It's The Little (Furry) Things In Life That Matter

Edition #124 — November 2, 2009

I love my cat and I totally spoil her. She eats the best cat food I can find, has multiple food bowls that I wash each day, and when she calls, I answer. She's always following me around and when she's not eating or perching on the windowsill, she's with me. We've become pretty inseparable, "Lucky" and I.

Lucky was once a stray cat and was always outside during the day. It was a challenge sometimes to get her indoors before dark and occasionally I was out there searching for her with a flashlight - you can spot those glowing eyes for a hundred yards! Two years ago, after a rather traumatic (for me) skunk spraying incident, I decided to make her a full time indoor cat. I acquired an outdoor enclosure so she could get some fresh air, and she seems pretty happy with this new house-bound arrangement. I was also getting pretty concerned about all the little birds and chipmunks and squirrels she was killing. Since Lucky has come indoors, the other creatures have regained their courage to come near the house again.

Clay bad, wheat good!

As with anyone who wants to the the best for their "loved ones," I've been trying to do the best for her. Recently this meant the introduction of a new type of cat litter. It may sound rather mundane to the average reader, but this had great environmental significance for me. You see, I've been using clay litter for years. Made by one of the big pet food companies, this litter is the product of mining. Some contractor is hired to scrape the clay from the earth so that my cat can have an indoor toilet. Along with the clay there are other ingredients in the dust that are not so healthy for both of us. This concerned me and so I began to look for alternatives.

After some online research, I decided on a cat litter called "Swheat Scoops" which is actually made from real non-food grade wheat. And that's all it is, apparently. After reading the instructions, I was expecting a longer transition period to this foreign plant material in her litter box. Well, Lucky wasn't one of those wimply, uppercrust types from a gated cat community. I poured the Swheat Scoops litter into her litter box, made some scratching noises in it for a couple of minutes until Lucky got nosy and came over. Then she stepped into the box and without giving it a second thought, she went for a pee. She had a little apprehension with the burying part afterwards because it was new stuff to work with her paws. But that was it - total transition time: 30 seconds! (Apparently some cats will actually go to the bathroom NEXT to the box if they don't want to part with tradition.

Landfill: Creating Tomorrow's Archeological Finds

For years I scooped the clay from Lucky's litter box and put it in a plastic garbage bag. Each week I'd have 1 1/2 bags of cat poop and clay litter to throw into some landfill far out of sight and out of mind. As of two weeks ago, this ritual has stopped. Now I'm flushing the Swheat Scoops litter down the toilet and in doing so, I'm avoiding both plastic bags and also helping the environment by not filling it with non-biodegradeables. Swheat Scoops litter is WAY better than clay litter. It clumps solid and is easily dealt with (hey, you can even hide it in someone's breakfast cereal!).

Anyway, cat lovers, you can appreciate what I'm talking about here... I think this is a good lesson to all of us - WHEAT! It's natural, it's biodegradable, and it works way better than the stuff that's sitting in the landfill, and will still be there in 1000 years.

Somewhere, Lucky's old poop will live on forever. As for the new stuff, it's gone swirling down to poop heaven. Admittedly, I don't usually talk about cats and cat litter boxes, but we all have a life outside of being superheroes of society, and cats were obviously created to remind us that no matter how important we think we are, we can only hope to be a good second place finish in the race for who is the ruler supreme of all the high beasts. Even dogs get this answer wrong - it's Lucky! :)

Remember folks, if it doesn't say Swheat Scoops, it's not worth pooping on. Oh, and did I mention that I have this great new recipe for Cream of Swheat?



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