Your kitty spends a lot of time digging around in his litter &#; and as his caring cat parent, you spend a lot of time scooping it. But how much do you actually know about your cat's litter? There's a good chance you've never stopped and asked, "How is cat litter made?"

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There are three main types of litter on the market: clay, silica, and plant-based. Knowing how each kind is made will help you decide which is best for you and your kitty.

From the ingredients to the manufacturing process, we've got all the info on how cat litter is made.

Clay Litters

Clay litter was invented in the s. It's since become a popular choice for filling litter boxes around the world. As its name suggests, clay litter is made of clay &#; a soft material known for its absorbency.

The clay used in kitty litter comes from across the United States. After being mined from large pits, it gets shipped to production facilities where it's crushed up, dried in a kiln, then crushed again.

Next, the dried clay shakes down through a series of screens to sort the various sizes of granules. When clay litter contains only one size of granules, it's less absorbent. Sorting the clay allows a good mix of sizes to be blended back together.

Finally, some litters may use bentonite clay as a clumping agent. Bentonite expands up to 15 times its original size once it gets wet so if Fluffy ingests these granules, they may cause internal blockages.

Special d

e-dusting agents are added to cut down on the dust that dried clay notoriously creates when jostled around

.

Deodorizers like baking soda are also often added. These keep your cat's litter box from smelling like, well, a litter box.

Some cat parents might have issues with clay litter. It tracks easily and the dust may irritate your cat's lungs. Mining for clay can harm the eart

h, in some cases

. Also, soiled clay also piles up in landfills after you toss it away.

Still, most cats will readily do their business in a box filled with clay litter, which makes it an option for people who want to please their finicky feline friends.

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Silica

Litter

s

The absorptive powers of silica cat litters might seem like a miracle of modern science. To make these amazing little beads, sodium silicate (a synthetic form of silicon dioxide &#; a.k.a. sand) is mixed with water and oxygen.

 

When sodium silicate, water, and oxygen combine, the resulting beads are

f

illed with tiny pores that make them incredibly absorbent. Silica litters suck up liquids and trap bad odors, making them a great choice for your cat's litter box.

PrettyLitter is a silica gel litter

that takes cat care one step further. Its special formula changes color based on the acidity and alkalinity of your kitty's urine. This gives you insight into your pet's health so you can know if there is a problem, even if there are no outward signs of illness.

PrettyLitter is made in one of the largest and most trusted facilities in the world, using carefully sourced minerals and the highest quality control standards.

It's also virtually dust-free, which is good news for asthma-prone kitties as veterinarians do not generally recommend even the lowest-dust clay litters for cats with asthma or who've just undergone surgery.

Plant-Based Litters

For the

Earth-conscious

cat parent, biodegradable litter options exist. These litters use recycled or sustainable materials like newspapers, nutshells, and corn.

To make eco-friendly litters, materials can be ground down and then formed into pellets. These materials

are chosen for their absorbency

and do a decent job of controlling odors. They also break down naturally, so you don't have to worry about them winding up in the landfill.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Kitty Litter Manufacturers. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

Biodegradable litters can be dusty and not all cats will easily take to using them. They also often cost more than traditional litters. But many people consider it a small price to pay for doing their part to save the planet.

Some people make their own cat litter. Newspapers can be shredded, soaked in soapy water, and drained. The paper is then sprinkled with baking soda to remove moisture, crumbled, and left to dry. If you have enough time and newspapers, making your own litter is a cost-effective and eco-friendly way to fill your cat's litter box.

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How Do You Choose?

Cat litters are not created equal. Each type requires special ingredients and production methods.

Now that you know how cat litter is made, you can make an informed decision about what to put in your kitty's litter box. Just don't be surprised if your cat has other preferences. As a cat parent, you know first-hand how finicky our feline friends can be.

Have more questions about which cat litter is right for your feline friend? Leave us a comment below and we'll get back to you!

Sources:

1. https://www.petmd.com/cat/care/evr_ct_what_is_in_cat_litter

2. https://www.battersea.org.uk/pet-advice/cat-advice/cat-litter-trays

3. http://petmac.org/educational-info/whats-the-big-deal-about-cat-litter/

4. https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/preventing-litter-box-problems

Cat Litter

Background

H. Edward Lowe is considered the father of the cat litter industry. In January , Lowe had a thriving building supply business in Cassopolis, Michigan. One of Lowe's neighbors asked for his assistance in "finding something absorbent" to put in her cat's box other than the sand ashes that she had been using. His answer was dried ground clay. Nearly 50 years later, the cat litter industry has grown into a multi-million dollar business. Sales for were estimated at $767 million, and are expected to increase significandy throughout the decade.

Until Lowe's invention of "kitty litter," a product that enabled cat owners to have an indoor cat box, most owners had little choice but to let their house cats out. The advent of cat litter brought with it the possibility of a more domesticated cat that no longer needed to be let out. In , approximately 34.1 million Americans, or nearly one-third of all households, are cat owners.

Cat box fillers can be categorized into two types: conventional and clumping. Although the size of the granules varies, conventional cat box filler can be described as gravel-like in texture. Most brands claim to be dust-free or dust-reduced and to have a deodorizing agent. With conventional litter, the contents of the cat box must be discarded every time the box is cleaned in order to ensure that the cat has a thoroughly fresh supply of litter.

Clumping litter was introduced in and accounts for approximately 30% of today's cat box filler market. The smaller granule litter sticks together when it comes in contact with liquid, hence the term "clumping." When clumping litter is used, the cat owner can remove the clumps, then add more litter to the box, eliminating the need to refill it with every cleaning. The major drawback of clumping litter appears to be its tendency to "track," that is for the finer granules to stick to the cat's paws when it leaves the box.

Raw Materials

Cat box fillers made from absorbent clay account for approximately 95% of all cat litter. Clay, a naturally-occurring, nonmetallic substance, is composed of a combination of aluminum silicates and minerals. Light-colored clays are more popular than the darker clays because the latter tends to become muddy when wet and cannot absorb additional moisture.

Although most commercial cat box fillers use an absorbent clay as their base, any-thing that can absorb moisture theoretically can be used as cat litter.

Wood

Recycled waste products from the lumber industry are used to make alternative cat litter. A blend of cedar chips and hardwood, for example, is lighter than clay-based litters, and its cedar scent absorbs litter box odors. Another type is made from the waste products of aspen lumber. In this manufacturing process, the sawdust and bark are finely ground, then heated to °F (649°C) in a kiln-type vat. This causes the resin or tree sap to bind the wood together as the material is extruded through a screen to form quarter-inch pellets. The pellets are then passed through a cooling tank on a covered conveyor before they are packaged.

Paper

The natural absorbency of paper makes it a viable alternative to traditional cat box fillers. To produce "paper" litter, post-consumer newspaper is re-pulped, de-inked, and screened. During the re-pulping process, long fibers are processed back into paper, but short fibers are considered waste. The short fibers are de-watered, pelletized, dried, combined with an odor-control agent, and packaged as cat litter. Like those made from wood, paper litter is also lightweight, about 40% less than clay-based litters. This paper-based litter is also flushable in small quantities.

Grain

The byproducts of hard grains are also used as alternative cat litter. The manufacturer mills hard grains, similar to those used to make pasta, to a consistency required for mixing and pelletizing. Fragrance, small pieces of corncob, and sometimes catnip are added. An advantage to grain products is that the enzymes in the mixture naturally neutralize the cat's waste odors.

Corncobs

Recycled corncobs can be made into pellets for use as cat litter. During the manufacturing process, the light outer portion and the

Citrus

spongy center are ground, heated, and processed into pellets, which are reground and screened. Compared to the same volume of clay product, the material weighs about half as much and is five times as absorbent. Other advantages are that the litter clumps and is flushable.

Recycled waste from the citrus fruit industry makes fresh-smelling cat box fillers. The manufacturer takes peels of de-juiced citrus fruits, presses them, and dries them in natural gas-fired kilns. A screening process removes the dust and fine pieces from the final product. Citrus cat litter is highly absorbent, flushable, and biodegradable. In addition, the residual citric acid in the dried peel naturally neutralizes waste odors.

Grass

Finally, cat litter has been made from northern red wheat straw grasses. Bales of straw are ground and chopped into tiny pieces before they are pelletized. The pellets are vacuumed twice to remove dust and then packaged. The resulting product is biodegradable.

The Manufacturing
Process

Cat litter made from wood, paper, grain, corncobs, citrus, and grass account for only 5% of today's market. The rest&#;about 95% of all cat litter&#;is clay based. Cat box fillers contain few ingredients, and the entire production process is performed by the manufacturers who mine, dry, and size their own clay.

Gathering the clay

• 1 Various kinds of clay are found through-out the United States, especially in Alabama, southern California, southern Illinois, eastern Kansas, Nevada, Oregon, southeastern Texas, and Wyoming. Clay is found approximately 30-40 feet (9-12 m) below the surface, and earth movers scoop it from open pits. The raw clay is then transported to the plant.

Drying

• 2 The clay is loaded onto conveyor belts and spilled into giant crushers. The crushers break the clay into smaller pieces, then deposit them onto another conveyor belt, which feeds the clay into a kiln.
• 3 The kiln resembles a horizontal chimney or sewer pipe, 100 feet (30 m) or more in length. Inside the kiln, where temperatures can reach °F (°C), lifters tumble the clay as it bakes. The clay continues its baking process until it has traveled the entire length of the kiln.
• 4 As the clay emerges from the kiln, it is fed into a second crusher. Here, rollers crumble the clay to its final consistency.

Sorting

• 5 Next, the granules pass through an enclosed machine that contains a series of screens stacked one on top of another. Here, the various sizes of granules are sorted. Because litter is less absorbent when granules are the same size, the sorting process ensures that an assortment of sizes are represented.
• 6 Clumping litter, which are ground to a smaller size than conventional litter, are frequently blended with sodium bentonite, a naturally swelling clay known for its absorbent qualities. A dust-controlling agent is then added to the ground clay to prevent the dust, created when particles rub against one another, from becoming airborne. Most cat litter manufacturers also add deodorizers to prevent odors.

Quality Control

Odor-control, tracking, and dust are three areas of concern in the manufacture of cat box fillers. Many companies keep their own colonies of cats to test their products' effectiveness in these three areas. Feedback from cat owners is also important to manufacturers, who usually provide toll-free numbers on the products' packaging.

The Future

Inventors like Theodore Kiebke are trying new materials to develop a better cat box filler. As an alternative to the traditional clay cat litter, he invented "wheat litter," which clumps, does not contain silica dust, and does not track. He experimented with different flours and corn starches before he hit upon durum wheat, which is used to make pasta. He mixed it with regular clay litter, and, after a few refinements, wheat cat litter was created. The product is billed as non-toxic, 100% biodegradable, almost dust free (and totally free of silica dust), scoopable, odorless, and has minimal tracking problems.

Another new product in the cat box filler industry is called "indicating cat litter." This product changes color to indicate the pH level (a measure of acidity or alkalinity) of a cat's urine. Knowing the cat's pH level is important in managing feline lower-urinary-tract disease (FLUTD), a condition that, in its most serious form, can kill domestic cats.

Despite obvious benefits, indicating cat litter has its disadvantages as well. For instance, the litter works best immediately after the cat has used its box; if the litter box is not checked for several hours, the urine clump dries out and the color disappears. Sprinkling the dried clump with distilled water, however, will bring back the color.

Where To Learn More

Periodicals

"Cracking the Cat Litter Code." Catnip: A Newsletter for Caring Cat Owners. Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. May , pp. 4-6.

"In or Out?" Catnip: A Newsletter for Caring Cat Owners. Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. January , p. 1.

"Wheat Cat Litter." Catnip: A Newsletter for Caring Cat Owners. Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine. February , p. 7.

"The Cat Box Filler Industry." Golden Cat Corporation News Release. February 23, , pp. 1-5.

Shojaim, Amy D. "How Cat Litter Is Made." Cat Fancy Magazine, October , pp. 12-14, 16, 18-19.

&#; Susan Bard Hall

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