A big part of our lives as cat owners (especially if you’re like me and have multiple cats) is cleaning out litter boxes and disposing of not only the waste, but also the old litter.
One of our litter boxes is in the bathroom, and it’s so tempting to wanna just dump stuff into the toilet, flush, and be done with the whole thing.
But at the same time, I really really don’t want to need a visit from my plumber.
So what’s the deal with flushing cat litter? Can you ever do it? What if it’s just a little a bit? What if you just dump and flush the cat poop? Does it depend on the type of litter? And what about cat litter that says it’s flushable? Are they telling the truth?
In this post you’ll learn about what happens when you flush kitty litter, which kinds of litter are flushable, and the pros and cons of flushing cat litter.
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Find the Best Litter for Your Cat
Why You Shouldn’t Flush Your Cat Litter In The Toilet
Cat litter is designed to absorb moisture and other material to 15 times or more of its standard volume. To illustrate this in context, imagine swallowing a material with that absorbent property.
Flushing Cat Litter Can Block The Sewage Pipes
Once it hits your stomach, it would very quickly absorb any moisture there and swell up to enormous proportions, and would lodge in your stomach, unable to move out or be dissolved by stomach acid.
In a very, very short space of time, you would find yourself in the emergency room and scheduled for emergency stomach surgery to remove the blockage.
Sound like fun? No. Not at all. And this is the same problem that flushing cat litter in your toilet creates for your septic system as well as the septic infrastructure.
It’s the same reason why it’s so important to not feminine products down the toilet — they can clog up the system to the point where maintenance crews have to be sent out to unclog pipes, which of course is both time-consuming and expensive.
Flushing Cat Litter Poses A Public Health Risk
Cats have a Toxoplasma gondii, which is harmful to humans and leads to Toxoplasmosis. If infected, they can experience symptoms like sore throats, fever, headaches, swollen lymph nodes, and muscle pain for a month or more.
Moreover, pregnant women, babies, and people with compromised immune systems are especially at risk, and they can experience far more severe symptoms like:
• Seizures
• Coma
• Severe headaches
• Blurred vision
• Eye pain
• Infection of the lungs
• Shallow breathing
• Confusion
This is why obstetricians ask whether there are cats in the home when a woman is pregnant and stringently advise that she does not clean the litter box or come into contact with it in any shape or form.
How to Correctly Dispose of Litter
Now, let’s look at the four different types of cat litter and the best ways to dispose of it.
Disposing Clay Cat Litter (Bentonite Composite)
Clay litter is one of the most popular forms of cat litter, and because it is cheap, many people use it. This is NOT to be flushed in the toilet as it will eventually create issues for you. The primary component of this type of clay litter is bentonite and is highly absorbent, which makes it perfect for cat litter, but definitely not so perfect for flushing in a toilet.
This litter forms clumps that are easy to scoop and remove from the litter tray, but it also has specks of fine dust that sticks to the kitty’s paws and can get tracked through the house.
To dispose of this litter safely, you can scoop it into a plastic bag and then throw it in the trash, or if you are lucky enough to have a garden, you sift out the fecal material and add that to compost while disposing of the remaining clay litter in the trash.
Cat poop is very high in nitrogen and, as such, can be used as part of fertilizer for plants that require good nitrogen content but DO NOT USE CAT POOP for any edible plants. As carnivores, their excrement may contain bacteria harmful to human health.
To compost cat poop is a debatable issue, but done correctly, it can be recycled and have some benefit for your garden.
Disposing Silica Gel (or Crystal) Cat Litter
With super absorbent and strong anti-bacterial properties, this type of cat litter has been gaining popularity with indoor cat owners worldwide. It is also less dusty, and some manufacturers claim it is flushable – although this is not recommended.
Silica gel cat litter is also a lot less odorous as the urine is absorbed into the material, and this also means you don’t have to change the litter as often as you would with clay litter.
The Silica gel product is more expensive than clay litter, so if you have a few cats, you may need to mix and match a little to keep those litter costs down.
[Side Note: We switched to crystal cat litter a couple years (we use the Pretty Litter subscription) and one time we were out of litter, didn’t realize it until the last minute, and then had to wait about a week before we’d receive the next order. I ran to the store and bought some clay litter. Compared to the crystal litter, it was disgusting. I swore I would never go back to clay again.]
Because crystal litter is also super absorbent, disposing of it by flushing in the toilet is not recommended for the same reasons as the clay cat litter is not. It can block pipes, and even though this may not be evident initially, it will build up over time.
Despite anti-bacterial properties, it is not anti-parasitic, and the transmission of the toxoplasma parasite is still a possibility. So even with silica gel litter, flushing in the toilet is not recommended, even if the packaging suggests it can be.
Like clay cat litter, crystal cat litter inevitably ends up in landfills, and since it’s not biodegradable, it will simply sit there. But, you can use it in your garden to level out areas as you could with clay litter.
Because it’s so absorbent, you can use it to soak up other spills like oil on the garage floor, plus it is a great way to kill poison ivy.
Disposing Pine Cat Litter
Made of pine pellets, some cat owners prefer this type of litter because it’s more environmentally friendly, it clumps from the bottom up, and it’s easy to remove and clean.
Pine cat litters IS flushable. It’s made from wood materials left over from the lumber process, and it will begin to break down once it comes into contact with water.
One of the only drawbacks with the pine litter is that cats may not like the scent (and sometimes even the texture) of pine. In particular, overweight cats or cats with injuries to their paws and senior cats may find it uncomfortable.
This cat litter may also come in shaving form, which is more similar to the texture of clay and silica; plus, since it is made from pine, it doesn’t have the allergens like wheat or corn that may cause allergic reactions in some cats.
It is also safe for kittens, and the super absorbent properties quickly dehydrate solid waste, removing odors faster from home.
Check the packaging to determine if it is flushable, and make sure you adhere to disposal instructions to avoid any potential blockages in your septic system.
Corn Cat Litter
Made from whole corn kernels, this cat litter is 99% dust-free, which is good news for people that suffer from the dust from silica and clay materials in the house. Furthermore, it is safe for kittens, cats recovering from surgery, and injury-prone animals. It’s also edible, so there’s no risk to your cat if it is ingested.
Corn cat litter is biodegradable and flushable but remember that 92% of corn in the US is genetically modified, but you can find non-GMO modified products if that is an issue for you.
Corn has a microporous structure that immediately absorbs the ammonia smell and urine. The material clumps almost immediately after your cat leave the box and you can scoop it out right away if you want to.
The granular texture is more similar to sand than pine litter is, and this type of litter is available in a range of textures, so if you are migrating from silica or clay to corn, you can find a similarly textured litter to make the transition for your cat easier.
If you want to try corn cat litter, check out World’s Best Cat Litter, a clumping litter that has very little tracking and creates virtually no dust:
World’s Best Cat Litter, Clumping Litter Formula for Multiple Cats
World’s Best Cat Litter, Clumping Litter Formula for Multiple Cats
Wheat Cat Litter
This cat litter has a very similar consistency to clay litter, so if you are changing from clay, especially if your cat has been using clay for a while, this would be a good option.
Also made from naturally processed non-food grade wheat, this cat litter is safe for ingestion – but only in small amounts because cats don’t process carbs that well – and it’s safe for kittens, post-surgery cats, and cats prone to infection.
What cat litter is also flushable, but some flushing instructions may need to be followed before doing so, and these will appear on the packaging. Wheat naturally removes odors, and the starches quickly adhere to moisture to clump for easy removal.
If you want to give wheat litter a try, heck out sWheat Scoop Natural Fast-Clumping Wheat Cat Litter, which is lightweight, has no artificial scent, and creates almost no dust.
sWheat Scoop Natural Fast-Clumping Wheat Cat Litter
sWheat Scoop Natural Fast-Clumping Wheat Cat Litter,25 Pound (Pack of 1)
Flushable And Biodegradable Cat Litter
In the quest to find more environmentally-friendly cat litter, industries have looked to more natural materials such as wheat and corn to provide the solutions, and to some extent, they’ve succeeded.
Cat litter made from corn, soy, wheat, and similar materials is biodegradable and flushable. They naturally break down under contact with water and other chemicals found in septic disposal systems.
Is Flushable Cat Litter Flushable?
It’s much easier for a cat owner to flush their litter in the toilet than dispose of it in trash or risk blocking the septic system by flushing it — but is “flushable” litter really flushable?
Yes, it is, but there are some pros and cons to flushable cat litter.
On the “pro” side, these materials are all biodegradable and have far less impact on the environment as the materials they are
made from are by-products of processing. Clay litter is a by-product of mining, which has a huge impact on the environment.
It’s also easier to work with as collecting clumps and flushing them takes less time than collecting the litter and putting it in a trash bag. If you have multiple cats, flushable litter can be a real blessing.
Flushable Cat Litter Cons
Like everything in life, there are some downsides to consider.
One is that your cat may have an allergic reaction to the materials. Also, flushable litter doesn’t clump like clay or silica as the absorbent rate is lower.
This means that urine may not be absorbed as well as clay, and you will need to clean your litter boxes more often and more thoroughly than if you were using clay.
Another consideration is that the flushable litter will cost you more than either the silica gel or clay, and if you have a lot of cats, this may add costs very quickly.
The final point here is that even though it is flushable and more friendly to the environment than other litters, it still does not eliminate the risk of toxoplasma gondii being released into the public septic and water system.
I hope this post has given you some good information about different types of cats litters, how to dispose of each kind, and whether or not you should be flushing your used litter.