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In 1947, an enterprising young man named Edward Lowe assisted his neighbor with a problem she was having. The woman was using ashes in her cat box and the cat was tracking the ashes throughout the house. Mr. Lowe suggested she try the all-natural granular absorbent clay that he was selling to garage and machine shop owners for use in cleaning up minor oil spills and drips. Both the owner and her pet loved the absorbent clay granules. The rest, as they say, is history. From these modest beginnings the $1.3 billion cat litter industry was born and pet ownership was changed forever.

Prior to 1947 there was no such thing as clay cat litter. Dogs were the favored household pets. They were affectionate animals that learned to signal their masters when they needed to go outside to “do their business”. Cats were outside animals. They chased mice and dropped by the back door for the occasional saucer of milk. Granular absorbent clay used as cat box filler changed all that. It brought these wonderful, independent creatures into the house where, for almost 60 years, they have enriched the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world.

Today, due largely to the development of cat litter, cats are the number one household pets in America. Registered cats outnumber their canine counterparts by an estimated 10 million. The natural deodorizing capability of clay litter allows cats and their human companions to share even the smallest living space, making cats the ideal pets for apartment and condominium dwellers. And since the day-to-day care of a cat requires only love, food, water and a clean litter box, cats are the perfect companions for all who take great pleasure in having these wonderful animals in their lives.

It seemed like such a simple suggestion back in 1947. No one could have foreseen how a bag of granular clay would change the face of pet ownership around the globe and by so doing, have such a meaningful impact on the lives of so many.

Bentonite is an industrial mineral, rich in a clay mineral called montmorillonite. Bentonites used for hydraulic barriers in North America are produced from the naturally occurring sodium bentonites mined in the state of Wyoming. These bentonites have a unique cation chemistry. The cations that balance electrostatic charge in the clay structure are “exchangeable” cations and consist of sodium (Na+), calcium (Ca++), and Mg (++) cations. The largest deposits of commercial sodium bentonite are found in Wyoming, Montana and South Dakota. Over the years, these special bentonites have become famous and commonly referred to as “Wyoming” bentonite.

The combination of the relative purity, its unusual geochemistry and structure is why “Wyoming” bentonite is used as a sealant. Purity is defined by the amount of sodium montmorillonite as compared to the other minerals present in the bentonite. A typical “Wyoming” bentonite contains ~90% montmorillonite while other bentonites produced around the world have only 70-80% montmorillonite.

The montmorillonite structure contributes to the usefulness of bentonite. Montmorillonite is a layered aluminum and silicate mineral, which is thought to occur as very small, two dimensional mineral form called a “platelet”. The thickness of this basic building block is approximately 1.0 – 1.5 nanometers, or about 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. These montmorillonite platelets have aspect ratios of 500:1 to over 1000:1 (width x height) which in turn creates a very high surface area per unit volume. These platelets physically occur in nanometer-scale stacks or “decks-of-cards”.