Reusable cat litter?

[zoes]

Outside of the CatGenie (which I can't do in my apartment), are there any options for a reusable cat litter? Or has anyone attempted a DIY for this?

I get the most eco-friendly litter I can and it works great but it's expensive and not sold in that many places, it's a hassle.

I'm picturing some kind of two-piece litter box with a liner with holes in it for pee to drain, scooping and discarding solids. A solid kind of pebble/pellet litter. And some kind of powder or liquid in the tray to neutralize smells for a few days or a week and then the whole kit gets washed and dried. I feel like it works conceptually and I'd give it a go but I'm concerned about odours - surely a bunch of pee-covered pebbles would stink, right?

The closest thing I can find is this: Re-Usable Cat Litter (Pink Starter Pack) - Pet Supply but it's on another continent, doesn't say what the pellets are made of (LECA maybe?), and there are no reviews. I also found a DIY instrucable that uses gravel pebbles, and baking soda + newspaper in the tray, but I don't think my cats would be keen on pebbles and I'm not keen on going through a box of baking soda a week.

Either this doesn't really exist because it's a terrible idea that doesn't work, or because most people would rather scoop & discard than clean.

Would love to hear thoughts from anyone who has tried this or heard about it!

 

[iPappy]

Hi,
Are you thinking of something like this?
Tidy Cats Breeze Cat Litter Box Systems | Purina US

 

[zoes]

Hi,
Are you thinking of something like this?
Tidy Cats Breeze Cat Litter Box Systems | Purina US

Kind of! But ideally something where the pellets never need to be replaced and would instead be washed, something like the Cat Genie plasticky granules.

Which is where I think the odour would come in... if the pellets are not not absorbent, then there's no real mechanism to neutralize the smell of the pee that would eventually coat the pellets. I guess it's a question of whether enough pee would drip into a reservoir (which could have something odour-neutralizing) that not that much would be left on the pellets. And my cats are spayed females so their pee isn't the worst, but still, it's cat pee...

 

[iPappy]

I am not aware of anything like that being available, but, it would sure be a great money saver if it were!

 

[Alldara]

Kind of! But ideally something where the pellets never need to be replaced and would instead be washed, something like the Cat Genie plasticky granules.

Which is where I think the odour would come in... if the pellets are not not absorbent, then there's no real mechanism to neutralize the smell of the pee that would eventually coat the pellets. I guess it's a question of whether enough pee would drip into a reservoir (which could have something odour-neutralizing) that not that much would be left on the pellets. And my cats are spayed females so their pee isn't the worst, but still, it's cat pee...

With that it would have to be made out of something that in the end would not be biodegradable or easily recycled. Some will always stick to poos, so you'd be throwing out plastic, metal etc (stone might be okay for that I guess).

So you'd have to consider if the if the eco cost (cost to produce, and cost on environment to having that leaving with the poos) to make something that reusable would be worth it. Metals and plastic have a high environment cost to produce. Things like Yesterday's News is already a reuse of recycled material and is just making paper into pellets. So even though it's disposable, I'd be willing to bet it has a much lower environmental impact