Everything in America is the biggest. I has to be because they are the biggest people. Their fridges are awesome. You could live inside one of their washing machines quite comfortably.
Seriously though, America does have some seriously large household machinery and personally I love it. I love the America devices. Ours seem quite puny by comparison. The American machines can be a bit clunky but they are very functional.
I am guessing to a certain extent, but I am going to presume that on average the American toilet has a stronger flush and a bigger outlet pipe that European loos (English for toilet). Don’t take that the wrong way, please..! That can create problems, although in general it makes life easier. One problem relates to cats – at last I have got to the subject of cats. I will also dangerously presume that more cat owners in America than in other countries flush their cat litter down the toilet. It is highly convenient to do that.
Some cat litter is designed to be flushable but…is it really as good as the sales blurb says it is? And in any case a lot people in America have such superb toilets with vacuum flush systems and oversize piping and gallons of water etc. that they can successfully flush down clay clumping litter or almost anything else for a long time without apparent plumbing problems.
So I have concluded that Americans like to flush used cat litter down the toilet because the toilet and the plumbing and the drain can take it and because it is extremely convenient. It also helps the garbage people because it removes cat litter from other household waste.
Lucky Americans. Not so lucky, though, if you are a sea otter or some other marine wildlife living near the outlet for processed waste because sewage processing plants cannot at present (I am informed) remove the protozoan that causes toxoplasmosis and which can be in the feces of the domestic cat.
There is, therefore, an environmental issue here. Also I will guess that the average decent American plumber would advise against chucking used cat litter down the toilet.
As for me, it never crossed my mind. I wonder why? It just seems unnatural to do it. Also it seems like a disaster waiting to happen on the plumbing front. Clumping litter is clay. Clay and water = cement. I am almost certain that very few people in Europe flush cat litter down the toilet.
What do you do? Are you a litter flusher? If so how do you justify it?
Photo on Flickr. The Singapura is a rare cat breed and the smallest purebred cat.
Hello Ruth.India is a complicated Country to explain to a foreigner, especially Westerners.Your School India has a climatic variation ranging from Desert land to some of the coldest regions in the World.i am from Mumbai city, the financial capital and one of the World’s most densely populated city’s and also having the highest number of Indian billionaires.The World’s costliest private Apartment is owned by an Indian in Mumbai,Industrialist Mukesh.Ambani while simultaneously ,one of the World’s largest slums Dharavi is also in Mumbai!Most people would wonder, how can the World’s wealthiest and poorest co-exist in the same city? Thats India for you, a Country difficult to describe but has to be experienced to understand.Same applies for “Pet Ownership” and “Pet Care” with some of the costliest pets on show and the best of veterinary care availableincluding cats and exotic birds.
I wish I could get my Lilly to stay in my garden but I can’t, she goes accross the street and i dont want her to get run over so I have had to lock her in now. Red couldn’t be locked in sadly. You are very lucky if you have a cat who you can let out safely. I am currently torn about this. Lilly and Red used to never use a litter box and always go outside. My outdoor/indoor cat in Canada was the same. Never used a litter box.
Rudolph, thanks for writing about India! It’s interesting to hear what life is like there. One of my favorite professors at school was from India. He said when he first came to Wisconsin he had to wear his coat, hat and mittens even when he was teaching, because he was so cold all the time in the winter. It must be very hot in India! Do you have air conditioning? How do your animals cope with the heat?
I think a litter box or using the outside for a toilet is better for a cat, since this is more natural. But using the human toilet is probably more sanitary, since waste is flushed away and the human never has to scoop the litter box. It’s really important to wash hands with soap and water after scooping or cleaning a cat’s litter box. Here in America we can buy this waterless hand sanitizing gel, which is alcohol based, but this does not kill all germs and people should not rely in it after doing things in the bathroom or after scooping litter boxes. I know it doesn’t kill C-Diff, a nasty bacteria that causes lots of problems in hospitals and nursing homes.
After hearing about the small homes in India I feel like my boy, Monty, is especially lucky! He’s lucky in any case since he was feral when I caught him. We have a duplex, with my sister in the upstairs apartment, so our living space is probably somewhat small compared to many in America, since we have half a house, essentially. But Monty also enjoys a large (by urban standards) fenced yard and he explores in our basement, which is semi-finished. It has one area with furnishings, but much of it is filled with dark corners filled with cobwebs, especially under the stairs where it’s very hard to access that area with the vacuum cleaner. My sister’s cat Kobe sometimes goes in the basement– we time it so the cats don’t meet– and he plays on an upper outdoor porch outside her apartment. We tried him in the backyard before we had Monty, but it frightened him. Sometimes he sits up on his porch and watches Monty play in the backyard. Monty will go potty outside in autumn when there are leaves on the ground. He likes to bury it in leaves– or if we let the grass get too long back there, then he will go in the long grass and kind of cover it up with the long grass. Mostly he prefers his litter box and will request to come in and use it.
I totally agree with you on that one Ruth. Nothing matters in the face of something like declawing. It must be stopped.
In India, housing is a premium asset and exorbitantly expensive in city’s like Mumbai. In Mumbai, the flat system (apartments in American language) is the prevelant mode of accomodation and costliest in the world when considering the average per-capita income of the average Indian. My pets, both dogs and now cats were always trained to use our bathroom for their toilet requirements which we then flushed down the drain. The dogs would be taken for their daily outings and hence rarely used the “Bathroom Toilet” unlike my present cats Matahari and matata who are totally confined to my one-bedroom flat. My cats could be one of the luckiest pair having an entire house-hold at their disposal unlike some pet cats that are confined to cages most of the time.I am highly impressed by the Singapura cat show in the photo that uses the “Toilet seat” akin to a human, fantastic training on part of its owner. My advice to Flat owners is to try to train your cats to utilise the toilets or bathrooms, much better than using a “Cat litter Box” that requires lots of personal maintenance, especially in big city’s.
I used World’s Best cat litter, which is corn based and flushable– supposedly. Not if your house was built in the 1920’s, or so I was informed by the young man from Roto Rooter who came to unclog the main in the basement. The drain down there was backing up whenever I did laundry. Turns out Roto Rooter is really expensive, but they have this catchy jingle, so i immediately thought of them. A couple of days later this plumber named Frank put a flyer on my door. He would have done it for a quarter of the price! Plumber Frank needs a catchy jingle!
Interesting article and comments about products and selection in America. I’ve never been anywhere else, so I didn’t know there was a difference. I’m interested in Marc’s bicycle collection. I have the same bicycle my parents bought for me in 1976. It was pretty big for me then. It’s a three speed, nothing fancy– I think they got it at K-Mart. A lot of my family and friends laugh at me and tell me how much better a new bike would be. There is the attitude that new is always better and if you keep using something that’s old, you must be weird. I guess the flowered basket that I still have in there is a bit strange, but I can put a lot of stuff in it, so to me it’s functional.
There are about a million different cat toys you can buy, and I used to splurge on Monty, but he likes natural things for toys. Outside I throw black walnuts and he chases them. He’ll also go for little stones or short sticks if I throw them. He isn’t as into the little toy balls I bought from the grocery store.