Diatomaceous Earth, 20 mule borax, and cats

[akitty47]

From what I understand, if you apply the (20 mule team) borax on carpet, you should take your pets way from affected area and let it sit there for a few hours (or as long as you want, but no pets of children there) before vacuuming. And then you can let pets back in. What would be the recommended procedure for diatomaceous earth? I understand it can sit somewhere for literally millions of years without going bad, but I get concerned about a cat breathing that dust even after it settled down (unless it found its way into the folds in the carpet). Am I being too paranoid?

 

[Anne]

I don't think you're being paranoid. 

I don't know for a fact that there is a risk with inhaling D.E. It's a big "maybe" and as far as I know depends on the grade of the substance as well. This is what I found in Wikipedia regarding safety concerns - 

In a study of workers, those exposed to natural DE for over 5 years had no significant lung changes, while 40% of those exposed to the calcined form had developed pneumoconiosis.^[24]  Today's common D.E. formulations are safer to use as they are predominantly made up of amorphous silica and contain little or no crystalline silica.^[25]

That said, cats have very sensitive airways, so I would prefer to err on the side of caution and prevent them from inhaling this substance.