Need to flush litter... need advice

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Ginahoy

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I'm training my kittens to use toilet. The training kit includes an overlay with several plastic inserts with different size holes. Each insert holds a small amount of litter. These are switched out over a period of weeks or months until the cat doesn't need a "crutch" anymore. Needless to say, there's no way to avoid getting a lot of litter in the bowl. Cats like to dig.

I tried a flushable litter made from corn (World's Greatest Litter) that won't clog pipes but the cats refused it. Started using the sink or bathtub. Ugh! Back to the Tidy Cat.

I realize flushing clumping litter down the drain will likely lead to pipe problems. But I REALLY want to complete this training. The kittens are making great progress!

So I've accepted the fact that my pipes will need to be cleaned after training is completed. But since my house is on a slab, I thought I'd better get some advice on this first. Is there any question that a plumber would be able to get the pipes clean? Do any of you have experience with this? The last thing I want to hear is that I may be causing irreparable damage!

Thanks,
David
 
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Cass

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I am going to guess that if you were to flush 2-3 times after the kittys do there thing that everything will be fine.

cat-orange-1.jpg
 
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Achutch

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Cat litter in the toilet

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I use the cheapest store brand of non-clumping cat litter. The box is scooped out and as much litter as possible is shaken off. At home, which is on a municipal sewer system, the waste is flushed down the Toto Drake. I have been flushing cat waste from this location for 15 years without a problem. The Drake disposes of everything in one flush, as does the antique "Standard" in the half-bath.

At my camp, which is on a septic system, I was advised by the dealer who installed the tank not to put cat waste into the system because the bacteria in the cat waste would upset or interfere with the bacteria in the tank that digests human waste.

Whether or not that is true, I am dumping the cat waste into a "Doggy Dooley" rather than risking the health of my septic system.

achutch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awYO4ArTsQg
 
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Verdeboy

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cat and mouse.jpg


Why don't you build a small composting toilet for the little kitties?
 
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Ginahoy

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geniescience said:
why clumping litter?
I tried nuggets made of pine sawdust, and the corn-based litter. Both are flushable. Cats refused both. There may be other choices I'm not aware of but I think my cats would reject anything except clay-base litters. To my knowledge, all clay-based litter is potentially a problem for pipes. At least the ones I saw in the store all say not to flush.

I'd be very interested to know if there's a non-clumping (clay) litter that's safe to flush!
what is wrong with cats peeing down the bathtub drain anyway? They just need to turn on the tub faucet once a day to rinse out the tub P trap.
they pee'd in the sink and did #2 in the bathtub. Neither is acceptable. Cat urine really REEKS!

http://www.citikitty.com/
 
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Ginahoy

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Verdeboy said:
Why don't you build a small composting toilet for the little kitties?
Actually, I work in "green building" industry and we are considering having a composting toilet in our next home (although hopefully we won't be using litter by then!) There's no place for one in our existing home.
 
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Ginahoy

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achutch said:
I use the cheapest store brand of non-clumping cat litter. The box is scooped out and as much litter as possible is shaken off. At home, which is on a municipal sewer system, the waste is flushed down the Toto Drake. I have been flushing cat waste from this location for 15 years without a problem. The Drake disposes of everything in one flush, as does the antique "Standard" in the half-bath.

At my camp, which is on a septic system, I was advised by the dealer who installed the tank not to put cat waste into the system because the bacteria in the cat waste would upset or interfere with the bacteria in the tank that digests human waste.

Whether or not that is true, I am dumping the cat waste into a "Doggy Dooley" rather than risking the health of my septic system.

achutch
I was on septic at previous two homes. I'm not sure about the cat waste issue, but I can tell you after living in each home for seven to eight years, neither tank ever developed more than a few inches of sludge. (I had a Sludge Judge). But the only litter we flushed was whatever stuck to the stools. We currently have city sewer connection.

BTW, what brand litter do you use? Is it clay-based? I'm curious because all the store-brand litters I've seen are clay. My assumption is that clay = clumping = bad for pipes. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
 

Achutch

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Cat litter in toilet

ginahoy,

I flush the cat waste as you do with only the litter that sticks to the waste. I live in a condo (municipal sewer system) with my kitchen, laundry, half-bath, plus 5 more units upstream of Tyler's Cat's bathroom (yes the Toto Drake also doubles as his bed). I have never used clumping litter because it can't be flushed and has to be disposed of in the trash (and in between trash pickups, the stench would be overpowering). Just the few granules in the toilet have never harmed the pipes. In your case, the training of the cats would be short term, and maybe if you flushed a couple of times whenever you found an "offering" in the bowl, it would move everything out of your pipes completely.

The brand of litter I am using is Hannaford Cat Litter. Hannaford's is a regional supermarket in the New England area. It's more coarse than the Tidy Cat, but it's cheaper, and since I always remove the solids and do a complete box change once a week, there is no odor. BUT, is does say that "flushing is not recommended". I tried the pine pellet variety with Lynx, my previous cat (lost him in April -- kidney failure), and like your kitties, he refused to use it and ended up with a urinary tract infection! I returned to the regular non-clumping clay granules and have never had a problem with the cat, the toilet, or the drains.

The fact that you had very little sludge in your tank even with the cat waste is encouraging. Since my camp is only open for about 6 months of the year, is used only by me, and only accepts waste from the two toilets (one of them pictured in my "avatar") and one sink (tub/shower/kitchen are on a "gray water system"), then my 5 year old tank ought to be in good shape.

What my septic tank installer told me was that the treatment plant that accepts the septic waste from his pumper refused to take waste pumped from a dairy barn septic tank because the animal waste rinsed off boots is not compatible with the bacteria at the treatment plant, and based on that, he advised me not to put the cat waste into my tank. Previous to that I flushed the cat litter into the old tank and never had a problem.

I don't know if any of this helps, but it's what I do and I have had no problems. Good luck with your kitties' training!

Matt (achutch)

P.S. Terry - that cat using the Caroma is cute! Does he know which button to push??
 

Ginahoy

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Terry said:
Kitty using a Caroma dual flush toilet
Hi Terry,
That's the system I'm using. So what do you think about litter in pipes. I'm flushing multiple times to help move it along. But I'd like some reassurance that any problems that may occur can be corrected with a good cleaning.
David
 

Terry

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P.S. Terry - that cat using the Caroma is cute! Does he know which button to push??

No, that's why he looks so startled.

I'm with Achutch, He's doing okay with a 1.6 and litter.
I mean his cat is.
 
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Achutch

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Tyler finds another use for the TOTO Drake!.jpg


While we're on the subject of cats and toilets...


As you can see, Tyler has claimed my TOTO Drake as his own, and many times I am forced to go downstairs because I don't have the heart to disturb him! You can see that he has as good taste in fine china as I do!

achutch
 
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Ginahoy

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achutch said:
The brand of litter I am using is Hannaford Cat Litter. Hannaford's is a regional supermarket in the New England area. It's more coarse than the Tidy Cat, but it's cheaper, and since I always remove the solids and do a complete box change once a week, there is no odor. BUT, is does say that "flushing is not recommended".
Thanks for your response, Matt.

When training cats using the system shown in Terry's pic (LitterKwitter), quite a bit of litter goes down the pipe. When my male poos in the hole, he proceeds to kick half of the litter into the water! Unfortunately, the training has been going on now for four months. I can't advance to the next step until his sister starts using the hole. She doesn't seem to want to turn her back on the hole! Go figure.
 
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