The TRUTH about how often people clean the box

We scoop every day or every other day. It's impossible to keep the litter box clean. I swear Poe hates it clean because even if he's just gone to the box right before we clean it, he HAS to come back and use it again right away.

It gets cleaned out about once a week when the litter is fully changed.

Originally Posted by hareting

once told my friend that if the litter box is not clean to their standard one of my cat would poo right next to it to make me understand that a dirty box is not tolerated..and my friend answer was "i'm lucky that my cats r happy with whatever they r offered" and what they offer is......2 cats, 1 box, scoop once a week.

Click to expand...

raven does the same thing. he trained me early on.

your friends poor cats. that's just gross. the cats must LOVE it when you cat sit.

I do it once a day at least...a full cleaning of the box once a month.

Just saw this post, I really don't understand why people have cats and don't take care of them. Taking care of cats INCLUDES THEIR LITTER BOXES. SO, THE
CAT IS NOT ELIMINATING, HELLO, DID YOU CLEAN THEIR BOX????
TO ADD TO THE INJURY, THESE OWNERS GIVE UP THEIR PETS????

I would like to see the situation reversed, the cat not changing the people litter box, the people not 'eliminating', the cat takes the people to shelter because of not 'elminating'.


I have two cats, two litter boxes, scoop once a day, try hard not to miss a day, and dump both boxes out once a week, wash, then fresh litter.

IF I MISS a day or two of the weekly washing of the box THEY WILL LET ME
KNOW!!

I have two litter boxes for one cat. One of the boxes is really big and the other one is the original kitten sized one. She uses them both. I scoop once a day. I have dog poo-bags in a cupboard next to the litterboxes so it's really easy to scoop and bin. Even if I'm really tired and the poo/pee clumps aren't smelly I'll scoop into a bag and then I have a closed bucket I dump the bag in to take out to the trash in the morning. It's not going to stink more there than in the box and then Nikita won't have to step around that in her litterbox.

She'll let me know if I've slipped up, lots of meowing and then she'll be really happy and immediately pee in her box once it's been cleaned. She'll sometimes even go in and do her business before I've finished putting some more litter back in. Can be rather funny.

Kitty rarely uses his tray as he rather poop outdoors so I just check every day.

Maisie on the otherhand doesn`t go out-out, just out in the little yard. Her litter tray gets examined 3 times a day! If it`s all level and she obviously hasn`t used it, fine, otherwise its out to the bin to scoop out the dirt.
I have a spare one so when her tray needs a wash I just scoop out the dirt, tip the litter in the clean box then wash the dirty one.

I`ve been experimenting with litter as the one I first got stuck to her fluffy trousers and ended up everywhere
Didn`t like the non-clumping type as couldn`t really tell how much she was peeing and it smelt really strong of ammonia.
Found a good one now that is finer and everyones happy

I have 6 cats, 7 boxes. I scoop every day, sometimes twice, and dump and scrub once a month/

I do way better now than I did before. We bought an automatic litter box so now it's always clean!!! Our cats are soooo happy!!!

You know, the funny thing is, I don't have to empty that box (the self-cleaning) nearly as often as I have to do maintanence to the regular boxes.. relatively speaking... of course there's more work to the non-self-cleaning boxes (yes, I did just make that phrase up)...but they all use them a lot more, because the self-cleaner is upstairs. They use the self-cleaner at night and early in the mornings when we first get up.

That box gets scooped twice a day here!

I was surprised to learn how infrequently people scoop their cats boxes. I'm not a "cat expert", but I thought it was common sense!!

I shoot for 2x a day. Sometimes, I admit, I get busy and I only do it once a day. I have 2 boxes for 2 cats, one covered and one uncovered. Their boxes are in the basement -- just because its "out of the way" doesn't make it a good excuse to "forget" !! It amazes me the amount of people in denial and the amount of people who simply don't seem to care

::Stands up:: I will freely admit that I do not scoop the box every single day. Call me a bad mommy all you want, but we're all very happy here. My kitties have an ENORMOUS box, and they just don't seem to poo that much! I scoop every other day and everyone's perfectly happy. Actually, Cheshire Cat would probably prefer it if never scooped because he's weird like that, but we have a good compromise going. I also don't clean the whole box very often because Cheshire has panic attacks when I do that. He REALLY freaks out when his box doesn't smell right, and he will sit in it for days on end until he decides it smells right again. He such a weirdo.

I never have problems with them going outside the box except for ONCE. I was in the process of scooping, and I guess Dinah just couldn't hold it in anymore. She then proceeded to tinkle in the basket where I keep the litter scoop! lol, it was actually pretty hilarious... when you've gotta go, you've gotta go, I guess!

Besides that, I don't have an odor problem at all. I live in a VERY tin one-bedroom apartment, and my friends are constantly asking me what my secret is to keeping the place from smelling like cat pee. I have no idea, but I do use good-smelling litter AND baking soda...Maybe my cats just like don't smell bad or something? lol

dang. I have to have a clean kitty litter. The apartment can be a mess, clothes all over, but litter box must be clean every other day I clean. Is that enough??

I clean mine at least once a day for the main box and once every other for the other box

Once every other day here. Bear's an only kitty so he has an entire litterbox to himself. I dump the whole thing out and clean the box with soap and water every month.

ETA:I see the other posters here are much more vigilant about it.:blush I am not worthy! Will aim for once a day from now on.

I have a cattery. There would be no way to clean the boxes everyday. However, I do scoop every other day. I built a very large screened and latticed room on to my home. They have a cat door and can go in and out as they wish to that room. That helps, since I hid 3 boxes out there and they like going there. Makes it much easier to keep the home smelling great. The inside ones can get bad if I miss scooping even once, though. 3 days means a very stinky house. I would love to do it every day. Maybe I am just really lazy.

I put the two litter boxes in both bathrooms. We have the ones you roll and the clumps end up in a drawer, so whenever I go into the bathroom I roll it and check.

How well does that rolling one work? I know it's slightly off topic but I'm always looking for more efficient and expedient ways to keep a clump free box. Does it waste any litter?

Ok I'll fess up, I scoop the box every other day since I only have the one cat. Actually the reason for not scooping every day is the cost of the litter. Each time you scoop you do lose some litter, just can't be helped and I use Fresh Step which is not cheap. I have been scooping this way for as long as I've had Misty which is 14 years and she never had any problems, thank goodness. I neve let it go for more than two days tho.