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About 4 months ago, we’ve switched from the clumping litter we thought was going to serve the slackers furrever. From clumping litter to pine to wheat and then clumping litter, it’s been a journey of learning for us. Silica gel is another learning too – cats could develop allergic reactions to it.
As described in Cat Litter – Is Pine A Good Alternative? , our main problem with pine was sensitive noses and eyes, both human and Philly-cat. But cost is also a consideration; we also had nagging concerns about environmental impact, especially with clumping litter.
It’s a mishmash of dilemmas difficult to live with. But we do as best as we can.
So now, the titular concern: Silicon (or silica) gel.
What is it? (links mine)
The silica gel used to make these crystals is chemically similar to that used in desiccants. The silica gel crystals in such litters are dotted with tiny pores, allowing the crystals to absorb cat urine, then slowly allow the water to evaporate off.
(source)
Doesn’t sound like much, but it is definitely
- as near dust-free as you can get
- Odour control trumps clumping clay, pine, and swheat-scoop
- It is not as track-happy too. (Tracking is that phenomenon of litter outside the litter-box, caused by litter sticking to kitty pawpads as they move in and out of the box or displaced by kitty actions. They may be cute paw-shaped or abstractly random)
The drawbacks are
- it hurts when you step on the grains. It’s definitely less amendable for cat pawpads too.
- The sound shifting grains make spooks some cats.
- it doesn’t clump, so it’s difficult to remove the pee-soiled bites
- it is (a lot) more expensive than clumping litter and pine
EDIT 20070816: The worst suspicions we’ve had may be coming true – it just dawned on us that Bam Bam may be allergic to silica gel. He’s been licking himself too often on the underside, thighs and tail, going almost bald in those places. Food and stress have been ruled out. We’ve been baffled but now it seems clear as the problem seemed to have started with the silica gel when we think back on his history. Back to the drawing board for us.
Is silica gel worth your time trying? Well, if you’re ok with pine, or are using a more environmental option, then why fix it if it ain’t broken? Do share your experiences, especially on environmentally friendly options.
EDIT 20070823: We’ll begin our trial with Celect, with recycled paper-based, this weekend.
(Related: Cat Litter – Is Pine A Good Alternative? , Cat Litter – To Scoop or Not to Scoop , Cat litter – So what’s out there? , Cat litter – the bin)
(Created: 15 Aug 07. Updated: 23 Aug 07)
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I’m trying to find out what the environmental impacts of silica gel are. I know that whole mountains are destroyed, to mine clay litter. Recycled newspaper is not popular with my two kitties. They and I really like silica gel, because it controls odor, is cleaner than clay and recycled paper litters, and lasts a month or more. I use an entirei 4 lb bag of it in each of the two large, covered litter boxes, for two cats. Lasts 2 months — I only have to scoop the poop, not change the whole dang catbox.
But where does silica gel come from? And what does it do when it’s sent to the landfill? Does anybody know?
Marian,
The closest I’ve got to an answer is silica gel is a porous form of silicon dioxide, I wrote to ask a certain brand, and the presentative said it is “pure minerals from natural origin”. Given it is something found in dessicating gel… I’m not so sure I buy that claim.
If you find out more, do let us know! Thanks.
From what I have read from many Google searches…the silica gel is biodegradeable & non-toxic. My big concern is the de-humidifying properties. Will it dry out my cats paw pads & if they get any stuck in their paws & lick it off or decide to sample it straight from the litter box, will it de-hydrate their mouth, throat, stomach, etc.? I have read that it will not “harm” humans to ingest, but cats are much smaller & more suseptable. And lets not forget about the indoor dogs that from time to time are able to sneak a “kitty num-num” out of an unguarded litter box. What effect will the silica gel have on their organs?
Kellie,
I’m also not comfortable with the thought of what ingestion does to cats or dogs. After all, even silica gel used for human food is sealed in a package and warnings not to eat it or ingest in anyway is found on the package.
I finally found one of the websites I had visited long ago when I was trying to find a new litter to try & sure enough, there was a little bit of information (although it is old) about the silica gel pearls. Try http://www.thelighthouseonline.com/articles/natural.html#LitterPearls There is other information about other litters on that site. If I think of any other informative sites I’ll let ya’ll know.
Kellie,
Thank you for remembering us, and coming back to share that. =)
This is the only place (so far?) that I have seen any intelligent discussion of silica gel litter. I found this side again when I began searching for the environmental impact of this litter.
The claim is that it is non-toxic, but get this: there was a small amount (maybe 6 tablespoons full) stuck to the plastic bottom of the litter box. I had been taking the litter at its claim: one cat, one month. I have two cats and two litter boxes, so I left the stuff alone for a whole month. It became very, very gross, as the underlayer became super-saturated with urine and turned bright yellow.
But anyhoo, I dumped and scraped most of it into a plastic bag, and was going to just rinse out the small residue that was still adhering to the inside of the litter box. I poured in some chlorine bleach, and this chemical mixture started hissing, bubbling, and giving off visible toxic vapors. It was a horrible thing — reminded me of the Witch in the Wizard of Oz when Dorothy threw water on her — did she hiss as she melted?
I ran to the water faucet with this chemical reaction going on, so I could dilute it with water and flush it down the toilet (and into the river, ultimately!) so the vapors were being emitted for maybe one whole minute. It seemed like an eternity, as it got up inside my sinuses. It stayed in my sinuses for several hours, and was really repulsive and scary, too.
That experience caused me to quit using silica gel for the cats.
Generally the instructions indicate that you must “stir” the litter daily when removing solids – you would not have a “super saturated” layer encrusted on the bottom if you had been thoroughly stirring the litter as directed.
I found this in Wikipedia:
Hazards
Alone, silica gel is non-toxic, non-flammable and chemically unreactive. However, some of the beads may be doped with a moisture indicator, such as cobalt(II) chloride, which is toxic and may be carcinogenic. Cobalt (II) chloride is deep blue when dry (anhydrous) and pink when moist (hydrated).
So it was the blue cobalt cloride crystals in the litter which “exploded” in the violent chemical reaction with chlorine bleach. Not the white silica gel crystals. It is written thus: CoCl2 or CoCl3. Obviously the cobalt bonds with cloride — I’ve forgotten my inorganic chemistry, so don’t know what this equals:
CoCl2 + Cl = ?
My wife and I found caring for the cat litter is much easier and not such a chore since we purchased the litter-garage. We have had it for about 6 months and it’s so awesome, take a quick look for yourself.
http://litter-garage.com
The litter-garage sounds like a great idea (if you have a hampster using it). Knowing what I know about cats litter-box habits (48 years experience), I would never dream of confining my darlings to a small enclosed “outhouse”. After years of experiencing every litter box problem known to man, I have had to accept the facts that: CATS want an uncovered box that is big enough for them to turn around in (actually, large enough for two of them to use comfortably at the same time), away from high traffic areas, with soft, natural litter that is kept scrupulously clean. We use a large mortar mixing pan from a home improvement store, filled with corn litter, kept on the floor of a hall closet with the bottom half of the door removed, just outside the human bathroom. I believe that conscientious cat parents will try to see things from a cat’s perspective in ALL aspects of the cat’s life. If you are familiar with port-a-pots, you could imagine what it would be like to have to use one each & every time you needed to releave yourself. Imagine the small enclosed space. Now, to make things worse, imagine having to stand in the actual toilet to use it. Then you lick yourself clean. I believe that litter & litterboxes should be as convenient for me as possible, while more importantly, they are as “green” & natural & user-friendly as possible (which is what cats would choose for themselves). Has anyone seen the self-flushing, self-washing cat box? http://www.catgenie.com It is a fantastic concept. Especially for someone unable to physically scoop or clean a box themselves. I might consider getting one if they ever start making them about 10 times the size that they are now. Enough of all of that… Once, when I was cat sitting, one of the boxes was filled with the silica gel crystals. I found that given a choice, most of the cats prefered to poop or pee in a box filled with wheat or corn litter & only pee in the box filled with silica gel (there were 7 litter boxes, each filled with something different). I also found that if I frequently “stirred up” the silica gel, scraping up from the bottom of the box, the moisture evaporated better & faster & didn’t stick in the bottom of the box. I really liked the silica gel, but still wouldn’t use it for my cats until I find concrete evidence that it is NOT hazardous. Our pets can’t shop for themselves. They rely on us for their health & safety. We “make” them live with us. We oue it to them to do the best job we can to take care of them. Keep in mind: dogs have “masters” & cats have “staff”.
I found this web page looking up silica cat litter and if it’s ok for the environment. I’ve been getting a 50/50 answer depending who is reviewing the litter.
I’ve been using a silica litter ever since a woman shopping at the pet store I work at raved about how wonderful it was on oder and longevity. Before then I had been using clumping sandy clay type litter and just scooping out the clumps. but the oder was still strong. I’ve also used paper pellet type litter with my cat, but that type of texture just didn’t agree with her.
So I switched to the silica and I am amazed at how much a difference it makes! It is very much cleaner, easier, and much less smelly that clay. My cat took to it right away as well, so I guess it doesn’t hurt her paws, but then the brand I have is finer grains that most I’ve seen. That could make the difference. I stir the litter around every day while I wait for my dog to do his out-side potty thing and scoop out all the mummified poos. 2 litter pans full lasts me a good month and a half before I notice it turns yellowish-green an indicator to me to change it before it starts to smell bad.
I have even eaten a small palm-full of the (unused) grains to see what it would do to me and I didn’t notice any discomfort or anything. (yes, I’m the type of person who would eat kitty litter to make sure her cat would be safe) And Kitty has had no reactions to the litter that I can tell, no coughing, wheezing, rashes/bald spots ect.
So I’m still a tiny bit concerned on the impact to the environment, I do want to go as green as I can without A: spending a ton of money and B: making myself miserable with extra work (yeah I’m lazy)
I think I’ll stick with the silica litter for now
Sometimes it is not until our little lovelies are dying that we find out that what we have been doing (or not doing) is what is killing them. Sometimes very slowly & over a long period of time. Sometimes we don’t find out until after they are “gone”.
Did the silica gel litter turn out to be the culprit in your cat’s allergies? My cat has developed allergies, food has been ruled out as the culprit (he is now on hypo-allergenic and still has allergies), and I am starting to suspect the silica gel litter and looking at recycled paper or some vegetable based litters. I would really like to know if changing the litter solved the problem… from what I have been able to find, silica gel has sounded among the most hypo-allergenic, so I am a bit lost.
Maree,
He got better but is still not totally recovered, so we feel the silica gel was definitely a cause. He is improving, though rather slowly.
To the previous commenter who poured bleach in the bottom of the pan and saw fumes and heard hissing: bleach + ammonia = chloramines, aka mustard gas. Ammonia is found in urine. Any fumes you encountered was likely the result of bleach reacting with the concentrated urine, not the silica gel or the dye (which is not cobalt chloride, at least not in the litter I use).
I’ve been using SwheatScoop, and my cat and I both like it. There is some problem with tracking, but not a whole lot. I think it really controls odor well, and I like the fact that it’s flushable (although I don’t flush a lot of it, mostly the poop). It clumps really hard and can stick to the bottom of the litter pan, so I use a plastic liner so I can remove the clumps more easily.
We should NOT flush cat litter or cat waste because Toxoplasmosis (carried by cats) is not removed from our waste water and ends up contaminating our waterways.
Darlene,
When I tried SweatScoop, I wiped the inside of a large smooth litter pan with oil (I used some cheap vitamin E oil that I happened to have on hand instead of a vegatable oil that could go rancid). I used a paper towel to apply it then several paper towels to remove as much of it as I could. After that, I did not have a problem with it sticking. Also, the sides of my pan are 6 inches or more deep so that I could keep at least 3 inches of SweatScoop in it. Be sure to use an oil that is not toxic to cats. All in all, I really liked the SweatScoop, & the price was better than “World’s Best Cat Litter” which is what I use now. But, I was afraid of what affect the wheat dust would have on my brother who has celiac. I have not done the research on that subject of celiac & dust yet. No matter what is advertised, I have yet to find a litter that is truely dust free.
I have been wondering something about the silica litter… Every chemical reaction (and in this case, urine absorption is the RXN) has a reverse reaction. So I’m wondering, does anyone know of a way to “recharge” the silica crystals? With dessicants in a lab, you would recharge them simply by heating them until all liquids have evaporated, but since urine contains ammonia (a base) I’m wondering if you could soak the crystals in an acid (such as white vinegar) would reset the absorption power. I feel like I once heard of something like that but I can’t seem to find the information anywhere.
Marian said,
“I ran to the water faucet with this chemical reaction going on, so I could dilute it with water and flush it down the toilet (and into the river, ultimately!) so the vapors were being emitted for maybe one whole minute. It seemed like an eternity, as it got up inside my sinuses. It stayed in my sinuses for several hours, and was really repulsive and scary, too.”
This is not the fault of the silica gel but rather of the urine having sat at the bottom of the box for extended periods of time. Let me explain. Urine contains urea (NH2)2CO. When urine sits out for an extended period of time bacteria causes it to ferment and the urea in the urine breaks down into ammonia (NH3). When you poured bleach on that ammonia the following chemical reaction (among others) took place:
2NaOCl + 2NH3 –> 2NaONH3 + Cl2
The Cl2 part of that equation is chlorine gas which is very toxic. You were basically recreating World War I chemical warfare in your kitchen. Always avoid bleach when cleaning wet urine as even fresh urine can contain ammonia.
Dear lovely Cat Community.
My cat Isreal (Russian Blue) used the silica crystals for his whole life. A few years back he began to have full on grand mal seizures (kinda Scary to watch). When we switched to another type of litter specifically the kind for auto scooping boxes and his seizures have stopped it has been months. So While he may have epilepsy which is common in pure bread cats the silica dust is the trigger. I know this is a little off topic but I hope it helps someone freaking out about the health of their cat I know I was after the first one. Something to note is that a seizure in an epileptic cat is of little consequence to the overall health of the animal but its scary and the cat seems worn out tired almost like he had been beaten up. Don’t just assume that is is epilepsy have the blood test first!!
Ok that is it hope this helps someone.
Eric