JPH0761226B2 - Granules for domestic animals - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a granular material for domestic animals. More specifically, the present invention relates to a sand-like material used for animal toilets when raising small animals as so-called pets.

(Prior Art and Problems Thereof) Recently, not only dogs and cats, but also various small animals including squirrels, hamsters and the like are being raised as so-called pets. A garden for raising these animals,
There is no problem in the case of dwellings with sufficient space such as halls and floors, but urban areas often do not have such a living environment. In addition, recently, there has been a strong demand for indoor breeding. But in this case,
Small animals and humans will live in the same living space,
Sufficient consideration must be given to the problem of filth and offensive odors, and the treatment of pet manure is a particular problem. Therefore, usually a breeding box is installed, and floor sand is laid inside it to allow small animals to excrete in it, and the floor sand is regularly replaced to prevent the breeding box from becoming dirty. Has been devised to keep the living space of the house hygienic. Since the bed sand used in this way is often called “cat sand” regardless of the kind of animal to be raised, this name is used in this specification for convenience.

As the cat sand, mineral particles such as zeolite and bentonite are generally used. However, when these urine particles absorb urine, the surface becomes sticky,
The appearance may deteriorate due to swelling and deformation. In addition, during manufacture, transportation, or use, there is a drawback in that the particles disintegrate or pulverize due to contact with each other, and dust is generated during handling. On the other hand, although pulp obtained by using plant fibers is processed into granules, it is not sandy in appearance, lacks weight, easily deforms due to external pressure, water absorption, deodorization, etc. It had the drawback that the required function of was lower than that of minerals.

Further, as cat sand, in order to achieve the original purpose of treating feces and urine of pets, when cat sand gets wet with feces and urine, part or all of it can be quickly absorbed, or the wet portion can be easily identified, It is desirable to combine the properties such as easy treatment of contaminated cat sand. However, the commercially available cat sands have not been able to sufficiently meet such requirements.

Therefore, the present inventors have improved the conventional cat sand, in order to obtain cat sand having an excellent function, as a result of repeated studies,
The present invention has been completed.

(Means for Solving Problems) That is, according to the present invention, the surface of a granular material containing a fibrous material as a main component and an inorganic material as an accessory component is coated with a powder agent having adhesiveness in the presence of water. The present invention provides a grain material for domestic animals characterized by the following.

As a raw material for the granular material of the base material used in the production of cat sand of the present invention, a fibrous material is used as a main component and an inorganic material is used as an accessory component. Here, as the fibrous material, at least one selected from fibers and processed products of fibers is used. Examples of fibers include natural fibers and synthetic fibers, but the former include fibers used for clothing such as hemp, cotton, and wool,
Examples thereof include conifers, broad-leaved trees generally called pulp, and plant fibers collected from other plants. On the other hand, examples of synthetic fibers include regenerated fibers obtained by regenerating or processing cellulose-based or protein-based ones,
Examples include so-called semi-synthetic fibers, fibers obtained by polymerizing or condensing chemical substances such as polyamide, polyester, polyacrylonitrile, and polyvinyl chloride.

A processed product obtained by processing fibers is cut into fibers,
Adhesives, fusions, or other processing, or polymers obtained by polymerizing or condensing the above chemical substances are spun into a non-woven fabric, and like paper, appropriate additives are added to the fibers. Specific examples thereof include those made by papermaking.

In the present invention, it is particularly preferable that the fiber or the processed product thereof is one which is easily dissolved or dispersed in water to change into a fine structure. As such, for example,
Water-soluble fiber, short fiber water-soluble additive (binder)
Although the paper, the non-woven fabric, etc. processed by the above are mentioned, the present invention is not necessarily limited to these.

The average length of the above-mentioned fibers or fibers of the processed product thereof in the present invention is not particularly limited, but those insoluble in water are preferably short fibers of 50 mm or less, preferably 20 mm.
It is as follows.

The fiber or processed product thereof in the present invention is used as the main component of the granular material of the base material, but 70% by weight
Below, preferably 50% by weight or less, a material other than fibrous, for example, mineral powders such as talc, zeolite, perlite, calcium carbonate, metal oxides such as titanium oxide, inorganic materials such as carbonates as a sub-component Can be used.

In addition, the granular material of the base material whose main component is a fibrous material selected from the group consisting of the above fibers or processed products thereof,
The shape and average diameter are not particularly limited. Therefore, the particles may have a spherical shape, a cylindrical shape, or a prismatic shape, or individual particles may have different random shapes. There is no particular limitation on the method for producing such a granular material, and it can be produced according to a usual method. In the present invention, it is desirable that the granules used for coating the powder be wet or have a high water content, and therefore a wet granulation method is preferably used. For example, a method may be adopted in which water is added to a raw material, kneading is performed, the raw material is extruded from a perforated plate to be processed into a string shape, and then chopped to have an appropriate size. Further, it may be based on a fluidized bed granulating apparatus which granulates by bringing the raw material and water into contact with each other in a counterflow.

On the other hand, a dry granulation method may be adopted in which a binder is added to the raw material powder using a briquette machine or the like, or granulation is performed without adding a binder.

The average diameter of the granular material as the substrate thus formed is not particularly limited as described above, but preferably 0.5 to 1
The range is 5 mm, more preferably 1 to 8 mm.

In the present invention, the surface of the granular material obtained as described above is coated with a powder exhibiting adhesiveness in the presence of water, and such powder absorbs water or comes into contact with water. As a result, the adhesiveness is exhibited.
Such powders include, for example, montmorillonite such as bentonite, zeolite, clay minerals composed of silicates such as kaolin or a mixture thereof, slaked lime, calcium carbonate, zinc white, oxides of metals such as titanium oxide, hydroxides, and the like. Examples include organic pastes such as carbonates, starch, dextrin, polyvinyl alcohol, and carboxymethyl cellulose. Of course, these adhesive powders are 2
They may be used in combination of one or more kinds, and may be used in combination with other powders which do not exhibit adhesiveness, such as pigments and fillers.
The particle size of these powders is usually 0.5 mm or less, preferably 0.0
It is 5 mm or less, and fine powder is preferable.

In the present invention, it is more preferable that the above-mentioned powder has an affinity for a solvent, especially water.

Next, the method of coating the surface of the granular material of the substrate with the above powder is not particularly limited, and a usual coating method is adopted. As such a coating method, for example, when the surface of the granular material of the substrate is wet, a predetermined amount of the granular material and the powder are supplied to a blender, and the surface of the granular material is coated with the powder by using water as a binder. There is a way to do it. When the surface of the granular material is dry, a method of adhering the powder to the surface of the particle by using a suitable adhesive as a binder is effective. When the softening point of the powder is low, the powder is heated by heating. Alternatively, a method may be used in which is melted once and then fused to the particle surface.

In the present invention, it is desired to coat the surface of the granular material with the powder as uniformly as possible. As a method for coating the fine powder for this purpose, it is recommended to use a device capable of imparting complicated movements to the granular material to be coated. Specifically, by supplying a granular material having a wet surface and powder to be coated to a container, a sieve, a transportation path, etc. to which vibration is applied, the granular material is combined with rotation, jerk, vibration and other movements. It is preferable to apply a complex power for a predetermined period of time to bring the powder to be coated into contact with any part of the surface of the granular material. Specific examples of such a device include a device called a vibrating screen. The granules produced by such a method are characterized in that the powder is uniformly coated on the surface of the granules.

In the present invention, the thickness of the powder layer coating the particle surface is appropriately adjusted depending on the function to be added to cat sand, the shape of the granular material, the physical properties of the fine powder, etc., but the average layer thickness is preferably 0.
It is from 01 to 5 mm, and more preferably from 0.1 to 2 mm. That is, when the average layer thickness is small, it is difficult to impart a special function to cat litter, which is the object of the present invention, and it can be said that it is not preferable since the cost required for production increases as the layer thickness increases. is there.

When the cat sand of the present invention obtained by coating with powder as described above has a high water content, it is dried by a conventional method and used.

Incidentally, in the production of cat sand of the present invention, other additives, for example, a pigment, at the time of coating the above-mentioned powder or after that.
Coating with a sizing agent, a fluorescent agent, a deodorizing agent, or the like does not hinder the purpose of the present invention. This is also the case when producing granules.

(Effect of the invention) The granular material of the present invention is a cat litter obtained by coating the surface of a granular material containing a fibrous material as a main component and an inorganic material as an accessory component with a powder substance having adhesiveness in the presence of water. Therefore, it has an excellent effect as described below. That is, in the cat sand of the present invention, since the surface of the granular material of the base material is coated with a powder showing adhesiveness in the presence of water, a part or all of it can be quickly contacted with the excrement of a small animal. There is a property that the absorbed and wet parts adhere to each other, and aggregate around the excrement and gradually become a large lump. Moreover, since the specific gravity of the granular material of the substrate is small, even if the aggregated or agglomerated portion is lifted, the adhesive force is not significantly affected, and the overall shape is less likely to collapse. Therefore, it is extremely easy to eliminate the portion contaminated with manure.

Even when bentonite grains are used in cat sand, they aggregate when they come into contact with water, but the parts of the core where water has penetrated become sticky, which not only makes the appearance worse but also makes it difficult to process. However, in the present invention, such a defect is not recognized.

Further, since the granular material as the base material is mainly composed of animal or plant fibers as the constituent material, it has a smaller specific gravity than the conventional granular material mainly composed of clay mineral. However, if a powder having a high density is used as the powder to be attached to the surface of the granular material, the above density can be adjusted appropriately. Therefore, it is possible to give a light and granular material of any specific gravity, which is suitable for use in small animals such as guinea pigs and hamsters.

In addition, cat sand whose main component is vegetable fiber such as pulp,
Since it was difficult to make the appearance look like sand, it was uncomfortable for the user when using it as cat sand. However, in the cat sand of the present invention, this problem can be solved by using a fine powder having a clay mineral such as zeolite or bentonite as a main component as the fine powder to be coated.

In the present invention, since the granular material containing the fibrous material as a main component is dispersed or dissolved in water, cat sand can be easily disintegrated and dispersed in water. In this case, the cat litter soiled with small animal excrement can be treated by flushing it in a flush toilet, which makes it extremely easy for the user to handle. Further, since the cat sand of the present invention uses a fibrous material as a main component, it can be incinerated after use.

As described above, the cat sand of the present invention is composed of a granular material mainly composed of a fibrous material, water absorption, and a functional surface coating such as deodorant, and thus has a composite function, It is extremely suitable for use in raising small animals.

The present invention will be specifically described below with reference to examples, but the present invention is not limited to the examples.

Example 1 75 parts by weight of papermaking sludge containing pulp from wood fiber as a main component, and 100 parts of zeolite powder manufactured by Itaya Zeolite Co., Ltd.
40 parts by weight of water is added to a mixture with 25 parts by weight of powder below a mesh, kneaded, extruded from a nozzle of 5 mm diameter to form a string, and this is cut to produce a cylindrical wet granule of 5 mm φ × 5 mm. did.

To 100 parts by weight of this granular material, powder bentonite manufactured by Kunimine Industry Co., Ltd. (trade name: Kunibond, particle size: 200 mesh) 2
Add 0 parts by weight of the mixture to a bentonite powder on the surface of the granules using a V-blender, and dry the granules in a hot air dryer at 105 ° C to dry the cat sand. 9
2 parts by weight were obtained. The cat sand was brownish yellow granules whose surface was almost uniformly coated with bentonite, and had sandy particles in appearance.

A cross-sectional view of the cat sand thus produced is shown in FIG. In the figure, 1 is a granular material of a base material containing a fibrous material as a main component and an inorganic material as an accessory component, 2 is a powder coating layer, and 3 is cat sand.

The unit volume weight of the cat sand of the present invention thus produced is 0.40.
It was g / ml, and the commercially available bentonite grain was 0.59 g / ml, and the weight feeling was quite different. Cat sand consisting of commercially available bentonite grains was used as a comparative sample, and the same shape and appearance was laid as the floor sand only in the same volume in the box, and several cats were bred, but for both the comparative sample and the sample according to the present invention. No cat repellency was noted.

On the other hand, when a cat urinates, the surface of the commercially available bentonite granules that comes into contact with urine becomes sticky after 30 minutes, and the appearance of the wet part is basted, and the moisture inside Was difficult to penetrate, and post-treatment was also difficult. However, in the cat sand of the present invention, the particles that have come into contact with urine adhere to each other in the wet portion after 1 hour has passed,
It had a nodule structure and the appearance of sand grains remained, and it was a large lump as a whole, and it was still in a state where it could be easily treated, and still had sufficient water absorption.

Incidentally, the cat sand of the present invention, the shape is collapsed by weak external pressure when poured into water, while the bentonite particles are dispersed fibrous in about 0.5 hours, the surface is slimy,
The inner grain portion was hard, and it was difficult to disintegrate the grain portion even if a strong force was applied, and the grain hardly disintegrated even when immersed in water and left for 4 hours.

Example 2 Powdered polyvinyl alcohol (trade name: Kuraray Poval 205S) instead of powdered bentonite coated on the surface of granules
Cat sand was produced in exactly the same manner as in Example 1 except that When this product came into contact with water, it became aggregated, but it was not sticky.

Further, this cat sand was excellent in water absorbability, and also had good disintegration in water as in Example 1.

[Brief description of drawings]

 The drawing is a cross-sectional view of one embodiment of cat sand of the present invention.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A granular material for breeding animals, characterized in that the surface of a granular material comprising a fibrous material as a main component and an inorganic material as an accessory component is coated with a powder agent having adhesiveness in the presence of water. . 2. The granular material for breeding animals according to claim 1, wherein the powdery agent having adhesiveness is bentonite powder or polyvinyl alcohol powder. 3. The granule material for domestic animals according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the inorganic material is a material selected from minerals selected from talc, zeolite and perlite, carbonates or metal oxides. .