I suppose this particular dichotomy had to be addressed eventually.
It happened yesterday. Sunday is our day here at the Fortress when I empty, clean, and refill the litter box. It takes a while, as we also clean the room. I vacuum, and the C.S.O. steams the floor. Every now and then the C.S.O. pleads for a day off from steaming duties on the grounds of whatever, but it usually works out fine.
Yesterday, when I was refilling the litter box with fresh granulated clay litter, I had a moment of inattention in which I spilled some litter onto the floor. I grabbed a broom and dustpan, swept up the spillage, and made to put it into the litter box, when the C.S.O. stopped me:
CSO: Don’t do that!
FWP: Why not?
CSO: It’s dirty!
FWP: Huh? It just came out of the bag.
CSO: But you spilled it on the dirty floor.
FWP: Sweetie, it’s cat litter.
CSO: Well, don’t you want the cats to have clean litter?
FWP: It is clean litter. For the moment, anyway.
CSO: No it isn’t. Not once it’s touched the floor.
FWP: (bemused) Just because I haven’t vacuumed yet?
CSO: Well?
FWP: Sweetie, cat litter is dirt. It’s granulated clay. What difference does being on the floor for a few seconds make?
CSO: (looks exasperated) Oh, never mind.
Mind you, the cat room floor was pretty clean. All right, there was some dust and cat hair, and the C.S.O. did intend to steam-clean it. But the idea that the granulated clay in the freshly opened litter bag was “clean” but spilling it on the floor made it “dirty,” and therefore unfit for our cats to pee and poop on, befuddled me. I know I shouldn’t expect to understand female logic, but still!
Anyway, “dirt” is a tough thing to define. The very same substance from the very same source would be considered “dirt” in one context and a vitally necessary resource in another. Consider potting soil: first as normally deployed around a potted plant; second after the cat knocks the pot over and scatters the contents.
Truly, our perceptions are shaped by our definitions.
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