See I love Chey’s bed too! She is not to happy that I like it. But I like to lay wherever she is–preferably moving her in the process. It makes me feel so manly!
On a totally different note, my Mom was one of the bloggers contacted by John at Envirokats. We like that this litter is reusable and leaves less waste in the landfills. We also like that the processing isn’t hard on the land. We are however concerned about the potential for toxins in ingestion and also any potential off gassing from the product.
Tire crumbs can be made into many different things. In rubber flooring they are considered green, although if you really want a healthy house, they recommend looking up how much off-gassing goes on. These are the VOCs in any given product. We are not at all sure why one would have less VOCs than another given that they are made of basically the same material. This is the main concern when using these for children’s play grounds.
When used in gardens, a big concern is if something leaches into the land. The most common thing to leach into the land in a garden is zinc. On the West Coast where land is zinc deficient in general this is actually a good thing. On the East Coast where there is plenty of the mineral, it’s not so good as plants can be overwhelmed by it.
Finally we have to worry about ingestion. Again, there are questions about whether this is safe. We are wondering if any of the bloggers have done any research into tire crumbs to use for other things and what they have found.
We think this is a great idea in that recycling tires is an important thing. We really like that this company has found a way to take something that is clogging up the landfills and creates toxins when burned and is using it for something else. We like the idea of reusable cat litter (okay so the Woman isn’t thrilled with the idea of having to wash it out). However, we have concerns about the health. We’ve been emailing with Jan over at the Funny Farm as well and hope that she will post anything she has learned too–although she is concerned about all the confusing information.
Our best understanding is that the jury is still out about using tire crumbs but we’d love it if someone who has studied it more can send us links to offer their perspective. We think that John is trying to do something really good. We also think that the idea of reusable cat litter (so that it doesn’t just go to a landfill in a plastic bag) is a really good idea too.
My mom is nervous about doing anything to change our litter. She figures since we are using what we have, she should just leave well enough alone. Getting 9 cats to agree is kinda hard.
Very interesting, but I’m not sure we would like it…but ya never know!
My human was concerned about this too (the recycled tires as litter), and wasn’t sure where, or if, she could find any additional information about it.
Awwwww!!! You look so cute Ichiro!! We were wondering about the tire litter, too!! Thanks for sharing what you know!!
Your TX furiends,
Ichiro ~ yoo look adorable. Although we’re not stealing Chey’s bed is a good idea! There might be rePURRcusions.
Our mom doesn’t know anything about it, actually hadn’t heard of using tire crumbs.
There’s a lot about recycling that seems good on the surface, but can cause other problems if you look deeper. Like recycling electronics, batteries, etc. You have to make sure that whoever you take them to for recycle isn’t shipping them off to third world countries for destruction, because that happens with a lot of products, and it all ends up destroying someone else’s “back yard.”
Anyway, Mr. Adorable, Mr. Smoochable Ichiro, if your mom finds out more info, about the tire crumbs, maybe she can post it!
What a sweet mini-ManCat you are!! We don’t know much about the new litter. Mom wonders about how safe it is too.
The Florida Furkids and Angel Sniffie
I understand voc a little . I used to worK at a printing ink manufacturer in the Us who made ink. It is all in how things are made to begin with that determine the Voc.. There is not printing ink eith 0 voc. I also know that there are things out there trying to keep voc down That being said in think that for recycled tires there is a general voc . By removing. The metal and some other parts of tire That could change the voc. Also I am curous on the cleaning process . I saw the “blue tire”. Playground the other day and wondered if that is healthy for kids, I mean tires and dye. I am sure there is a place that they send out the tires for testing. also because the litter is made from tire ask for a Voc sheet. I think if there is any sort of Voc they have to have a sheet.
Ask for a MSDS for the item. You can also googol MSDS for tires. To see the base line where it starts
Hello there, cutie pie!
We’ve never heard of rubber tire litter…….
Our mom thought that this litter was interesting too…she likes to be environmental friendly, but she wasn’t sure about the tire stuff. We’d like more information before we would ever try it.
Ichiro, you keep moving and sleeping with Chey. We know she likes it! 😉
We read about it, too, and thought it sounds interesting. But we would be too skerred to be one of the earliest users. So far, we’re happy with our feline pine clumping.
Ichiro, you cutie, what did Chey say?
We will be interested in learning what mor eyou find out about the tire litter.
That bed sure looks comfy. How could you nit like it. It does look big enough for two to snuggle in it.
That tire liter just doesn’t sound like a good idea to me. The mom here wouldnl’t use anything unless it has been around and known to be safe. Even with things like that you have to be on top on things, remember all of the bad food? We all must be extra careful.
we was contacted too about the rubber litter stuff. the mom says NO ‘acause Billy will probably eat it, and Nicky will just throw it out of the box and it will end up all over the house when he plays with it. Our Worlds Best Cat Litter is pawsome and we do not want to change
Ichiro good picture!
Mom says we all agree with our litter (she tried changing it once and we all refused to use the new stuff) — so she doesn’t know…but we do agree with what a few others said about how things can seem OK on the surface but there can be more to it…
Helllllllllllllllllllooo Miss Gemini.
purrin
xoxox
your boyfriendcat
ping
Recycling is a very good thing! However, Momma says she is never again changing our litter… unless they stop making it. It took months to get the inappropriate marking to stop. Months of h-e-double-hockey sticks.
yoo luk bery comfy in cheys bed. we’re bery particular abowt owr litter too, try getting a clowder ta agree on somfing. we hope pwr litter iz gud fur tha enviorment.
Hmmmm….Chey is probably in a bad mood today with you stealing her bed!
We read about that litter, too, but Mom is concerned about ingestion of rubber, so we will not be trying it.
We have to agree with Cory, getting a Horde of Cats to agree on a litter is almost impossible.
The tire idea is interesting, but Mommy wondered right away about ingesting it. She says SHE’S never eaten a tire, and doesn’t want to either.
Ichiro, you are a cheeky little thing. I definitely think you are trying to dominate efurryone.
I don’t know anything about tire crumbs for litter. We’ve switched to the corn stuff recently, and it’s wonderful.
They can make other things out of old tires — like my new doormat!
Thats a tempting-looking bed. We dont blame ya fer wantin ta sleep init!
Ichiro, you are on your way to becoming a Dare Devil cat!!
Livin’ life on the edge,heehee Watch out, Chey just might whap you 😉
The litter sounds neat and we did not know tires could be used as litter.
We are curious about the process and safety too.
Purrs Mickey, Georgia & Tillie
Oh, Ichiro, you look so squeelicious laying in Chey’s bed! We think we’s gonna take a pass on peeing and pooping in ground up tires. That man wanted us to blog about it too.
Don’t push your luck too far with Chey, little one!
Your post was excellent and brought up the things that concerned us about that Envirocat litter (he contacted us too). Our Teri says she has a purse made out of recycled conveyor belts…and we’ve never peed on that, hahameow!