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| Dear Swheat Scoop: As per our recent phone conversation, here is what happened with my cat, Mycah, and clay scoop litter. I decided to try scoopable litter in late 1990 or early 1991. At the time, I had two cats. Mycah was about 3 at the time and weighed 10-12 lbs. Kema was about a year old and weighed 7-8 lbs. I had been using the "new" litter for about two weeks when I picked Mycah up and felt a large solid lump in his belly. I took him to my veterinarian, who also was able to feel the lump. It was first suspected that Mycah had developed an unusually large, firm hairball and an enema was done, without much success. The enema did have one result- it showed us that the problem was NOT a hairball, rather, it was a concentration of scoopable litter. As a result of this ingestion, Mycah was subjected to a series of enemas over the course of a 24 hour period. Surgery was also mentioned as a STRONG possibility when it did not appear that the first few enemas were doing much to break up the clump. Luckily, later enemas did succeed in breaking up the clump and my cat did not have to be subjected to surgery, although he was extremely upset by the entire ordeal and hid for a week after I brought him home (this is a cat that is normally social to the point of being a nuisance). I phoned [the litter manufacturer] and explained what had happened. The person on the other end of the line was rather rude and informed me that the product was not meant for use with young kittens (curiously, this "warning" was nowhere to be found on the package). When I pressed on and explained that the cat involved was not a kitten, but was a 10-12 lb adult cat, the person said she would "look into it and get back to me". When I did not hear back from her, I telephoned again and was told that the "research department" had been told about it and that they were "looking into it". About a week later, I received a coupon for a free bag of regular litter and a short letter from customer service saying that they were sorry I had not liked their product. No mention was made of the actual facts, I had simply been "unhappy with the product"!! I then wrote a letter to the company detailing the situation and enclosed the veterinary bill (a bad move on my part, I should have sent a copy and kept the original- live and learn). I NEVER HEARD FROM THE COMPANY AGAIN. From what I have observed, there is not one brand of clumping litter that has any kind of a warning on the package that indicates the product should not be used with kittens, or that cats have a tendency to kick up the litter so that it gets in their fur (Mycah's category) are at risk of ingesting the product. The really sad part is that my mother recently started using clumping litter and I reminded her what had happened with my cat. She called the veterinarian, who said the incident with my cat was the ONLY problem he had seen with clumping litter since it came on the market and that he did not think the litter is dangerous. It may also be a good idea to mention that clumping clay litter should never be used with ferrets. They like to root in sandy material and, as a result, there have been several cases of ferrets getting clumping litter into their noses, where it hardens, and the ferrets suffocate as a result. A number of ferret organizations have it right in their literature that this has happened and warn against using clumping litter. Hope this all helps. Sincerely, Nanette F. |
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