litter box maintenance..fess up!

cats4sky

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OK...i started out with just Sebastian, and if i had to miss a day cleaning he was ok with that. Then when Nipper came aboard of course i got a 2nd litter box, his prev owner also warned me that if he felt the litter box wasn't up to par he would leave you a surprise in the tub! Well everything was going great for a while and then i got one of those days where i guess i was sick or had a migraine and just couldn't clean it, and BF refuses. Well i ended up finding a pile in the tub! Imagine coming home after a long hard day at work and thinking about how you just cant wait to get home and take a nice hot bath and then find that. Then i have to completely disinfect the whole tub and tend to the litter immediately. So i can say this cat def keeps me on my toes about the litter, if i wake up in the morning and think it can wait til i get home from work, i think again!

what types of revenge have your cats took on you if they didnt feel the litter box was up to par?
 

icklemiss21

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Mine sit and scream at the box if it isn't clean but very rarely have they not used it over it - but we live in an apartment so we never let them get too dirty, they are scooped every day by one of us
 

proudmamiof4

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Mine will lso leave me a "suprise" in either the tub ,sink or walk in shower..............gross!!!
 

meowqueensdaddy

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Two cats... one box. I know, that's backwards. The 2nd box didn't meet with spousal approval. Of course, by spousal inaction I'm also the sole scooper of litter in our apartment. I scoop every day, religiously.

If I don't do it every day, I find HUGE clumps... I mean, they're not even clumps anymore... more like, mud bricks. I think there's some competitive urination going on.

Anyway, the side effect of that is that litter gets tracked around the house if the box gets too full. That also fails to meet with spousal approval, and I get to clean the floors.

GF and cats are both entirely worth it.
 

clpeters23

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I have three cats and five boxes and I guess I'm fortunate that they're happy, so far, with me cleaning them twice a day. My oldest, Rocky, is the "Litter Box Maintenance Man". He checks out all the boxes and covers up after the others and is always the first to use the new litter.
 

bmw kitty cat

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my tuty does that. Except he does it right in front of the cat litter. And sometimes my kikisito pees in my dirty clothes hamper if i don't scoop it for more than 2 days.

I usually like to scoop it every day but sometimes i scoop every 2 days. The best thing is that after i clean it they all go in and use it lol
 

mikehong

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Haven't had a problem with our cats protesting the cleanliness of their litter boxes. They're scooped at least 2 or 3 times a day. More if one of them makes a particularly stinky deposit that burying won't hide.
 

pami

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There is no way I would leave a litter box dirty. When cats start to hold their urine from not having a comfortable place to go, they can and most always develop urinary issues.

The nature of a cat is to hide their pee/poo from predators and when they cant do that, some, not all cats, will hold it.

Also when you leave a litter box unclean and the cat does use it, he is now walking in and around his "elimination" and it is unsanitary now for humans and animals, in the home.
 

mai_kitties

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I clean out the litter boxes once per day. I have 2 giant size ones and I also have one of those 66 gallon sterlite storage tubs that I use as one. The 66 gallon one is just like having two extra giant regular litter pans.

I am actually going to replace the two giant size ones with one more 66 gallon tub and try to find room for a third one somewhere. Since I put it in the cats really do prefer to use that instead of the two smaller ones. I notice that when I get home from work and begin my nightly scooping the 66 gallon tub is full while the regular pans only have a few poos and pee clumps. I am hoping that if I put in one or two more the waste distribution will equal out
 

going nova

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If Nova's box isn't clean enough, she won't go. I need to scoop at least once a day, but preferably right after she goes. (So maybe 2 or 3 times/day.) She seeks me out to let me know that her box needs cleaning, and will jump right in as soon as I'm done.


My boyf is sweet, he helps out with litter box duty.


I can understand why they would like a clean box to go in. If my toilet weren't flushed for over a day, I might be tempted to go in the tub too!
 

firedancer722

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Well, neither of my kitties have used any place other than their boxes, however Siddha loves to "help" while I scoop out the boxes at night. He stands by watching me as if to say "you missed a spot over there, mom." Then, it never fails that as soon as i finish and put the lid back on the first one, he jumps in and uses it.


I try my best to scoop every night, otherwise I end up with clumps that have been shredded by cat paws digging around in the box. Makes it a LOT harder to clean up.
 

devanagara

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Mony doesn't refuse to use a litter box that already has poop in it. I have left it for maybe 1.5 days at a time (while I was away), and she didn't seem to mind. However, I do generally scoop it at least once a day. I don't like to smell poop, and she probably dislikes pooping on poop.


But she makes it easy on me because she buries everything for like 5 minutes at least. So everything is double-breaded and not messy to scoop.
 

keycube

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For a long time, I got away with two litter boxes for four cats, though they were x-large boxes. When cleaned once per day, it really wasn't too bad, and they never had an accident. I added a third when I thought I was inheriting a fifth cat, kept it when it didn't work out, and just recently added a fourth when I inherited a fifth kitty...again.

As an aside, I had single food and water bowls for all four of my cats, just because I loved how they would share and be patient with each other. Maybe that's a bit selfish on my part. Or maybe that's part of why my family is so harmonious.
I've added a smaller food bowl to accomodate my fifth.
 

momofmany

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I had surgery on my hand about 4 weeks ago and DH took over litter box duty at that time. I didn't want the litter dust on the incision, and I also couldn't maneuver with 1 of my hands. I honestly didn't monitor what he was doing (he calls it nagging) , so didn't realize that he wasn't keeping it up to their standards.

One night in the middle of the night, DH starts to yell. Someone was peeing on his feet. In bed. It was dark so I have no idea who did it, but I have my suspicions (Pinky).

The next morning I put a huge plastic baggie over my hand to protect it and took over cleaning again. They've been good ever since.

At least they were smart enough to know who was slacking!
I'm giggling. DH is not amused.
 

pami

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Originally Posted by Momofmany

At least they were smart enough to know who was slacking!
I'm giggling. DH is not amused.
what smart kitties!
 

kittyl0ve4

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I have 2 boxes, and 2 cats. However, they dont use the other box. EVER! They prefer to use the same one, as a matter of fact, i got the 2nd box after getting Mittens, almost a year ago, and I have never, ever scooped or cleaned that litter box. They have never gone in it. I scoop everyday. Like others i have my days where i dont scoop for whatever reason. They dont go anywhere but in the box.

There was one time, before i got Mittens and Monster was still a kitten. I go to Wildwood, Nj every summer for a week. I left specific instructions for my bfs cousin on how much/ how often to feed him and change his water. And also scooping instructions. I told her to scoop EVERYDAY and every other day to add a little bit of litter. I left just enough food to get him thru until i came back, and a full tub of litter which had not been opened yet. When i got home there was more food than there should have been, the tub of litter was still unopened and the litter had not been scooped the whole time i was gone. I immediately just threw everything in the litterbox away and cleaned it and filled it with new litter. I also went around the whole house looking EVERYWHERE for wet spots and piles of poop. I didnt find any, which means he still went in the box even when it was disgusting. Oh, and i also yelled at the cousin for not following my directions on how to feed him too!
 

punkygirl0101

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Gosh, the 5 youngest kittens want a SPOTLESS cat box! I cannot even scoop fast enough! I had scooped in the morning, was at school for about 4 hours, and then I came home to one cat box not even used, and the others had maybe 1-2 piles of poop in them, and yet someone pooped on my floor.
 

littleraven7726

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I've gotten kind of lazy since Raven
went to the Bridge. He was my cat who reminded me I needed to scoop. I had to scoop 3 times a day (2 at minimum) or I was liable to find a turd left as a message somewhere.


My current group let me miss without ramifications. I still scoop 2x a day though. My DH is a good guy, he'll scoop if I'm sick.
 

yayi

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I scoop each of the 8 litter boxes once, every day. I really have no idea what the cats would do if I don't. They go outdoors you see.
 
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