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Old 16-04-2007, 08:29   #1
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Clumping cat litter is poisonous!

My new kitten became more and more listless, and his belly was bloated. I noticed he'd lick a few 'kernels' of the clumping litter off his toes and sometimes his nose.

I 'googled' and found that this product is poisonous! It has many bad ingrediants, one of which is the dried gell-stuff that attracts 20 times it's weight in water, therefore clumping.

The kitten, six months old, is a little better now that I use the nasty but better traditional clay litter, but his middle is that of an obese old cat. I'm so sad and sorry!

I'm looking for a new product called Feline Pine that's made of compressed sawdust.

Please stop using clumping litter!

Cheers,

Melissa
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Old 16-04-2007, 09:18   #2
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Thanks for the heads up.
There's another thread on this board where it was suggested using wood shavings. Free from carpentry shops. I haven't tried it yet.

Steve B.
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Old 16-04-2007, 09:25   #3
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I'm sorry to read this, Melissa . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by MelissaK
My new kitten became more and more listless, and his belly was bloated. I noticed he'd lick a few 'kernels' of the clumping litter off his toes and sometimes his nose.

The kitten, six months old, is a little better now that I use the nasty but better traditional clay litter, but his middle is that of an obese old cat. I'm so sad and sorry!
Please ask your vet if a mineral oil enema might help your cat. I suspect that the sooner the ingested litter is passed, the better.

Good luck!

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Old 16-04-2007, 10:30   #4
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Melissa, don't let the internet terrorize you. Some of those hits refer to quartz sand as a carcinogen. Tt isn't. In fact, it is INERT and essentially is GLASS.

Now, any inert material that gets into your lungs and isn't expelled is likely to be a long-term irritant, but calling it a carcinogen is a huge stretch. Inhaling dusts of any kind is not good, regardless of their source. To single out sand and try to make a causal connection, borders on terrorism.

Ditto for bentonite. Bentonite is essentially CLAY. In pet litters, it is dessicated and dried out and then when it is wetted again--it absorbs the moisture and swells back up. Again, it is INERT and that's a very good thing.

Sand and clay? That's essentially what we call DIRT. Animals have evolved to live on it, eat on it, sleep on it.

Your cat is not a bird and should not be eating gravel, rocks, or feces. If it is--you've got another problem to deal with.

And if your cat was eating litter, or even yard dirt, it would not permanently swell his belly up. As Tao mentioned, he may need a lubricant but the INERT CLAY will be PASSED OUT in a reasonably short time, unless there is a bigger problem, like a mass formed or trapped that may need some encouragement to break up.

As far as hazardous ingredients go, INERT SAND AND CLAY are probably about as safe as you can get. Wood shavings are often commercially available, but they may also get trekked around the house. Do you know what resins are in the wood? Oil from the blades? Other contaminants? Do you think a cat can eat and digest wood?

Life is dangerous. Make your choices, but don't let "some folks on the internet" terrorize you into making them. And do find out why your cat is eating kitty litter, that just isn't right. The 'lump' might not even be related--it might be a medical issue, see a vet.
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Old 16-04-2007, 12:01   #5
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I agree, see a vet, but I'd also say to stay away from clay litters, we have a rabbit that uses litter. We were looking at the feline pine stuff too, but we found a cheaper alternative which is basically the same thing.

Compressed sawdust pellet wood stove fuel available at most farm supply store, possibly hardware stores too... it might be hard to find in stock as it's starting to be summer, but we just buy a few 40lb bags during winter and it lasts us the whole year and it's a lot cheaper than any material marketed as a litter.
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