Content
- What is the best cat litter?
- How to make homemade cat litter
- Cat sand with cornmeal
- Cat sand with manioc flour
- Homemade cat sand with wheat
- Cat sand with sawdust
- Cat sand with soil or common sand
- Cat litter with recycled paper
- How to make cat litter with paper
One of the most practical and fascinating features about feline behavior is the ease of learning to make ends meet in the cat litter box. Although some puppies may take a little longer to adapt, most pussies assimilate in a matter of days the proper place to urinate and defecate in their new home, especially when the guardians know how to positively encourage the kitten to do his bidding in the box. .
This facilitates (a lot) the daily care with the hygiene of the pet and the home, requiring less time and effort on the part of tutors. What a lot of people don't know is that quality and cat litter type that you choose can facilitate or hinder the adaptation of the pussy to the box. In addition, there are some products that can cause allergies or inflammation of the cat's mucous membranes because they contain perfumes or irritating chemicals.
To avoid these negative reactions or pussy rejection, many pet owners are looking for more conscientious alternatives and decide to make their own biodegradable cat litter. If you are also interested in adopting more economical habits, friendly to the environment and good for your cat, continue reading this article by PeritoAnimal to find out how to make cat litter at home.
What is the best cat litter?
Nowadays there are several types of cat litter to meet the different needs of each pussy and the economic possibilities of each tutor. Therefore, we recommend that you carefully calculate your budget to know how much you can and are willing to spend on essential material for your pet's well-being.
It is important not only to analyze the price when choosing the best hygienic sand for cats and focus on the cost-effectiveness of each product. For example, consider the shelf life of each type of cat litter to calculate how often you will need to change it. In addition, you can also think about the practicality, since the agglomerating sands usually facilitate the cleaning of excrement.
On the other hand, cat litter made with biodegradable material has an important added value as it is manufactured with plant materials that decompose easily and spontaneously in nature, so as not to have a negative impact on the environment. Although these products usually require a higher investment, it is possible to manufacture homemade versions with accessible ingredients. In the next topic, we will teach you how to make cat litterin a simple way.
Remember that, regardless of the type of cat litter you decide to use, it is also important to know how to choose the box for your pet. The ideal is to opt for a model manufactured with resistant materials, as they offer a longer service life and allow for better sanitation. Also make sure the box size is proportional to your pet's body size. The animal should be able to make a complete turn around itself (360º) and to squat comfortably inside the litter box.
How to make homemade cat litter
There are many natural and economical products with absorbent and/or binding properties that can be used for make homemade and even biodegradable cat litter. Next, we'll present three very easy-to-make options with ingredients that you can find in any market, fair, or health food store.
If you have the ability to use organic products, this would be ideal to complete a sustainable and conscious consumption cycle. In addition to ensuring that no chemical substance used in the cultivation and manufacture of the product can affect your pussy's health. If that's not possible, it's still a great idea too fazer cat litter at home. Follow the instructions below!
Cat sand with cornmeal
Do you know that cornmeal used to make delicious sweet and savory recipes? Well, it is a great product to make cat litter, as well as being biodegradable. When coming into contact with cat pee or poop (which contain a certain amount of liquid), cornmeal forms some solid clods and firm that makes cleaning the kitten's litter box easier. Therefore, it is an excellent alternative to replace industrialized agglomerating sand.
To optimize the functioning of cornmeal as homemade cat litter, you can add a teaspoon of sodium bicarbonate to prevent bad odors from spreading through the house or impregnating the box. If you prefer, you can use the so-called hominy with thicker grains instead of cornmeal.
Cat sand with manioc flour
Another affordable, biodegradable ingredient that can be used to replace cat litter is cassava flour. You can buy the same flour used to make farofa, pirão and many other typical Brazilian dishes, but if you get the thickest cassava flour, the result will be even better.
Cassava flour grains react when they come into contact with the moisture present in the urine and pussy droppings, forming consistent blocks, with a binding effect. A good idea is to do cat sand with manioc flour and cornmeal to enhance the properties and offer a totally natural toilet box for your pet.
The only possible downside to cassava is that its aroma can be attractive to many pets. So maybe your cat or dog might feel like eating the contents of the litter box. You should be careful to choose the product that best suits the tastes and habits of your best friends to avoid these unforeseen events.
Homemade cat sand with wheat
As mentioned earlier, many people are becoming aware of the impact of irresponsible consumption on the environment and are deciding to adopt more sustainable living and consumption habits. Noticing these changes in consumer attitudes, many brands began to make products available to pets recyclable and/or biodegradable. A good example of this is cat litter made with natural products, such as wheat, without the addition of industrial chemical compounds (although not all of them are organic).
Did you know you can make your own cat litter with organic wheat, 100% biodegradablel and much more economical than the products offered in the pet shops and supermarkets? In fact, if you can't get organic wheat or any cheaper solution, you can also opt for plain wheat. However, we do not recommend using common flour, as it is very refined and may contain some industrial residues. Also, as it is so thin that it tends to spray and can leave its dirty house and full of white paws.
Therefore, the most natural, practical and safest thing is to buy the wheat grain and grind it using an electric grinder until you get a relatively fine bran, but not a flour. You can also ask health food stores if they offer the already ground wheat to make your job easier. So, just cover your kitten's toilet box with this wheat bran with a little baking soda to avoid strong odors. If you want to improve the binding action of homemade cat litter, just add a little cornmeal or manioc flour.
Cat sand with sawdust
Unsurprisingly, wood is a super versatile material, but it also stands out for being biodegradable and totally renewable. Of course, the procurement needs to be well planned to avoid cases of deforestation and certify the sustainable origin of the raw material. An interesting idea to replace industrialized cat litter is to take advantage of sawdust – the sawdust that is usually "wasted" by the construction and carpentry sector.
Remember the importance of certifying the origin of the wood before exposing your pussy to sawdust to avoid exposure to chemical substances or artificial products used in the cultivation or treatment of wood. The ideal would be to get organic sawdust (or the wood itself to make the sawdust in your home) or, at least, ecological wood from reforestation and sustainable soil management initiatives. As mentioned before, to avoid the bad smell you should put some sodium bicarbonate.
Cat sand with soil or common sand
Sand is naturally present in many places in the world and can also be manufactured for various uses in the construction industry, gardening and other activities. Cats, like most felines, are "attracted" to doing their necessities on land or in sandy terrain, including in nature itself. One reason is that they can bury their droppings so as not to attract predators or simply tell other animals that their presence is peaceful and does not pose a threat.
An economical alternative is to use sand or common earth to line your pussy's toilet box. It is not recommended to collect the sand from the beach, as if we all did that, we could cause a serious damage to these ecosystems. You can opt for construction sand and natural land that are easy to find at affordable prices. Remember that these materials must not accumulate moisture or impurities to prevent the proliferation of microorganisms.
A good idea is to mix these two elements, as the sand tends to stick to the pussy's paws and spread easily throughout the house. If you want a more clayey textured substrate, one measure of sand for every two of earth (for example, two cups of common earth mixed with one cup of sand). If you prefer to make a more classic cat litter (that is, with a sandy texture), you should invert the proportions and use two measures of sand for each measure of earth. In both cases, you'll be able to combine absorbent and binding properties, excellent for facilitate cleaning of the cats litter box.
Cat litter with recycled paper
Another economical and environmentally friendly option is to reuse certain materials that would simply be discarded and give these elements a new useful life. Instead of buying new products and spending more, you can reuse, for example, newspapers, magazine sheets and shredded paper to prepare your pet's toilet box.
How to make cat litter with paper
In this case, you will need to follow the following steps to make cat litter with newspaper:
- shredding or shredding newspapers, magazines and papers that will be used to make the "sand";
- Soak the shredded papers or crushed with a little warm water and neutral or biodegradable detergent to hydrate them and give consistency to the preparation;
- When the preparation is already at room temperature, it will be time to strain with a sieve and put it back in a clean container;
- Add some cold water or at room temperature and sodium bicarbonate. Then, knead the preparation to homogenize and compress it (ideally, wear gloves). The idea is to form balls or small blocks of compacted paper, imitating what would be industrial sand or silica grains;
- Strain again to remove excess water and allow the preparation to dry naturally;
- Ready! You can now use your ecological cat litter to coat your pussy's box.
With this cat litter option you will be making a absorbent sand. If you want the pee and poop to form more solid blocks to facilitate daily cleaning, you can add cornmeal or cassava flour to the dry preparation before using it to line the toilet bowl.
Is that you? Know other ways to make homemade cat litter? Collaborate with the PeritoAnimal community and leave your recipe in the comments!
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