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Pine Cat litter
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Author:  kerryjo [ Thu Aug 07, 2003 7:37 am ]
Post subject:  Pine Cat litter

I use the pressed pine dust cat litter (Petsmart's store brand of Feline Pine.) I love the way it works, very little smell, etc. My question: is there a way to compost it? We live on 15 acres, so I could just dig a big hole and dump it somewhere versus throwing it out with the garbage like we do now. We have 7 indoor only cats, so we use 20 pounds every 7 to 10 days. Any ideas?

Author:  Enzyme11 [ Thu Aug 07, 2003 10:00 am ]
Post subject: 

I would think that the used pine litter would compost well, what with the combination of the wood, urine, and feces. Maybe you could add some sugar to help it go. Whatever you do, don't bury it! Make it into a compost pile, add your other compostables, and let it compost. Maybe we can get CaptainCompost to comment on this; he probably would know more about it.

Author:  CaptainCompostAL [ Thu Aug 07, 2003 11:52 am ]
Post subject: 

Enzyme11 is absolutely right!

I'm personally a little scared of any cat poop in composting. Mainly because if you don't do it right, the poop can go anaerobic, and spread diseases to your compost and your soil. There has been some cases of pregnant woman having child birth problems like blindness, etc. that was probably related to the abuse of decomposing cat manure.

However, if you can guarantee that your compost will stay aerobic, and extremely hot over 140 degrees F, for several days, it will cook out any diseases, pathogens, mild toxins, or weed seeds that make be in the organic matter in a hot compost pile. Adding lots of dry molasses and old compost teas to the pile will speed up decomposition and add more aerobic bacteria and fungi to the mixture too.

Cat poop is a nitrogen source. Sawdust or pine products are carbon products. This combination will definitely get your C:N ratio right to help form humus in composting.

Burying cat poop or using in a tea brew is real bad! Burying is trench composting. That is a mostly anaerobic, cold composting process. Tea brewing is an aerobic cold composting process. However, the aeration in the tea will cause the wrong disease causing microbes to grow faster than the beneficial aerobic microbes in the tea. Thus spreading diseases to your plants and soil via the tea in a foliar spray or soil drench.

Well aged or aerobically composted pet manures are fine for gardens.

Just be careful!
Happy Gardening!

Author:  kerryjo [ Thu Aug 07, 2003 4:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Cat litter

Thanks so much for the info. I was worried about the ammonia content, but I will give it a try.

You are probably refering to Toxoplasmosis, which affects the fetus severely, and is known to be a risk of cat litter. (I am a physician.)

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