When you read my work, you may not think of it as a nature study, but the ultimate purpose of my experiment is to find an environmentally friendly solution to animal wastes. My family has a lot of animals and, specifically, 10 cats. I see the problems with animal wastes daily. The cats live happily in a very large, specially equipped pen. The only problem is that I hate to clean four smelly litter pans. There are no words that adequately express my dislike for this chore. Tired of my complaints, Mom challenged me to design a better system. For years I've observed worms in the compost piles in the woods behind our house. Why not borrow some worms from the woods and have them clean the cat pans for me? Having worms clean up cat mess is my idea of how work should be done.

I knew nothing about vermicomposting and needed to educate myself. I read 12 volumes of Worm Digest, a few books, and watched a video. I spoke with Dr. TK Carney, a soil and compost specialist with the Louisiana State University Cooperative Extension Service. He discouraged worm-composting cat waste because of the potential pathogens, but he referred me to an expert in vermicomposting, Dr. Rhonda Sherman, with the North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension Service. She did not discourage me, but told me to make certain my cats had no pathogens or chemicals in their systems. She told me to read references on the vermicomposting systems used for reducing pathogens in bio-solid mass from city sewage. Her Web site and its links were the most helpful; they contained information that was more scientific than on many other sites.

It was clear that my experiment would have to be designed in stages; the answers to the first questions would be used to design the next stages. To determine in a scientific manner if a composting cat litter pan was a practical cat pan would ultimately take two years.

The next part of the essay is the scientific method: the basis of my design, my questions, hypotheses, methods, variables, and controls. It's not too interesting to read because it is methodical, but method is necessary to a valid experiment.

Question: Can a vermicomposting system be a practical alternative to the traditional cat litter pan? Hypothesis Year 1: Vermicomposting cat wastes will break down the solid waste and reduce the number of pathogens in cat wastes.

I decided that my experiment was workable; I could overcome the problems I had read about. I would have my cats screened for intestinal parasites and fecal pathogens, and take them off flea medications and wormers for four months. I theorized that vermicomposting the wastes of my meat-eating cats would not create the heat problem that manures from grass-eating animals generate. The final product of the vermicomposting cat litter pan would be a beneficial soil amendment for the woods and the landscape around my house.

Purpose Year 1, Part 1: To produce a vermicomposting system for cat feces by determining the optimum ratio of carbon to nitrogen for the worms, the ideal food-to-worms ratio, and the ideal end point of the vermicomposting. Part 2: To determine if cats would adapt to the vermicomposting system. Part 3: To determine how to protect the worms from predation by the cats.