Is Flushable Cat Litter Eco-Friendly?

Flushable cat litter generally comes in a loosely-packed, clay-based gravel that doesn’t clump. After your cat deposits urine and faeces into the litter, the box is emptied into the toilet and the contents get flushed into the sewer system. You may have heard this practice isn’t safe for the water supply or the wild animals exposed to it. That can be true, but have you considered the harm these products do before they even hit store shelves?

Every clay-based litter on the market gets its start at diatomaceous earth. This clay comes from deep underground, and is reached by strip miners who shave layers off the earth until reaching a thin vein of it. You would think cat litter would be a leftover product, an ingenious method for using waste from a more important process, but no. Diatomaceous earth is strip mined for the sole purpose of creating something for your cat to poo in.

The problem with flushing is the cat poo itself. After the planet’s been torn apart for the clay, after other, often toxic or carcinogenic chemicals have been added to impact smell or fluid retention, the one thing cat litter can’t do is safely absorb cat faeces. A parasite called toxoplasma gondii lives in the intestines of cats, and can cause serious illness in other animals, including people. Most waste water treatment facilities do not have the equipment needed to filter toxoplasma out of the system, leaving the parasites free to contaminate ground water and infest animals coming into contact with it. In recent years, sea otters along the coast of California have had enough of a problem with toxoplasmosis for the government to issue warnings involving cat faeces and of felines using the home toilet.

Fortunately, not every cat has toxoplasma in their system. Indoor cats with no exposure to small animals may be free and clear. Veterinarians can test your pet to see if they have the parasite, and can treat your cats if they do. Once this parasite is out of their system, flushing cat faeces is as healthy for the earth as flushing anything else.

Flushing the litter may be a different story. With traditional clay-based litter, “flushable” really is subjective. If you live in an older home, you may be asking for clogs that will require toxic chemicals – or expensive service calls – in order to fix. Newer, more eco-friendly cat litters using a vegetable base (like Swheat Scoop or World’s Best Cat Litter) are without doubt more friendly to the planet, utilising leftover products from the food chain.