Sustainably Yours Cat litter is my favorite cat litter to date. The reasons I love it, its pros and cons, and frequently asked questions can be found here. But many people wonder if the ingredients are safe for their cats.
Sustainably Yours cat litter is safe for you, your cat, and the environment. This is the main reason I decided to give it a try and introduce it to our two new kittens.
It’s made of two natural, sustainable, and biodegradable materials; corn and cassava.
Sustainably Yours doesn’t share how the ingredients are processed to create their litter formula, however, the ingredients, in general, are safe for cats to consume.
The same can’t be said about clay litter.
Corn
Corn is actually found in some cat foods. Although it’s not an ingredient I personally want to feed my cats on a regular basis (I try to stick to what a cat would actually eat in the wild), it is safe for a cat to consume in small amounts.
I don’t want my cats to make a meal out of their cat litter, but the fact of the matter is; they do ingest cat litter, whether they intend to or not.
Particles in the air and granules that get stuck between their toes, on their nose, or on their hind ends wind up going into their system. They’ll inevitably ingest their litter when they clean themselves, so I feel better knowing that corn is an ingredient they’re able to digest.
Cassava
Cassava is derived from the Yucca plant, as is tapioca; ingredients found in some cat foods. So it’s another ingredient that’s relatively safe for your cat to ingest.
Again, it’s not an ingredient I would want my cats to ingest on a regular basis since it’s not something they would eat in the wild. But in small doses, I’m not as concerned.
The cassava root, when raw, contains cyanide compounds, which can be toxic. But when the plant is processed, it removes the toxic compounds.
Safe for Cat Owners & Cats
The following are the most common safety concerns when it comes to cat litter. I explain how Sustainably Yours is a safe choice for you and your cat.
Dust-free
I never notice dust when scooping my cats’ litter boxes filled with Sustainably Yours. However, any fine-textured ingredient is going to produce some dust. The minimal amount of dust that is created from pouring, digging, or scooping this litter is safe for both you and your cat to inhale since it’s made with ingredients commonly found in human and cat food.
Chemical & fragrance-free
You, and your cat(s), deal with enough chemicals in a day through cleaning products, home fragrances, skincare products, etc. You don’t need more chemicals coming from the cat litter you come in contact with every single day.
I like that Sustainably Yours cat litter doesn’t contain chemicals or artificial fragrances. I honestly can’t detect a smell from the litter at all, which is a nice change from scented and unscented clay litter.
Light color
Another “safety feature” of Sustainably Yours cat litter is its light color. Cats do a great job of hiding their illness, but irregular urine and bowel movements are often how cat owners notice something is off.
One of our kittens had blood in their urine a couple of weeks after bringing them home. Had we been using clay, or a darker colored litter, we likely wouldn’t have noticed the blood.
It showed up as a very light pink at first and was only a small dot in the middle of the urine clump. The light, cream-colored, cat litter allowed us to notice the small amount of blood and monitor the color of his urine as we worked to solve the issue with the veterinarian.
It’s something I didn’t think about when purchasing Sustainably Yours but is a feature I’ll look for if I ever change litter in the future.
Safe for the Environment
Sustainably Yours cat litter is not only safe for you and your cat, it’s also safe for the environment.
The ingredients, corn and cassava, are natural, renewable, and biodegradable. Corn is also carbon-neutral, meaning it doesn’t contribute to carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
The clay used for clay litter must be strip-mined, a process that is very hard on the environment, often destroying landscapes and wildlife while contaminating water and eroding soil.
Unlike corn and yucca, you can’t grow more clay, it must be mined from the earth.
And when you’re done with clay litter it doesn’t break back down. This leads to a lot of waste.
Sustainably Yours cat litter will biodegrade over time, if disposed of properly. It’s often not safe to flush or compost litter (even if it is advertised as “flushable”). However, if you use a compostable bag or a paper bag to dispose of the used litter, it has a chance to break down in a landfill.
Overall, Sustainably Yours cat litter is much safer than clay litter for you, your cat, and the environment. If your cat ingests a small amount of Sustainably Yours cat litter when cleaning themselves, it’s safe. However, if you notice your cat making a meal out of their litter, talk to your veterinarian.
You can purchase Sustainably Yours cat litter here.
If you find the regular formula tracks through the house too much, you may be interested in Petfive’s Large Grains formula.