Toilet Training Your Cat Pt 1

Traditional cat litter: scoopable, scented, low-tracking, flushable - the list of variants goes on. You can buy litter for a home with one cat, litter for a home with many cats, litter that clumps and litter that doesn't. There's litter that smells of flowers, litter that contains baking soda so that it doesn't smell at all, and litter that claims to be safe for flushing.

The problem is, they all have the same thing in common: they're made from strip-mined clay, and clogged with chemicals that are hazardous to your pet if ingested. Kittens are especially susceptible to harm from litter. They are prone to getting clumps of litter caught between their toes, and eating it as they attempt to clean up. The resulting ingestion of litter can cause serious internal issues, poisoning, and sometimes even death.

Clay is a naturally-occurring substance, which requires mining to collect. This obviously leads to the destruction of the land that is being mined, and occasionally to problems like contaminated ground water. Mining sites that are no longer producing sufficient clay are often abandoned, leaving the site as an eyesore and a hazard to the surrounding areas. Seldom are they suitable for anything else.

You can learn more about the way traditional cat litter is made at this site: http://www.answers.com/topic/cat-litter-1

I'd like to focus on the alternatives. There are several other materials that can be used to create cat litter, two of which I have used myself: pine litter and corn litter.

Pine litter reminds me of hamster bedding, except that the wood shavings are compressed into pellets that expand as they absorb moisture. The smell isn't too bad, but the resulting dust doesn't clump, and usually sticks to the litter pan, making it difficult to keep clean. The particular brand I use boasts that it is made from a renewable source of yellow pine, which makes it a better choice than clay litter. While this may be true, I'm not entirely sure I want to continue to use a product that needs so much of our natural resources. Unlike paper, this litter is not recyclable.

The corn litter had an odd smell, and I noticed that fruit flies were attracted to (or came out of) the bag; soon after purchasing some of this litter, the little pests appeared in my bathroom and often times fluttered out of the cabinet I stored the litter in when I opened the door. The litter itself claimed that it clumped, but the clumps were more like globs of mush. After the corn bits had absorbed what urine it could, it acquired a consistency like thick mud. The smell was odd, too, and my cats refused to use it at first.

This litter seemed to be the most earth friendly, though, because it was made from corn cobs. I imagine whatever industry cans and freezes corn tidbits has an abundance of cobs to get rid of. The litter company could then purchase that ‘garbage' at a dirt-cheap price and turn it into litter for a huge profit - and all of this without cutting into any more natural resources than were already used to grow the corn.

But of all of the litters I've tried, I think there is one sort that is the best: No litter at all. In fact, I also don't like litter boxes or scoopers, and forget the actual act of scooping!

Not long after my fiancé and I purchased our first two cats, we began toilet training them. Animals learn very swiftly when they're youngsters; ours adapted very quickly to the idea, and it wasn't long before we went from a 15 pound bucket of litter a month, to one 7 pound bag of litter every two months. Immediate savings is always a plus, but when you add in the fact that I no longer had to smell, scoop, sweep or even SEE cat litter in my apartment, I was a devout follower.

Keeping cats in an apartment always means taking a risk. When one gives the landlord several hundred dollars as a pet deposit, one never knows if it will be given back in full at the end of his stay. Getting rid of a litter box altogether has all but ensured that I will receive my full refund of the pet deposit when I choose to move out. A shady landlord will not be able to claim damages for litter in the carpet or lingering pet smells, especially when given proof that the cat is toilet trained. Photos or video footage of your cat using the toilet are a good form of ‘insurance.'

With the average indoors-only cat living as long as 18 years, the cost of litter can get pretty high. With my current litter usage and an estimated lifespan of 14 years, I calculated that I'd be spending over $2,000 in litter over the course of my pets' lives. This does not include the cost of cleaner, liners, new boxes....

"But won't toilet training my cats make my water bill go up," you ask? Only if you flush the toilet every time one of them uses it! In my home, as long as no one can SMELL the stuff in the toilet, there is no need to flush it - though I do make an exception when I'm entertaining guests. Let's face it: when you and your loved ones are the only ones home, it hardly matters what's in the bathroom, especially if no one can smell it or is being impeded in any way. You can use the basic "Pee twice, flush once" rule, and save yourself time and money.

If you're interested in learning how to train your cats to use the toilet, please stay tuned for my next Hub, which will provide step-by-step details on how you can make the change.