Cat Litter Dust and Your Health

Cat litter that clumps together around the pet's feces and urine has been a welcome advancement for most pet owners. However, there are those who claim that the litter--particularly its dust--is harmful to their or their pets' health. As with most consumer products, the advancements far outpace our ability to properly gauge their effects on our health; so while we do not definitively understand cat litter's effects on our health, we may still draw conclusions from a fair analysis.

The question of cat litter dust's effects on health revolve particularly around several of its constituents. A type of clay, similar to American bentonite, forms the bulk of the product. When wet, it clumps together to form a solid mass. Its absorbent qualities come partly from this clay, but mostly from an additive, silica dust.

It is thought that breathing in or ingesting these materials could be harmful. The cat will undoubtedly unintentionally ingest some of the cat litter or dust. It is thought that the product could swell inside the cat's digestive system, absorbing its fluids. But others argue that cats are perfectly able to deal with soil, and even clay, within their digestive systems. But breathing in the dust could cause more pronounced problems. If a fine dust were breathed in, it would instantly stick to the inside of the lungs of either a cat or human. Gathering size as it absorbed water, it may become trapped in the lungs, unable to be freed even from the action of violent coughing.

There are some who feel that the dust produces an acute allergic reaction, in addition to the complications described above. Indeed, it is common for people who suffer from allergies to be overly sensitive to every sort of thing, however inert, and so it is very likely that the allergies of some could flare from cat litter dust.

The allergy question aside, it would seem that breathing in the fine dust of the clay and silica is not healthy, and should be avoided. Since the advent of clumping cat litter, a new kind of litter has been introduced that has even better qualities: silica gel litter. It would be advised that this, or another, safer, product, be used instead.