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Clumping Cat Litter: A Controversy That Keeps Going On
By Emily Sanchez

Clumping cat litter is very appealing to cat-lovers because of its convenience. However, often cat owners may fail to realize that two ingredients in most clumping cat litters are known to be implicated in diseases as well as causing deaths of many cats as well as humans. Many times, cat owners may add sodium bentonite as a clumping agent to the cat litter to make scoopable clay litters.

Fallen Out of Favor

If the cat was to lick itself, as it often does, after having used a litter box, and thus ingests pieces of the litter, it would cause expansion in the stomach that can be as much as 15 to 18 times its original size, which is a serious and potential health hazard. It may thus be more prudent to switch to plant-based materials that would aid the pet as well as the environment. In recent times, clumping cat litter seems to have fallen out of favor among cat owners. Nevertheless, there does not seem to have been any scientific studies to prove the hazards to cats of clumping cat litters.

The whole controversy regarding the dangers of clumping cat litters seems to have originated from an article called Clumping Clay Litters: a Deadly Convenience? By Marina McInnis, who is a breeder that tragically lost a few litters of kittens. According to her, the cause of these losses was the ingestion of clumping clay litter that led to blocking the intestines after ingestion of clumping clay.

When traditional clay litters were replaced with scoopable litter it came to the notice of experts that the scoopable litter had a downside. Cats inhaled dust from clay litter and the powerful clumping abilities of sodium bentonite caused the ingested clay dust and particles to expand to as much as fifteen times its original volume.

Clumping activity could also lead to drawing fluids out of the body and thus cause dehydration as well as possible urinary tract problems. These, and other problems, led cat owners and experts to believe that clumping cat litter was dangerous to cats, even though there was lack of scientific evidence to support these claims.

There are a few guidelines that cat caregivers can follow to keep their cats safe from clumping cat litter dangers. These include not using them for kittens, taking cats that eat litter to a veterinarian, and also taking cats to the veterinarian if it should develop sudden stomach problems, constipation, coughing or diarrhea or discomfort during urination.

Fifty years on from when Ed Lowe invented Kitty Litter, he may now have found it difficult to comprehend just what a can of beans it has led to being opened as the heated debate over whether clumping cat litter is dangerous or not rages on. And, there does not seem to be any letting up in this controversy.

Interesting Facts About Cats
There are 36 species of wild cats with the tiger being the largest (it can weigh up to 300kg/660 lb). There are eight subspecies of tigers, named as follows: 1. Siberian/Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) 2. South China tiger (P.t. amoyensis) 3. Indo-Chinese tiger (P.t. corbetti) 4. Bengal tiger (P.t. tigris) 5. Sumatran tiger (P.t. sumatrae) 6. Javan tiger (P.t. sondaica) 7. Bali tiger (P.t. balica) 8. Caspian tiger (P.t. virgata)

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Author Details:
Emily Sanchez writes for various web sites such as www.thatozof.com, www.informationjunkie.co.uk & www.simplytop.com

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