Conference misery::feline_v1

good subject.

I read an article several years ago that covered the steps to clean and
recycle the clay litter.  I don't remember where, but I do remember the
following steps:

1) clean out all solids.  Pour the litter on a fine mesh screen tray with
sides to hold the litter.  The picture showed a box-like structure mounted
on legs, bottom and sides made of screening fastened to the wood frame.  The
unit appeared to be approx. 2 feet off the ground.  

2) Wash the clay litter thoroughly with water, finishing up with a lemon-water
or vinegar-water rinse.  Allow the litter to drain, and completely dry, in
the sun.  Apparently, if you let it dry in the sun, it would become odorless
again.  I always figured I'd wash the lemon-water or vinegar-water out of the
clay with plain water before drying, but maybe you don't need to.

This was supposed to make the litter reusable for the cats. and then you
simply added a little more fresh litter as you washed some away.  It is
a good plan but I haven't the space and I fear my neighbors would smell the
drying litter and complain.  Here in california, we have no yards to speak
of -- and I don't know how I'd take care of it during the raining season.
Of course, if it could drain, I don't suppose it would hurt to be well washed
by the rain - for a month or two until the dry season arrived.  I'd simply
need enough space to hold a great deal of used litter.

I did run a little test and I do know the water wash will not noticable 
dissolve Tidy cat 3.  Now, all I need is an idea of what to do with it
during the rainy season - 4 cats make a lot of used litter a week.

one last point...I have no idea if the cats would use the re-cycled stuff...
and I'm hesitant...if Tabby doesn't like the litter, she will use my 
waterbed...at night...while I'm in it.

    There is a new kind of litter that is made from recycled paper.  You
    can flush this down the toilet.  I saw a special for 10 bags for $15
    as an introductory offer and I tried it.  I wasn't really impressed.
    It needed to be changed faster than the clay litter and the cats
    weren't crazy about it.  In our case - 8 adults and 7 kittens - it
    wasn't a good alternative, but perhaps you'll have better luck.
      Nancy

    Oh - that introductory offer was in cats or cat fancy.

    And, then there's EVERCLEAN, where you really only lift out the solids
    and pee balls and flush.  I don't really know how this affects the
    sewerage system, but, you never have to empty the box.
    
    

    I saw a new advert. in Cats for some new types of Everclean that are
    supposed to hold together very well. I may finally try this for my
    crew.
      N

    Yup, EVERCLEAN HD....HD stands for Heavy Duty!
    
    ;-)
    
    

    	Becareful! One of the Everclean products can not be flushed down
    the toilet. I belive it is the HD. The balls do not break up. There are
    three types of Everclean, one for a one cat home, MC for more that one
    cat and the HD which turns into cement.
    
    Mike (who has never used anything but Everclean)
    

    Gee, Mike, I've been using the HD, and have still been flushing it! 
    Your right, though, it does make harder balls than the regular or ES
    (Extra Strength) stuff.
    
    cin
    

    Yes, it does say you can't flush that - but it would still be
    ALOT less to throw out each week.  Our poor trashpeople have to
    empty the barrels one bag at a time because they're too heavy
    to lift.
    

    Gee, you know, I never read the bottle!!!  I bought the regular
    EVERCLEAN the first time, and have just added different evercleans to
    it.  Guess I've been lucky.  I have 3 gallons of HD in my trunk right
    now, maybe I return it and get it replaced with ES....can you flush the
    ES???
    
    

    I would think that after you wash the used litter with water, you
    should soak it with Nolvasan or some other disinfectant.  Lots of
    bacteria could grow on the litter if it wasn't washed thoroughly.
    Then, you could use the lemon water rinse and then let dry.  Might
    work.
    
    Jo

    Or you could train you cat to use the great outdoors..... ;*)

    We are lucky enough to have a safe area to dump it on
    our property.  The horse manure and clay litter mix
    biodegrades well.  I wonder if this can be considered
    "clean fill? :-)                   
    
    Re .12 - I can just see myself now...Pajamas, slippers
    at 6:00am chasing 4 cats who have no interest in "going",
    because they are outside and want to have fun.
    "No Rusty, don't chase the horse!", "Pepper, get out of that
    tree!", "B.K., come back to the sandlitter box, leave that
    bird alone!" "No, Casey, stay in the back yard!" 
    "No, you two, let that bumblebee alone!"...... :-) :-) :-)
                  
    and...."Oh no, we've got fleas again!!!!!"  :-)
    
    L-

    Several years ago I pondered the same issue as the basenoter and tried
    several re-cycling schemes, fine screen, wash with water, dry in sun,
    etc., and finally concluded it was a nearly impossible task for an
    individual. I think one could devise a method that would work in
    volume, but I doubt it would be financially feasible.
    
    Chuck
         
     
    

    I have been using a biodegradable brand called "Neat 'n Sweet" (or
    something like that), which resembles pellets.  It disolves in water
    (when I flush it down our septic tank).  Granted, when I have to change
    the box once a week there is still a lot that is thrown out, but at 
    least I know it is biodegradable and might go a little faster in a 
    landfill then just sitting around for a 100 years.

    The problem I've dicovered with the biodegradable litters is that
    they don't keep the odor down like the clay litters.  Has anyone
    else noticed this?
      N

    I used some of that biodegradable pellet-type litter mentioned a few
    back and found it clumped together once wet and did not last very long. 
    As I recall, it did not smell too good, either.
    --Becca
    

I'm certainly missing something here -- litter is clay - a natural soil...
cat poop is certainly biodegradable - that's why it smells so bad.  It is,
in fact, tomorrows fertile soil.  I have been looking for ways to recycle
my litter so I could reduce the amount of plastic bags/paper bags, etc. I
am using to CONTAIN the stuff for disposal, but I've never been concerned
that I was stuffing landfills with bad stuff by disposing of the litter itself.

I think that "biodegradable" stuff is a scam, folks....fer pete's sake, nuthin
is more natural than cat poop and plain old clay soil -- which is what tidy
cat is.

    I have used EVERCLEAN HD and found that it was easy to scoop except for
    the pee balls that seemed to cling to the bottom of the pan.  I guess I
    was expecting completely maintenance free litter (with the exception of
    scooping, of course).  It seems that it is still necessary to
    periodically empty and scrub the pan.  I have recently switched over to clay litter
    which, now that I think of it, is much more of a mess because the
    kittens, three of them at 5 months, throw it all over the room.  The
    EVERCLEAN, because it is so fine, just hid in the rug until it was
    vacuumed.  The clay litter makes a horrible mess.  Maybe I'll teach the
    kittens how to use the vacuum cleaner after each visit to the litter
    box.  I'll give the clay a few more weeks, perhaps, but I have a
    feeling I'm going to go back to EVERCLEAN, the kind that flushes.

    I was delighted with the EVERCLEAN HD.  It tracked less and kept the
    diningroom odor free.  Unfortunately, it was costing me $15/wk just for
    that one box.  I still had to buy clay litter for the other 5 boxes. So
    we're back to clay litter only.  
      Sigh...
      Nancy DC