Inexpensive, green cat litter [View All]

[politicat]

We have two cats, and years back, we switched them off the scoopable because they found it amazing to FLING! with GREAT joy! all over the house. Both cats are kickers and scratchers in the box. First, we switched back to standard clay, but the environmental costs of clay are actually pretty high -- the stuff is effectively mined. Then we tried Yesterday's News and liked it and the cats liked it, but at $17 a bag, that gets pricey fast. I'd seen Feline Pine a few times, and then... I happened to see pellet stove pellets. Yep, they're the same thing as Feline Pine, just shaped slightly differently.

Three years ago, we switched the cats to pellets. We currently pay $5.50 for a 40 pound bag that lasts about six weeks to two months. (the boxes get changed on Sunday/Monday or Thursday and usually scooped on the other days... but we're not perfect about the scooping.) We still have a bit of sawdust tracking, but it's not bad -- a rug just outside the bathroom where their boxes are cuts it well. No health issues, no litterbox behavioral issues.

The pellets we use are a local product, made from trees hit by bark beetles. In theory, the wood can't be used for anything else (I've no idea why this is -- it seems structurally fine, and would be fine for paper, MDF, or other wood products, but so I've been told.) The only problem I have is they're taxed at a much lower rate, so getting the store to sell them to me with the proper sales tax rate (because I'm not using them for their stated purpose) can be difficult.

We have two compost bins -- one for garden compost, one for lawn. The poop in the box goes into the toilet, and the sawdust goes into the lawn compost bin. We get GREAT compost out of the lawn bin -- all that nitrogen. We've also noted that the neighborhood feral cats and raccoons don't seem to find our house as interesting a hangout anymore -- maybe the urine scent in the compost sticks, or it's coincidental. That's always possible.