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Compost for kitty litter
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Posted by
pt03 2b Southern Manitob (
My Page) on
Mon, Aug 20, 12 at 23:21
| Has anyone used compost as a kitty litter?
Lloyd |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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| Interesting idea. I haven't, but I'll be watching with interest. |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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..
That's not a habit I want learned.
.. |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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| That seems like a waste of compost. If I had more compost than I had places to put it, maybe, but when does that happen? |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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| Lloyd, Sounds like a good use of your excess but only for indoor cats. I have a feeling that if the outdoor cats are trained to use the compost, they will start using your gardens as their personal toilets. |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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- Posted by pt03 2b Southern Manitob (My Page) on
Wed, Aug 22, 12 at 12:54
| It never occurred to me to use for 'outside' cats. I was scratching my head trying to figure out why anyone would use litter for outside cats. Then I figured out you meant cats that go outside. Our cats are indoor cats only. Their idea of outside is sitting in the screened in veranda. I think I will try a tray or two of compost to see how they like it and how it works. I have lots. Lloyd |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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| My cats like to go outside a lot. When they have to go potty they "knock on the door" and want to come in to use the litter box then go back out! Cats are strange animals! |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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| I think my biggest concern would be them tracking it everywhere - kind of how dirt gets trapped between their little paw pads when they go outside. But who knows! Sounds like a good thing to experiment with. |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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- Posted by pt03 2b Southern Manitob (My Page) on
Wed, Aug 22, 12 at 15:32
| Well, I cleaned all four trays, and used one for compost. It is pretty dry but it still has a little moisture in it. I'm guessing it should be pretty dry to start out with but as the cats aren't talking I'll have to experiment. Sure smells better than the clay! Our trays are in the laundry room, in the basement, on concrete and I have to clean up the area all the time anyways due to the flinging of the clay. If the cats don't like it or it's too messy, no harm no foul. If it works, I'll save a lot on kitty litter and I can spread the stuff onto the farm fields. Lloyd |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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| How often do you plan to leave it before spreading on the fields, Lloyd? Since compost likely won't clump I expect it will have to be changed quite often. I'm wondering how that's going to work in a Manitoba winter (have experienced a few of those!). I'll be interested to know how this experiment turns out. Not that I have enough compost to do it, but would like to find a better product than clumping clay to use and it would be OK to dump out in my 'back 40'. Right now I haul the used litter to the transfer station as it never degrades on my land - neither is a good place. Just bought a bag of clumping litter that's made of corn fibers altho haven't tried it yet. I have wondered about using sawdust but can see the cats tracking it all over the house and it wouldn't be good for them if they ingested it licking it off their feet. |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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- Posted by pt03 2b Southern Manitob (My Page) on
Sat, Aug 25, 12 at 20:56
| We (and by "we" I mean DW) have two cats and "we" normally use four trays that would be 'scooped' every second or third day. I had intended to replace all the clay with compost and keep the three day exchange. I had also intended to just spread the compost/litter onto the fallow field during the summer and cultivate it in with the yard trimmings I get every week. In the winter, I had planned to just dump the stuff into the manure spreader and wait til spring to spread onto the fallow field. If the spreader filled up, I was going to build a square structure out of straw bales to dump the litter into and deal with in the spring. I got this idea because I left a trailer load of supremo 'post in the machine shed last winter and one of the transient, feral cats used it as his/her personal box. I had to dump the whole trailer load onto the field. So far the one tray I have compost in has been used very little so I am wondering if I have to use compost in all of them to see if they will adapt. Kinda hesitant to do so for fear of vindictive cats. Lloyd |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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| Lloyd, I think you may have to do the same thing as a person does when they introduce new food to their cats. Mix a little of the compost with the regular litter in one tray, and slowly increase the amount, and the cats will transition better. At least that's my experience with food for fussy cats =:) |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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- Posted by RpR_ 3-4 (My Page) on
Sun, Aug 26, 12 at 23:44
I have three cats using two trays. If you have never experienced what happens when one uses "green" litter you may be surprized.
The main problem is it will be tracked EVERY WHERE. If cats do not like a certain litter they will not use it, period.
Our one cat. who always peed in one tray and pooped in the other, when we bought a new litter for him to pee in started using the rugs until we got rid of that litter. Another thing I found with "green" litter is it attracts little flies the size of gnats that even when I put bleach in the pail used litter was put in, they would come out in clouds when the lid was opened.
When we got rid of the "green" litter the flies went away. |
RE: Compost for kitty litter
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| I'm going to be making some hugels. A very interesting permaculture thing. Maybe I can use my kitty litter in this. |
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