Did you know that traditional clay based cat litter is not biodegradable? When it is sent to landfills it just lumps into clay piles that gets compacted with other trash particles. And the actual mining process of clay is environmentally damaging to our earth.

Facilities will use strip mining to pull the clay from the landscape. This not only scars the natural land but disrupts the ecosystem as the land is stripped bare. Because clay contains silica dust, when it is turned into cat litter, this air born dust is stirred up anytime the clay cat litter is aggitated. This is both bad for your cat and anyone living in the house with you. Silica dust has been known to trigger asthma and respiratory issues.

So what are cat lovers out there left to do? We can make the switch from clay cat litter to biodegradable ones such as pine, recycled newspaper, or corn pellets. These are much healthier options for both you and your feline companion. And each day when you scoop your litter box, you can compost it for non-edible mulch for your garden space outside your home. A lot of people will scoof at the idea of composting cat litter because of feline diseases. But as long as your cat is healthy it is not different than composting other animal manure for mulch.

If you opt for pine pellets like we did, you have the added benefit of terpenes in your cat litter. As soon as I poured in the new cat litter, my cat Mao went bonkers over the smell. She was doing her happy dance, purring, and rubbing the smell from my hand all over her face. You can also add more terpenes by mixing True Terpene with a carrier oil and then mixing it with a small amount of baking soda. You can sprinkle this on the bottom of the litter box to keep it smelling extra fresh instead of all the chemical smells they put in traditional clay litters.

Lastly, you need to ease your cat into this process. Lay down a layer of your old cat litter with the new pellets on top. Slowly phase out your old cat litter as the weeks pass until thr cat or cats are using just the pellets. Some cats will take to the pellets right away while others will be more hesitant. But in general, your cats will be happier as the pellets will not be abrasive to their paws, there will be no dust to aggitate their airways, and their litter will smell natural to them.