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Post by papermoon on Jul 20, 2014 19:19:56 GMT -5
A lot of us here have at least one cat and at least one litterbox. If you've found a magic solution to the ongoing litter problem, please share. Here's my solution, but it only works for one cat... When I ended up in government-supportive housing downtown, I had to give up my car (no place to park, and no money for it anyway). So now I would have to take the bus everywhere. I quickly discovered that I simply couldn't lug a heavy bag of cat litter on the bus, plus carry it 2 more blocks home from the bus stop. And besides, the litter cost at least $5 a week. On welfare, I just couldn't afford it. So... I decided to try filling the litterbox with shredded newspaper. My darling cat took to it right away!!... with LOTS of petting and praise and treats every time she went near the box to sniff and investigate. After she finally stepped inside the box of shredded paper and used it the first time, she got lots more petting and praise and treats. It worked like a charm! She's been using only shredded paper ever since, for more than 4 years now. At first I tried shredding all my various junk mail, but the junk printed on coated paper didn't work well. However, a lot of my junk mail is printed on newsprint, plus there are always plenty of daily free papers. The newsprint is absorbent and also acts somewhat as a deodorant... up to an extent. I have to change the box every 2 days. I can do it every day if I start to notice a smell, but usually 2 days is fine. More than that... yucko, stinko. So every 2 days, I use a little plastic bag as a mitt to lift out the clump of used paper and drop it in the trash, and then rinse the litterbox with hottest water, empty in the toilet, and scrub with a squirt of dish soap. It takes just a few minutes to air-dry upside down, then I refill with fresh shredded newspaper. Easy-peasy. My cat actually PURRS while she watches me. I don't recommend this method if you have more than one cat or if you can't change the paper often enough. As for frugality... I reckon this method has saved me about $300 a year... over $1200 by now!
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Post by Unswamping on Jul 20, 2014 20:16:29 GMT -5
papermoon i dont know where you are located. When i didnt have any income, the local food pantry would supply me with some, i did have to ask. Most usually get some nonfood donation items. I found with the non food stuff, i had to ask, it was never included. They also gave me cat food both dry and canned. The food pantry was not aware that there was an animal food bank just outside my area. I was just on the edge of the area they serviced. They were incredible. I had six cats at the time and because the woman actually lived in my town, she stopped on her way home and dropped off a couple of 50 lb bags of cat litter, 6 giant bags of cat food, a case of canned cat food and some flea medicine. My therapist told me about it, she heard about it from one of her patients. You could try to google "animal food bank or pantry" and your town or state and see jf there is anything like it. For cat litter, i use feline pine. If you have just one cat, you can buy the small bag for about $5, maybe less, there are generic brands. This will last you a month. Its about the same size as the small bag of clay litter but weighs about half of that. (I used to have to shlep on the subway and bus too). The reason the small bag last longer is than you never empty the whole box. I use small disposable salad tongs (4 for a dollar at dollar tree) to remove the solid waste. Use a scoop to sift out the pellets and put them in a clean container (another dollar store purchase, small trash can reserved just to litter). The sawdust material will run out the sifter back into the pan. Once i scoop all the pellets out, i dump the sawdust into a trash bag along with the solid waste. Dump the pellets back into the pan and youre done. Maybe every other day you may need to add more pellets. So the first time you fill the pan, you may use half a bag but then you are only adding a small amount when needed. I have 5 cats and use a 20 lb bag a month (i keep 6 litter pans for them). I do scoop it every morning since one of my is very, very fussy about her litter (in her ideal world, the litter pan would be scooped immediately after every use.) except for when i was getting litter from the food bank, i have used this for about 20 yrs. When they pee, the pellets swell up and then fall apart. Thats the "sawdust" in the pan. Its kind of reverse scoopable litter. It has a light pine scent (natural, not perfumed). The food bank gave me clay litter and i forgot what a mess it makes. I do wash the pan out once a week (i have seven pans, six in use, one extra to use while i wash the one for the day). When you wash the pan, there isnt that clay residue. There isnt pools of pee sitting in the bottom of the pan. Even wet, i find it to be alot lighter than clay litter. Its so absorbent, i have used it to absorb other liquids, like cooking oil that went rancid (cant put it down the drain so i poured some in the bag with the dirty litter, it absorbed it, no liquids leaked out). P.S. I dont work for them. I just really love it. Hope this helps.
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Post by Unswamping on Jul 20, 2014 20:21:18 GMT -5
I did try using newspaper once. My oldest decided that if it was okay to use in the litter pan, then any newspaper in the house was fair game too. He was a paper shredder too. I have a problem hoarding paper and he was either shredding it or peeing on it. , i loved him to pieces and miss him so much.
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Post by rededen on Jul 20, 2014 20:27:27 GMT -5
Alternative to cat litter? Don't have a cat !! Sorry. I'm being naughty.
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Post by dayeanu on Jul 20, 2014 22:36:20 GMT -5
I like the Breeze brand cat litter. It is ceramic pellets. They can be washed off and reused indefinitely, if one is so inclined.
I think there's an old thread on here where I sound like I work for the company.
The actual breeze litter box is fairly pricey, but you could do the same thing with a dishpan drilled or punched with holes, nested inside another dish pan. Then just use the pellets as with cat litter. Scoop it, and wash when needed. I tested the pellets. They are totally non-absorbing, so the pee runs down into the bottom tub, while the solid sits on top of the pellets.
You could also use the Breeze absorbent pads in the bottom pan, but that sort of defeats the point of really cheap cat litter.
Also, one bag of the Breeze pellets would be fairly light to carry home from the store.
For a completely biodegradable cat litter, chicken feed works pretty well.
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Blackswan
Banned
Joined: October 2008
Posts: 6,388
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Post by Blackswan on Jul 20, 2014 23:48:57 GMT -5
@ red!
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Post by outfromundah on Jul 21, 2014 5:26:32 GMT -5
I like the Breeze brand cat litter. It is ceramic pellets. They can be washed off and reused indefinitely, if one is so inclined . . . Scoop it, and wash when needed. I tested the pellets. They are totally non-absorbing, so the pee runs down into the bottom tub, while the solid sits on top of the pellets. How do you wash the pellets? By rinsing in a strainer?
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Post by lesaulerouge on Jul 21, 2014 5:39:01 GMT -5
We never have any newspaper, so not an option for us.
I used to use clay based stuff, but our cat is 19 years old and has kidney failure so pees a lot. I kept ending up with wet clay footprints everywhere.
We now use some silicone based stuff. They reckon it only needs changing once a month. Hmmm, well, I do it fortnightly. I line the tray with a plastic liner and then one of those nappy (diaper) sheets and a whole bag of silicone litter. It is very light in weight.
M poos mostly on the floor anyway, so they get picked up and flushed down the poo as and when. He is unhappily constipated today, so I am waiting for the vomit and for him to get sicker...
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Post by dtesposito on Jul 21, 2014 9:34:23 GMT -5
I have a friend who knows someone who works at a wood-working shop, and he would collect bags of sawdust for her to use as cat litter. Obviously this will only work if you know someone who works where they sweep up sawdust every day.
She was looking more for something natural as opposed to something free, but it WAS free. It turned out to be too messy for her to use, the cats tracked it around--but if you can't afford litter and your cats accepted it, it would work.
Diane
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Post by CourageouslyLion SeeksSerenity on Jul 21, 2014 11:51:33 GMT -5
I love the idea of the "Feline Pine" brand. But I cannot use it because I'm allergic to sawdust.
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Post by papermoon on Jul 21, 2014 19:02:28 GMT -5
I have indeed tried the Feline Pine stuff, but didn't like it. (In over 40 years of cat guardianship, I think I've tried every brand on the market.) The sawdust stuck to my kitty's paws and got tracked onto the floors and up on my bed. No good.
I guess I'm lucky that she has taken so well to the newspaper method. She's a good kitty. I am 100% pleased with this method for so many reasons: - absolutely FREE - quick and easy - no odor if cleaned every 2 days - no tracking - no tiny litter bits or residue stuck in my cat's paws - no dust micro-particles for me or my cat to get in our lungs - no lugging around or storing heavy bags of litter - no contributing to the manufacture and transportation of litter - no empty litter bags or (*shudder*) plastic containers to dispose of
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Post by catcat on Jul 22, 2014 1:12:10 GMT -5
Before my angel-cats died, a few months ago, I used the Breeze system too, like Daye does. I liked it a lot. My only objection to it was that one of the cats--maybe both-- liked to kick in it & there were pellets on the vinyl basement floor. They were odorless & did no harm, but I kept sweeping or bending over to gather them up. At least, I wasn't breathing in the silicone dust any more. Nor were the cats.
catcat
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Post by dayeanu on Jul 22, 2014 22:54:00 GMT -5
Before my angel-cats died, a few months ago, I used the Breeze system too, like Daye does. I liked it a lot. My only objection to it was that one of the cats--maybe both-- liked to kick in it & there were pellets on the vinyl basement floor. They were odorless & did no harm, but I kept sweeping or bending over to gather them up. At least, I wasn't breathing in the silicone dust any more. Nor were the cats. catcat Catcat, I found that I preferred dealing with wayward pellets better than wayward cat litter. Because of their size, at least I could sweep them up easily.
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Post by def6 on Jul 23, 2014 18:28:21 GMT -5
We had a cat (when I was a kid) that scratched on the door to go outside to use the bathroom ...no litterbox.
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Post by dayeanu on Jul 23, 2014 18:41:37 GMT -5
We had a cat (when I was a kid) that scratched on the door to go outside to use the bathroom ...no litterbox. Wow!
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