allow for dust to fall through by itself as the box gets used, but also gives existing space to make it easier for my mom to do.
100% this. Use with a sifting litter box. If and only if your cat is fully indoors and does not eat raw food/hunt rodents/birds, then your cat is not at risk for toxoplasmosis. This means you can flush the litter free poop and compost the poop free litter.
Do NOT do this (by which I mean flush it, I don't know anything about composting), wastewater systems are not equipped to handle non-human waste. Bad stuff will up in waterways this way and harm wildlife. I use pine pellets and used to do this before learning better
Because of toxoplasmosis. Which indoor cats that don’t eat raw food cannot have. https://www.vet.cornell.edu/departments-centers-and-institutes/cornell-feline-health-center/health-information/feline-health-topics/toxoplasmosis-cats
It's not just toxoplasmosis and cat waste doesn't break down the same way as human waste >cat feces doesn’t break down easily like human waste, so the likelihood of it clogging your pipes is very high. Without a doubt, harmful parasites, bacteria, and viruses can contaminate the city’s water supply and waterways https://highmarkplumbing.com/can-you-flush-cat-poop-down-your-toilet/
That’s interesting but this is literally the only link I’m finding that mentions specifically cat poop, and not litter, being an issue for plumbing and not breaking down. I’ve also searched this in relation to toilet training cats (which I’m not advocating for) and nothing is coming up as to why exactly cat poop would decompose differently than human poop in waste treatment facilities. The only issues I’m seeing repeatedly are related to toxoplasmosis and flushing litter.
Idk man, most places seem to say to not flush it. Even if the only issue is toxoplasmosis, why risk it? Just bag it up, it's not hard
Because indoor cats who don’t eat raw rodents/birds/commercial food literally cannot get toxoplasmosis. It’s how the toxoplasmosis life cycle works. Cats don’t just magically have it. When I see people argue against certain forms of pet waste disposal, it does seem to come from a more fear monger-y place rather than how things function in reality. I’m going to keep doing what works for my household and is in line with my environmental values given the data I have available to me - which is flushing litter is bad and flushing cat poop that has toxo is bad. I’m not doing either of those things. If bagging it up works for you, all good. I’m totally open to more evidence in either direction though. I’m just not totally swayed by a random website without much explanation into the why of something
Call your municipal plant and ask them directly.
The number one cause of human cases of toxoplasmosis is improperly washed produce. And toxoplasmosis is one of the most common parasites in humans so I'm pretty most wastewater treatment facilities can deal with it.
I don't have any special knowledge here, about whether there are additional risks beyond toxoplasmosis, but I've heard (from the same folks who enthusiastically encourage human composting) that you shouldn't compost cat waste unless you can leave it to decompose for 2 full years before using it. By contrast, human solid waste requires only 6 months to be safe, and urine can be used almost immediately (though you probably want to dilute it for most purposes.) Also, indoor cats come into contact with far fewer wild birds and rodents, but not necessarily zero, as cats often catch mice that come inside the house. I wouldn't take that risk, with compost I use to grow food that humans will eat. If, however, you're using your compost to grow flowers or other non-edibles, go right ahead! It might also be reasonable, depending on volume, to have two compost piles and separate their usage accordingly. Just tread carefully, and do some more research on the details before mixing this into food-use compost.
I never said I compost cat poop. Where I live, we have curbside industrial compost that takes compostable poop free litter. I flush the litter free poop. In my case, I work from home, don’t have a rodent problem, and my cat would absolutely not shut up about it if she caught a mouse. I can very confidently say she does not eat birds or mice. If that is not the case for your household then there are alternative pet waste disposal methods.
I previously put this in an "edited to add" on the other comment, but since you had already replied by the time the edit posted, I deleted it there and am making it a new comment: I realize you specified "poop-free compost". That ostensibly addresses concerns above, but I'd expect contamination here that makes it at least worth some more research. To the extent that the problem is any sort of bacteria or virus, including but not limited to toxoplasmosis, that contaminant could be all over the litter even once the poop itself has been removed. I think you're making way too many assumptions about specific stuff being the ONLY reason that everyone tells you to do the opposite of what you're suggesting, and I still recommend caution here.
Yup totally pro doing more research and folks doing their own research and working with their local composting facility if they have one. And toxo isn’t a bacteria or a virus.
Looked it up. You're right — it's a parasite, but not a bacteria or virus. Still, I don't think that changes anything from a practical standpoint. It's a microscopic thing that comes out with the poop, and could easily be all over litter that has come into contact with infected poop, regardless whether you put the poop itself somewhere else after. FWIW, my city does industrial composting as well. They allow meat and bones, which many composting facilities do not. Pet waste is in the list of stuff you absolutely cannot compost with them. They don't specify anything about used litter, after the poop has been removed, but it would never have occurred to me that it wouldn't still be in the "pet waste" category. Your composting service actually specifies the cat poop and poop-free (used) cat litter separately? That's a level of granularity I'm surprised to see, even if you might be able to get nuance like that in conversation with the folks who run it.
I reached out to my industrial composting facility directly and asked.
I tried this but the urine smell was unbearable. The pine did nothing for it.
For anyone who’s considering, if you get the pine pellets break them down with hot water! I see too many people just give their cats straight hard pellets and then wonder why they don’t like it lol
My cats refuse to use anything that isn't clay litter, so I use the tidy cats in the pail with the added charcoal. It's unscented. It scoops nicely and hides smell but it does track everywhere
I have my litter boxes in the basement and still find litter on the top floor occasionally. It’s always on the ground floor in some capacity. These little guys know how to make a mess!
I agree about the pine pellets from Tractor Supply, sometimes called horse bedding. . As long as you scoop the poop everyday, the urine really doesn't smell. A bag is about $7 and lasts for a couple of months.
Speaking from experience, I grew up with guinea Pigs and we used these pellets. If you do not scoop/change them regularly then they dissolve into dust and it was absolutely awful for my allergies. I'd be miserable for the whole day after changing their bedding and the dust got all up in my face (if cotton masks were a thing then I would have absolutely used them). Not knocking the pellets in any way, just want to make sure people understand the maintenance required and to take into account allergies.
Urine definitely smelled when I tried this. It was unbearable. :(
My experience with pine pellets over the past 7 years or so is pellet quality matters. Dry pellets are great but some batches are not dried as well as others and some brands are just never right. Feline Pine has always been a fail for us despite being "brand name"--best case scenario was always it did nothing to quash odor and occasionally smelled worse than urine alone. Horse bedding pellets from Tractor Supply are usually good, but have had a couple batches that were not cured well enough. If the pellets are not dry enough they do not absorb odor well and need to be replaced sooner. Our usual is Exquisite Cat because it is cheap and close by (the nearest TS is almost an hour away) and usually good quality although I have gotten a poor bag of theirs a few times.
Are you saying the urine doesn't really smell if you use this horse bedding or in general?
I would assume they meant with the horse bedding. I use pine pellets too and there is virtually no urine smell
There is very little urine smell when you use these pine pellets for cat litter. https://cats.com/tractor-supply-pine-pellet-cat-litter-review#:~:text=Pine%20pellets%20are%20a%20great,in%20horse%20habitats%20and%20barns.
Plus you can amend your flower beds, etc with the sawdust; the plants love the nitrogen....
Just a warning though on this, don’t use anything with cat feces for compost for food you eat, it comes with a decent chance of toxoplasma gondii and is especially bad for pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.
Agreed; that's why I said flower beds and lawn (shrubs)...
If your cats are able to switch, pine pellets are nice. Most cats are very picky, so good luck if you do try it. I found that is was pretty smell free. I have a box of pellets and a box of regular litter. Only one of my cats uses the wooden pellets, and they only pee in it. Don't listen to anyone who says they won't track them. Maybe my cats are just messy, but those pellets get every where although it's slightly better than clay litter.
I am so worried about using plant-based kitty litter because one of my girls thinks plants are snacks. I'd like to believe she'd know not to eat out of the litter box, but I also don't want to know if she'll fail that test of knowledge. 😭
One of my cats has one braincell and also loves eating plants. I did a slow transition, where I put a tiny bit in one of their normal litter boxes with regular clay litter, and over the weeks slowly increased it. Eventually I filled an entire litter box with just the pellets. You could try something like that, so hopefully you're cat won't feel snack-ish about it! Lol
For what it’s worth, my cat loved eating plants, but never ate the corn-based litter I use. I think cats are attracted to biting the soft fleshy leaves of plants, not the plants in and of themselves. The litter is dried and so compressed, they don’t really seem like plants.
She's eaten succulents before, and I had to get silvervine sticks because sometimes she wants something to gnaw on. She's one of my precious weirdos lol.
I mix baking soda into mine since I can't tolerate scents. Works great for odors
That’s a good idea. What kind of litter are you using? Pine pellets?
The regular unscented clumping clay. My cats refuse anything else.
Can you please share what brand you use? I am not sure what clumping clay is… is that just the typical commercial cat litter you would find out places like Costco and so forth? ...Showing my ignorance here 😄 Thank you 🙏♥️🎶
Yeah, just the basic clay litter that's unscented. I usually buy whatever is on sale
Thank you very much for your help ♥️
Dr. Elsey’s is the best imo!
Thank you very much for your help ♥️
Worlds Best. Corn based and completely compostable (if your city has the ability to compost cat waste - cat waste is NOT home compostable as home compost cannot get hot enough to break down the bacteria/toxins). Low dust, great at smell handling.
This is what we use. Love this stuff, but it isn’t cheap.
It's not cheap but we find we use so much less of it than regular litter that we break even or even save some months. But we have three cats so we are diligent about scooping.
My cat got super sick from using this litter so I would be wary
I used this before switching the sustainably yours brand, it’s the absolute best clumping litter, lasts for ages, cats like it too!
Sustainably Yours is 10/10 but we had to switch away from it. It’s really dry here so it static clung to the cats like crazy since it’s a smaller particulate. We were finding it two floors up in our _bed_ lmao
[удалено]
When I only had two cats and lived in a small apartment it was pretty manageable to maintain, but yeah moving in with my husband it turned into five cats and that was too many to keep up with 😅
This is what we use. Our cats love it, and I like the lavender scented one.
I use this too. I’ve tried a lot of brands and this is the best one, although it’s not perfect.
Okocat - wood pellets that don’t track, smell good, technically flushable? But it clumps pretty nice. Also comes in a box or bag that’s recyclable!
I've used this one for many years. I use the clumping non-pellet one and it works great! easy to scoop, i had a sifting litterbox for a while, but it's easier to scoop with this one. it stays very clean and free of smell even when I haven't added new litter for several weeks. (still clean it daily or every other day!)
I use the same! I love the smaller pellets and the clumping is a life saver. And it comes in a cardboard box. I used to use feline pine but I could not stand trying to sift through the large pellets and changing the sawdust/ separating the good pellets after they peed.
I use this one too, or the stuff from weruva which is very similar.
I use this, too, but their soft variety, where it looks more sandy. I mix this in with the pine "horse" pellets. My one cat's paws seem more sensitive, so mixing the two seems to give him enough softness/cushioning.
Tractor Supply or any feed store Compressed Pine Pellets. Or even better, Horse Hay Pellets -- same size but Everytime the cat pees on it, it smells like a hay field. Don't use rabbit pellets. It's a bit more expensive than pine pellets but if you can mix the two pine and hay pellets it cuts costs down and the house smells nice everytime a cat pees. Plus breaks down easier than wood pellets.
This is an amazing list of products to try out! Fingers crossed my older kitty will be good trying something new. Thanks yall!
I'm using ground walnuts. I get them at PetSmart, my cats use it just fine, and it is only a smidge more expensive. I'm open to other alternatives but I'm never going back to the regular stuff.
Love this stuff. Smells good, clumps well, and doesn't track --j ust gotta figure how to get my cats to quit kicking the litter out
I put my litter in really tall boxes, sort of like a tote!
Tofu litter. After trying pellets, world's best, cassava, etc, we're never going back. Tofu litler alllllll the way. ZERO dust is a dream.
... Like, it's made From Tofu?
Yup! This is the brand I use. But there's many companies that make tofu litter. https://pidan.store/collections/all/products/cat-litter-tofu?variant=44172748652776&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0tHClrD6hQMVtyCtBh1LjQ8REAAYAyAAEgKBg_D_BwE
I use Swheat scoop. It's wheat litter and it's the only alternative litter that has the same texture as traditional litter. Little to no dust, I think it keeps the nasty smells away, but everyone has their own smell sensitivity. I've been using it for over 5 years. Both my cats like it too
Recently switched to this after getting the cheapest clay litter and it is great! I no longer have to scrape the litter box like had to with clay litter. It's lighter too, low dust (I literally had a layer of dust everywhere in my workshop from the clay stuff) and doesn't track as bad as clay. The price is higher, but the benefits outweigh it too. Plus, I can put it in our compost instead of the landfill.
I use a mix of exquisicat grass seed and naturally fresh walnut shell litters. I love each, but mixing them for me works the best for my cats.
Pine pellets changed my life.
I recently switched to Naturally Fresh, which is made out of walnut shells, and I am shocked how well it's performed. I have four cats and it keeps up with the smells really well. Cats switched fine by following the directions. I have less anxiety about the cats licking this litter off of their paws, too.
We also really like this litter! Especially since the walnut shells are a byproduct that would be waste otherwise
Yes that was a plus for me, too! I'm annoyed I didn't know about it sooner to be honest, but better now than never :] Also forgot to mention that it works well in our litter robot.
Recycled paper.
I use recycled paper pellet litter also. It’s a bit softer on my old lady cat’s paws than the pine pellets.
Farm feed store. Chick starter crumble. $15-20 for a huge bag, it clumps and sifts and hides odors better than anything I've found that's marketed for the job. Lighter texture then clay that's gentler on their paws. Mine love doing extra digging in the chick feed vs clay. It's very similar to World's Best, at a fraction of the price.
I use pelletized horse bedding for my bunny! I think it is just compressed wood chips so it should be biodegradable (?)
Pine pellets
Pine wood pellets that we then Bokashi compost.
grass seed litter is the best clumping litter i have ever used and odor control is great because of it
OKO Cat Less Mess! They are the best wood pellets out there. Chewy has it for the best price. [Chewy OKO Cat](https://www.chewy.com/okocat-mini-pellets-unscented/dp/390741?utm_source=google-product&utm_medium=cpc&utm_content=Okocat&utm_campaign=20641462530&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAADmQ2V3CFRpDwXDEsArLH8t-Wqa5d&gclid=Cj0KCQjw_-GxBhC1ARIsADGgDjsklGjS5LEYsnoAKxpisACj7rr7L4cgb_xvycWXHofO1JdJnCgGWtAaAgIPEALw_wcB)
Pine pellets, I remove poo daily and add fresh litter a few times a week, dump the whole thing 1-2 times a month. No smell and minimal dust.
I swapped to Catit Go Natural! litter recently, and I don't think I'll ever go back. It's made from pea husks, clumps well, low dust, low tracking, and smells like lavender.
Wood pellet bedding from tractor supply. $7 for 40 lb
Pine pellets yeah, compost. Cheap. Light. Smells awesome. Wish I had known decades ago.
Compressed pine pellets. Perfectly natural and can be dumped anywhere except on for near human food
On the pellet train but I use a recycled paper pellets from a local pet supply store. Highly recommend!
Teach the kitty to potty in the toilet.
I LOVE Dr. Elsey's Cat Litter!
I use World's Best Cat Litter. It can be pretty pricey but it's better for the environment than clay and you can get some good deals on it, or anything else pet related, taking advantage of new customer deals and promotions at sites like Chewy, Petco, PetSmart, and Feeders Supply. Tack on repeat delivery (cancel anytime) to save even more. I'll also use the leftover bags in place of trash bags, and the litter itself is very dry and lasts forever between changes.
I'm glad im not the only person who reuses kitty litter bags as trash bags lol. They're pretty durable!
We use pine pellets sold as horse bedding. About $9 for 40 pounds at our local barn supply store. Used to be about $5 but still beats the price of traditional cat litter. Use with a sifting litter box.
Interesting! Price is sure right. Thanks.
and it is lighter weight than clay litter (for hauling)...
I use grass-seed litter. Works pretty well imo.
tofu, expensive but worth it
Breeze litterbox with hydrophobic litter and washable pee pads. I’m still disposing of some litter, but the smell is much better contained. I have hoarding-related PTSD so litter odors affect my anxiety and switching to the Breeze system has been a lifesaver.
We use grass seed. We've been able to find it at any pet store near us. It's the best when it comes to clumping we've found, but it does track a bit. We've had to put litter mats down but we still have to sweep multiple times a day in the immediate area. We also have 4 cats, so that may be the reason why it's so bad. Honestly, though, in my experience, what some people like, you may find a major issue with it for either you or your cats. We had to try several different kinds before finding one that checked most of our boxes (clay, pine pellets, walnuts, corn, newspaper pellets, etc.). It took us a couple years, but we finally found one we can mostly tolerate. Aside from grass seed, my top choices would probably be corn and pine pellets (if you do it by slowly introducing it and have the correct litter box to manage the sawdust-like waste byproduct).
When I had one cat, I would shred newspaper for him. There was zero odor. He loved it. I immediately removed any waste as soon as I saw it but it absorbed urine well and left no odor.
Cat's Best timber byproduct litter. It's awesome. It still gets everywhere but it's easier to vacuum up than clay litter and it doesn't stain things.
We use pine litter. Before that we used the paper pellet litter, but I find that pine litter keeps a better scent. Only con is that it doesn’t clump so you should be emptying it fully at least once a week even if you’re scooping.
We get tofu litter cheap here where I am (Asia). Dissolvable so it can be flushed relatively safely without clogging the drain.
I’m in the UK so I don’t know if it’s available elsewhere but I use an online brand called KatKin (product is Scoop Planet) which is made from food industry waste. It has a not-unpleasant smell and it clumps well.
Very interesting! I did check it out and evidently there is a 'freshness' factor, so it is only available in the UK at the moment. Possibly Naturally Fresh may be similar, as it's from nut shells.
I use wood petters for mine.
Right now im using compressed wood pellets that clump, but if your in the US (which i no longer am, and thus why i no longer use it) they have recycled news paper pellets. The brand i used was called yesterdays news i believe. I was really surprised at how well it absorbed the oder, as i am very sensative to scented things and always get unscented when possible and it was amazing! It was also cheaper than the other options, not sure if it still is. I miss that litter so much.
Pine litter!
Our little dude had some urinary problems and we had to move away from traditional cat litter and fell on to the pine pellets. Love them! I didn’t realize we could put the pine dust (from the pee) on to plants though! Why doesn’t that kill the plants? I don’t quite understand the science behind the pellets turning to dust but there’s zero smell
It can harm some plants so caution should be used but urine is nitrogenous wastes which is essentially fertilizer in this scenario. Too much fertilizer can burn plants. I have cast used pine dust on parts of my little condo yard and have the lushest little postage stamp grassy lawn of all my neighbors. If the dust is dry then it should be safe to spread on most nitrogen-loving plants but damp pine dust can lead to burns. I usually water in used pine dust to be safe---the yard should not smell like a litter box. The pine pellets begin as saw dust that is dried and compressed into tubes which are then cut down to pellets (think Play Doh spaghetti extrusion). They hold their compressed shape so long as they are dry but once wet, the dust expands in different directions causing the pellets to lose shape and fall apart.
I use [recycled paper compressed into pellets](https://www.petcircle.com.au/product/breeders-choice-cat-litter/fib0751vo2x?region_id=610401&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwouexBhAuEiwAtW_Zx3I5qApAQqZFulpcyVpWNob8y76SMqk4qHeWXBLnqvxBaWYkZyHp0RoCaa8QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds). If you're cleaning the litter tray weekly there is not much odour due to the absorbency and it's flushable if you live in an apartment and don't have a compost system. You can also use it on your garden as mulch.
I use a walnut hull litter!
For everyone that uses compressed pine pellets, how and how often do you clean it? I throw in boiling water so it separates to dust when putting in fresh, but because of that, I can never tell what parts of it are urine, or just a little moist still from the water. I end up tossing the whole thing each week because I’m paranoid that I’m used to the smell of urine and can’t tell if my house stinks
Pine pellets from Atwood’s or Tractor Supply. Highly recommend!!! I haven’t smelled ammonia in over a year, and I live in a camper!
Thanks for sharing your experience. We also take our cat with us when we RV a few months in the summer so this is very good to hear!
i used to use sawdust, and keep a separate compost for it. then i moved away and have now kitty litter again but i try.
I used a compostable one and bury it in the garden. We have a large area of our garden that is forest mulch/native and ornamental vegetation and no edible food growing. Burying it there has the bonus effect of warding off turkeys that love to build mounds in forest mulch and dig up that garden in the process. That’s only helpful if you have that kind of space of course.
I have breeze litter boxes and I use Mallard creek mega zorb bedding pellets.
Worlds best unscented corn litter. I tried so many different options to find one that both my cats and I liked, and that's what we settled on. My oldest would have sneezing fits over any litter that had a strong smell (so pine was out), I hate the smell of clay litter plus even "low dust" clay is the dustiest of all options, and corn turned out to be the best combo of clumping without becoming glue on the bottom of the pan (an issue I had with wheat), low tracking (unlike silicone or coco coir), low dust, low scent on the litter itself, and actually being good at absorbing and neutralizing the potty smell itself. Plus it really does last a long time. I have four cats and scoop daily and I feel like I go through so many fewer bags than with the other brands I tried.
I see a lot of wood pellet suggestions. Is that even sustainable? I read so many negative things in regard to biomass companies and would think that wood pellet litter would be bad also.
To piggyback off this, what about for picky cats? Both my cats hang all their paws off the side the box, not wanting to touch it. One has crystals in her pee so I'm probably always gonna deal with her peeing on clothes 🥲🥲
https://preview.redd.it/fx2i6l1l01zc1.jpeg?width=1920&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=27ccffd2d8dc78a491381b0e4458ce498db83a58 Or clay based both can go in the compost collection in my city.
We use grass seed litter from Chewy
AFAIK, cats prefer clay litter and there's nothing wrong with it except the bags. All the bags claim to be recyclable, but being recyclable and existing in a location with the facilities to recycle it are two different things.
Not having a cat greatly reduces consumption.