Cancer Causing Cat Litter?

[She's a witch]

We used wood pellets for a long time with great success but I stopped due to number of reasons, one being that I guess they must use some clumping agents plus something to glue the particles into pellets and I am not sure what ingredients the companies use for that;
I also used corn clumping litter, which I suspect caused lower respiratory disease in my cat - although I have no proofs to support this claim, just my own observation.
After much research and many trials we now use grass seed litter - Smart Cat and the petco brand, So phresh, which is basically the same as smart cat but a bit cheaper. This litter is the most expensive I've bought so far and still far from perfect, but it's natural, less dusty (although recent bag was way dustier that previous ones), clumps very well naturally, cats don't seem to carry it around on their paws (although it's messy around their litter box, but not that much on couch/beds etc - robot vacuums does a great job with this). I am still looking for healthier and safer option, but I don't believe it exists at this point. I think I would never use clay (dust plus I imagine cats eat it while cleaning themselves) nor pine litters (alleged toxicity).

 

[catsknowme]

I have gone back to my Maine Coon's personal favorite: chicken feed (layer crackettes/crumbles) with enough clumping litter added to form good clumps plus baking soda to keep the mix on the alkaline side which is supposed to retard bacterial and fungal growth. When I have very senior/arthritic cats in my care, I offer them laying mash instead of the crumbles because it is much softer & lighter on their paws to dig in. As with alfalfa, moisture can cause mold so it is necessary to clean the boxes at least daily.
I wonder why the lightweight litter is causing bladder problems - quite possibly it is the fragrances or perhaps the dust. When I was a child, toilet paper was heavily perfumed and colored - the results were frequent bladder infections/irritation, rectal irritation and vaginal itching & inflammation. I don't know why it is that 40+ years later, cats are still subjected to perfumes, fragrances, etc. in their litterbox .

 

[Cats In Utah]

Hello everyone,

In another thread I was talking to another user about Purina Tidy Cats Lightweight cat litter:
Does My Cats Pee Look Normal?

after doing further research on the cat litter I use, I found a lot of complaints on Amazon about UTI/infections being caused by this. Although my cats personally have not had any issues due to this (nor do I see how it would cause an infection... which is a living organisim attacking the system). I did find lots of mentions outside of Amazon about silica (the clumping material) in cat litter causing lung cancer in cats.

Before I dive in and do further research I was wondering if someone else already has? Have you heard of talks or seen research papers of clumping cat litter causing cancer? If true this is more bull, I always think I am doing the right thing (in this case keeping the litter box odorless) and might be causing more damage in the long run.

After reading about this I was looking at alternatives and apparantly pretty much all cat litters are terrible for cats health...

-clay cat litter without clumping properties still causes irritated lungs due to being inhaled while using the litter box
-clumping cat litter for the reasons mentioned above
-crystal mineral cat litter due to being rock hard and hurting cats feet
-newspaper shredded cat litter due to the ink being poisonous

I had then come upon a YT video by a cattery person and she claims to use a different natural (although minerals are also natural) source for her cat litter... I see a problem with her set-up though... the sawdust could also be inhaled by our cats and cause lung problems.... (fine particles).


Sigh.

I am convinced that clumping cat litter causes cancer, specifically in the mouth and throat. I have had cats for 60+ years and NONE of them ever had cancer.
Two cats I had back in 1996 developed cancer - One got throat cancer and the other got mouth cancer.
These are the only two cats I had that I used clumping cat litter in the litter boxes.
Think about this: The clumping litter adheres itself to anything moist. Cat breathes in the dust and it sticks to the moist mouth and throat. Their paws, when they enter the litter box, may have slight moisture on them. the litter sticks to the pads on the paws and later the cat cleans its paws, ingesting the clumping litter dust.
If this product was used on human beings, there would be lawsuits for the manufacturers for damages (ie. talc lawsuits).

 

[movinintime]

Been using Dr. Elsey's Unscented Clumping 40lb bags for 10 yrs. Anyone know a better brand to change to? Should I change? I think alot use Elsey's & I didn't see it in this thread tho may have missed it.