Yesterday, in describing our recent haul of goods to the homestead, I mentioned cat litter. I thought that I had talked about that before on this blog, but it turns out I hadn’t. This little tip seems far too good not to pass on.
We came to the homestead with our two cats, Lisa and Spice. Lissa has since passed on, but Spice remains an important part of the family (the most important, if you ask her). Indoor cats require cat litter. Acquiring new, and disposing of used, creates special problems on a semi-remote homestead. The common clay cat litter is heavy to pack, and becomes a disposal issue after use, since it doesn’t break down easily.
In recent years, a new kind of cat litter has become available that breaks down into sawdust as a cat uses it. Not only is it lighter to carry, once it’s used it can be composted to eventually benefit non-food plants, such as flowers, berries or trees.
The main producer of this kind of litter also makes a “scoopable” version that clumps around cat waste. In our small town, a majority of cat owners prefers that kind, so the only store that carries the brand only stocks the scoopable variety. We usually can’t get the other kind, and, if we can, it’s pretty expensive.
Recently, we realized that this litter is indistinguishable from the wood pellets that fuel pellet stoves. Wood fuel pellets, available at our local hardware stores, costs half as much as the exact same material packaged as cat litter!
The cats don’t read. We don’t have a pellet stove. All we have to do is ignore the packaging and use it for our own needs. We save money, save our backs, and lessen our impact on the environment.