Conventionally, litter configured with particulate matter, which is called “cat litter”, packed in a plastic container has been well known as an animal litter box for cats, dogs, and the like kept indoors. Urine excreted by animals is absorbed by such litter. A pet owner removes litter soiled by such urine and feces together with the feces and the like from the container, and then replenishes the amount removed with new litter. However, cats have a habit of stirring the litter with their legs after excretion, and thus the litter to which urine and feces are adhered may adhere to their legs. In addition, since soiled litter spreads, it is difficult to completely remove only the soiled litter.
To solve these problems, an animal litter box where water-repellent particulate matter is used as litter and the litter is spread across a fluid absorbing sheet for absorbing moisture such as urine, and an animal litter box where the litter is spread across the fluid absorbing sheet via a grating or the like, are well known. With such litter boxes, urine excreted by animals passes through the water-repellent particulate matter and is absorbed by the fluid absorbing sheet, allowing suppression of odor generation, in litter replacement frequency reduction, and less work for the pet owner.
Litter configured with a plurality of particulate matter, which is made by solidifying particles of zeolite, sepiolite, or attapulgite with cement, and subjecting it to a water-repellent treatment has been proposed as the animal litter used for such litter boxes (see Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-246797
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds