Pet-friendly homes, earth-friendly litter
By Gina Spadafori
April 9, 2007
Geez, we’ve missed so many other pet-related items these last three weeks. I’ve got ‘em all saved, and I’ll be dropping them in while we continue to keep an eye on developments in moving forward on getting safer food for us all.
The Portland (Maine) Press-Herald (thanks, Nancy) has a good piece on making your home pet-safe, pet-frendly but not pet-tacky:
Wilkinson is one of a growing number of pet owners taking their companion animals into account when making home improvements, or even when redecorating. From scratch-resistant flooring and pet-friendly fabrics to designer doggie beds and chic scratching posts for cats, just because you share your home with a messy animal doesn’t mean your home can’t be stylish.
Pet product manufacturers “are taking things that are important for your animal to have for their happiness and well-being, like scratching posts, and making them an attractive part of the home, so it’s not something you have to keep in the basement, which is great for your pet,” said Stephanie Shain, director of outreach for The Human Society of the United States.
“If everybody’s upstairs all the time, your cat doesn’t want to go downstairs to the basement to use a scratching post,” she said.
Since I’m in the middle of planning some minor renovations to my home to make living with pets easier for me and better for them, this piece was very helpful to me. My “small” improvement in the next few week: Screening in a covered patio to make a place of safe outside access and play for the cats and rabbits. My “dream” improvement: Adding on a utility room with a raised dog tub and room to store all the critter gear. Improvement done when I first moved into my house four years ago: Covered, secure, low-rise dog-ramp from the spare bedroom into a fenced section within the fenced backyard, so the dogs always have safe access to the outdoors when I’m not home. The contractor did it up right, with siding and roofing that matches the house. And there’s absolutely no heat/cooling loss through the double-flapped dog door.
Now … have you ever thought about the environmental impact of cat litter? Others have. Running down the “green” options for your cat in this piece:
there are a number of environmentally friendly alternatives that are deemed safer for people and cats alike. Recycled newspaper, for one, can be used to create cat litter in pellet form. It is biodegradable, flushable, burnable and 99 percent dust-free. It also has the advantage of not getting tracked around the house, unlike clay litters. Fibre Cycle, a company with the primary mission of finding innovative and environmentally friendly uses for recycled paper, sells such paper-based cat litter and claims it to be highly absorbent, biodegradable, long lasting, lightweight and virtually dust-free.
Plant-based litters are made from materials such as corn, corncobs, cornhusks, wheat by-products, wheat grass and beet pulp. According to Worldwise, a leading manufacturer of environmentally responsible pet products, plain ground corncobs are a good choice because they are made of natural, flushable biodegradable materials, have no odor, are very absorbent and don’t produce the same kind or volume of dust as clay litters.
Here’s the entire article.
My rabbits use paper pellets covered with hay, and the end result (after composting) of paper pellets, hay and decomposing poop from rabbits that eat nothing but hay and greens is pretty darn nice organic fertilizer. I’m thinking of putting an ad in Craig’s List for the local gardeners to come get some. My rabbits are very productive, and I have more lovely rabbit-poop compost than I need.
Just a comment about flushable litter, there has been a rise in Toxoplasmosis among marine mammals, ostensibly due to the flushing of cat litter. I’m not sure why this doesn’t get treated out but for some reason it doesn’t. Flushable cat litter seems like a better alternative, but for now, it’s safer to put in the trash.
(Toxoplamsa gondii is a parasite that many cats carry. It is a problem for pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems, and apparently also seals and otters.)
Comment by Karen — April 9, 2007 @ 9:50 am
Actually, it’s a tad more complicated than that. The toxoplasmosis is tied to run-off into the drainage and storm sewer system (i.e., gutters going straight to creeks, rivers, etc.), from feral cats and pet cats allowed to roam freely.
It isn’t clear that cat waste put into the sanitary sewer system (i.e., flushed) is a problem.
More studies needed, etc.
Comment by Gina Spadafori — April 9, 2007 @ 10:06 am
Your selcome Gina! Maine Today also hit a mega home run with this Peep PSA on the front page all day.
Check it out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....y%2Ecom%2F
Comment by nancy — April 9, 2007 @ 2:41 pm
Many years ago we upgraded a basement laundry room. Among the improvements were an ordinary $99 bathtub mounted on a raised wooden framework to a convenient “dog bathing height”. A regular spray attachment such as you find on a kitchen sink got plumbed into the piping, and readily-available cabinet doors fronting the wooden framework underneath made for a neat space to put dog shampoo, towels, etc.
Rounding it out was a light fixture directly overhead so it was always easy to see what you were doing.
Comment by Pat — April 9, 2007 @ 3:37 pm
The papers I’ve read and the talks that I’ve seen on the topic indicate that sewer is a source of T. gondii in the environment in addition to runoff. (If you are interested in my sources, Journal of Parasitology among others and the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene Annual Meeting).
Personally, I think it is better to be safe than sorry and would recommend that people not flush cat litter.
Comment by Karen — April 11, 2007 @ 9:43 am
I’ve been using Pine litter (Feline Pine repackaged for Trader Joe’s) for the past few years, because with my arm/neck problems I couldn’t scoop ‘scoopable’ litter any more (6 cats was a lot of scooping)
And, I JUST realized I’m allergic to it, and it’s the reason for my hugely-increased asthma over the same period. Yikes. Thousands of dollars in asthma medicine later, countless sleepless wheezing nights, and it was the frickin pine litter! (Yup, I’m allergic to pine, had stopped buying live christmas trees, but just didn’t put two and two together.)
Spent the last 2 nights with my inhaler under my pillow (other asthmatics know that one), moved the box outside this morning and was better in 10 minutes!
So. I am going out today to buy something different, one of the corn-based ones sounds good. My cats now get to ‘go’ outside most of the time, but I do need something to keep inside for those times I just can’t get off the floor to take them out, or when it’s raining during monsoon season. (Rain is fine, but the lightning and thunder keep them inside)
Anyone have any specific recommendations?
Comment by Kim — April 11, 2007 @ 10:09 am