I've been fighting a battle against ants over the past couple of weeks. Terro ant bait is helping, but this problem has gone beyond that. What I noticed, though, is that many of the tiny marauders are carrying bits of litter.
I've been using clumping grass litter for years (Abound or SmartCat) because it's eco friendly and lightweight. Once I got the cats accustomed to it, it has worked well although it does track. And that's where my problem has arisen. Iris is 18 and long-haired. She's unsteady in the litter box because of arthritis, and she either steps or sits in the pee clumps, and it gets caught up in the toe floof and between her pink toe beans. She's tracking much (much, much) more of it around the house now. The ants apparently approve and are gung-ho about grass litter. So, I thought, how would they feel about clumping wood litter?
I bought some Okocat (which I've used in the past) and experimented. I put a pinch of the grass litter and a pinch of the wood litter a few inches apart near where the ants were congregating. They rushed over and explored the wood litter but left it to check out the grass litter. Within five minutes, the grass litter was gone, grasped in the jaws of various ants and headed to wherever it is they're nesting. The wood litter remain untouched. The cats will be using Okocat from now on.
I thought I'd share in case anyone else has ant problems and is using clumping grass litter!
I've been using clumping grass litter for years (Abound or SmartCat) because it's eco friendly and lightweight. Once I got the cats accustomed to it, it has worked well although it does track. And that's where my problem has arisen. Iris is 18 and long-haired. She's unsteady in the litter box because of arthritis, and she either steps or sits in the pee clumps, and it gets caught up in the toe floof and between her pink toe beans. She's tracking much (much, much) more of it around the house now. The ants apparently approve and are gung-ho about grass litter. So, I thought, how would they feel about clumping wood litter?
I bought some Okocat (which I've used in the past) and experimented. I put a pinch of the grass litter and a pinch of the wood litter a few inches apart near where the ants were congregating. They rushed over and explored the wood litter but left it to check out the grass litter. Within five minutes, the grass litter was gone, grasped in the jaws of various ants and headed to wherever it is they're nesting. The wood litter remain untouched. The cats will be using Okocat from now on.
I thought I'd share in case anyone else has ant problems and is using clumping grass litter!
