Earth Friendly Goodies If it's Good for the Earth it's Good for Your Health I was looking through an old article today titled “The Most Toxic Places in Your Home” and number seven was “Your Cat’s Litter Box”. The author of the article was preparing for the arrival of her new baby girl in a few months and was going through her home looking for toxic areas to de-toxify.
You may already know about the danger of changing cat litter while pregnant. Cat feces can carry a parasite that causes toxoplasmosis, an infection that can cause miscarriage, congenital defects, or other problems to developing babies. (It’s also a great excuse to use to make your husband change the cat litter)
There is another danger in cat litter you may not be aware of that effects the entire household, though.
Many cat litters can contain crystalline silica a known carcinogen, basically if your cat litter says go to the ER if swallowed – you probably should not have it in your house. I personally don’t go around eating cat litter but the dust from cat litter is just as toxic. And our dogs are weird about raiding the cat box from time to time – yuck!
There are plenty of natural cat litters available. Cat litter made from corn, wheat, alfalfa, cedar, newspaper and my personal favorite pine. Actually we’ve only tried a few alternative cat litters, but once we tried Feline Pine we’ve pretty much stuck with it. It has been the best cat litter we’ve used.
We tried Yesterday’s News cat litter, a newspaper based cat litter but it just didn’t handle the smell as well as the Feline Pine.
Why Feline Pine is the best cat litter:
1) Pleasant pine smell really hides the smell of cat urine.
2) Turns from pellets to sawdust (time to change the box).
3) Easy to scoop, but it helps to have a scoop with large enough holes for the pellets
4) Safe for kitties and cats of all ages, no more allergies or asthma, dust free and chemical free (so it is safe for you too)
5) Biodegradable, all natural and environmentally friendly (the pellets are even flushable – although I wouldn’t recommend it)
6) More affordable than many cat litters we’ve tried, plus it lasts a long time before it needs to be changed.
Cons:
1) Some cats take awhile to adjust to it. Our two older cats took to it right away, but other cat owners have said that their cats wouldn’t use it. According to a review by a litter box rehabilitation specialist you should go slow and hang on to your old litter box until the cat has fully transitioned to the new Feline Pine cat litter. She also recommends using the Feline Pine litter box or any sifting litter box should work.
2) Some complain about the sawdust or pellets tracking, although we haven’t had a big problem with that – a few pellets make their way out of the box but an occasional hand vac or sweep takes care of that.
3) It seems some cats are sensitive to the pine litters and it can aggravate allergies. Our cats haven’t had an issue with it but it’s always a good idea to keep an eye out for allergy or asthma symptoms with any new cat litter you try.
What natural cat litter have you tried? Please share your opinion below. We’d love to hear from you.
If you’d like to try Feline Pine (or if you see a sale you just can’t pass up) Below you’ll find a current selection of Feline Pine and other top selling cat litters for sale on Amazon.
I use a combination of World’s Best Cat Litter and Nature’s Miracle. I think it may be a little dustier than regular cat litter, but it’s corn and pine dust, so less toxic. My cats took to it immediately.
Please be careful with pine cat litter !!! “Natural” does not always mean safe. Pine litter made out of pine and cedar can damage the respiratory tract, causing chronic respiratory disease, and asthma, and some studies have found an association between exposure to some wood dusts and oral cancers.
According to http://www.felineasthma.org/triggers/index.htm “What may look like the “natural” alternative may actually make your cats asthma worse. For instance, there is litter out there that is made of Pine. You can also buy litter that is made from cedar. The plicatic acid that’s found naturally in cedar, and abietic acid found in pine, can damage the respiratory tract, causing chronic respiratory disease, and asthma.”
For more info see “Respiratory toxicity of cedar and pine wood”
http://www.trifl.org/cedar.shtml
Thank you Mia, those were interesting articles. I wonder if anyone has noticed their cats getting asthma from Feline Pine. The article did say Abietic acid (found in pine) itself elicits relatively weak allergic responses it is mostly cedar that they are referring too. Plus the study involved people working in saw mills who would have excessive exposure to the cedar dust. There really isn’t any dust since the pellets are compressed so I wonder if that reduces the risk. I would hope so.
My 7 year old cat developed asthma when I switch from premium clay litter to a mix of half of it with the pine pellets. I stopped usong the pine pellets and he is better now. Too bad because it made a cleaner cat box…
Sorry to hear that Lynn. It seems cats are much like people, you never know how they will react to change. 🙂 We’ve been using the pine or cedar pellets for years and the cats prefer it with no ill effects. Although we haven’t been able to find Feline Pine in our area for quite some time, but there are similar options now.
Hi.I was curious.Did your cat stop having asthma attacks after you eliminated the pine pellets?My cat was just diagnosed and that has been the litter I have used for him since he was born.
This is an old thread, but thought I’d respond feedback anyway. Yes, we used Pine & Words best for years. When our cat was diagnosed with asthma 3 yrs ago, 2 of our vets both said STOP using Pine litter, because studies show it damages the respiratory 🙁 I then read that WB (corn) is high in aflatoxin mold, when wet = well cat pee is wet after-all. So, her tumor could have been contributed to the corn litter, because antibiotics helped reduce infections too. She developed pneumonia with lots of mucus. very hard to treat. Then, she was diagnosed with a Nasal tumor this year. it was so aggressive & fast. We just put her down this weekend. Miss her so much. She was therapeutic to me, for my anxiety with autoimmune condition. But, ultimately in the end it was about HER comfort & letting her go. Her vets always said it was something she breathed IN. what else do they breathe IN daily but cat litter. We clean all natural in our home, since she was 4 mos old. I do not recommend either of these litters. We switched to Yesterday’s News litter for our 2 remaining cats.
Wow, never really put too much thought into the toxic elements in certain cat litter products. My cat tends to sneeze a lot when she uses the litter box, and it could possible be the type of litter that I’m using. It’s very similar to the Feline Pine that you recommend, but not the same. I may have to give it a try.
Choosing cat litter is definitely a big issue for most cat owners. Of course there are pros and cons to each kind. One of the pros that a lot of people may like is that it is greener than most. And the piney smell is great too
I never thought of a cat having asthma – but I suppose they could of course. I would imagine that some types of litter would be especially bad for a cat who suffers from this condition. Thanks for the information.
Thanks for visiting Jane, Yes generally the clay type cat litters are especially bad since they have such fine dust particles. Nice looking Squidoo lens – I gave ‘er a thumbs up. 🙂
Feline Pine clumping liter was the only thing that made my cat’s asthma go away. When the steroid shots and pills stopped working.
That’s good to hear Jen – I’m glad your cat is breathing much easier these days. We still use feline pine and haven’t found anything that works as well.
I like natural cat litter, natural is usually safer for your cat and good for the environment. clay is not only dusting, but messy. Automatic litters are sometimes a good option
Hi Chris I really liked your great blog post on Feline Pine. Valuable information and awesome webdesign you got here! I would like to thank you for sharing your ideas and time into the stuff you post!! Thumbs up
Hi, we’ve just moved into a condo and brought our outdoor/indoor cat with us. She is adjusting quite well and uses her litter box after going from window to window trying to get out first. We just bought some litter from the store and it seems o.k but I’ll have to check it for silica and will give the Feline Pine a try.
Came here because my elderly kitty has developed asthma or breathing allergies. She is on Feline Pine and has been for a long time. She has been coughing. She is sensitive, and now I think I need to look for an alternative to Feline Pine.
Sorry to hear about your kitty Kitty, strange that it would be from the Feline Pine as it doesn’t have the dust that regular cat litter has. You could try giving your cat coconut oil – not sure if she would like it since our old cat turns her nose up at it, but many people have found giving coconut oil to pets has helped with many ailments including asthma.