Environmentally friendly way to be a cat slave

[SciFiScream]

Odd question I know! Having a green lifestyle is very important to me and I do a whole host of things to follow this.
I now have two cats and I'm just wondering how I can combine green aims with cat ownership.

I am avoiding pouches because they can't be recycled. I'm using tins because they can.

Using a mix of dry food and wet food

What's the best way to be green with a litter tray? I think I'm going to have a special bin, lined with a bin bag and keep it outside the back door. Empty the litter into that (therefore minimising use of bin bags) and when full put that into the landfill bin. Does that seem ok?

Any other green tips for cat ownership?

Also hygiene tips - last had a cat when living at home with my Dad (many, many years ago) and have realised that some of the things we did were good (separate washing up of bowls and fork) and some weird (emptying litter tray into normal kitchen bin!)

Is it ok to put the cat bowls and fork into dishwasher?

Basically please share your green and hygienic cat ownership tips. I'm out of touch and practice.

Thanks

Where I live cat and dog food has to be non harmfull to humans (you can eat it if neccessary), so I'd put the dishes in the dishwasher.
Assuming you cat is healthy.

Well our cat is an ex stray he scavenges bins given a chance and does his business in the garden! Practically a Womble.

Seriously we feed dry food only, royal Canin or something, it comes in a colossal bag every few months. But then the dog does pouches, need to work on that.

We have a compost bin (wheelie bin from the council) for food/garden waste etc. It also takes all cat litter and waste, which we put in compostable bags and chuck in the bin.

The city use the compost in the local parks and give it away to residents in spring if they have extra.

Doesn't get greener than that

We use wood pellets for litter. Remove solids & rest can be composted.
Sure those things can go in dishwasher.

Our cat always just went outside via the catflap, no need for a litter tray after 12 weeks until a couple of weeks before she passed away. So if they have catflap, they might not need a litter tray.

We don't have a cat flap yet - but are planning on having one installed. I think we'll always have a litter tray available though. It would be nice not to have to clean it up. Though I actually don't mind I prefer it, especially for poop, as it causes distress to other people. Very cat friendly area though,many, many neighbours have cats.
Good point re the food being non-harmful to humans, old habits die hard.

I tried Harry on tinned food but he wouldn't eat it so we've had to stick to pouches. It's a lot of waste but there's not a lot I can do.

We use clumping cat litter and anything removed from the tray goes into a biodegradeable doggy bag. There's probably more environmentally friendly litter but I don't want to upset him!

Cat bowls and cutlery are washed in the same washing up bowl after ours has been done. I'm not too worried about his food being in the same bowl though as it's better quality than most of the things we eat!

Cat litter is made from natural clay minerals so it doesn't biodegrade but it doesn't pollute either, it's effectively soil. Obviously it's still some kilograms of waste to landfill.

Use biodegradable dog poo bags for the litter so that the nice degrable litter is not stuck inside a non-biodegrable plastic bag.

We use flushable compostable litter. the solids are scoops and flushed as soon as we see them (pee and poo). The rest is put on the compost heap when the tray is fully emptied (around every 3 weeks)

Article here about env. friendliness of types of cat litter. I am skeptical about how good it is to flush the waste, but can't find more definite info. Lots of things (like certain wipes) are marketed as flushable but are actually terrible for sewage systems & water recycling.

Glad you started this thread as I've been conscious recently that having two cats isn't really environmentally friendly. I'll be changing over to adult soon(ish) so will look at the tin options.

I use Breeder Celect which is reused newspaper which no chemicals. It's also biodegradable and dust free.

Where can I buy some cheap biodegradable bags? Are there any better litter trays/scoops around?

Flushing the poo (but not the litter) seems like such a good idea but unfortunately the sewage treatment plants can’t get rid of toxoplasmosis, so as I understand it it’s not OK.

Bowls can definitely go in the dishwasher though - far more environmentally sound than handwashing if it’s going to be going on anyway.

I worry about methane emissions from putting wood cat litter in landfill - so maybe clay is the better option from that POV, literally just soil going back into the ground. OTOH if your black bin goes to incinerators to produce power (like most Londoners) then wood or newspaper based litter is probably a good choice.

That link I gave above explains that the clay is stripmined in Wyoming & Brazil. Then transported so far. I bet the wood pellets are European if not actually from UK. My pellet litter costs £9/bag delivered from a local supplier, & has FSC logo on it that leads me to this manufacturer; looks like my product might be from recycled wood products.

Somebody tell me where their clay litter comes from. Does it even state a country of origin?

I'm surprised at the concern about toxop. It's everywhere already and harmless to almost everyone. Plus, having visited sewage works 2 yrs ago, I'm surprised if toxopl survives the waste processing when they very effectively kill everything else.

Wow. It's actually more complicated than I thought. The boy cat only likes clay to pee in. What is the best clay, environmentally speaking then?
I've already decided I'm not doing cat Christmas presents or stuff like that. I don't want to continue with the rampant consumerism.

There's no way I'm flushing any litter down the toilet, I'm not prepared to take the risk with our drains. It might say flushable but that doesn't necessarily mean it is.

I have no idea where the clay in the litter comes from but he uses it and that's all I'm worried about right now. I'm not risking changing.

I always give Harry Christmas presents, usually a new bowl and some catnip mice. He does have rather a lot of toys so he might get a tub of Thrive treats this year instead!