Corn Cob Cat Litter – Is Corn Cat Litter Bad for Cats?

If you’re reading this, you’re probably interested in choosing a healthy litter for your cat.

While traditional clay litter is the most popular variety for fairly good reasons – it’s cheap and highly effective – there are arguments against its use.

Clay litter is produced through strip mining, a process that can temporarily scar the natural landscape. In addition to the environmental impact of clay litter production, the potential health impact is worth considering. Sodium bentonite clay litter (the kind that clumps) contains a considerable quantity of silica dust – which has been linked to upper respiratory issues.

When we recognize the potential dangers of clay cat litter, we enter the world of biodegradable “natural” alternatives. Note that ultimately, clay cat litter is a natural product itself. In this case, the natural label is more a marketing ploy than a genuine distinction.

One popular alternative is corn cob cat litter.

Touted as biodegradable, pure, and harmless, corn cob cat litter presents an intriguing combination of efficacy, an enticing environmental impact, and a dangerous dynamic with toxic mold.

So is this plant-based cat litter ultimately a wolf in sheep’s clothing? Let’s assess at the benefits and dangers of corn cob cat litter.

Let’s take a look at what’s good about corn cob cat litter.

The first of corn cob cat litter’s charms is its biodegradability. It’s made out of corn, corn, and nothing but corn. So it makes sense that it degrades into the earth just like a corn cob. If you’ve turned your back on clay litter based on its environmental impact, corn cob cat litter is a friendlier choice.

And then, there’s the dust issue – corn cob cat litter doesn’t produce dust. This means that your cat will breathe easily without inhaling carcinogenic silica dust.

Corn cob cat litter is soft and gentle on your cat’s toes, while being quite effective when it comes to containing odors and managing moisture. You can flush it down the toilet, too – which means that it’s a highly convenient cat litter choice.

Wet, warm corn cob cat litter is a great place to live if you’re bacteria, bugs, or mold. In other words, the litter box becomes dangerous the second that your cat starts using it. As soon as your cat breaks in the corn cat litter, it becomes a fertile environment for things that could make your cat sick. Very sick, in fact. Let’s talk about aflatoxins and how they’ve affected cats through corn cob cat litter.

A particularly concerning result of this is the growth of aflatoxin mold in corn cob cat litter. Reports from pet owners state that this mold growing in their cat’s litter box made their cats sick and even lead to death. Cornell’s Department of Animal Science says that: “the commodities with the highest risk of aflatoxin contamination are corn, peanuts and cottonseed.  Pre-harvest aflatoxin contamination of peanuts and corn is favored by high temperatures, prolonged drought conditions, and high insect activity; while post-harvest production of aflatoxins on corn and peanuts is favored by warm temperatures and high humidity.”

Aflatoxin mold loves growing in warm, wet corn. Corn cob cat litter manufacturers know that. That’s why manufacturers test their product before it hits the shelves. The problem is that the mold can appear later on, when the litter is in your house and in contact with your cat. 

Corn cob cat litter is a promising choice if you want an environmentally friendly cat litter that doesn’t produce dust. That said, toxic aflatoxin mold may love it just as much as you do. This means that a litter box full of it is a veritable breeding ground for this toxic mold. 

Aflatoxin mold poisoning can cause gastrointestinal distress, jaundice, anemia, and reproductive harm.

At this point, we’d shy away from using corn cob cat litter – it’s just not perfect. While it stands out in the crowd of biodegradable litters because of its ability to manage odor and moisture, the risk of aflatoxin mold poisoning just makes corn cob cat litter too dangerous for us to recommend in good conscience.

Frankly, we don’t know.

There’s a reason why clay cat litter is the most popular type: it’s effective, cheap, and easy to use. Corn cob cat litter ranks highly when it comes to efficacy, but not so well when you consider its potential for damaging health effects. That said, the other non-clay litters out there all have their warts. Pine litter can stick to your cat’s fur, wheat litter can be too sticky in the litter box, and some cats will outright reject a certain variety of cat litter.

All of the above listed varieties, though, are worth a shot. You may have to experiment with several varieties before you find the one that you and your cat love. Until then, we wish you the best!

The WildernessCatLady is crazy about happy, healthy cats fueled by nature. Start changing your cat’s life today with natural health solutions for adventurous cats at Wildernesscat.com. And while you’re here, go ahead and download our free PDF: 5 Natural Home Remedies for Cats.

Corn Cob Cat Litter – Is Corn Cat Litter Bad for Cats?

Flea Treatments are Killing Our Cats: The Truth About Cat Flea Medications

When you see your cat suffering from a serious case of painful flea bites, you want to ease their discomfort as soon as possible. Running to the nearest store and picking up a topical cat flea treatment seems likes the quickest and easiest solution, but it might just be tossing your cat out of the frying pan and straight into the fire.

The fact of the matter is that the simple, easy-to-buy flea medications lining the shelves of most pet and grocery stores are not as benign as they appear. These pesticides have been linked to thousands of pet deaths and little has been done to make these products safer. The packaging is seemingly harmless. The directions are simple and straightforward. Just squeeze out a few drops onto your cat’s neck and eliminate those pesky fleas. Unfortunately, there’s more to the story.

What the packaging fails to mention is that, in far too many cases, the treatment doesn’t just poison fleas. It could poison your cat, too.

There’s no way around it. When you treat your cat with a topical pesticide, you are exposing them to chemicals formulated to kill. The low doses our cats are exposed to can lead to a variety of complications: damage to the nervous system, skin rashes, sores, and seizures. In 2008, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), received approximately 43,000 reports of pets who were negatively affected by topical flea products. The reports included a number of different brands of products, including various pesticides and ingredients. The same year, it was determined that about 1.4% of those incidents resulted in death.

Reactions to these flea medications vary. Risk factors include allergies, age, pregnancy, and previous drug use. In some cases, the reaction happens when the product is used improperly. In others, the product was used correctly and the reaction occurs anyway. Some cats just experience itching and skin irritation, while a severe reaction could end in death. The symptoms of an adverse reaction vary, but tend to include excess salivation, pupil dilation, muscle tremors, vomiting, shivering, skin irritation, and behavioral changes.

If you’re willing to take the risk and use an over-the-counter flea medication, please take the necessary precautions. Be certain that you are using a flea treatment designed specifically for cats. If you have a multiple cat home, don’t allow the cats around one another for at least a day after being treated. It’s possible that your cats will groom one another. The pesticides in topical flea treatments, if ingested, are very dangerous.

Remember, dosing according to the instructions is not a guarantee that your cat will not have a negative reaction to the poison. Some cats are more sensitive than others, especially kittens and older cats.

In 2008, the EPA received approximately 43,000 reports of pets who had experienced a negative reaction to a topical flea product. The reports included a number of different brands of products, including various pesticides and ingredients.

There is no single pesticide that you can avoid to ensure your cat’s safety. All pesticides could potentially harm your cat.

The large number of reports caused the EPA to review the state of the topical pet insecticide industry. This evaluation concluded that most reporting their cat’s illness or death caused by spot-on flea treatments were using the products incorrectly – treating their cats with a solution made for dogs. Dog flea treatments contain stronger pesticides that cats simply cannot handle, even in miniscule doses. This prompted some reforms. By 2010, they were urging manufacturers to improve labeling and possibly increase testing before releasing these products to the public.

The state of cat flea medication has improved since then thanks to these investigations and packaging reform.

But they didn’t solve the problem. Reports of cats suffering from the side effects of topical flea treatments are still popping up. These reports aren’t only coming from people who can’t read the packaging. They’re also coming from people who used the chemical flea treatments properly. Even if you use them as directed, these treatments for cats are still not 100% safe.

First of all, stay calm! Not all cats react negatively to these medications. In fact, it’s more than likely that your cat will be fine.

Watch your cat closely. If you do notice any effects after the application of a topical flea treatment, immediately wash your cat with a gentle dish soap, like Dawn. Continue to monitor your cat and consider contacting a veterinarian if they start to show symptoms of a serious reaction.

However, if your cat has ingested the flea medication, this will not help. You will need to get your cat to a veterinarian for treatment as soon as possible.

A perfectly natural, easy to use, and effective flea treatment is food-grade diatomaceous earth. This natural powder is comprised of the fossilized shells of ancient sea creatures. When observed under a microscope, diatomaceous earth particles resemble shards of glass. These sharp edges are the secret to diatomaceous earth’s power. The particles penetrate bug skeletons, then cuts up or dehydrates them to death. It is simple, mechanical, and it really works. Plus, if you use food grade diatomaceous earth, it’s completely safe for your cat.

While some people choose to use it topically, it can dry out your cat’s skin when used that way. We recommend sprinkling it in your cat’s favorite areas. Diatomaceous earth does a great job of getting rid of pests in your home before they can get to your cat.

And best of all: unlike OTC flea and tick medication, there’s no chance that it will leave patches of raw skin or cause damage to their nervous system.

The WildernessCatLady is crazy about happy, healthy cats fueled by nature. Start changing your cat’s life today with natural health solutions for adventurous cats at Wildernesscat.com. And while you’re here, go ahead and download our free PDF: 5 Natural Home Remedies for Cats.

Flea Treatments are Killing Our Cats: The Truth About Cat Flea Medications

How colour-changing cats might warn future humans of radioactive waste

Plans for a new fleet of UK nuclear power plants are under way. Last month, for example, Hitachi and the Japanese government confirmed a plan to construct 5.4 gigawatts of generating capacity at UK sites. But what about the waste? And what happens when, in thousands of years, our descendants – who may not read any current human language – find a store, and put themselves in danger?

A panel of scientists and linguists asked this question in 1981 when the US Department of Energy commissioned them to find a method of ensuring that whatever is left of humanity in 10,000 years’ time is warned off the sites we’ve been filling with radioactive sludge.

The panel reasoned that since few people can read texts that are only 1,000 years old, written warnings guaranteed to be understood by future humanity could be difficult to create.

The answer may lie in “nuclear semiotics” – future-proof signs. Other options include hostile architecture, obelisks – or cats.

In 1984, writer Françoise Bastide and semiotician Paolo Fabbri suggested the answer could lie in breeding animals that “react with discoloration of the skin when exposed” to radiation. “[Their] role as a detector of radiation should be anchored in cultural tradition by introducing a suitable name (eg, ‘ray cat’).”

In short: cats that turn, say, green when near radioactive material. A legend, passed on through the millennia, would trigger a response in humans to get out as soon as possible.

The idea has recently gained fresh traction: the Ray Cat Solution movement, formed in 2015, is working to “insert ray cats into the cultural vocabulary”. They say it may be possible to harness some animals’ innate capacity to become fluorescent, or to absorb and emit light – but cats don’t have the physiology to do that. Another way would be to engineer cats to glow using enzyme interaction – a mechanism used to study cellular activity. Far fetched, but it could just work.

How colour-changing cats might warn future humans of radioactive waste

15 Hypoallergenic Dogs and Cats

Hypoallergenic or Hype?

If you love animals but hate allergies, you may be tempted to spring for a pricey hypoallergenic pet.

Not so fast. Studies suggest hypoallergenic cats and dogs can cause just as many symptoms as the regular kind, says James Seltzer, MD, a spokesperson for the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology. That’s because skin and saliva proteins, not just hair, trigger allergy symptoms.

The only pets proven to be hypoallergenic have scaly skin—like iguanas and snakes, he says. That said, if you’re dead set on a furry pet, here are a few that are touted—but not proven—to be better for people with allergies.

15 Hypoallergenic Dogs and Cats

TB outbreak in cats could strengthen argument for badger cull

The Government is presently considering evidence from an independent report into the two badger culling pilot projects that took location in Gloucestershire and Somerset.

A selection will then be created on whether to roll out more culls in other areas the place bovine TB is creating specific harm to the farming local community.

But a spokesman for Defra mentioned the outbreak amongst domestic cats reinforced the require to consider measures to tackle the wider dilemma of bovine TB.

The spokesman stated: “While the numbers are extremely reduced and the danger to humans even reduced, it reinforces the want to tackle this pressing animal wellness problem in the United kingdom, which is creating untold misery to our beef and dairy farmers.”

Minette Batters, NFU Deputy President, also mentioned the outbreak underlined the want to urgently tackle bovine TB in wildlife.

She said: “We express our sympathies to these people who have contracted TB by means of their cats. We realize that the supply of infection was wildlife – either badgers or rats. Badgers are acknowledged to spread TB amongst cattle and this latest information that they may have infected cats which have gone on to infect people underlines the pressing need to have to control the spread of TB in wildlife.”

Two individuals, which includes 19-12 months-outdated Jessica Livings from Newbury, had been struck down with a strain of bovine TB, right after handling their infected cats.

Miss Livings had to undergo emergency surgical treatment and has invested months undergoing treatment method, soon after she came into get in touch with an open wound that her kitten, Onyx, had sustained following suspected get in touch with with a badger.

Two other people in the identical location have been confirmed as having a dormant form of the killer disease, but veterinary professionals and public wellness officials have warned additional cases are very likely.

Robin Hargreaves, president of the British Veterinary Association said: “It is going to occur once again. It is minimal threat but it is not no danger.”

Whilst the disease can be handled in cats, the professional antibiotics required are expensive and there are no ensures the animal will survive.

With authorities unable to rule out the chance that bovine TB is now currently being passed from cat to cat, the advice to owners whose animals are affected is that their pets ought to be place down.

Chief Veterinary Officer Nigel Gibbens stated: “This unusual case illustrates why it is important that personal vets remain vigilant to feasible indicators of TB in cats.

“For public health motives the most sensible program of action when a cat is diagnosed with culture-confirmed M Bovis infection is euthanasia rather than therapy.

“This determination is a option for individual pet owners to make.”

TB outbreak in cats could strengthen argument for badger cull

So cats are offering us TB? It need to be time to fight back

‘We would have to quit ancient millionaires leaving their fortune to their cats, as this income can be employed to even more their murderous regime.’ Photograph: Yay Media/Alamy

So what we have lengthy suspected has ultimately come accurate cats are striving to destroy people. People furry evil geniuses who have been plotting from the comfort of your quite personal lap have exposed themselves as carriers of tuberculosis making an attempt their greatest to infect their owners.

For years we’ve been questioning why they’ve been staring at us like that, why they are so withholding with their affection, why white cats only ever sit on your black clothes. It is all turning out to be terrifyingly clear now. First, they came for the sparrows and I said absolutely nothing.

The selection seems clear and we have a precedent in this nation we are going to have to begin culling our cats. It may possibly not have worked on badgers, but that isn’t going to suggest it will not perform for Socks, Mufti and Chairman Miaow.

People are currently generating the situation for culling cats but it is not that straightforward.

First of all, cats have to be killed 9 occasions, which is hugely labour intensive, and they can’t be killed by pushing them off substantial locations.

Secondly, we would have to end ancient millionaires leaving their fortune to their cats as this money can be used to even more their murderous regime. We’d need to have to freeze the assets of the hundreds of cat charities wilfully trying to keep them alive.

Thirdly, we require to target the ruthless feline PR machine by taking down all web videos of kittens on roombas, kittens saying “yum” as they eat, cats taking part in pianos, fighting with printers and most certainly Simon’s Cat. Basically half the web wants to be taken down. As the other half of the internet is porn, we also want to hunt down and ban all the cat porn, commencing with this.

‘There are humans that the cats have not killed who will shill for the cat military-industrial complicated.’ Photograph: JEFF SMITH / Alamy/Alamy

The Every day Mail requirements to get onside, maybe by pointing out that domestic cats are immigrants or that girls are delaying childbirth simply because they are acquiring cats instead. But no a single display them Cats That Appear Like Hitler. There are, nonetheless, a couple of issues with killing all the cats in the United kingdom.

There is a powerful cultural association in between females and cats, possibly dating back to when witches roamed freely, so any cull is likely to be viewed as misogynistic. Cat bin lady was not only a harbinger of this anti-cat fervour, she was also a traitor to her gender. Feminists are already nicely-equipped for the protests, they’ve currently acquired the “Hands off our pussies” placards.

Cats have acquired some extremely effective allies, and not just Blofeld. Lenin liked his cat, Mark Twain hinted at the masonic website link to cats when he said “When a guy loves cats, I am his pal and comrade with out additional introduction”, and I for a single am not messing with Gilgamesh. And though these folks might be dead or fictional, there are people that the cats haven’t presently killed who will still be inclined to shill for the cat military-industrial complex.

Brian May possibly might be active with the badgers but we can rope in Elaine Paige, who would leap at the likelihood of rerecording Memory with Postman Pat. Yusuf Islam demonstrated his stand towards felines when he changed his name – when are we going to see this type of patriotism from Cat Deeley?

No. It is clear that we should welcome our cat overlords and tolerate the killer pussies amongst them. Until finally David Cameron is willing to publicly execute Larry the cat and the other a hundred,000 cats on the British government’s payroll (yes, that is how many are employed to preserve down the mice population on government home, jobs that could be done by British employees), then there will be no leadership in the fight against them. Plus, we can not give canine-owners the smug fulfillment, or even much more of our telly will be invaded by Gaby Roslin hosting Britain’s Doggiest Canine. In this ongoing war, I’m siding with the cats.

So cats are offering us TB? It need to be time to fight back