Will I die if I wash my cat's litter box in the dishwasher?

June 13, 2007 8:23 AM

Is it safe to wash my cat's litter box in the dishwasher?

I use plastic liners and the whole 9-yards, but I still find that my cats manage to get poop all over the place when it comes to to the litter box.

Usually, every couple of months I'll take the litter box outside and soap it down and wash it out.

But the other day, I got to thinking - could I just run it through the dishwasher?

So, obviously, my gut reaction to this question is absolutely, without question, NO! I mean, it is my firm belief that fecal matter and such should never come into contact with the thing that washes my dishes and such.

But then again, the dishwasher gets pretty hot, and that's some pretty potent cleaning magic going on in there, so, you know, maybe if I ran it through (by itself) and then ran an extra cycle afterwards (with the washer empty!), I might be ok?

Maybe?

Or maybe I would get Ebola and die?

What do you think?

posted by kbanas to health (30 comments total)

Ebola? Probably not. Toxoplasmosis? Maybe.
posted by cosmic osmo at 8:32 AM on June 13, 2007

Aside from being totally disgusting, I don't think that a litterbox should go in the dishwasher because it probably wouldn't fit on the top rack and it would possibly melt in the bottom rack.
posted by tastybrains at 8:35 AM on June 13, 2007

Maybe you'd melt your litter box and ruin your dishwasher.

If your litter box is that bad, you're doing something wrong. Whether the cat's diet is making gooey/sticky crap, or the litter isn't right, I couldn't say. Never had that much trouble with cat poop. I rinse mine in hot water, and if desired, a splash of Clorox for odor control.

Seriously, dishwasher for the litter box is extremely wasteful in energy and water both.
posted by Goofyy at 8:36 AM on June 13, 2007

totally disgusting

Amen. Animals, as a rule, will not eat where they crap. Neither should you, so to speak.
posted by mkultra at 8:37 AM on June 13, 2007

IANALB, but I think its OK. Dishwashers should be using water much hotter than you use outside and I don't think there will be any additional risks.
posted by shothotbot at 8:39 AM on June 13, 2007

Maybe throw in additional detergent. It's the bleach in the detergent that's going to do all the magic. The water isn't hot enough to kill anything.
posted by GuyZero at 8:41 AM on June 13, 2007

Let me add that mayhap I guess I was - I was giving an abstract question a more concrete form to make it easier to answer, I thought.

The general form of my question is - how safe are dishwashers for dealing with biological waste? Poop, etc, exaetc? Like, cringe factor aside, if you get down to the science of it, do they do a good job eliminating the threat from that kind of waste?

The litter box example, while the thrust of my question, was more just an example so I didn't sound like a weirdo asking a vague question about poop.

But I guess I sound like a weirdo.
posted by kbanas at 8:41 AM on June 13, 2007

I think it would be all right from a health standpoint (toxo would probably get killed in the dishwasher, IF you cat even has it and generally only infects immunocompromised individuals anyway). But if you do get it, it's a nasty disease, very bad for any baby you might be carrying and VERY unpleasant for you if it gets into your brain. But I think you are as likely to get toxo from just general caring for your cat as you are from sticking the litterpan in the dishwasher.

That said, just wash it outside. You won't feel dirty pulling your clean dishes out of the dishwasher, you won't get toxo, and two dishwasher cycles to wash one item seems like more work than just scrubbing the thing down with a hose and some ammonia outside.
posted by bluenausea at 8:41 AM on June 13, 2007

Just as a data point, someone I know used to wash his toddler's mini toilet in the dishwasher (after emptying it of course), which I found thoroughly revolting but which didn't seem to hurt the family any.
posted by kindall at 8:55 AM on June 13, 2007

May I suggest getting a larger litter box with a lid, and only one opening on one side? The cats will go in, and not be able to defecate on the sides this way. Also, the lid helps clamp down the plastic liner to the sides, preventing them from clawing it away from the rim of the box. As an extra benefit, they can only kick litter out in one direction.

We got one of these for our two cats and they didn't react negatively to the lid, and it makes cleanup way easier.
posted by jeff-o-matic at 8:58 AM on June 13, 2007

Modern dishwashers sterilize your dishes. It's safe, but really gross.
posted by electroboy at 9:06 AM on June 13, 2007

Well, if the poo is really caked on to the side of the box, a dishwasher might just set it more, the same way you can end up with melted cheese baked onto your dishes. I wouldn't run it through without giving it a good scrub first, which you've been doing anyway.

Your instinct to keep fecal matter away from the thing you put your dishes in is a good one, I think you should listen to it. If I remember correctly, the housekeeping books I've read indicate that not all dishwashers thoroughly sterilize; the ones that do, do so only on the longest cycle.

That said, I have considered doing this myself.
posted by runtina at 9:29 AM on June 13, 2007

Toxoplasmosis is destroyed at temps over 150 F, so if your dishwasher gets that hot, there's not much to worry about. However, it is still a wasteful and gross way to wash a catbox, and as pointed out above, may cause the catbox to melt.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:30 AM on June 13, 2007

[links are nsfw]

Since this is an abstract question anyway, it's recommended to run silicone dildos through the dishwasher for disinfecting.
posted by desjardins at 9:44 AM on June 13, 2007

The general form of my question is - how safe are dishwashers for dealing with biological waste?

I've heard of people using dishwashers to clean/disinfect their sex toys. Or rather, I saw it on an episode of CSI once, but they seem to do pretty decent research for that show.
posted by vytae at 9:45 AM on June 13, 2007

I use plastic liners and the whole 9-yards, but I still find that my cats manage to get poop all over the place when it comes to to the litter box

How many cats are using the one litter box, what kind of litter are you using, and how are they making such a mess? Cat poop is not usually hard to clean up. It's the crystallized pee that's a bitch.

Like, cringe factor aside, if you get down to the science of it, do they do a good job eliminating the threat from that kind of waste?

Considering the amount of e coli on most surfaces in the kitchen, they do pretty well in dealing with things found in poop. But anything that you feel requires two wash cycles to fully sterilize...at the very least, it's a waste of water.

I don't have a problem with people running their toys through the dishwasher, though. Presumably you consider the area where those objects have been to be someplace you would also put your mouth.
posted by desuetude at 10:06 AM on June 13, 2007

Animals, as a rule, will not eat where they crap.

I'll tell my cat about this rule when I next see him licking his butt.

Nothing coming out of the dishwasher is sterilized- completely free of microorganisms- but their numbers have been significantly reduced. However, your dishwasher probably does just as good of a job sanitizing its contents as you do when you wash your hands with soap and water. Would you wash a plate that held uncooked ground beef in your dishwasher? Probably without thinking twice about E. coli the next time you use your flatware.

Catboxes are not made of silicone like sex toys. You can see if your catbox has a recycling code on it to give you a hint to what type of plastic it is made of and its melting point. I wouldn't trust anything other than polypropylene (number 5) at the temperatures of dishwasher water and I would not use the heat dry setting.
posted by peeedro at 10:14 AM on June 13, 2007

If your dishwasher is anything like mine, sometimes stuck-on particles don't get completely washed away. So unless you scrub it first (and then what's the point?), I wouldn't recommend it.

Also, it is recommended to use only mild detergent and bleach (rinsed thoroughly) on the litterbox, for the cat's good health. Any detergent left in the scratches and scrapes can cause health problems.

Finally, it sounds like you have too many cats using one litterbox. Rule of thumb is one litterbox per cat, plus one more.
posted by Koko at 10:56 AM on June 13, 2007

Some dishwashers have a sanitize cycle... does yours?
posted by Merdryn at 11:01 AM on June 13, 2007

hi, litterboxes are cheap. and if they're not cheap enough for you, just find your local bigboxco and buy some cheapie storage bins without the lids. or buy a litterbox with a dome. or buy a disposable cardboard litterbox.

ie-- this is a failure of imagination. there has got to be a better solution to your problem than putting cat poop where your dishes go.
posted by raconteur at 11:26 AM on June 13, 2007

Animals, as a rule, will not eat where they crap.

I'll tell my cat about this rule when I next see him licking his butt.


These two statements are related, but not in the way you think.

Cats lick their butts to clean them. Similarly, they (and for that matter, most "advanced" animals, including you) want their food in a clean space because "dirty" places imply disease. They come from the same biological impulse for hygeine.
posted by mkultra at 11:30 AM on June 13, 2007

ew. listen to your gut. it might be okay, but why take the chance?
posted by thinkingwoman at 11:41 AM on June 13, 2007

What desuetude said, specifically that there's probably many pathogens in your kitchen already. Worrying about a few more from cat poop might not make that much difference.

Having said that, putting the cat box in the dishwasher might not kill you. As has been noted, it might kill the dishwasher when the cat box melts.
posted by Robert Angelo at 11:58 AM on June 13, 2007

Don't expect me over for a dinner party anytime soon.

And toxoplasmosis is serious business, not like ordinary e. coli. It's a risk to anyone with a compromised immune system, from AIDS patients to pregnant women, and I know people who don't deal with their cat litter without rubber gloves because of it.

I wash mine in the driveway with a hose, some 409 (or whatever germ-killer cleaner is handy), and a long-handled brush so I don't have to bend over. Then it dries in the sun. Fairly painless, I've always thought.
posted by dhartung at 1:04 PM on June 13, 2007

I'm a pretty sloppy slattern when it comes to the scullery work, (I have used the same fork for lunch for three days now, oh God) and I love me some dishwasher, but I wouldn't do it because I've seen bits of food remaining in there after it's unloaded. Those could be fecal bits in this proposed case. No good. Hose it.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 1:15 PM on June 13, 2007

I have the manual for an industrial dishwasher with a sterilization cycle in front of me.

So just as a data point here are the two relevant washing programs:

Thorough thermal desinfection according to some official regulation that is fungicidal, bacteriocidal, and virus deactivating happens hat 93°C (199.4F) for 10min.

General hygienic standards according to prEN ISO 15883-1 are met at 90°C (194F) for 5min.
posted by mmkhd at 1:26 PM on June 13, 2007

Just to clarify, I think that it's gross to wash the litterbox in the dishwasher, even if I don't think it will kill you.

Furthermore, despite recent studies showing that the kitchen is often even more germy than the bathroom, I also do not advocate washing the toilet brush in the dishwasher.

I suppose you could do a through comparison of the pathogens present on anything poopy, the inside of the dishwasher before and after washing said poopy items, on your eating utensils and food prep surfaces before and after being washed in dishwasher (both before and after dishwasher was used to clean poopy items), and finally, on the formerly-poopy items after dishwashing. But don't discuss your research when entertaining dinner guests, please.
posted by desuetude at 1:38 PM on June 13, 2007

Does the average home model dishwasher sterilize, or merely pasteurize at about 140° in the drying cycle. Is that temperature maintained long enough to be effective?
posted by Cranberry at 2:34 PM on June 13, 2007

Yeah don't let anyone see it if you do. I once saw a toilet seat coming out of the dishwasher at a local restaurant and it didn't help my appreciation of the food there.
posted by StickyCarpet at 3:12 PM on June 13, 2007

get a new litterbox and use liners.
posted by sdn at 4:50 PM on June 13, 2007