Really Great Uses for Kitty Litter

The old-school, non-scoopable litter is fantastic on ice. (You mention "traction" which will also include mud....) if I'm walking a short distance in icy weather, I will carry some to sprinkle as I walk. Yes, I know I look stupid - and I don't break a leg, falling, either.

I've kept the largest bag I can carry in the trunk in case I get stuck in the mud OR in snow or ice.

Again: you don't want scoopable or flushable. You want the stuff that goes for $6 for a 50 lb bag. (I pay $2 for the 10-lb, which is the most I can lift - if I didn't keep first aid supplies in the trunk, though, I'd put a larger bag in a tub and scoop what I needed.) GENERIC. UNSCENTED.

This hint, and those shoe traction thingies, were the best gifts I gave to a friend who'd moved North from Southern California (she'd never driven in snow before - like THAT).

I know I've heard an authority somewhere (fire marshal or something) say you shouldn't use cat litter around fire, because it may be flammable. I seem to remember a story about someone burning down thier house after they threw cat litter on a grease fire and it fed the fire instead of putting it out.

I can't find any source or confirmation online, which makes me think it was probably bad information, but still, something to be careful about, just in case. I guess "test your litter first" would be good advice.

Great post Linsey!

Aw, man. Now I have to figure out whether or not it's flammable. That's going to cost me a garbage can, Justin.

I had no idea cat litter was so versatile. Since it's always underfoot (my cat likes to fling it out and around the house), I always just thought of it as a nuisance. The tent tip is a great one - I HATE opening up my tent at the start of summer!

@Andrea: Awwww. Well, if it doesn't light up, keep trying other things until it does, and then do a "How to blow up a trashcan" post!

Living in the UP lot's of people carry it in their cars for traction during the winter months-- it is really useful!

It's used in glory holes in glass blowing. That's the hottest thing next to the furnace that melts and stores the liquid glass. It's (the glory hole) used to reheat while shaping and gets to be about 2000 degrees F. If the stuff was going to burn, it would burn in there, and it doesn't. It's put on the bottom so if you lose a piece of glass (slippery stuff) you can just poke around and pick it up - covered in kitty litter - but it doesn't stick to the bottom and cause cracking when the glory hole cools down.

And, just to clarify, the kitty litter in your trunk, to be used for traction, needs to be taken out and spread around your tires. Most cars are front wheel drive, so the extra weight alone in the back ain't gonna do you much good.

Montmorillinite clay chips were originally used for oil spil cleanups. cat litter was a secondary use. This stuff swells 300x (the official definition) it's original volume when saturated from water, not so much with oil. use it on grease fires, make clay masks out of it, use it at the bottom of a trench where you want to hold water (like a pond liner). use it to block leaks in your foundation wall (dig a trench and fill it up outside) If it gets sticky and slippery when wet that is the right stuff.

Now a good cat litter is alfala pellets, biodegradable, NO ODOR for a least a week with one cat, flushable in small amounts, and if you buy it as rabbit pellets you can get a 50 lbs bag for about 12$ in Anchorage. cat litter is $8 for 10 lbs and I find the smell of cat p on clay litter horrible.

If you have to use a bedside commode, a camping potty, or your water goes out for some reason and you still have to use your toilet, line the receptacle with a plastic bag, then put a couple inches of kitty litter in the bottom. Absorbs most of the liquid and keeps odor down. If you, er, deposit solids in the container, cover with another scoop of litter. It is much more aesthetically pleasing for the next person -- wish the Porta Potty people would include a scoop and a sack in those horrid blue outhouses. We have actually used this on several occasions, and it does work better -- and cheaper -- than the chemical stuff you can buy for the same purpose.

On a hot day you can take about a half cup of cat litter, a sack of tea (anykind) and a couple of ice cubes and you have yourself a fine shake or meal, depending on how much water. Full of fiber.

The ripening of fruit occurs through the absorbtion of the gas ethylene. This gas is given off as fruit ripens, and its presence increases the ripening of nearby fruit that can absorb the gas. In a refrigerator vegetable drawer, ethylene given off by the fruit present, increases the ripening and subsequent going bad of the fruit in the drawer. Since kitty litter is an absorbent, it could reduce the level of ethylene gas in the drawer and thereby exdend the storage life of the fruit in the drawer and markedly reduce spoilage. The kitty litter only has to be placed in each drawer in small paper bags or cloth satchels made from clean rags tied to hold the litter with a string. It is easy for each person to experiment with how much to use depending on the size of the drawer, how much fruit is in it, and when to replace the litter for best results. Since kitty litter is so cheap, it would not be unreasonable to start with a small handfull of litter and change it every two weeks. -Russ vincent, Charleston SC

cat litter works great to clean up vomit. It smells great, masking the vomit odor, absorbs all of it, and then you just sweep it into a dust pan. (maybe this reminds you of grade school, when the janitor used some stuff to soak up vomit?) I managed a bar/restaurant, and drunk people vomit occasionally. The litter even masks the alcohol smell, which is worse than regular vomit odor. Cat litter saved us from vomiting while cleaning vomit. Also good for other bodily fluid accidents. urine, diarhea, etc.

Encircle plants in the garden with a line of cat litter to deter slugs.