Conference misery::feline_v1

    Well, I use 40 lbs. a week and I shovel it into 2 tall kitchen plastic
    trash bags and then take them to the dump.
    
    E.T._and_18_litter_box_filler_upers

    I have two boxes and the dirty litter goes out with the garbage every
    week in double-bagged grocery bags.  
    
    Mary
    

    See if it dissolves in water (like ours does) and, if it does, flush
    it down the loo.
    Not all at once, mind, unless you want a blocked system!!
    
    Failing that, isn't there a new litter on the market which doesn't
    need replacing? I seem to remember reading about it somewhere. You
    just scoop out your pussies' contributions and then top it up with
    more litter.

    E.T., what I've always wondered is how the heck you manage to clean
    and disinfect that swimming pool!!  Is it a real pain to do?  Do
    you use a shovel to get all the litter out when changing the pool?
    
    Enquiring minds want to know!
    
    
    --Roberta
    

    Welll.  I give weekly demonstrations - just stop by any time!
    
    Seriously, because I'm sitting here in my nice cozy office and
    NOT shoveling the pool, I will say, no, it's not a real pain.
    
    When I'm sitting on the couch in the living room and watching
    the clock tick away and I haven't done it, yes, it's a pain.
    
    It takes about 5 to 10 minutes to shovel it out.  Then I take the
    pool (sesame street sandbox) over the the set tub (sink) and fill
    it with 'some' water and bleach.  Swirl that around and dump it.
    Then put more water and soap in and scrub it out - then more bleach
    and rinse 3 or 4 more times.  Really doesn't take long.  Dry it out.
    I've started using newspaper on the bottom, as of last weekend, to
    absorb the liquid - I will see in a day or two how this works.  It
    will keep the litter from sticking to the bottom of the pool and will
    mean less sand goes down the drain.  It will also keep the sand on 
    top dry.  I use an ash shovel - the black ones with the long handle
    that you would use for the fireplace or woodstove to shovel the pool.
    I could use a bigger shovel, just haven't looked for one.
    
    For all the cats I have, it could be a whole lot worse - it's really
    not all that bad !!
    
    E.T.

    Re: 3.
    
    You should be really careful about flushing cat litter. If you rent
    your landlord could be mighty unhappy. We've managed to block our
    system once with just what I would consider only a small amount
    of litter so I'm real careful to wipe out as much litter (after
    its been dumped) as I can before washing out the boxes. Although
    the loo definately works better than the sink.
    
    The new litter mentioned in note 3 is awful. It's very fine, like
    sand and gets tracked everywhere. Eventually you will notice a fine
    covering of dust on everything. The vacumming alone is not worth
    it.
    
    Other than that three cat box loads go out with the trash every
    week and no one has ever complained. 
    
    Happy dumping!
    
    Lianne and the herd (it takes two long to name them all.)

    I'm glad to know that the new litter is so awful - I won't bother
    with it, then.
    
    My landlord is the County Council. So far we haven't blocked the
    system (touch wood!), but we are careful to flush it in small amounts.
    You'd be amazed at what gets flushed down the average British loo!
    
    By the way, we usually wash out the box with washing up liquid because
    we'd heard that there was an ingredient in some disinfectants that
    was poisonous to cats - can anyone tell me what the ingredient is?
    Thanks in advance.

    Well, I like the new litter.  It gets rid of the problem of heavy
    bunches of stuff to cart out to the rubbish.  It does scatter, but
    I've controlled that pretty well by putting a large rug (a cheap
    bathroom rug from Sears) under the box.
    

    Well, that's put me in a state!
    I think, on the whole, I'll avoid it. Oliver is under the impression
    that he needs to excavate through to Australia before he can get
    down to business - he has large, clumsy paws, and he get the Fuller's
    everywhere - I can just see him with that new brand and it makes
    me shudder!!

    Re. .7
    
         I believe the ingredient you want to avoid is what is in Lysol ...

Re the safety of disinfectant: I believe the only safe one in the UK is "Savlon"
(this actually mentions pet hygiene in the instructions on the bottle).

Thanks for all your inputs. I raised this subject because our binmen have failed
to take away heavy plastic sacks in the past, so I've been lugging the used
litter to the tip myself each week. I've considered burying the stuff in the
garden, but I'm sure Fullers Earth wouldn't make a very good growing medium
(besides who wants a blue/grey flowerbed?!).

*DC

    re: excavators - get a covered box.  Its the only thing that has
    saved my sanity with Mao the litter-flinger

    This is another vote *for* the "new" litter.  The particular brand we
    are using is "Everclean", but there are some competing products out
    there now as well.  The tracking was a problem for us too until we put a
    2'x3' carpet remnant under the box -- now its no worse than it was when
    we were using clay litter.
    
    What we like most about it is the way its eliminated *all* odor from
    the box.  We keep the box on the first floor of the house, and you
    wouldn't even know we *have* cats if it weren't for the cat toys, the
    shredded newspapers, the streaking fur going by at warp 7.... :-) ;-)
    

This will (I hope) point out the incredible behaviour of some UK County 
    Councils.

I used to put my litter in paper in a sealed plastic bag in a bin for pickup.
One fine day I found the plastic bag open and left behind - I thought nothing
of it until the next week, when the same thing happened. Um, says I, I then
wrap the litter in newspaper, sealed it with tape and then put it in another 
bag, (Bear in mind this was before environmental issues was a super hot topic),
this was then placed in another bag with other rubbish and then all in the bin. 
You can guess what happened, I came home to find the rubbish gone through
and the newpaper seal broken and the litter left behind again.  Well, I
was fit to be tied, so I asked my husband to phone the council collection
office and ask what the he** was going on.  

The answer was: "You don't really expect them to handle dirty things do you?"
Those were her EXACT words - not mine clouded by time.
    
My husband pointed out that it was completely wrapped (twice over) and that they
took the time to unwrap every thing.  

The lady stuck to her guns and said "The collectors only handle clean 
household waste and have a right to refuse any that they don't think fits 
into this category"!!!!!.  

At this point, my husband was SO cross, he seriously considered sending cat 
poop (wrapped) to this lady - she didn't know exactly who was calling - but he
didn't.

By the way she had no suggestions on how to get rid of it, but we fixed her -
we dumped the stuff, in our friend's bin, in the next village, of course it
was the same County Council!

    Oh I know!
    The dustmen can be a bit small minded about the rubbish they collect
    - our next-door neighbour, a keen gardener, was informed by one
    of them that they do not collect garden waste. She is a pensioner
    and she asked what she was supposed to do with it. He said she should
    get her husband to take it to the tip and, when told that her husband
    had died 14 years previously, his attitude was that it wasn't their
    problem.
    I suppose if we DO block the loo with the cat litter, we might be
    able to get something done about the dustmen taking it, as the Council
    own our house. 
    
    Thanks, by the way, for the information given in previous notes
    - I shall now go in search for a covered box and disinfectant. I
    thought we'd just have to put up with the Fuller's everywhere, and
    I'm glad to know there IS a solution!

    So, you folks in the U.K use Fullers Earth for cat litter??  I used
    to use Fullers Earth to soak up the grease of stud tail on my stud
    cat when we were showing him.  I can't imagine what it would be
    like to use it as litter.  Mine came in a small bottle, about 4
    oz., hardly enough to fill a litter box.
    
    We clean all 14 of our boxes once a week, and put the used litter
    in the garbage can.  Our garbage men will take anything that is
    in a can, put will not take bagged garbage that is not in a can.
    I guess they all have their little quirks.  Anyway, we bag it up
    in hefty bags, and put it in the garbage can, and they take it away.
    One of my girlfriends always feels guilty about leaving used litter
    in her garbage, so she bribes her garbage man with a six pack of
    beer each week.  She leaves it for him with the cans!  :^)
    
    Jo

    re. 16 
    Are we talking about the same stuff here? Ours comes in heavy bags
    of differing sizes (depending on Pussy's requirements) and are no
    joke to carry back from the Petshop. It's a bit like gravel or stones.
    
    Perhaps the author of .14 should try putting a few cans of beer
    in with his/her well-wrapped litter to see if the dustmen find
    them! 
    Have you also noticed how the dustmen ALWAYS put the lids back neatly
    on the bins during the week leading up to Christmas and hardly ever
    at any other time?

    This was back in early '80s - I'd wish I thought of that!  We now
    live in Canada - where 6 months of the year it can be so cold that no
    one would waste time opening stuff unless there was something of known 
    value!  The CC was Middlesex and the town was Staines.
    
    I think the poisionous stuff is carbolic acid (phenols).  I thought
    the only safe thing was the stuff you soak nappies and other baby
    stuff in or chlorine bleach (well rinsed).  The name escapes me.
                                         

    The ingredient you want to avoid is phenol which is found in all
    forms ofthe brand name Lysol.  It is poisonous to cats so PLEASE
    do not use it at all.
    
    I just use a dishwashing soap to scrub my girls' boxes out and then
    I use plain clay cat litter with some baking soda mixed in so it
    neutralizes the odor as much as possible.
    
    I heard that the new cat litter that never needs changing is not
    good.  Too fine for their little noses and eyes!
    
    Nancy

    We started using "OUT", (normally used for getting pet stains out
    of the carpet) to wash our litter boxes. The smell is fantastic,
    and the cats don't object and of course it will not hurt them.
    
    K-Mart has it for around $4.00 a bottle, and you mix it with water
    and it goes a LONG way. We use an older bottle to mix the new with
    water so I can spray it into the litter box.
    
    Barbara

    another camp is heard from re: everclean cat litter...
    
    my duo used it for several months.  no problems, except for a bit of
    tracking.  then, i switched from everclean brand to a "generic" brand
    made and sold by a reputable, local pet supply store.
    
    it was shortly after that when poor ol' stanley developed such serious
    eye problems.  he got huge eye abrasions in *both* eyes.  the vet was
    convinced stanley was allergic to the new stuff.  i thought that was
    crazy, but i was paying too much money to the vet (and was far too
    worried about stanley) to ignore the advice.
    
    i switched to edward lowe's kitty litter brand and have been more than
    satisfied.  stanley's abrasions and swollen red conjunctiva cleared up
    shortly after the switch. (of course, the antibiotics he was given and
    the mycitracin have to be  credited for their part.)  i am very
    grateful/fortunate that stanley has totally healed.  (this, mind you,
    for a cat who was given a very grim prognosis around thanksgiving: 
    best case scenario then was eye surgery, worse case scenario was a
    possibility of eye rupture.)  i have much to be thankful for that my
    furface has come through it all.
    
    sorry i went off on a tangent.  but despite the ease of use of the
    fine-grain litter, there is no way i would ever go back to any brand of
    it.  just too risky to my blue-eyed baby...
    
    diane, stella & stanley
                                    

    This is a somewhat alarming story.  I note, however, that your problems
    began when you switched to a "generic" brand... interesting.  Was it
    an allergic reaction, or was he rubbing it in his eyes, or what?
    
    		-todd

    I, too, have a blue eyed baby who cannot tolerate anything but Ed
    Lowe brands of litter.  It must be dust free, if not, Kyrielle suffers
    (and no, I have never seen her rubbing litter in her eyes :^D) 
    It appears to be a type of allergic reaction to the dust getting
    in her eyes when she scratches in the litter.
    
    Jo