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Your Cat’s Health, Your Own Health and the Environmentby Paul Tick In the United States, about 34 million households own cats. These cute purring fuzz balls leave behind about 4 billion pounds of cat litter each year that gets tossed into the landfill. Most of it is made from clay that won’t degrade. The clay is generally strip mined with all the related environmental devastations. It is also filled with silica and sodium bentonite for odor reduction and to make it clump when wet for easy disposal. Often, chemical fragrances are added to make it more appealing to humans. The litter itself may cause problems for your cat’s health. Often, they get it on their paws and then clean themselves by licking off the clay. Some of it gets into their digestive system, where it is exposed to moisture and may clump, drawing moisture from the animal’s body. This can cause vomiting and dehydration that can even lead to death, according to Healthy Paws Newsletter. Clay litter also makes a great deal of dust leading to respiratory problems for cats and especially for kittens (concern has been raised for humans too). Recently, a number of alternative cat litters were developed using recycled newspapers, wood pellets, cornhusks and wheat. Honest Weight Food Coop carries SwheatScoop, the wheat alternative. It is used by petfinders.com and listed on the greenchoices.com web site as well as with other environmental organizations. According to the manufacturer, SwheatScoop is made from wheat that is not destined for consumption. The manufacturer heats it and makes it into pellets. The wheat’s natural enzymes eliminate odors and the natural starches allow it to form clumps when moist for easy clean up. There is little dust and less tracking of the pellets around the house. SwheatScoop has no added chemicals so it is completely safe. Since it will dissolve, it is safer for sewers and septic systems. My two cats were introduced to SwheatScoop about one year ago, and they gave up their old liter without a fuss. If your cats are fussy, you can introduce it to them slowly or get guidance from your vet on how to introduce a new litter. We found SwheatScoop much more pleasant to pour from the bag due to the lack of dust. Litter that falls out from the liter box and is stepped on also does not break down into dust. There is little smell. Initially, it seemed like it would be more expensive than the clay liter but we actually seem to use less of it and therefore save money over time. As it may form into large clumps, we find it safer to dispose of it in the garbage can than into the toilet (saving water too). The only drawback is that if the liter box is not cleaned on a regular basis, some of the wet liter will stick to the bottom of the liter box and be difficult to clean. Overall, I rate this product as a 9.5 and highly recommend it. I would rate it a 10 if the company had invented a self-cleaning box to go with the litter. |
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