Pine Cat Litter as a Compost Agent

I have successfully switched our wonderful idiots to a pine cat litter. It's the type that comes in little pellets that deteriorates to sawdust when the cats pee on it. Great stuff, wonderful for odors and very easy to use.

I have used sawdust as a compost in the past, and since the urea of the cats is full of nitrogen, I was wondering if I could clear out the solid waste, and then put the used sawdust in my beds. It makes sense to me, but I was wondering if anyone on here had any thoughts on the matter.

Hastur - everything I have read from so-called "experts" has said NOT to put waste from dogs, cats or humans into places where one intends to grow food. Has something to do with heavy-metals accumulating in the waste, if I remember correctly.

You might want to check bylaws in your community to see if there's anything "official" on the subject.

So you like that pine litter? Does not clump though, correct? Good odor control?

Its my understanding that the concern with pet waste is bacterial, not heavy metal. Bacterial content can be composted but WITH CARE and the average sloppy compostor might be much wiser not to let himself in for the risk of bacterial contamination in the garden.

I have started using my pee'd clumping litter in the compost or flower garden.

Heaven help me if I end up in a place that would discuss my kitty litter or composting in the bylaws.

HoneyBee I will definitely look into it. I don't plan to use it for anything major, but I still would rather be sure that I'm not hurting stuff.

SallyG - Yep. I like it. It does not clump - kind of the opposite in fact. But the odor control is good and the kitties don't make quite the tracking mess that they do with other stuff. When I empty the pan, it's like pouring sawdust into the bag. And while there is a certain ... solid?... odor when emptying or if they just finished, it goes away very quickly.

The bacterial content is something that I wonder about a lot. When I was a child, my parents would put the clay litter in the garden and let it do whatever it did. Back then we had 6 cats (not my current two monsters), so we went through a lot of litter. However, we would sift the solid out before dumping the clay, so that might have made a difference.

I know that growing up, we were rarely sick. But that might have been due to other factors. There is no way to be sure.

Thank you both though!

What did all the people who never know all of these scare tactics do when the wild dog family and cat family member pottied on their veggie gardens? My dogs and cats have been fertilizing my beds as long as I can remember and I don't recall anyone getting anything that could be blamed on that. Now some plants may have died as the result of a male dog marking it or a cat pottying too close to the plant. The nitrogen was too much for the roots as well as stems and leaves.

I have used the pine litter and liked it a lot. I just dumped it into the compost pile. I now use the ground corn cobs which I like just as well. I dump it into the compost pile too along with the newspapers which are on the plastic covered vinyl for the critters who can't wait until I get home or make it thru the night.

My compost pile is just an old hay ring under the black walnut tree. I throw a lot of the kitchen wastes in there too. A couple weeks ago I threw some 44% nitrogen fertilizer in there just before a good rain. I thought it needed the extra nitrogen to help digest the paper better before the cold of winter set in. I use a lot of newspapers here so I feel the
need to help nature along a bit.

My pile hasn't been turned in over 4 years but every year we get a few volunteer winter squash of some kind. Usually a Walthan or Tahitian. They certainly are vigorous plants and bear well too. Only problem is that if there is a long cold spring they don't germinate and sprout very early so the squash has to finish ripening in the house. I'm thinking about having my DIL turn it with the skidsteer next spring. There should be some really rich dirt down under there. The worm population must be fabulous. I'll be sure to try to keep the poultry out of there for a while anyway.

leaflady, my pile hasn't been turned in a few years either, I plant right on top of it in the spring. My DGD was digging in it and pulled out worms bigger than I've ever seen before.

I'm sure that it sometimes get dog poop in there when we pick up leaves in the fall, there is just no way to avoid it when it is invisible in the leaves.

The first time I saw a night crawler I was digging and found a whole pile of them. I thought they were snakes and started screaming "snake pit" to the other women with me. One of them came over and correctly identified them. I brought a bunch home in a pail and didn't think about what the ducks might do. They found them first and I think maybe I salvage one or 2 at the most. Maybe none now that I think of it. I have since imported quite a number of them and they have multiplied wonderfully. I wasn't sure if they would be too much compitition for my red wigglers but I can't tell any decline in the population of the rws so I guess all is well.

I think it needs turning because of all the paper layers. I think they will decay much better if they are in contact with the soil and the worms can get to them more easily. I plan to throw a bit more of the nitrogen on the papers today. We have a 40% chance of showers and if they don't show up I have a hydrant and hose close to the hay ring.

Just to add to the litter discussion.
I like the pine litter. Kitty likes it too, had no problem switching. The pellets break down when moistened so instead of sifting out clumps, more like you can sift out the sawdust and return the dry pellets. For that reason, don't mix with regular clumping cuz you don't sift the same way.
Also tried a corncob litter Natures Miracle- Also fine, it does make soft clumps and controls odor fine, to me.

From what I have read, the problem is more with stray cats that wonder around outdoors and eat wild rodents and birds pick up parasites. There feces can have toxoplasmosis that causes birth defects, blindness in very young children and people with compromised immune systems. Most people pick up this toxin from raw meat not cat poop. This toxin is killed by temps above 150 degrees. It is also very rare with 1 in 1000 pregnancies being effected. Still, if contracted during pregnancy and passed on to the baby it can be severe. A blood test early on in pregnancy can determine if you have been exposed to this disease. Also, if you have been exposed once you have immunity for life.

Indoor cats that are regularly wormed and eat only commercial food not rodents or raw meat, don't have these problems. That being said, I would stick to just putting extra litter in the compost pile.

I was reading the bag whilst waiting to pay for some and saw an interesting thing: it recommends that if you are going to compost, you sift out the poop and just flush it, on a daily basis. You can then put it in your compost pile. After a few weeks, it will compost down so you can use it on your flower beds and gardens.

(Yes, I am psychotic about reading everything when I have more than two seconds of standing still).

Sounds good to me

and I also must read, maybe not in line but surely if I anticipate waitng at the doc's office for example.