Reusing Silica Cat Litter

[WillowMarie]

I just saw a tik tok about someone washing their silica cat litter to keep reusing it to help reduce waste. Found another video on YouTube who's been doing it for over ten years. I'm very intrigued now and want to know if anyone here has done this and what strategies you use for cleaning and how you liked it!

Any specific brand you'd recommend?
How often to fully clean litter box?
What did you use to clean it and the process?

 

[IndyJones]

I personaly wouldn't recommend doing this. Silica litter is bad enough on its own but cat waste has disease causing bacterias like ecoli that could easily hide and build up in it over time.

Spare silica litter can be used in the garage for cleaning up oil and gas spills however.

 

[WillowMarie]

IndyJones can you be more descriptive on why silica litter is bad?

If the litter is being disinfected in the cleaning process, can you explain more why e coli can easily hide? Are you familiar with the cleaning process people are using to disinfect?

 

[IndyJones]

Silicosis and other resprtory disorders come from inhaling the silica particles

Im not famillier with the steralizing process but youtube and tick tock alone are not good enough to convince me anymore than anicdotal information. Bacteria -especialy disease causing bactieria- is just not something I would want to mess around with.

You do you but I don't want to take the risk myself.

 

[heatherwillard0614]

This reminds me of this thing I saw called a CatGenie Self Washing Self Flushing Cat Box.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008JGIYVE/?tag=thecatsite

I personally would never purchase this nor would I wash and reuse any type of litter. I don't know of the cleaning process that people use with the silica gel litter, I have never seen a video of it. I would much rather do a full litter change every single day then potentially subject my kitty to any kind of bacteria from reusing dirty litter.. Even the CatGenie self washing self flushing cat box with whatever solution included... I don't trust it and would not chance my cat getting sick.. this is my personal opinion.

I have to agree with IndyJones in saying

Im not famillier with the steralizing process but youtube and tick tock alone are not good enough to convince me anymore than anicdotal information. Bacteria -especialy disease causing bactieria- is just not something I would want to mess around with.

 

[Caspers Human]

...can you explain more why e coli can easily hide?

Silica gel pellets are extremely porous. When viewed under an electron microscope, they look almost like a sponge. That's why they work so well for absorbing moisture and other things. There are millions of microscopic crevices that can catch and hold onto substances that would otherwise contaminate things.



When silica gel pellets absorb your cat's urine, any bacteria and other "undesirables" get absorbed along with it. Once absorbed, it's very difficult to remove them.

If you are only using silica gel to absorb excess moisture from the air, you can rejuvenate it by baking at 100º C. for a few hours. The water will evaporate and you can use it again. But, if you're talking about cat urine, feces, bacteria and God knows what-all, that's a different story!

You'd probably have to wash and dry them, well, before soaking them in chromic acid then bake them at 250º C until they are dry and disinfected.

Chromic acid is one of the things they use in laboratories when they need to clean things to within an inch of their lives. It's really nasty stuff! I don't know about other people but I don't usually keep that kind of thing floating around my basement. Do you?

You'd be better off to just throw out your used cat litter and buy new.

 

[IndyJones]

Silica gel pellets are extremely porous. When viewed under an electron microscope, they look almost like a sponge. That's why they work so well for absorbing moisture and other things. There are millions of microscopic crevices that can catch and hold onto substances that would otherwise contaminate things.

View attachment 458135

When silica gel pellets absorb your cat's urine, any bacteria and other "undesirables" get absorbed along with it. Once absorbed, it's very difficult to remove them.

If you are only using silica gel to absorb excess moisture from the air, you can rejuvenate it by baking at 100º C. for a few hours. The water will evaporate and you can use it again. But, if you're talking about cat urine, feces, bacteria and God knows what-all, that's a different story!

You'd probably have to wash and dry them, well, before soaking them in chromic acid then bake them at 250º C until they are dry and disinfected.

Chromic acid is one of the things they use in laboratories when they need to clean things to within an inch of their lives. It's really nasty stuff! I don't know about other people but I don't usually keep that kind of thing floating around my basement. Do you?

You'd be better off to just throw out your used cat litter and buy new.

If that's what silica looks like under a microscope it probably suffers the same problems as plastic food bowls, even though you wash them at high temprature in a dishwasher bacteria remains hidden in the porus surface and causes kitty acne.

Silica is also porus so no reason the same thing cant happen with it.

 

[WillowMarie]

Thanks everyone! Lots of good info to look over.

 

[Caspers Human]

If that's what silica looks like under a microscope it probably suffers the same problems as plastic food bowls, even though you wash them at high temprature in a dishwasher bacteria remains hidden in the porus surface and causes kitty acne.

Silica gel is specially prepared to make it so porous. Ordinary silica (silicon dioxide) can appear in different forms from rocky lumps, to grains of sand. Its components are mixed together until they react then the result is dried and turned into pellets. Silica gel is made of silica but it's more of a special case.

Yes, just as you say, if you contaminate silica gel with bacteria from cat pee or other things, it will adsorb into those microscopic pores and stay there. Just washing probably won't get it out. Even treating with chemicals might not do it. If you bake the stuff at 200º C. you'll kill the bacteria but, what about the other contaminants? Once cat pee gets down, into those microscopic cracks and crevices, how can you ever be sure you got it all out? The only thing I can think of is what I mentioned above. Use strong, industrial acids to "burn" all the contamination out. I have done stuff like that but ONLY in a properly equipped lab under working conditions. I would never even think about doing something like that at home!

 

[button1956]

I would like to ask if bacteria and e coli are a concern to cleaning and reusing the silica litter, why are you able to use it for 30 days? I would think if the cat uses the box and you have stirred it, but it hasn't dried yet then the risk us there as well?

 

[mms]

I've been using the same litter for two years now. rinse, rinse with vinegar, rinse more, then let dry in sunshine for days.