How to Make Scoopable Kitty Litter

When keeping an indoor cat, it is important to provide the cat with litter it can use to relieve itself and avoid messes on the floor. While cat litter is not expensive, the cost adds up over time. By shredding and soaking newspapers that you have finished reading, you can create your own homemade kitty litter. In addition to finding another use for the discarded newspapers, you reduce your litter costs to nothing more than soap and items you would otherwise discard.

Things You'll Need

  • Soap
  • 2 Gallon pot
  • Newspaper
  • Paper shredder
  • Colander
  • Rubber gloves
  • Baking soda
  • Litter scoop
  • Wire mesh screen
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Instructions

    • 1

      Fill a pot with 1 gallon of warm water and add a teaspoon of soap.

    • 2

      Shred newspapers in a paper shredder, creating long, thin strips of paper.

      Only use paper sections, and not the glossy advertisement sections.

    • 3

      Put the strips of newspaper in the pot and swish them around in the water to ensure a thorough soaking. This helps to soften the paper and remove as much ink as possible.

      Fully submerge and soak all the paper. It is better to complete the soaking in several iterations than to put too much paper in the pot and have it not soak properly.

    • 4

      Empty the pot into a colander and allow the strips to drain.

    • 5

      Rinse the pot to remove any soap residue.

    • 6

      Fill the pot with plain water and rinse the strips.

      The clean rinse removes residual ink and soap from the strips. It may take two or three rinses to remove all the soap.

    • 7

      Pour the papers into the colander and leave to drain.

    • 8

      Sprinkle a liberal amount of baking soda over the newspaper and knead the papers until it is well distributed.

    • 9

      Squeeze the newspaper strips to remove as much water as possible.

    • 10

      Crumble the pieces of newspaper over a wire mesh screen and leave to dry for several days.

      Spread the layer as thin as possible. The thicker the crumbled papers is spread out, the longer it will take to dry.

    • 11

      Repeat with additional newspaper that could not fit in the pot in prior iterations.

    • 12

      Pour the dry litter into your cat's litter box and scoop out waste daily.