To the users of the wheat kitty litter

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
I've never used this litter before, but it was recommended for
kittens, so I got it, and they were used to it from the rescuers
house. They like it fine, but does the stuff always stick to the
litter pan, and seem like it needs a chisel to get it out? New pan,
shiny, seemingly non-stick. I've always by-passed posts about the
wheat litter in the past because the older furry guys are happy with
clumping Arm and Hammer. I suppose you never know what you're going
to need to know.

--
Cheryl

I've used Sweat Scoop in my Littermaid. The cats liked it but it does not absorb well
and sticks to the bottom. Corn based World's Best and Littermaid litter work better.

Adam

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
I've never used this litter before, but it was recommended for
kittens, so I got it, and they were used to it from the rescuers
house. They like it fine, but does the stuff always stick to the
litter pan, and seem like it needs a chisel to get it out? New pan,
shiny, seemingly non-stick. I've always by-passed posts about the
wheat litter in the past because the older furry guys are happy with
clumping Arm and Hammer. I suppose you never know what you're going
to need to know.

--
Cheryl


I've heard that you can spray the bottom of the litterbox with non-stick
cooking spray to help with this problem. I used Swheat Scoop for a while,
and it was OK, not really any better or worse than other clumping litter.

--
-Kelly
kelly at farringtons dot net
www.kelltek.com
Check out www.snittens.com

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
On Wed 10 Nov 2004 09:45:42p, KellyH wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav (news:qnAkd.83548$R05.7472@attbi_s53):

I've heard that you can spray the bottom of the litterbox with
non-stick cooking spray to help with this problem. I used
Swheat Scoop for a while, and it was OK, not really any better
or worse than other clumping litter.

Thanks Kelly. I know you have experience with little kittens (I have
NONE, other than helping out at the clinic and kenneling for a
fosterer when she went on vacation), is it ok to use clumping clay
litter? I read that it isn't preferable with kittens. And, with
their sniffles and eye gookiness, I didn't want to use anything
dusty. What litter do you use with kittens, specifically, kittens
with goopy eyes and sneezing a lot?

--
Cheryl

From my reading on this, organic litters such as corn or wheat based may be healthier
for cats. Firstly the silica in clay can theoretically cause lung silicosis just like
in humans. Secondly clay clumping litter have a chemical bentonite that can be toxic
to cats.

If you do a google search on health problems with clay clumping litters you get lots
of info on this. For eg:

http://www.thelighthouseonline.com/m.../moredata.html

For these reason I've switched my three cats to corn litter. As a further benefit
corn litter is lighter, easier to scoop and easier on the Littermaid mechanism.

Adam

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
On Wed 10 Nov 2004 09:45:42p, KellyH wrote in
rec.pets.cats.health+behav (news:qnAkd.83548$R05.7472@attbi_s53):

I've heard that you can spray the bottom of the litterbox with
non-stick cooking spray to help with this problem. I used
Swheat Scoop for a while, and it was OK, not really any better
or worse than other clumping litter.

Thanks Kelly. I know you have experience with little kittens (I have
NONE, other than helping out at the clinic and kenneling for a
fosterer when she went on vacation), is it ok to use clumping clay
litter? I read that it isn't preferable with kittens. And, with
their sniffles and eye gookiness, I didn't want to use anything
dusty. What litter do you use with kittens, specifically, kittens
with goopy eyes and sneezing a lot?

--
Cheryl

I haven't tried the wheat litter with young kittens yet. I know they do say
not to use the clay based clumping litter with young kittens for a number of
reasons.

I usually use plain clay or paper litter (like yesterday's news) until they
are old enough not to try to eat the stuff.

W

"Cheryl" wrote in message
...
Thanks Kelly. I know you have experience with little kittens (I have
NONE, other than helping out at the clinic and kenneling for a
fosterer when she went on vacation), is it ok to use clumping clay
litter? I read that it isn't preferable with kittens. And, with
their sniffles and eye gookiness, I didn't want to use anything
dusty. What litter do you use with kittens, specifically, kittens
with goopy eyes and sneezing a lot?

--
Cheryl

I use regular clay non-clumping litter with the fosters. Reason being I
usually have a litter (3-6 kittens) and they can really poop and pee a lot!
I end up dumping the litterboxes once a day and it's much cheaper with the
volume of kittens. I do the actual dumping/filling in another room, as the
litter is dusty.
Your kittens should be past the age where you have to worry about them
ingesting the litter. If that is a concern, then you might want to use
Swheat Scoop or World's Best. Won't be harmful if they injest it.
Are they on anything for the goopy eyes / sneezing? Did they recently have
a HESKA (intra-nasal FVRCP) vaccine? That could account for the sneezing.
Also, if you recently turned your heat on, that could be causing it too.

--
-Kelly
kelly at farringtons dot net
www.kelltek.com
Check out www.snittens.com

From: Cheryl

They like it fine, but does the stuff always stick to the
litter pan, and seem like it needs a chisel to get it out?

Hi Cheryl,
Yes it will stick to a pan. However, what I do is I use one of those heavy
duty black plastic garbage can liners. I actually stick the litter box
sideways into the garbage bag. Then when I'm ready to change their box when
the litter needs changing, I simply turn the bag inside out (with the dirty
litter inside). It's really easy and it works great.
The company recommends spraying the litter pan with a light coating of Pam.
But I like the garbage can liners way.

Lauren
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecatjournal.com/articles/claws.htm

"PawsForThought" wrote

However, what I do is I use one of those heavy
duty black plastic garbage can liners. I actually stick the litter box
sideways into the garbage bag. Then when I'm ready to change their box
when
the litter needs changing, I simply turn the bag inside out (with the
dirty
litter inside). It's really easy and it works great.
The company recommends spraying the litter pan with a light coating of
Pam.
But I like the garbage can liners way.


Lauren, how come your cats don't put holes in the bag?
And what brand do you use? I would love to use a litterbox
liner if I could find one that will not perforate.

From my reading on this, organic litters such as corn or wheat based may be
healthier
for cats. Firstly the silica in clay can theoretically cause lung silicosis
just like
in humans. Secondly clay clumping litter have a chemical bentonite that can
be toxic
to cats.

If you do a google search on health problems with clay clumping litters you
get lots
of info on this. For eg:

http://www.thelighthouseonline.com/m.../moredata.html

Sure, if you google clumping litters you can find a lot of stuff on the Web,
all of it citing one case of possible bentonite toxicosis in one cat that was
known to frequently eat litter (the cat did not die from it, btw) *without* the
responses of other veterinary researchers disputing this article. You can also
find a breeder or two--usually the story about the Japanese bobtails--claiming
clumping litter harmed her cats, but this story never includes proof. The site
you mention includes some more anecdotes, none supported by real evidence.

When Cat Fancy did a survey of 100 vets in the U.S. a couple years ago, not one
reported ever seeing a health problem in cats caused by the use of clumping
litter.

Asthma in cats may be exacerbated by dusty litter, but in my own experience I
found litters like Wheatscoop to be dustier than a good clumping litter.

"Adam Helberg" wrote in message nk.net...
(...)
for cats. Firstly the silica in clay can theoretically cause lung silicosis
just like in humans.

Well, if your cat spends 8 hours a day scrabbling about in the box,
for 10 or more years, maybe. Otherwise - it ain't gonna happen.


Secondly clay clumping litter have a chemical bentonite that can be toxic
to cats.

Mind you, the touchy-feels gurus here suggest feeding bentonite...!

http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/clay.htm

(...)

For these reason I've switched my three cats to corn litter. As a further
benefit corn litter is lighter, easier to scoop and easier on the Littermaid
mechanism.

One of my boxes contains WBCL. I don't think the lightness is a good
thing - it tracks relatively badly at least partially because of this.
Swheat scoop seemed to perform similarly to WBCL except that it would
stick to the bottom of the box unless non-stick cooking spray was
applied before filling. Probably the best performing litter IMO is any
of the silica crystal pebbles, although they are by far the most
expensive of all options.

Steve.

From: "Mary"


"PawsForThought" wrote

However, what I do is I use one of those heavy
duty black plastic garbage can liners. I actually stick the litter box
sideways into the garbage bag. Then when I'm ready to change their box
when
the litter needs changing, I simply turn the bag inside out (with the
dirty
litter inside). It's really easy and it works great.
The company recommends spraying the litter pan with a light coating of
Pam.
But I like the garbage can liners way.


Lauren, how come your cats don't put holes in the bag?
And what brand do you use? I would love to use a litterbox
liner if I could find one that will not perforate.

I use these ones from Aco Hardware. It's their most heavy duty ones that come
on a roll. There's 50 in the roll and they're made by Ironbuilt called the
Extra Heavy Duty (just went and got a bag so I could read it ) They're cheap
too, only $5.96. I'm surprised my cats don't tear through them, especially they
way they dig for what seems like hours in the box. You can also double up the
bags just in case.

Lauren
________
See my cats: http://community.webshots.com/album/56955940rWhxAe
Raw Diet Info: http://www.holisticat.com/drjletter.html
http://www.geocities.com/rawfeeders/ForCatsOnly.html
Declawing Info: http://www.wholecatjournal.com/articles/claws.htm