flushing kitty litter down the toilet

15 years ago

This is one of many warnings about flushing kitty litter and/or feces down the toilet:

According to Dr. Melissa Miller of the California Department of Fish and Game, cat feces can contain Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite that gets into feline systems from the eating of infected rodents, birds or other small animals. When cats later expel these parasites in their droppings Â sometimes hundreds of millions at a time Â each can survive in soil for over a year and also contaminate drinking water.

Most municipal sewage treatment systems are not designed to filter out Toxoplasma, and so the parasites also get into storm drains and sewage outflows that carry them out to near-shore ocean waters. Here, researchers have found, sea otters prey on mussels, crabs and other filter feeders that can concentrate Toxoplasma. Hundreds of sea otters have been found dead on California beaches in recent years with no obvious external injuries, and Miller and other scientists think that Toxoplasma may be the cause.

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Comments (14)

jannie
15 years ago
OOOH, that sounds nasty. Toxoplasmosis is awful-very dangereous, especxially for pregnant women (tho that's not me). Another reason not to flush cat litter is because most litter contains clay, which when mixed with water, equals cement. You'll block up your pipes with cement. Very expensive to fix! Just don't do it. I pour my used cat litter in paper or pastric garbage bags and dispose of it with my household trash.
andrea_san_diego
15 years ago
Last week I watched "Bill Nye the Science Guy" on PBS and he talked about how environmentally bad it is to use clay kitty litter. Recommended that you teach your cat to use the toilet. What to do?
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Four indoor cats here -- and one litter box! It is kept in the unused master bathroom bathtub! A hard decision -- but that spot has worked out SO well for us. Our litter box must be lidless because our cats literally outgrew the lid itself! LOL! The best thing of all is that the box cannot be seen because of the high walls of the tub AND the fact the tub is located behind the "swing" of the door so I love it! And the tub is easy to clean too! Our policy is scoop out the box several times during the day -- into a grocery bag, tie it shut, and stash in a tall brass garbage bin (which also has a medium sized plastic bag) that JUST fits in a empty slot between the vanity and the shower. The garbage can is emptied once a day out to the main outside garbage can. We were lucky that a litter container JUST fits in behind the brass bin too! So the extra-large main container of litter sits in the garage -- and the DH fills up the one in the bathroom. The scoop is kept in a pretty garbage bin just under-and-behind the toilet -- so it is out-of-sight too. But still handy! Along with a brush-and-pan to sweep up any scattered litter. And a deodorant spray like Febreeze (which works great BTW!) I would dearly love a better spot -- but this house has no basement nor a laundry room so this system has worked for all of us! Jan
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Do you think that storing water for an extended period that you planned to drink or use for cooking might leach out some of the unpleasant chemicals in the plastic? I'd want to fill it with water, let it stand for a while, preferably in the hot sun, and use it to flush the toilet about a dozen times before I used it that way, I think. My landlord buys weed kller in about 4 - 5 gal. jugs and, after rinsing several times and letting stand a while in hot summer sun, I use them to carry water down to the other end of the garden, that I can't reach with the hose. Haven't heard any complaints from the plants, yet - or lost any. The cucumbers, melons and squash, plus tomatoes, sometimes suffer from blight ... but that's well after they've been watered from the jugs, a number of times. Suzie, if you were to get a piece of mesh with apertures of about 1/4" or slightly more and fit it into about a 12-18" square frame of wood, with a container to put under it, perhaps you could run the used litter over it and get another use or two out of it? Make a funnel of cardboard, or cut the corner out of a cereal box, or use a margarine/yogurt container to refill the jug. 'Twould be especially helpful if you could train the cat/dog to use one litter box for the one kind of waste and another for the other. First idea - straight goods. Second - somewhat tongue-in-cheek. ole joyful
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Pets that live in very close proximity to us can have disease pathogens that would be very bad for us in their waste. Maybe, if the compost reaches high enough temperatures long enough, these disease pathogens might be rendered ineffective but few people that have looked at this issue closely suggest that composting the waste from our pets is a good idea if that compost will be used for food production. Maybe, if the compost containing that pet waste was used only on flowers.
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marlingardener
15 years ago
If Bill Nye wants to come to our house and teach Feliz to use the toilet, I'll welcome him with open arms. Until he shows up, however, I'll continue to use Tidy Cat and reserve the toilet for the two-legged critters around the house.
jonsgirl
15 years ago
Don't do it!! We were caught on the road moving to our new house two states away, the car broke down, and we were stranded until my husband could come the next day in a really bad neighborhood, the kids and I had to sneek the poor cat into our hotel room, brought the litter and in the morning tried to flush just a little of his droppings, it would NOT flush...and it left litter pellets that I had to clean out...so gross!!! It took forever and I was lucky it didn't clog the pipes...
stir_fryi SE Mich
15 years ago
Well, my cat never sees the great outdoors so I know he isn't eating any infected rodents, birds or other small animals. But there are even greater reasons for not flushing litter -- how about the affect it would have on your plumbing???

I use FreshScoop clumping litter. Scoop and put in a plastic grocery bag and into the kitchen trash. NEVER SMELLS! Good use for all those bags that the store will no longer take back and recycle.
mommabird
15 years ago
I read a book about teaching your cat to use the toilet. I followed it to the letter. I know my cat is at least average intellegence cat-wise, but he was having NO PART of going in the toilet!!!!

I would never flush litter - you're asking for clogged pipes!
arleneb
15 years ago
Mommabird . . .

My late Smudge had the same attitude as yours did!

I bought a thing at the pet store -- it was a clear plastic insert for the toilet and directions. The liner went between the seat and the porcelain, and you put some kitty litter in it at first. Theoretically the cat accepted that as his place to go. He was supposed to want to balance on the seat because the insert wasn't stable. Gradually you removed the litter and eventually removed the liner.

Yeah, right. I was the laughing stock of my household and the whole experience just reinforced my DH's opinion that all cats are stupid.

Oh, well, it gave us all a good laugh.
jannie
15 years ago
I tried to teach a cat to use one of those plastic inserts to use a regular john. She tried it but fell in the water and refused to use it after that. I now pour my used litter into paper or plastic bags and dispose of it with my usual household garbage. By the way, I use Ever Clean multiple cat litter, it really works at keeping odors down. It's scoopable clumping litter. I highly recommend this brand.
hardin
15 years ago
My cat would use the toilet. It was always so hilarious to see. Many times, I would be putting on my makeup and he would stroll in, hop upon the commode, circle around a couple times and then do his business. Only thing is, he never flushed. LOL.
Never, ever flush kitty litter. Sooner or later, you will have a clog with the consistency of cement.
ebear1271
15 years ago
hardin, did you teach your cat to use the toilet or did he just start using it? I would love to teach my cats how to do that!
sewhappy_2007
15 years ago
The two separate themes of this thread seem to be at odds. If cat droppings should never be flushed down the toilet because of the dangers of Toxoplasmosis, why is having your cat use the toilet a good idea? Did Bill Nye the science guy have an answer for that?
albert_135 　 39.17°N 119.76°W 4695ft.
15 years ago
This has been around for several years now:
Quote:You may commence panicking now, if so inclined, though statistically, driving to the grocery store is more dangerous. So panic in moderation, if you can.

I rather believe, as much as my skeptical old head can believe anything, that it is more dangerous to drive to the grocery store to buy kitty litter than it is to flush it. Note, however, that some litter does not flush well. They are not all the same.
cynic
15 years ago
hardin, I'm just wondering if he would lift the seat and/or put it down? Many females growl and hiss about that...
kterlep
14 years ago
I just spent hundreds of dollars replacing part of the waste pipe for a toilet that the previous owner had been flushing cat litter down. The plumbers came out and tried snaking it, it was coated like an artery throughout and literally cemented in the bends.

Our friend the plumber said "only toilet paper, pee, and poo go down the toilet, nothing else, ever."

flushing kitty litter down the toilet

Comments (14)

jannie

andrea_san_diego

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