Litter box poll

[supercheesegirl]

As this is my first time being entirely responsible for a cat, I have some questions, and you, my cat-loving LJ friends, have some answers. This is installment part 1: the litter box. I can smell it from here. Give me some pointers!

[Poll #958151]

Comments

[allthefishies.livejournal.com]

You know, but Maximum has his litter box on a little rug in the dining room, and as soon as we open the porch it goes out there.

I scoop his poop, tie it up in a grocery bag and take it out to the trash can. Little expensive poop scooping bags seem really unnecessary to me.

When litter gets everywhere, we take the rug outside and shake it, then vaccuum. We're not the cleanest folk ever, but i think the smell is manageable.

[amazonsun.livejournal.com]

We're really bad about the litter box - so don't take any advice from me. :P

We have one large open style litter box (for 2 cats) at the bottom of the basement stairs. We scoop the clumps as often as we think of it & change out the whole thing whenever it gets really nasty. We scoop the clumps into plastic grocery bags, tie it up, and take it out to the outdoor trash can. We sweep and scrub down the basement steps whenever they get too sandy or dirty.*

We've tried all kinds of "As Seen On TV" items, but they never seem to work for us or our cats. We tried the auto-cleaning litter box - it broke down. We tried the litter bag storage unit, where you scoop into little bags and store them in a sealed container. It didn't work & it broke.

When we lived in a one-bedroom apartment with one cat, we kept the litter box in the bathroom under the pedestal sink. We had a covered box and a little bathroom mat at the entrance which was easy to shake out or throw in the laundry. It all worked very well as long as we scooped it out as often as possible.

One product we do use, that works well, is the Arm & Hammer baking soda deoderizer (I think that's the name of it). After cleaning the box, you just dust on some of the deoderizer and kinda mix it in with the new litter. Definitely helps with the smell.

* Disclaimer: I say "We", but I really mean "Uri". I feed the cats, and he takes care of the other end.

[amazonsun.livejournal.com]

Talk to Chrysta about her kitty ways. She's amazingly clean. You would never know they have like 5 animals when you walk into their house. I stand in awe.

[myras-girls.livejournal.com]

hee!

[cos]

I started answering but didn't complete the quiz because a bunch of them should be multiple choice checkboxes. For example, with 2 litterboxes - one is in the bathroom and the other is in the closet. And we both sweep the area frequently *and* deal with litter on our feet because we're lazy. And people can buy more than one kind of litter. etc.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Sorry it bothered you, but I didn't really want checkboxes--I'm not gathering the information for scientific reasons, but so that I can see what works best for people, so I can implement a good system for myself. So the idea was to choose the one answer that works best, and elaborate in the comments if necessary.

[myras-girls.livejournal.com]

~When living in apartments/townhomes in the past I've had the litter box in the bathroom or living room. I don't like keeping the litter box in the bedroom because it keeps me awake at night. I won't put the litter box in a small bathroom because I don't like having to step around it all the time.
~I always use the scoopable kind and I find very little smell problem with Tidy Cats Multiple Cat formula. It's the kind of litter I always buy. I also find that the scoopable litter tracks slightly less than the regular clay kind.
~I have a lid on the litter box to reduce the litter spray and a buy a small rug and put it under the litter box. The advantage of a small rug is it can be easily shook out and a low pile rug tends to trap more litter from their paws as they exit the litter box so they don't track it quite as far.
~With 3 cats, I scoop the litter boxes (I have 2 boxes) every other day. I dump and wash the entire box about once a month.
~Adding baking soda to the litter will help reduce any stinkiness!
~When I scoop the litter box, I scoop the clumped litter into a plastic grocery bag. I tie up the bag and put it in the trash so it doesn't smell.

I like to think that all of this works becuase I have had many people come over to my home and tell me they are surprised to find out I have a cat. People say they can usually smell the cat and see cat hair everywhere but it's not noticable in my home. So I guess my tricks must work!

[aerynne.livejournal.com]

We keep the litter box in the alcove off the kitchen, next to the washing machine and dryer. They do scatter litter all over the floor (Zephyr! Mir! It's *buried*! Stop *digging*! Why must our cats be so *fastidious*?), so we keep a broom back there and every time we go back there and need to get to the washer/dryer or the cat stuff, we sweep everything back towards the box so we don't have to walk on it.

We use the clumping kind and an automatic litter box and we empty the reservoir about twice a week. I've never used any kind of litter other than clumping litter, but when I had a regular litter box I tried to do it once every two or three days (with one cat). I have no idea how often we empty the litter box entirely; I have never done it. We put more clean litter in whenever it gets low, though. And take the clumps and poo out as soon as we dump them out of a reservoir into the bag.

[bulleteyes.livejournal.com]

We moved from a large house to a compact condo. The cat box is in my husband's ofice. Everything I have was bought inexpensively at Walmart. We have a cat box that has a lid and we bought one of those little pads that go with the box and help wipe the litter off his paws as he steps out. Both box and pad are on a medium small rug so that all of the cat debris tends to stay in one spot. I used Walmart Scoopable Special Kitty. Cheep and good. Every morning I use a poop scoop and put the clumps into a cheep Walmart medium sized sandwich bag which then goes into the garbage. I then sweep the litter with a cheep broomstick style vacuum (which I bought at Walmart) which keeps it from getting spread around into the rest of our living area. Before I leave I spray a short burst of Oust or Neutra Air. Both of those products take odor out of the air without leaving a fragrance behind. They do work. I have a cheep wicker basket with a Walmart bag lining it and in it I keep the poop scoop and the Oust and the container of poop baggies. So in the morning I just have to grab the basket and the broomstick vacuum, open up the box, clean in out, shake the litter pad into the pan, sweep up any extra, put the pan back together and spray some Oust. Takes me less than 5 minutes every morning and does not cost me much either. No one who comes in the condo even knows we have a cat.

I got a little over detailed here. Since you are a newbie it helps to not just know what a person does by why they do it.

[grass-stained.livejournal.com]

I use a Fresh Step crystals (or something like that). It makes the pee "disappear" or something, so there's no clumps to deal with.

Occasionally Vera makes a stinky, but I usually can't smell much of anything.

I empty the litter box once a week, and change the litter once every 3 to 4 weeks.

[velvetwaltz.livejournal.com]

hmm... i want to help here. but ive never had a cat on my own. my family always had 2 cats. but they spent a lot of time outside. so i dont think the litter box was quite an issue. plus, i dont think the "clumping" litter existed back then. two quick thoughts though: why cant you flush the poop down the toilet? you could do that easily whenever you go to the bathroom yourself. AND i hear the type of food you feed cats can affect the smell of their poop.

[dominanefret.livejournal.com]

We keep our litter boxes in this weird half floor we have that is a storage room. We have three cats and two litter boxes. One is one of those self cleaning litter boxes, the other is a normal litter box.

For odor reducing purposes we keep one of the big plastic containers that the litter comes in, and scoop the poop, and put it in that, and close it. It seals closed. When it fills, we dump it. It works pretty well.

The room has a concrete floor though, so we don't worry so much about litter getting on the floor.. and our cats are actually pretty good about not getting it outside of their boxes. Unless they are mad at us.

[jennallen.livejournal.com]

Yay Kitty!

I use a more expensive but biodegradable/truly flushable (non-clay) litter, Swheat-Scoop. It's wheat hulls that clump great and it's not scented, so there is no fake perfumey smell, but if it is scooped daily, it doesn't smell at all. Indie never did stand for those covered boxes, so for litter tracking I got a sticky ribbed mat that catches it...i shake it out every once in a while. As far as little sealable baggies, it seems not so enviro-friendly. If the litter is being put in plastic bags, they do make bio-degradable ones now , which is better than the time capsule method popular at the moment ;)

Much luck!!!!!

[smokemirrors.livejournal.com]

I keep the litterbox in a back room so that the rest of the house won't smell. Instead of buying fancy litter bags, I save old cat/dog food bags and use those when scooping/emptying the litterbox (full circle, right?). If I'm out of those, I'll use doubled up plastic grocery bags. I scoop and sweep about once a week (and crap, my poll answer should have been two littlerboxes, two cats). I change out the whole litterbox about once a month (I replenish it each time I scoop, though).

Two p.s.'s - I don't know what you're feeding your kitty, but I learned the hard way that due to urinary tract scares, you should be feeding your male cat canned food regularly (keeps 'em more hydrated and less likely to develop crystals). I'll be happy to email about that, though.

Other p.s. I think it's over anthropomorphizing to say that cats get mad at you and retaliate. They get territorial, though.

[cavergrrl.livejournal.com]

Question 3: I used the organic expensive flushable newsprint stuff for a while and will never use it again. It clumped too well - it stuck to the side of the litter pan, then when you pried it out, it disintegrated. Yuck.

Question 8: I have a litter box with a lid. This is partially to keep the dog from getting scooby snacks from the litter box (gross, I know) and partially to keep the litter mess down. She still tracks some around, but I got a little mat for the entrance to the box so that gets most of it.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

I am too lazy to fill out a poll. ;)

We use litterbox liners, which are a gift from the Universe. We scoop poop whenever there is any, and flush it. We use the biodegradable newsprint stuff, and it's great - vastly less annoying than clay or crystals, and when it does get on the floor, it's just a little lump, not sharp. We sprinkle plain baking soda into the litter whenever it occurs to us, and we change the whole schmear about every four or five days - just untuck the bag and shove the whole thing in a trashbag, wipe down the box with a Clorox wipe, and take the bag out to the trash. Five minutes tops if we're really particular and the cats are trying to "help."

There is a lid on the box, mostly to keep us from dropping stuff in (it's in the small bathroom in our small apartment. We'd like to get a slightly larger arrangement so that they have more room to kick it off their paws, thereby getting less on the floor. Mostly, we keep a small broom in the bathroom and sweep about once a day when we notice.

[darxus.livejournal.com]

http://www.litter-robot.com/
I had actually ordered one of these, but cancelled the order because I decided to try toilet training, which didn't work out.

I think the best way to deal with cat litter other than that is to get one of the litter boxes that has basically 3 litter boxes that all fit inside each other. The top one is a sifter, so you lift that out to get all the clumps, put it in the now empty one, and pour the rest back into it. This is one of that type: http://www.asontv.com/products/850025852.html

What I did more often was buy regular cheap cat litter and just change it once a week. I kept a trash bag in the bottom of the litter box so I could just lift it out without any mess.

The box was kept in the far corner of my gym room.

Higher walled litter boxes, possibly with lids, reduce the amount of litter kicked out.

[unique-unknown.livejournal.com]

Arm and Hammer kitty litter!! It has some sort of baking-soda way of taking away the smell. Be careful, there are some kitty litters that make the box smell worse!

You can buy a special mat to catch the litter that gets on the floor when your cat jumps out!

DO NOT leave the bagged cat poo in the house! Even in the event that you put it in a zipped bag-- don't put that bag in your kitchen trash, it's just not healthy. Take it out immediately!!

[amedia.livejournal.com]

Our litter box is in the utility area - we deliberately bought a smallish washer and dryer so there's room between them for the litter box. I scoop about twice a day because if Dabi doesn't like the box, he'll go elsewhere and so far he hasn't done that yet in this house and I don't EVER want him to!

Dabi usually comes down while we're having breakfast and puts a present in the box for us. He has very smelly poop, even with premium cat food, and he doesn't cover it well, so I jump up and scoop it *immediately*. Then I do it again sometime during the evening. [You know, for a laid-back kitty, he really is surprisingly high-maintenance...] I save old grocery bags to scoop it into, tie them up tight and keep them in a trash container in that area. Sometimes when I'm tearing up credit card offers I put them in there too.