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  1. #1
    Long Hauler D2Reid's Avatar
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    Cats, wives, and the black water tank

    First off I have to say that Barb and I will be celebrating out 36th anniversary next week, so you know whatever I say doesn't count.

    We have always enjoyed our pets. Kids, pets, full house, lots of fun. Silly kids all got big, educated, and moved away. We started our retirement dream full time RV'ing with 2 Chihuahua's and a cat. As these things go the dogs got older and died, the cat got cancer and died. After agreeing we didn't want anymore pets I come home from a 4 day trip and Barb is crying. She adopted a dog while I was gone. Kota is a great dog, a little neurotic, but a great dog. Prozac helps a lot (the dog, not me). But she has severe separation anxiety. Howls like a wolf when we are gone.

    So Barb gets the idea that Kota needs a kitty buddy to keep her company while we are gone. Ok, that might work. Of course I am deathly allergic to cats, but I will deal.

    Off to the pound today to find a kitty to adopt. 600 to choose from. This is a no kill shelter, a noble cause. It's a bit overwhelming. Barb gets teary eyed at the sheer number of homeless pets, the twenty something behind her is crying. Unwanted pets are a tragedy.

    She wanders around a bit while I hold Kota in the waiting room, they won't let our dog into cat adoption arena. Kota is shaking like a leaf, she has been in the pound, she knows what goes on in these places.

    Barb comes out with a little piece of paper and says she has 2 candidates and wants to know what I think. This is where my 35 years of experience kick in, I tell her I will go have a look, the rest of the stuff on my mind will forever be buried.

    A couple of Siamese type kittens. Both pretty, cute, adorable. The little female is sedate and pretty much uninteresting. The little male is standoffish, defensive, and half blind in one eye. I tell her the female would be the better choice, she says the male was giving here little kitty bites of affection. Odd, I thought he was trying to bite my finger off. We will get along fine, I don't bite cats.

    So we start looking at cat equipment, of course the most important decision is the litter box. Barb finds this thing on Amazon where you can train your cat to go into the toilet. Ok. The idea being you put the litter box on the toilet, it has removable sections making the hole in the middle bigger and bigger until your cat is accustomed to using the toilet sans litter, or not.

    Yea, it's a real thing. She says it will be great. The cat will go on the toilet and we will just have to flush every so often. Sounds good.

    While I remain a skeptic that this plan will actually work I do love Barbara a lot and support her in all of her life's endeavors. But my dilemma is that I am not sure cat litter is going to work real well in the black water tank. Yup, I am responsible for the black water tank, she doesn't want anything to do with it. Mostly it will be ok, after all, it's only a holding tank and not a collection tank, so adding absorbent material that essentially makes clay mud shouldn't be a problem, right? Or not. Sticky mud in the bottom of a holding tank. This doesn't sound good to me. I mean, we all know about the dreaded black pile, that condition where people leave the black water tank open to drain and material piles up in a mound in the center, dries, hardens... Not good. Would kitty litter do the same thing? Is there any kitty litter that dissolves completely like toilet paper?

    I am pleading with my RV family to help me find a workable solution to this problem. Is there any kind of kitty litter we can put in the black holding tank that won't cause issues?
    Dallas
    2017 Momentum 376TH, 2019 Ford F450, Dual Rear Wheel, 4x4, diesel.
    2015 Harley-Davidson Street, XG750

  2. #2
    Site Sponsor livinthelife's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by D2Reid View Post
    First off I have to say that Barb and I will be celebrating out 36th anniversary next week, so you know whatever I say doesn't count.

    We have always enjoyed our pets. Kids, pets, full house, lots of fun. Silly kids all got big, educated, and moved away. We started our retirement dream full time RV'ing with 2 Chihuahua's and a cat. As these things go the dogs got older and died, the cat got cancer and died. After agreeing we didn't want anymore pets I come home from a 4 day trip and Barb is crying. She adopted a dog while I was gone. Kota is a great dog, a little neurotic, but a great dog. Prozac helps a lot (the dog, not me). But she has severe separation anxiety. Howls like a wolf when we are gone.

    So Barb gets the idea that Kota needs a kitty buddy to keep her company while we are gone. Ok, that might work. Of course I am deathly allergic to cats, but I will deal.

    Off to the pound today to find a kitty to adopt. 600 to choose from. This is a no kill shelter, a noble cause. It's a bit overwhelming. Barb gets teary eyed at the sheer number of homeless pets, the twenty something behind her is crying. Unwanted pets are a tragedy.

    She wanders around a bit while I hold Kota in the waiting room, they won't let our dog into cat adoption arena. Kota is shaking like a leaf, she has been in the pound, she knows what goes on in these places.

    Barb comes out with a little piece of paper and says she has 2 candidates and wants to know what I think. This is where my 35 years of experience kick in, I tell her I will go have a look, the rest of the stuff on my mind will forever be buried.

    A couple of Siamese type kittens. Both pretty, cute, adorable. The little female is sedate and pretty much uninteresting. The little male is standoffish, defensive, and half blind in one eye. I tell her the female would be the better choice, she says the male was giving here little kitty bites of affection. Odd, I thought he was trying to bite my finger off. We will get along fine, I don't bite cats.

    So we start looking at cat equipment, of course the most important decision is the litter box. Barb finds this thing on Amazon where you can train your cat to go into the toilet. Ok. The idea being you put the litter box on the toilet, it has removable sections making the hole in the middle bigger and bigger until your cat is accustomed to using the toilet sans litter, or not.

    Yea, it's a real thing. She says it will be great. The cat will go on the toilet and we will just have to flush every so often. Sounds good.

    While I remain a skeptic that this plan will actually work I do love Barbara a lot and support her in all of her life's endeavors. But my dilemma is that I am not sure cat litter is going to work real well in the black water tank. Yup, I am responsible for the black water tank, she doesn't want anything to do with it. Mostly it will be ok, after all, it's only a holding tank and not a collection tank, so adding absorbent material that essentially makes clay mud shouldn't be a problem, right? Or not. Sticky mud in the bottom of a holding tank. This doesn't sound good to me. I mean, we all know about the dreaded black pile, that condition where people leave the black water tank open to drain and material piles up in a mound in the center, dries, hardens... Not good. Would kitty litter do the same thing? Is there any kitty litter that dissolves completely like toilet paper?

    I am pleading with my RV family to help me find a workable solution to this problem. Is there any kind of kitty litter we can put in the black holding tank that won't cause issues?
    How about using shredded newspaper instead of litter?

    2017 Reflection 26RL "Mili"
    2016 Ford F250 Extended Cab Gas Engine "Buck" (the truck)

  3. #3
    Rolling Along LV Naturist's Avatar
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    I never knew there was such a thing as "flushable litter", but there is! The company claims this stuff dissolves in water. You might want to run some test dissolves just to be sure though...

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B011JPLT8G...ogi&th=1&psc=1

    John
    2018 Silverado LTZ 3500HD CC LB 4X4 DRW Duramax/Allison
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  4. #4
    Site Sponsor avf100's Avatar
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    Excuse my rant, but I too am allergic to cats, no way would I ever own a cat for that reason and the wife knows it. Why in the h**l would she want a cat !! Sounds like a pain in the arse.
    What if the dog doesn't like the cat ? How about another dog ?
    People keep telling me to follow my dreams...so I went back to bed

    2019 303rls
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  5. #5
    Rolling Along LV Naturist's Avatar
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    2018 Silverado LTZ 3500HD CC LB 4X4 DRW Duramax/Allison
    2019 Momentum 381M w/Full Body Paint
    2016 Can Am Spyder F3 Limited Special Series
    2017 Can Am Outlander 1000 XT-P
    2016 Wrangler Hard Rock Unlimited
    1997 Bayliner Capri 1950 affectionately named Skinnydipper
    MSgt, USAF (Ret)
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

  6. #6
    Rolling Along Houndbb's Avatar
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    @D2Reid

    Dallas, Your story was touching, as I find myself petless after an adult lifetime of having pets. There are all kinds of litter that don’t end up in a cement-like block. I hope the toilet training works out for Barbara, but with older cats, sometimes you just have to be happy they’ll use the litter box consistently (they’re in the pound for a reason, after all). Two products I’ve used with great success are:

    Cedarific-very fine cedar wood dust- it’s fairly absorbent and fragrant. In the tank, it will probably float, or at least remain somewhat suspended.

    Yesterday’s News-picture smaller fire wood pellets, made of compressed newspaper. VERY absorbent. When I had 2 cats, I put out 2 boxes with only a cup of the pellets in the bottom. At that rate, you can afford to dump the boxes daily, or even 2x per day. In the tank, it would get bloated, break up, and suspend in the liquid as well.

    The shredded newspaper idea, above, is a good one, just make sure the cat WILL use that in a box first. You can set the box on a block (any riser) next to the toilet, then eventually shift to the toilet trainer device.

    Actually, I ended up using a mix of the two-a cup of each, as the Cedarific would coat the solids, keeping Kitties paws cleaner (it would be way easier if they’d just go and be done, but it’s an innate survival necessity that they bury it completely).
    Good luck to you and Barbara-love them well.
    Nancy
    Bruce and Nancy
    2018 Imagine 2150rb
    2011 Silverado 1500 5.3L

  7. #7
    Site Sponsor avf100's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by avf100 View Post
    Excuse my rant, but I too am allergic to cats, no way would I ever own a cat for that reason and the wife knows it. Why in the h**l would she want a cat !! Sounds like a pain in the arse.
    What if the dog doesn't like the cat ? How about another dog ?
    I reread my post here & I was out of line. I want to apologize to D2Reid.
    People keep telling me to follow my dreams...so I went back to bed

    2019 303rls
    2017 GMC 2500hd ccsb 2wd 6.0 gas
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  8. #8
    Long Hauler Canyonlight's Avatar
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    Dallas - I have nothing to offer on the cat/litter/toilet item, so I apologize for chiming in. However, what we long time forum folks have learned is that you are a stand-up guy; wonderful husband; and in short a much better person than most of us can even aspire to being. We are all blessed to have you as part of our GDRV forum family.

    If anybody can get this new adventure figured out, it will be you and Barb. Look forward to future posts on the expansion to your RV family and of course, pictures !

    Dan
    Dan & Carol
    2014 303RLS Reflection #185 (10/2013 build)
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  9. #9
    Long Hauler D2Reid's Avatar
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    Thanks for the good ideas. I have had to unplug a black water tank before and it was not a pleasant chore so I am a little sensitive about what goes into the black water tank. We talked it over last night and have decided to do an removable litter box, nothing in the black water tank. In this case better safe than sorry.
    Dallas
    2017 Momentum 376TH, 2019 Ford F450, Dual Rear Wheel, 4x4, diesel.
    2015 Harley-Davidson Street, XG750

  10. #10
    Site Team Second Chance's Avatar
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    Dallas,

    You had my wife rolling on the floor laughing (literally - but she was already on the floor on her yoga mat) as I read your post to her last night. We copied our son (a veterinarian married to another veterinarian) on your post, but Michael didn't have any suggestions except the Yesterday's News idea. Glad you've decided on a course of action - keep us posted.

    Rob
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    2020 Solitude 310GK-R, MORryde IS, disc brakes,
    Sailun LRG tires, solar, DP windows, W/D
    (Previously in a Reflection 337RLS)
    Full time since 08/2015

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