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reply to mr_slick

Re: questions for cat lovers

reply to mr_slick
»www.catgenie.com/

Best thing I ever got. It does take some maintenance, but day to day, it does its thing.

Especially if you are getting kittens, it is best to start now.

Mine is in a basement bathroom next to the toilet.

reply to mr_slick
Charles Mingus (yes, that Charles Mingus) Cat Toilet Training Program - »mingusmingusmingus.com/Mingus/ca···ing.html

reply to mr_slick
A scientific study comparing the nutritional value of meat, (MM), corn meal, (CM) and corn gluten meal, (CGM.)

»www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/article···1250243/

Bottom line: Meat is better than corn meal or corn gluten meal. Corn meal is better than corn gluten meal.

Regarding cat litter that will often be up to what your cat likes not any other factor. Just like food but to a lesser degree cats can be picky about litter. Others don't care what it is.

If you use clay litter it is less likely that your cat will be unhappy with it if it is unscented. Some cats don't like scented or certain scented litter.

There are many types of litter, clay, carbon, sand, special crystal, hell they have some some that would be cheaper to have kitty crap in gold dust than some of the litter they sell.

Bottom line is most often if you cat has normal poop the best type of litter is one that BOTH you and the cat likes.

For odor killing the best CHEAP but effective litter is clay litter with baking soda added as an active ingredient.

If you clean the litter every day you will never have a problem with the litter and odor if the cat is healthy until in clay litter enough urine has been soaked up so that it gives off a distinct but mild ammonia odor. A sure tip off that has happen is if with fresh litter your cat not only like using the litter for what its there for but also loves to dig or scratch and "throw" it around, spreading the litter all around the litter box. As soon as he gets to the point of just getting in doing his business quickly and as little digging or burying time is a sure tip off the smells ammonia even though you don't. He will however still keep using the litter.

reply to mr_slick
I used to have a cats but when I had them, I had a litter robot with a clumping litter from sams club. Was a good clumping litter, and the litter robot was keeping up with the cats just fine. For food, we always got them meow mix. Which was kind of funny when the whole menu foods thing went down. Meow mix was the only one of the few brands that didn't get hit by that. The alley cats that stop by (and I think keep the mice from the house this year) we have been giving them meow mix when they beg for it. Which is only one cat and his name is tiger. I hated giving up my cats and you couldn't even tell we had 5 cats, but my son changed all of that when we brought him home and he was allergic.

Still sad I had to give up.
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reply to caffeinator

reply to mr_slick
I have a couple of third generation Bengals that are about eight months old. They get about 70-80% raw meat. Not sure why you think making your own cat food is required. I cycle through the various types of raw meat but they seem to really prefer chicken liver. As for the dry food part they usually get Pro Plan.

reply to dvd536

evolve.pdf 853245 bytes

quote:

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Chronic Health Effects: From MSDS

Prolonged and repeated exposure to free silica may result in silicosis, a form of progressive pulmonary fibrosis characterized by impairment of pulmonary function. Onset and progression are related to dust concentration and duration of exposure.

Carcinogenicity: From MSDS

Crystalline silica inhaled in the form of quartz or cristobalite from occupation sources is carcinogenic to humans (IARC, Group 1).

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Your cat doesn't spend 8 or more hours a day every day in the litter box, does he, nor you spend 8 hours or more a day every day cleaning it? Workers in some fields (like masonry) are exposed to large amounts of it every day, OSHA sets limits for the contaminants in the air but not completely eliminate it with devices like wet saws or vacuums that go into a collector but is far far from a clean room.

Silicosis is caused by your lung creating tons of scar tissue to combat the dust, as it says with prolonged & repeated exposure to dust.

You're exposed to background radiation all the time, but you don't work at a nuclear plant (or I don't think you do).
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Moe, I need your advice… See I've got this friend named Joey Joe-Joe... Junior... Shabadoo..

That's a rather silly straw man argument and unrelated to cat litter.

Those people who work in/with it are also required to wear at least a mask if not a respirator. I've done drywall before, you don't do it without a mask.

But, kitty is supposed to just paw around in it. She sneezes after using it...that's ok?

Just scooping the litter, it nearly makes me cough and i'm a lot bigger than my cat.

Read this: »cats.about.com/cs/litterbox/a/cl···ay_2.htm
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Well you were the one overly concerned about silicosis and silica in a non-work environment and in other products. There are countless other nasty things besides silica; you aren't drinking your shampoo or detergent, eating drywall, a shot of Windex for good luck, etc.

Call it whatever you like, but I totally get the incidental eating of the litter.

No more of this...
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reply to caffeinator
I agree caffeinator it's concerning and am glad you posted that.

The other household and industrial products that contain Bentonite from the link are minor amounts, but the cat litters listed contain 65-100%, while the majority fell in the 90-100% category:
»hpd.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/househol···&id=1214

There is a further link to "Human Health Effects from Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB)" on the top of that page with additional studies:
»toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/sis/s···302-78-9

quote:

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Human Toxicity Excerpts:
...EFFECTS OF BENTONITE IN WORKERS IN PROCESSING PLANT...VERY HIGH INCIDENCE OF BRONCHIAL ASTHMA (25%) IN WORKERS EXAMINED, AND ATTRIBUTED THIS TO THE IRRITANT ACTION OF THE BENTONITE DUST ON THE BRONCHIAL EPITHELIUM.

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reply to mr_slick
Mr_Slick, We too lost our beloved old-timer last spring and after some time recently acquired kittens (last couple months). We didn't initially think we would, but they fell in our hands (quite literally). It was a tough loss, but our newbies are bringing new life around here that we've been enjoying far more than we expected. Good luck with yours.

For now, we are on Purina kitten food which our vet approved. Our ole buddy was on a pro-plan previously, but he had health issues in the last years.

Kitty litter - We use (and did before) "Cedarific" which is all natural cedar shavings. It's biodegradable, compost-able, and flush-able, although we don't do the last two (we have septic), we do dispose of it in our woods and within a few rains it's gone.

Pros: all-natural (no chemicals), economical/goes a long way, very light weight, smells great w/ very good odor control, and easy cleanup & disposal.

Cons: Hard to find in some stores, and does track more than traditional litter.

We sometimes use "feline pine" (when our store is out of "cedarific") which is another natural wood product although it's pellets... looks much like rabbit food. Kitties find it hard to dig and bury with it so they tend to leave their mess on top. Urine smell control is very good, though as the pellets swell up. Also biodegradable and chemical free. When stuck with a leftover bag, we line the bottom of the pan with the pine with the cedar on top. Nice combo.

-Jim

reply to mr_slick

Diet

reply to mr_slick

Re: questions for cat lovers

reply to swintec

Re: Diet