It's Time to Let the Cat Out of the Bag
Posted: (September 24, 2008 10:40 am)



It's time to let the cat out of the bag about the icky stuff in your cat's litter box. (No, not that stuff.) If you're using clay-based kitty litter, you could be making a mess of the environment -- and your health.

Most conventional cat litter is made from natural clay, or sodium bentonite, which is formed into pellets and dried. The clay is strip mined from the earth in a destructive process that seems quite silly when you think about what happens to it once it hits the litter box: It is shat upon and then tossed in the landfill, where it will remain for a long, long time. In fact, over the average lifespan of a cat (15 years), you could be dumping almost 2,000 pounds of the stuff.
But what's potentially more distressing is that the dust generated when the sodium bentonite is disturbed -- by a digging cat or a poop-scooping human -- contains silicon particles that are a known carcinogen. Fortunately for both felines and their friends, there are an increasing number of clay-alternatives on pet-store shelves. They fall into several categories: wood-based (pine, cedar), plant-based (wheat, corn, grass fibers), and paper-based (newsprint, recycled newspaper). Unlike clay, most of these litters are biodegradable -- especially if disposed of in a paper or corn-based bag -- and flushable, though there is some debate as to whether this is advisable, especially in coastal areas.