Cat owners are often looking for ways to make this essential chore a little easier and a little less smelly. Most of the problems with disposing of cat litter down the toilet have to do with the parasites that are in cat poop.
These parasites are called Toxoplasma gondii. The parasites can be very dangerous for humans, especially pregnant women whose infants, when exposed to the parasite, can develop seizures, jaundice, enlarged livers, enlarged spleens, and serious eye infections.
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Noel Kirkpatrick is an editor and writer based in Tacoma, Washington. He covers many topics including science and the environment. Learn about our editorial process. Although there are some types of cat litter that are marketed as flushable, this does not mean that flushing is an acceptable method for disposal. Not all types of cat litter are flushable, and flushing the non-flushable cat litter can clog pipes. Many types of cat litter are designed to absorb moisture, and will expand by as much as 15 times its original size.
Even if the granules of cat litter have already expanded somewhat at the time of flushing, they could expand by much more once they enter the pipes. Choosing to flush the wrong type of cat litter could be devastating to your plumbing. Cats are possible carriers of a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, which can be found in cat excrement. This is the most important reason why any responsible cat owner should think carefully before flushing cat litter down the toilet.
Cat poop may contain parasites, and may also contain dangerous substances which can impact on water treatment and sewage plants.
All pet waste, and that of course includes cat waste is classified as a pollutant by the Environment Protection Agency.
In particular, they refer to the viruses, bacteria and nutrients found in pet waste. Their reason for this is and I quote from their literature:. In addition to this some cats may be infected with a disease known as Toxoplasmosis. When that happens then cat waste will contain a parasite known as Toxoplasma gondii. If humans come into contact with a cat with Toxploasmosis, then most humans can fight this off as our immune systems are quite strong.
Those with a lower immune system, such as a pregnant woman, may however become infected. If it does happen to a human the symptoms can be similar to those that we get with a bad flu. That includes the typical aches, pains and a hot fever. Pregnant women should be extremely aware that this can cause some serious fetal development disorders, such as loss of eyesight, brain damage, premature birth and even still born death.
If you would like to find out more about pregnancy and handling cat litter, then please read this article. If cat waste is flushed down a normal household toilet, and the cat is carrying this parasite the waste is essentially being placed into the normal waste system. It will eventually get to a waste treatment plant. There are a lot of waste treatment plants that simply can not treat that kind of harsh parasite and pollutant. Now in terms of measuring this risk it is important to put the risk into some perspective.
The risk is considered to be small as few cat owners actually flush cat litter down a toilet. The number of cats with the parasite is also a small number. That means the risk is low to humans. Nevertheless it still remains a dangerous risk, especially for anyone with a reduced or weakened immune system. In addition to this public waste systems have been upgraded and can now deal with this parasite. That said not all waste plants can. The bottom line is that it is recommended that cat owners should not flush cat poop down a toilet.
As you may already know there are different types of cat litter available on the market. These include:. I will explain the key differences in these, and then explain why some are more dangerous than others to flush down the toilet. This is by quite a distance the most popular type of cat litter and is used by the vast majority of cat owners.
This is a clay based litter that is designed to form hard clumps when it comes into contact with water or moisture. This is the worst type of litter that you could attempt to flush. You should never flush this litter type into your waste system. That is because it swells and expands as it absorbs moisture.
Flush this down a loo and over time it will form into a hard lump. Some of these clumping litters can actually swell to thousands of times their natural size. That will cause a blockage in your waste pipes and can be quite a costly fix.
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