My goal today is to find a challenge-suitable cat litter.  There’s not enough litter left in the cat box to even cover the bottom of it.  I’ve spent the last hour and a half researching cat litter options.  Here are my findings:

Limited options for non-disposable or 100% biodegradable packaging.  I figure clay cat litter is a natural product anyway, but all of the added chemicals to deodorize and clump make it not so great.  I was just looking for litter I can buy in bulk, and place it in my own reusable container or 100% biodegradable packaging.  I’ll let you know how this plays out after my trip to the local pet store.

Products are designed for comfort and ease.  “Make your life easier!  Buy all of this plastic crap (pun intended), throw it away and start clean and fresh!” Seriously, a Diaper Genie for cat poop?  Yes, I’d like to keep the poop for a while and make it into plastic sausage links.  Really??!?

All-inclusive marketing.  Dumb Cat is pretty clever.  I call my cat that name all the time, but I don’t need a spray to make her dumber.  How about the  environmentally friendly plastic bags?  The polyethylene* allows us to make the bags thinner.  Thinner than not using one?  No. And I’m just picturing my kids taking that out to the trash can.  “Mom!!  I don’t how that bag broke, I was just walking it out to the trash can!”  Yeah, slinging it around and hitting his brother with it.  Bad vision!  Let’s move on. 

The paradox of choice.  Really, it’s no wonder how people spend billions on their pets each year.  Many years ago, when I was little, you didn’t need a master’s degree in purchasing cat litter (or anything else) to make an educated purchasing decision.  Try to buy a TV.  There are so many options, features and price ranges, not to mention the warranty, consumer reports, ratings and reviews, that making a selection could take several weeks and a whole lot of time.  It’s frustrating, throwing many people into gridlock and others into just buying the first thing they see.

What is the definition of disposable?  For cat litter, it can be a few days to a month.  What about a disposable razor?  I use mine for 9 months to a year.  Don’t judge me, I wash it out and it’s just fine.  There’s a whole movement of people doing this now.  Me?  I’ve been doing this since the early 80’s.  How about a blender?  A TV?  A car?  I guess a lot of people think of those as disposable.  What do we throw away just because the package says “disposable” and gives us a time frame?  How much life is left in those items?

Time versus money versus planet-friendly.  This topic could be a whole blog post in itself.  I know that whatever cat litter option I find, it will likely cost more than my Aldi brand litter, or even the Tidy Cat clumping litter I like.  I’ll let you know tomorrow how that works out.  My friend Becca suggested the green pee cat litter system as an option.  Again, this is a choice between a lot of time, a little money, and a happy planet.  My reality is that I have 2 boys who fight over who’s not cleaning the cat box.  This might be a potential disaster.

Weirdness.  I just have to share this.  When doing my Google search, I came across a photo of a cat box that looked like it had slugs or worms in it.  I’m thinking this is some new type of cat box composting.  When I clicked on it, I found out it’s a cake made to look like a cat box.  WT…??  Who would eat that?  That would definitely be a disposable cake in my house.  I can highly appreciate the creativity here, but I threw up in my mouth a little bit.  If you would like the recipe, go to hobbiesmakemehappy.com, which is also the photo credit  site.  I tried to make the photo small for those of you with weak stomachs.

The bottom line here is that our actions are our vote for what we believe in and stand for.  I don’t know where this will land with the cat litter, but I hope it’s not a landfill.

[end parable]

Now that I’ve grossed you out, let’s chat about my lunch yesterday.  I met with our women’s ministry director, Anne, who invited me to lunch.  She had a difficult time finding a place to eat, taking into consideration her Celiac’s disease and my no disposable stuff challenge.  We had some great conversation, including a discussion on the book 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess, which is the upcoming book study starting soon.

We ended up at TruFire, which shouldn’t have any disposable stuff.  The waiter brought my water, and using my quick reflexes and ninja skills, I snatched up the paper napkin right before he set the water down.  I quickly explained my challenge and told him to keep the straw and paper napkin.  Anne made a joke about taking all of the stuff I can’t use.  He played along nicely, but the weird lady at table 47 might have been a topic of conversation in the kitchen.

I’m off to go grocery shopping and to purchase cat litter.  This should be interesting.  And time-consuming.  My biggest fear is not being able to find skim milk.  My name is Jody and I’m a non-fat latte addict.

*Plastic crap fact:

Polyethylene (abbreviated PE) or polythene, is the most common plastic. The annual production is approximately 80 million metric tons.  One of the main problems of polyethelyne is that without special treatment it is not readily biodegradable, and thus accumulates.