What is the proper method of disposing of kitty litter? If your cat isn’t litter-trained, the answer is simple: Wipe the poop with tissue paper and rinse it off, wipe the urine with more tissue paper, and rinse it off. But what do you do after your cat does his job in the litter box? Can you still get rid of it in the same way? Can cat litter be thrown away?
That depends on whether it’s pee or feces, and what type of kitty litter you are using. If you use litter for your cat’s litter box, it should not be thrown away. Although not much sand will stick to your cat poop, your toilet will choke in the long run. The same goes for the other two main types of litter: clay cat litter and clumping cat litter. The plumber’s bill to unclog your pipes will ruin it.
If you use glass litter, which is made from silica gel, your cat litter disposal job is a bit easier. Glass cat litter absorbs cat urine itself without clumping, so it can be disposed of in small amounts. It also doesn’t stick very much to cat poop, so you can flush it down the toilet too. However, it is still not advisable to do this regularly in the long term.
As for biodegradable cat litter, that depends. Some of them are made of quite large granules that can also clog pipes. Others are made of wood or sawdust and can pass without a problem. Still, if you have a septic tank, keep in mind that this material doesn’t necessarily degrade right away. We could be talking about years, which could cause your septic tank to fill up quite a bit. Somehow the thought of used litter and cat poop pouring out of my clogged drains leaves me in a cold sweat.
Some manufacturers have started making cat litter that can be thrown away on calls for greater comfort. Naturally, this disposable kitty litter costs more. To make the cat litter disposable, they use various biodegradable materials that are supposed to pass safely through the pipes. These new types of kitty litter won’t turn into a sludge that can clog sewer pipes, in theory. Some plumbers agree. In the course of their business, they have gone to homes where sewer pipes and plumbing were clogged by cat litter that can be flushed down the toilet. Or so said the restless and anguished occupant of the house. Who is lying here? I don’t know, but it is probably not advisable to flush large amounts of garbage down the toilet.
It is still better to dispose of most of your kitty litter in the old way, either bagged with the rest of the garbage or carefully buried somewhere in the yard. In the garden, your cat’s urine and feces would make good fertilizer for lawns and flowers. Cat urine and feces can contain dangerous bacteria, so they should not be used to fertilize vegetables and fruit trees.
I must admit that a real disposable kitty litter would be very convenient when it is snowing or raining heavily. It would really simplify the disposal of kitty litter.