Cats. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them. These fine feline friends are great pets, but when it comes to cleaning up their god dang litter, that is certainly not the cat’s meow.
Not only is cat litter not great fun to clean up (and buy), but most clay-based kitty litter is made from clay that is strip mined from the Earth, which is horrible for the environment. The U.S. Bureau of Mines estimates that in 1994 alone, approximately 1.5 million metric tons of clay was mined to make clay cat litter.
A good way to avoid clay litter, and to reuse, is to just use old newspapers as cat litter. Here’s how to make your cat(s) some homemade newspaper cat litter.
1) Sprinkle some baking soda on to the bottom of an empty litter box. This is optional, and helps absorb some of that atrocious cat pee smell.
2) Tear newspaper into narrow strips (less than an inch wide). Pro tip: It’s a lot easier to tear vertically than horizontally.
3) Use your hand muscles to tear those newspaper strips into pieces that are about half a foot long. Use a ruler if you want to, kitty will appreciate the extra precision.
4) Make it rain. Flutter, throw, or somehow get all that newspaper into the cat litter box. It should be over halfway full (it’ll flatten a lot when it gets wet).
Et voila, you are finished. It’s recommended to change the wet newspaper daily, or else it’ll stink up your house. Hopefully your cat will give the newspaper litter the ol’ thumbs up, and you’ll be on your way to a greener kitty litter box.
November 18th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
I've been using newspaper for years for a couple of different cats.
I got them used to it by first adding a little clay litter to the paper strips.
It doesn't take long for them long to get with the program.
I do put a couple of unshredded sheets down under the strips for better absorption.
November 18th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Some cat lady like two weeks ago told me that tip about putting a few whole sheets at the bottom. That might be my next step.
December 20th, 2009 at 4:38 pm
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January 5th, 2010 at 12:13 pm
I am planning to buy a cat and I think this tip is a good help and will give a great start. thank you.
February 23rd, 2010 at 11:08 pm
Well if you iron your news paper I heard that it stops the ink from running,
so if you are going to use newspaper for kitty litter then quickly iron the paper before
you shred it. And since most people should own a shredder to shred their personal info,
that would be better then hand ripping all the news paper.
March 8th, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Last year we went ultra green and don't even need newspaper. Kitty was booted from the house and now lives in the backyard. We all have to make sacrifices to save this planet from eminent destruction.
March 10th, 2010 at 12:58 am
Respect. You should keep "kitty" in the house to use as a heater to lower electric bills.
June 6th, 2010 at 12:38 am
Everyone FYI I am a newspaper carrier and there is no need to worry about the ink on the paper……… it is may from soy!!! completely safe.other than the black on your hands and kitty's paws!