Litter box - help, tips and tricks...

Dear all I wish we could all share on how we have our pets litter box set up... what kind of sand do you use? what kind of a box do you use? why?

details...
I am in despair - every single evening when I come home - I find my bathroom and part of the house in sand from the litter box

I am using "Scoop Away" litter sand - as it absorbs liquids and odors very well - but the negative is that it is very fine grained... and a regular sand box (not too tall)

maybe I should use some other litter sand? and another litter box? and some mat in front of the litter box so they could clean their paws? what else? how do you do it?

Please help...

Thank you all...

My cats used to track litter all in front of the box.. I ended up buying a plastic grid type thing from Petsmart. It's got a solid bottom then a grid over top of that, and when they walk over it, the litter falls off their paws and through the grid. But theirs is in a place with only one direction to leave the box in. One of the "rug"-type ones would probably be better for a box with more ways to leave it, since they tend to be larger..

Originally Posted by wishiwas

My cats used to track litter all in front of the box.. I ended up buying a plastic grid type thing from Petsmart. It's got a solid bottom then a grid over top of that, and when they walk over it, the litter falls off their paws and through the grid. But theirs is in a place with only one direction to leave the box in. One of the "rug"-type ones would probably be better for a box with more ways to leave it, since they tend to be larger..

Click to expand...

That's the exact grid that I use for my boxes. The litter falls under the top grid and you only need to pick it up and shake the litter that has fallen thru back into the box. The one's that I've seen have always been blue for some reason. They sell of mats that cats don't like to walk on and they will leap over them if they don't like them. I also put throw rugs under the area so that I can carefully fold them up when I pick them up and shake the litter crumbs back into the box.

I've tried using various mats designed to prevent litter scatter, but it doesn't really help with my cats because they jump out of the litter box instead of walking out. For me the best thing is a big throw rug to catch the scatter which i can periodically shake out. My cats never liked that extremely fine grained scoopable stuff, so i've used the traditional clay Tidy Cat for them which they like. I recently tried to switch them to Feline Pine since it is so phenomenal at absorbing the urine orders, but Rajah doesn't like a box filled with it entirely - i think it hurts her paws - i wish the pellets were about 1/4 of their current size. So i put a thin layer of the Feline Pine on the bottom of the box and cover it with the Tidy Cat on top. It's not the ideal way to use the FP, but it does absorb that urine order so well that it's worth it for me to bother. The FP hardly tracks at all. They make a scoopable version of FP but i haven't seen any place that carries it reliably so i've never tried it.

i used to have that prob - okay, so i still have that prob, it's just not as bad -
I have two LBs, one with a hood and a small mat that does an okay job collecting litter. i have a second box, without a hood, tucked into a closet in the bathroom. for some reason, there's no litter that escapes it - go fig.

i use Tidy Cat, multi-cat scoopable with tidy lock in both boxes.

before i got the second box, the kitties threw the litter out of the hooded box and tracked it all over the apartment.

after reading this post, i just might look for that one tray thingy-bob that catches the litter.

any idea where i can get one??

I gave up on those mats a long time ago, but that grid type sounds intriguing. The type with "spikes" look painful to walk on and I haven't had a cat that doesn't just jump over it, like momofmany said. I can't blame them.

The corn type litter doesn't track nearly as bad as the clumping clay does. World's Best Cat Litter is corn...and it's also very expensive, nearly a dollar per lb IIRC. Chicken feed is basically the same thing. I have found that the Purina Flock Raiser feed is the closest match. I pay $11.99 for 50lbs. It clumps when they pee on it too. Ask and make sure you're buying the "unmedicated" feed, though (no antibiotics, etc). It also goes about 2x-3x as far as clay because it's very lightweight.

I use deep Rubbermaid tubs.

Avoid these with the nubs - they hate to walk over them and I can't blame them:
http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...+mat&N=2023690

I couldn't find the mesh one that has been discussed.

I only have one box, because I have one cat and a small place. We had that problem with the litter untill I switched her over to Feline Pine. She loves it and it does not seem to stick to her paws as much. O still find the dust aound the box but its no longer al over the aparment.

I just stumbled into this - http://www.google.com/search?q=Litter+Kwitter

see the video here - http://www.litterkwitter.com/en/what_is.php#whatis

hmmmmm I will research...

I use a cat litter called Thomas here in Germany and I change it EVERY day
The stuff that clumps is not so good
also I stopped having a cover on the cat toilet and WOW all of the toilet problems vanished (like Constipation)
You will always have a mess in front of the toilet Puss cant clean everything up
In fact my Max goes for a BIG ONE he cleans up the wrong corner and leaves his stuff on top
Thats all part of having a feline friend .He knows I will clean up for him
Stu

My boxes are filled with ScoopAway. I have a large regular covered box in a bathroom, and a large rubbermaid tote in my bedroom closet. I use throw rugs to catch litter - I've never had luck with any of those mats.

We have a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet in front of the box to catch some of the litter. Our pan is in the basement so sweeping up once a week usually takes care of things.

We have regular litter and a special additive that mixes in the litter (bought at the cat show) which absorbs odors on contact and also takes almost all the dust out of the litter, and acts like a clumping litter with normal clay litter.

Its wonderful. Usually I'm pretty skeptic about those things, but we watched the demo at the show and it really works. The additive is Litter Mate.

Since using it, there has been no smell - especially with the urine. And we have a pretty deep pan - Charlie likes to dig

We bought a tupperware box designed to store things under the bed since it was longer and use a mix of the Arm and Hammer scoop away and the Tidy Cats clay litter. The box allows the cat more room to move, and the mixture seems to prevent a lot of tracking with the benefits of the scooping litter.

But we are having a problem with one cat. He had a very bad reaction to some flea control medicine and now uses our daughter bathroom tub rather than the litter box. What would cause that?

I use a covered box, the Booda Dome, so it is difficult for her to jump out of the box, she kind of has to climb out. I have a blue anti-tracking mat at the front of it. I do still find litter when I vacuum, but not much.

I am using Swheat Scoop mixed with Arm & Hammer to help keep it from sticking and control odors a bit better. I have asked people that come over if they smell any "cat smells" and no one does. I do keep it pretty clean though too, scooping every day, sometimes twice a day if I'm around all day.

I use a hooded box, with feline pine litter which works wonders for odor and he doesnt track it through the house either its awesome!!!

Clump sand is the best.
It is easiest to scoop, and hardens right away.
i also have rugs under it with pines that catch the litter.
Just my 2 cents

We have the large covered Booda Dome which has the steps up the side which means they have to walk down the steps which have little raised thingies on them which clears the litter off their feet before they step out of the box. There is certainly some litter still that manages to get on the hardood floor but not nearly as bad as it used to be. I also have a large bath towel, folded in half under the litter pan which also catches leftover litter.

I have two setups right now, one for our two kittens, the other for our large cat.
The kitten setup is an omega paw (roll away) box (the kind that you roll on it's side and the clumps are caught in a drawer that you empty) with first WBCL, now chicken feed in it. The box is in a corner w/ a mat from petsmart directly infront of the box opening. This seems to work pretty well, I wish that I could have afforded the larger mat. I purposefully went with one that got high ratings online and that I would feel comfortable walking on... It does a deacent job of catching the litter.
Link to box: http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...N=2047564&Ne=2
Link to mat: http://www.amazon.com/Litter-Catcher...1944548&sr=1-2

Our second setup is a large regular hooded box with pet gold (petco brand) clumping litter. There is a regular plastic mat in front of the box opening, the box is in our water heater room (inside garage) with a kitty door leading to the kitchen (I think that really helps with the tracking. The pet gold litter works better than most clay litters I've tried and doesn't have a strong scent.
Link to box:http://www.petco.com/product/5689/Va...-Cat-Pans.aspx
Link to mat:http://www.amazon.com/Omega-Paw-Paw-...1944482&sr=1-3

HTH,
Art
p.s. if you get the omega paw box, get the large, as the "regular" size is very small inside.

Yeah fine grained litter is a pain, despite what litter you use, hey they are cats they're gonna kick it everywhere. We have 3 cats so they can be pretty messy. I use tidy cats because its a good oder absorber and clumps very well, just because we really like clean smell we sprinkle an extra bit of baking soda on top. We have an automatic littermaid litterbox, Personally I wouldn't recommend it, I'm fixing to switch to a plain booda dome box because the rakes don't pick up the little clumps so we have to re-rake it with a litter scoop. any covered litter box are great though and to avoid the pebbles that get lost on the floor from them jumping in and out just get a litter catcher/mat to put in front they work pretty well, plastic I have found to catch less that carpet but all around either of them help out. Hope everything works out.