apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I tried switching to the Swheat scoop litter for my cats, but they really didn't like it and started peeing all over the house in protest. We had to switch back to the ole Arm and Hammer.

I'd be curious to know if anyone has had any success toilet training their cats? It would be amazing to never have to scoop again!

toilet training is totally possible, but is easier to work with young cats that are still learning...we tried on our old cat & he just wasnt up for change

Like stealthkitten, I've tried every green cat litter product known to mankind, including the stuff made from orange peels and also Yesterday's News and my cats intentionally ignore it. I guess they prefer the strip mined variety but I feel guilty buying it. So much of being a cat owner seems to place a large burden on the environment http://bit.ly/tzC9Z even though I try really hard to make positive changes. I thought that my cats were squeaky green, but those litter boxes really put a wrench in the plan.

I'm using the smart cat litter box. It uses non-absorbant litter (safflower seeds) which lets the urine flow to a reservoir beneath. This means I use less litter (none for urine and some for poop) and since the seeds are organic I could compost them. Currently, I just flush it down the toilet 'cause its so convenient.

There is a litter tracking problem. I probably need to have a mat of some sort.

Aww come on... the doggy poop bags are made of corn. I'm very allergic to corn. While it's great that they're biodegradable, using corn in *everything* in America is the source of a number of other issues.

I've also read that dust from wheat litter can kick up people's allergies, and attract some sort of bugs.

we use the world's nest cat litter (http://www.worldsbestcatlitter.com/) along with biodegradable litter bags. despite the problems with corn, it's still better than the clay litter and it's flushable which means fewer bags going into the landfill.

The other problem with BioBags is that when they degrade in a landfill, they actually produce *more* methane than plain old plastic bags. Yikes. They're fantastic if you're composting because of the presence of oxygen. (Or at least that's what Beth from Fake Plastic Fish found out about them.)

This is such an important topic. I've covered it on our site this morning and linked to this post too, so people can share their ideas.

http://littlegreenblog.com/blog/green-news/mrs-greens-sunday-stories-5/

I'm proud to say we kept our kitty as green as possible throughout her 16 years. She ate fresh food - chicken, liver, fish which I was able to buy without packaging. She never had a litter tray, so did all her business in the garden. And when she got sick, we treated her with home made remedies such as colloidal silver instead of drugs.

We used natural products such as neem and essential oils to treat fleas and ticks.

She was finally buried in the garden so she can give back to the earth ...

A problem with the grain litters; basically it is wasting food that could be put to better use, feeding something!

Look for litters made from waste recycled paper or cellulose.
They seem to be acceptable by cats, we never had a problem with them using these litters.

Put them to even greater use after. Remove the heavy waste or droppings and flush them. The wet litter can be composted quite easily in a bin or heap. Adds to the carbon value of the finished compost and builds soil.

If you have not got one, donate it to a keen gardener who will compost it.