# Flushable cat litter isn't **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 26, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flushable-cat-litter-isnt/785314 "2017-04-26T18:59:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flushable-cat-litter-isnt/785314/21 "2017-04-27T16:30:58Z")
Can I play? I had a plumbing snafu a couple of weeks ago. What happened was, my 10-year-old daughter and her cousin were making and playing with “slime”, which they make by mixing cornstarch and white glue. Fun. And one of them (neither will admit to it, but I have my suspicions) poured it down the bathroom sink. Well, hot water got me nowhere, so before I resorted to harsher means I decided to see if it was gummed up in the trap, so I took it out and cleaned it. Clear as a whistle. Darn. Then I realize that the drain pipe was basically all that was holding the sink in place (we moved into this house about 7 months ago). Hm. So, I disconnected the little sink plunger bar and took it out, then just lifted the whole sink out and took it to the kitchen. I could look straight into the drain and see one tiny spot of light. Hm. So, I got a wooden spoon with a nice long handle, wrapped some paper towels around it, and shoved. What came out of the other end was a solid black mass. Apparently, the glue had tangled up with the usual mess of hair that gets caught on those sink plungers, and it stuck fast as though held in a net. Actually a pretty lucky thing, since it didn’t go any farther into the plumbing. And now the drain is clean as a whistle. Hooked it all back, and it’s better than ever. Epilogue: after that, I checked both sinks in the master bathroom. Apparently the drain pipe is all that’s holding them in place as well. Not even a bead of silicone. Hmph. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flushable-cat-litter-isnt/785314/22 "2017-04-27T17:18:57Z")
had a few of those cheesecloth bags of oatmeal and lavender for the bath. My daughter opened one… Luckily we were able to get all of the pipes disconnected and clear out the oatmeal without calling a plumber. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flushable-cat-litter-isnt/785314/23 "2017-04-27T17:57:40Z")
Things that are flushable [ol] [li]Shit[/li][li]Piss[/li][li]reasonable amounts of toilet paper[/li][li]dead insect[/li][/ol] Things that are not flushable _ **Everything else** _ ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flushable-cat-litter-isnt/785314/24 "2017-04-27T18:25:26Z")
Everything? Are you sure? What about vomit, and dead goldfish? ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flushable-cat-litter-isnt/785314/25 "2017-04-27T19:03:11Z")
Oh yeah - definitely burials at sea go on that list. ---
**Author:** ![Scoobysnax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Scoobysnax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scoobysnax)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flushable-cat-litter-isnt/785314/26 "2017-04-27T20:14:00Z")
To add to the food in the disposal problems, my wife once thought it would be a good idea to put an entire pound of cooked spaghetti down one. Needless to say, the disposal did not cut it up into small easily washed away pieces. Whole pieces came up out of the bathtub drain when I tried plunging it later that night. ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flushable-cat-litter-isnt/785314/27 "2017-04-27T20:19:36Z")
One thing I’ve learned from the Dope is that the plumbers here will tell you that you shouldn’t even put water down your pipes. Water is a solvent. In fact, we mere mortals don’t even deserve pipes. We shouldn’t use them at all. They should remain as pristine and perfect as the day they were installed. I don’t know why plumbers wish to render themselves obsolete and unemployed, but they are constantly telling us all the things that are bad for the pipes, and I’m pretty sure water is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2017, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flushable-cat-litter-isnt/785314/28 "2017-04-27T20:30:25Z")
> [@AngelSoft](#): > > … Of course I told him no, for obvious reasons, and he argued with me, insisting it would be fine because he was going to flush it through with hot water… [very small embarrassed font] I maybe might have possibly done that once with some extra powdered grout during a bathroom remodel. The tiles were a great success and, eventually, so were the new replacement drain lines! ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flushable-cat-litter-isnt/785314/29 "2017-04-28T17:27:37Z")
This is not the worst cat-litter-caused accident in recent memory. [This is](http://www.livescience.com/50286-kitty-litter-to-blame-for-nuclear-waste-leak.html). That’s right – _cat litter_ caused an explosion and contamination at a nuclear waste storage facility, putting it out of service for several years and costing perhaps half a billion dollars. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flushable-cat-litter-isnt/785314.md?page=1)