When you adopt or purchase a cat at first, you may not know how to pet it. The animal lover nature of many people compels them to have cats and dogs since these are some of their favorite pets. Training cats is not an easy job and require your undivided attention, time and care. However, over time, every cat owner learns a lot of things about their cat pets.
When you start house-training your cat about peeing and pooping in the litter box only, there are several other tasks that you must take care of! First of all, you must know what type of litter box would suit your kitty. Next, it would be better to provide your cat with the best litter type. Last but not least, a question may arise in your mind, if you can flush your cat’s litter down the toilet or not?
Whether a cat owner can flush their cat’s litter down the toilet is one of the frequently asked questions that may mess with their mind. However, if you have the same query, it would be better not to worry! This article has got you covered!
Why is a cat litter important?
If you have an unmatched love for cats, understandably, you would want one for your house. Without any doubt, you would pamper your new little kitty for a while, but later, you would want it to learn basic life etiquettes. Therefore, house training for indoor cats is the utmost essential duty of a responsible cat owner, and you must fulfil it with all your efforts!
Training your little furry friend involves many activities. However, teaching your cat about peeing and pooping in the litter box tops the list! Understandably, you would not want your cat to keep urinating or defecating in every other part of the house. So while you make your cat learn about the litter box usage, you may need to clean its mess for a while, but not for the whole life, which would be gross!
Cat litter comprises clay material that can absorb urine and faeces. There are multiple types of litter that you have to choose from as per your kitty’s needs. Besides, cats of different ages are comfortable with litter that correspond to their sizes.
Cat litter types – brief overview
As mentioned earlier, there are different types of cat litter that you have to choose accordingly as a responsible cat owner; however, you must stay vigilant towards your kitty and see if it likes the provided litter box or not. Let’s have a brief overview of the types of cat litters available;
1. Clay litter
It is the most typical cat litter type that you usually encounter. It can cause clumping of the litter, making it easier for the owner to clean it later. Besides, many cats are comfortable with these types of litter.
2. Pine litter
Pine litter is your go-to if you care a lot about the surrounding atmosphere and do not want to cause dust pollution, which is common with clay litters! This variety comes from pine trees and is exceptional when it comes to controlling dust and odour.
3. Litter from biodegradable products
You can also refer to this variety as ‘flushable’ litters. Many cat owners low-key want to use flushable litters since these make their job easier for cleaning. Later, we will discuss if you can opt for flushable cat litters or not. However, this variety comes from corn, wood, paper etc.
4. Paper litter
Without any doubt, you would not want to go for paper litters for your cat unless it has some paw disease, like tender paws. This is because paper litter do not play any role when it comes to absorbing urine and faeces. However, these are soft that may work for the tender paws of your kitty!
5. The new silica gel litter
Not many cat owners use silica gel litter since these are expensive. However, these do not contain dust and odour. Moreover, these are highly absorbent!
Composition of your cat’s litter
As mentioned earlier, the most common litter used by cat owners is the traditional clay type litter. However, as soon as it gets wet with urine and faeces, it starts to clump. Therefore it would be best to clean the litter as early as possible before it becomes challenging.
Let’s say that you use clay type litter for your kitty, and you think about using the flushable type litter so that it would be easy for you to drain the waste into the sewerage system. It would be irresponsible behavior as a respectful citizen! As you know, your cat’s clay composed litter turns into hard mass very soon; flushing it down the toilet will cause problems like clogged pipelines and much more.
Can you flush cat litter down the toilet?
If you have started to think about going for flushable cat litters, you have to notice many other factors associated with these. Firstly, since the flushable variety of litter come from corn, wood, paper etc., your cat might be allergic to these. Besides, the clumping of used litter can be a severe issue when cleaning the litter box. Furthermore, this variety costs a lot for making your job easier.
Let’s have a detailed look at the merits and demerits of flushable cat litters so that you can decide if you should use them or not;
1. Your cleaning job becomes easier
Without the flushable cat litter, you would have to scoop your cat’s clumped litter, keep it in the bag and then dispose of it in the nearest dustbin. However, flushable cat litters make your job easier and quicker. Once you see that your cat has urinated or defecated in the litter box, you can flush it down the toilet without having to make any significant effort.
2. Eco-friendly
Speaking of flushable cat litters, some of them might clump while some may not. These consist of corn, wheat, wood etc., so they are biodegradable and are not a threat to the atmosphere like the clay litters. Clay litters have to be strip-mined; else, they gradually damage the ecosystem.
3. Allergies
As mentioned above, flushable cat litters can be made of corn, wheat and similar elements that the majority of the cats are allergic to! Therefore, it would be better to observe your cat’s reaction to flushable litter. On the other hand, the non-flushable clay litters are not famous for causing any health issues in cats.
5. Toxic to humans
As a responsible citizen, you must know that flushing cat litter down the toilet can cause serious health issues among humans, especially pregnant women and sick people. Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite present in every cat’s faeces and does not get destroyed very quickly.
Since the sewerage systems work on the re-use and re-cycle mechanisms, these parasites can severely affect humans and cause serious health concerns.
6. Septic to the drainage systems
Any type of cat litter, flushable or clay type, does not go well with the drainage systems. Your cat’s debris can clog the pipes, and their repair will cost you even more. Furthermore, the septic tank systems will not break down the flushed cat litter, which would cause massive issues understandably.
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In conclusion
Undeniably, every day the process of scooping, bagging and trashing your cat’s litter leaves you exhausted and tired. So there comes the point when you think about switching to flushable cat litters to make yourself feel easy. However, this variety of cat litter comes with both pros and cons.
In this article, we have tried our best to make you understand the importance of cat litters, their types, the most commonly used cat litters and whether you can use the flushable variety to flush your cat’s waste down the toilet.
Hopefully, it will prove helpful!
