I have recently transitioned to using reusable grocery bags exclusively. I’ve been wanting to do it for some time now, but have been concerned with what to do with my cats’ waste. You see, my family has always reused plastic grocery bags to dispose of used kitty litter. Now that my grocery bag hoarding days are over, a new question arises: How can I be both a sustainable person AND a pet owner?

Unfortunately, the answer is more complicated than I had hoped.

It turns out that most of the clay-based kitty litters my family has been using for years is collected through strip mining, a notoriously environmentally unfriendly process. Though there are more eco-friendly products on the market, they are expensive and often rejected by picky pets. As unpleasant as it sounds, the consensus seems to be that the safest place for used litter is a landfill.

But there is always the option of flushing solid pet waste down the toilet, right? Well, yes and no.

It seems that dog waste is not harmful when flushed, but the same can’t be said for all cat waste. The first issue is the litter. If you use clay-based litter, it can harden to become almost cement-like when exposed to the water in your sewage system. Also, a lot of research has been done about the possible transmission of parasites known as toxoplasma via water systems. 

The toxoplasma parasites are said to be transmitted through cat feces and can cause birth defects and, sometimes, other serious symptoms.

Alright— now we can calm down a little.

Toxoplasmosis, which is rarely harmful to cats, is contracted by our kitties through rodents and other small animals that outdoor cats like to catch. So if you are looking for an eco-friendly option for your indoor cat, flushing (without the litter) might actually be your best option. If your cat doesn’t go around munching on rats or bringing birds to your doorstep, it is unlikely that he or she has the parasite and unlikely that their poop would not be harmful.

If you want to be sure, talk to your vet! They can do screening tests for toxo antibodies.

As for the litter itself, I recommend testing biodegradable kitty litter if you can afford it. If your cat’s are less prone to diva fits than mine, you might find some success. Other cat owners find that shredded newspaper with baking soda does the trick for their pets.

At any rate, the ultimate combination of sustainable living and cat ownership is still out there, waiting to be found. Have any suggestions for fellow cat lovers? Leave them in the comments.

Also, here’s the most spot-on cat video I have ever seen to brighten your Monday.

This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2016.

5 replies on “Thoughts On How To Be A More Earth Conscious Pet Owner”

  1. You can:

    1. Dig a 6 ft deep hole in your yard and empty your litter in the hole. Repeat as necessary.
    2. Flush the solid waste in your toilet, keep the used litter in a sealed container and when you have enough saved, moisten it thoroughly. You now have the basic material to create exciting, though smelly, sculptures.
    3. Wait til your neighbors are away and toss the used litter in their yard.

    Hope this helps.

  2. There’s only one solution since the Church of Made in America by White Guys Global Warming has declared a war on carbon dioxide, your exhalation.

    If you really care about the planet, you should expire.

  3. I have to disagree with any suggestions that you flush your cat’s waste down the toilet. I was in the habit of doing this at one point, and a plumber told me that I was going to end up destroying my plumbing that way. Sorry I don’t have any other suggestions, but I felt I had to give fair warning before somebody reads this and ends up making their toilet explode. Also, we humans use enough water flushing the toilet as it is; I have a feeling that disposing of your pet’s excrement using valuable desert water might be almost as bad for the environment as dumping it in a landfill.

    One thought I had, gross as it sounds, is that people who find they get packrat problems easily might want to scatter a bit of their cat’s mess where the rats tend to congregate in the hopes that predator pheromones will deter the rats from making themselves at home. I don’t know how well this will work, but it’s an idea.

  4. Switch to using wood pellets for litter. The same kind of pellets that fuel wood pellet stoves. Forty pounds costs between $5-9 dollars — nearly enough for a month depending on how many cats you have. The pellets biodegrade into sawdust. You can dump them in your yard and once the cat poo is degraded you can plant flowers in it.

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