Question about different type of reusable cat litter

[runsw/scissors]

Anyone used this before? www.kittysgonegreen.com Supposedly you can use it for potting soil or compost after the cats are done with it...

What do/did you think of it if you have used it?

I'm just starting my journey and one of the steps I am taking is to re-use as much as possible. For me that means buying things I know can be re-used. This is really tempting, but would like some input first.

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

Have not tried it, but we use wood shavings/sawdust that we get free from a local mill.
Literally no smell. Ever. Anyone who walks in my house is unable to tell that we have a litter box.

 

[moolie]

Alfalfa is hay, and contains a lot of seeds--no way I would try home composting kitty litter and then use it on my garden, too many seeds would sprout. Not to mention the fact that hay is far better used as animal feed than for cats to poop in. My cat uses biodegradeable Nature's Miracle litter, we did a lot of checking around and found it to be our best option.

 

[freemotion]

I used a product called "Litter Green" some years ago and I think it was basically alfalfa pellets (now that I know what alfalfa pellets look like!) I liked the odor control of the product but my cats didn't care for the texture. I imagine this product is textured in a more cat-friendly way. I did like the odor absorbing ability of the alfalfa.

I wouldn't use cat litter on veg gardens, but would use it (composted, or at least poop-scooped) on the flower beds or front yard where we don't use the yard. I use goat bedding (mostly hay) in my veg garden as mulch for the paths and seed sprouting is not an issue. What little sprouts is thick and lush and easy to pull and gets fed to the critters....they hang out while I weed, waiting for the best stuff. Makes weeding fun, actually! There isn't much to pull, though. Maybe four or five clumps in my 30x25 veg garden.

ETA: BBrooks, don't those wood shavings get tracked all over the place?

 

[runsw/scissors]

I did try wood shavings and coarse sawdust and two of my 3 cats totally rejected the idea. Very definitely rejected! The laundry area started to smell like a feedlot!

I use straw and hay for my chickens and that gets used as bedding for the pretty garden. I might branch out to a food garden in time, but given my black thumb (I kill lavender pretty regularly) that will take some time and help. I thought that the chickens would gobble up any alfalfa that might grow. The waste of cat litter kinda bugs me... I use clumping and really it just gets sent out with the trash... ugh!

Hmmm something to think about!

 

[ORChick]

My cats have access to the outdoors so I don't have any catboxes in the house, unless one of them needs to be confined for some reason. When I lived in California I found the easiest thing for me was to get a large bag of redwood bark mulch. The cats were all used to scratching in the dirt, and didn't like any of the cat litters that I bought, but seemed to think the bark mulch was more like *outside*. It was also quite a bit cheaper. I would empty the boxes around the ornamental plantings in the gardens. I haven't found anything to compare with that up here in Oregon yet, though no doubt it exists. So far I haven't needed to search too hard, as all the felines have been pretty healthy.

 

[FarmerDenise]

I would not recommend redwood for use as cat litter. it has toxins in it. If you ever got a redwood splinter , you'll know what I am talking about.

Generally as far as getting alfalfa sprouting in your garden, I have had very little luck with that and I frequently used alfala as mulch in the garden. I wouldn't mind having it grow in my garden, since it is an excellet green manure and fixes nitrogen in the soil.

I have tried numerous products for cat litter. I suggest you try a little of it first, to see if your cats will even use it. Sometimes it helps to change them over gradually. Then you'll find out what it looks like an how it might work in your ornamental garden. Never put waste from an animal that eats meat directly on a vegetable garden. It may contain too many nasty beasties that can make you sick, when you eat the vegies.

my disclaimer:
Chickens are kind of an exception, but generally I still avoid putting their droppings direcly in the garden. I let it compost first. The only way their drppings end up directly in the garden, is when they get out... Also they don't usually eat meat, it is more that they eat bugs and worms.

 

[valmom]

I think I tried every kind of kitty litter possible since I also hated the clumping litter. I also had ferrets that used a litter pan. I transitioned them over to the wood pelleted bedding that disintegrates to sawdust as it gets wet. I would pick out the poop, sift out the pellets that were still good, dump the damp sawdust and put the pellets back in. A bit of a pain, but totally re-cycle-able. My cats weren't picky and used any kind of litter at all.

 

[moolie]

Generally as far as getting alfalfa sprouting in your garden, I have had very little luck with that and I frequently used alfala as mulch in the garden. I wouldn't mind having it grow in my garden, since it is an excellet green manure and fixes nitrogen in the soil.
.

Interesting that you can't get it to grow where you are, because it's a weed in my area due to all the hay fields surrounding this part of the city. It's an ok weed because of that nitrogen-fixing tendency, but it is invasive and I sure (personally) don't need to encourage any more of it. My compost doesn't get hot enough to kill the seeds so we have to be sure to pull it before it seeds.

 

[Leta]

We use wood fuel pellets as cat litter. A 40# bag costs $5, and it lasts forever. We have two cats and we use about four bags per year.

It composts fine. You should either have it in a long term pile (like over a year) or only use on it things like non-edibles, or fruit trees.