Cat Grit Recycling System

From our friends at the AARRC in Aklan:

"Where we are in the Philippines, they don’t sell the more traditional cat grit in efficient quantities or at affordable prices. Well, at least not for someone who’s running an animal rescue that is. The local “Handyman” does have cat grit in small quantities, but it doesn’t clump and it’s too expensive. Our catteries and kennels have a gutter that connects to a separate septic tank, but we don’t want that to fill up with grit rather than the “real business”. So we had to come up with some sort of recycling system. When our builders turned out to be working with just the right size of locally freely available grit for their concrete, I had an idea …"

First step was to create a sieve which filters the pebbles to the size that we want or smaller. I used a strong piece of metal to fashion a ring and fishing net. Then we need a sieve with somewhat smaller holes than the first one to separate the “solids” from the pebbles. The best thing I could find was a plastic variety of chicken wire. Finally, we need 3 plastic bins that fit inside the metal ring and a “shower head” spray gun attached to the garden hose and you’re good to go!

1. Get the first load of (relatively) clean grit by putting the sieve with the metal ring over the “clean” bin and shovel the grit on top while an assistant moves the sieve around a bit
2. Twice a day, we put the contents of the litter boxes on top of the sieve while it rests on the “dirty” bin. The grit itself will fall through and the “solids” go into the gutter. Add water to the “dirty” bin so the urine can dissolve. Clean the sieve with the shower head.
3. The next morning, we put the plastic chicken wire on top of the sieve and together they go on top of the 3rd bin, the “fluids” bin. Then, bit by bit, pour the contents of the “dirty” bin onto the sieve. Now the grit itself stays on top and the fluids go into the bin. Rinse the grit VERY well with the shower head and transfer the clean grit to the “clean” bin.
4. Flush the gutter with the garden hose. We can now gather any left over grit from the gutter and wash it like we did in the previous step, after which it also goes to the “clean” bin.

That’s it! This way, a full bin lasts more than 3 weeks rather than just a few days, so some refill is still necessary. However, we don’t dispose of anything we shouldn’t into our surroundings and use only naturally available grit. Some people have told me that they dry the grit. We find that this would take too long as well as adds another level of complexity to the system. Additionally, our intended audience, our beautiful cats, seem to appreciate our efforts. So far so good!