Disposing of the "treasures" scooped from the litter

Hi, I am sooooo glad I found your site. We are a multi (mega-multi) cat family. We rescue kittens/cats from horrible situations, each time swearing we are going to get them healthy and find them a good home, but then they find their way into our hearts and no home but ours is good enough. That's not entirely true, we have parted with a few, but the recipient of our feline friend must pass a rigorous screening, and we still grieve their departure for days/weeks. (How do you handle that?) Our biggest issue, which we have yet to come up with a suitable solution, is disposal of the clumped litter. We use Fresh Step -- we have tried many, many other brands and always come back to Fresh Step primarily because it does control odors best, but the down side is it is hard to dispose of. We built a "kitty waste compost bin" -- it does NOT compost. We live on 3 acres (in a rural farmland setting), and tried disposing of it by spreading it out in the line fence, thinking nature would break it down; it does NOT break down. My parents are farmers and presently what we do is haul the waste to a large hole my Dad dug in "the back 40", which is not environmentally friendly but we're at a loss how else to deal with it. Any suggestions? Again, thanks so much for this website!

RESPONSE

So glad you like our website! Regarding the kitty litter waste, I don't know if it ever breaks down! The waste eventually breaks down but the litter itself is basically rock! And if you water it, it turns into a cement-like slurry! Our only choice is to take the soiled litter to the dump once a week.
Some cat owners we know use Feline Pine which eventually dissolves but our cats won't use it! Another uses animal bedding (like for gerbils) which also breaks down but does nothing for the odor! And composting cat waste is not good for plants because of the high protein content. So, we are left with the dump!
Maybe somebody out there has a better idea for you. In the meantime, if there is no dump you can take it to, the big hole in the "back 40" sounds like your best bet!
Let us know if something better comes up and we will share it with our readers!

Donna
House Full Cats Mom

PS: Regarding how we cope with adopting out our rescues, we rarely have to! Cats are considered disposable around here so when people discover that we will screen their suitability to adopt and charge them money, their response is usually "I'm not going to pay - we can get a cat for free!" We usually see their "free cat" within a year, nurse it back to health, and give it sanctuary for life!