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litter question

post #1 of 12
9/26/11 at 9:57am
Thread Starter 
i have been reading on some of the forums that the litter box is cleaned once a week or bi weekly im just wondering though do you throw out all the litter that was in the box or do you just wash the litter pan and put the old litter back in. i have a BIG sterilite box that i use and to me it would seem an awful waste of clumping litter to throw all that out in the garbage and put new stuff in.
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post #2 of 12
9/26/11 at 10:09am
I don't think you need to wash the litter box that often. If you scoop it daily washing the box can be done once a month. I'd commit suicide if I had to scrub my seven litterboxes every single week. Ideally you should put in new litter but if you just have one or two cats and the litter is in good shape I think you can put it back. What I do though when it comes time to clean the litterboxes is not add any new litter for a few days and let it get low. That way I'm not throwing out a lot. But I have several cats and remove quite a bit of litter every day. If you only have a couple of cats and a big litter box it would probably take a lot longer for the litter level to get low. It's something to think about though.
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post #3 of 12
9/26/11 at 10:14am
When i used the crystal litter i found myself dumping every 2 weeks, the bag said for one cat it should last a month but it was smelly after those 14 days! (even 7 i thought)

It was a pain and getting very expensive, with the clumping kind now i can already see how dumping and a good scrubbing could be done monthly if scooped often.

the only things i do scrub very often (at least once a week) are the scoop and the litter catching trays underneath.
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post #4 of 12
9/26/11 at 10:34am
When I used clumping litter I would wash the boxes once a month and throw out the litter.
When it got close to that time, I stopped adding new when I scooped.

I use plain clay now, so yes, the litter gets thrown out once a week when I clean the boxes.
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post #5 of 12
9/26/11 at 10:50am
Thread Starter 
thank you everyone for getting back to me. i will stop adding litter to the box this week and go from there..
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post #6 of 12
9/26/11 at 11:26am
Quote:
Originally Posted by cyndersmom View Post
i have been reading on some of the forums that the litter box is cleaned once a week or bi weekly im just wondering though do you throw out all the litter that was in the box or do you just wash the litter pan and put the old litter back in. i have a BIG sterilite box that i use and to me it would seem an awful waste of clumping litter to throw all that out in the garbage and put new stuff in.
I as always have a different system , anyway I clean all my boxes once a week. Plus scooping them twice a day.

Now I have one paranoia with cats indoors and that is litter box avoidance. So that is part of why I keep the boxes supper clean. Plus I also use NON-CLUMPING litter.

But I clean all all six boxes once a week. When I say clean I mean dump all the boxes (two are huge cause of the Savannah) and wash them. I do this every Sunday before I leave for work/go out.

I will say I am sure I waist a lot of litter. But to me it is not as important as having a clean smelling home .

As usual this is just my , do what is best for you and your cat(s).:
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post #7 of 12
9/26/11 at 11:33am
Thread Starter 
well this is my system. i have a huge sterlite box as the litter box and it is situated inside my front closet with a cat door cut out of one of the bifold doors. hubby inclosed the box with 2 pieces of wood to form a shelf. on top of the shelf is bags of litter and a sterilite mini garbage can. the scoop and plastic bags are in the can so when i've done scooping for the day i take the stinky litter out to the outside garbage,meanwhile in the morning i put it in a little garbage bag and toss it in the mini garbage can and put the top on and lock the sides of it so no stink can get out. once a week i take the mini garbage can out onto my deck after it has been washed and let it air out. the litter box gets cleaned once a month and now i will start with the fresh litter once a month... Phew thats alot of work but better than a stinky apartment
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post #8 of 12
9/26/11 at 11:47am
If you use non-clumping litter, yes, I do think it absolutely needs to be changed once a week. Clumping litter will last much longer. . .you don't have to dump it unless it still stinks after you've scooped. That could be 2 weeks or a month or 3 months or even longer, depending on circumstances. I only scrub the boxes when I dump the litter, but if the box needed cleaning before the litter was ready to be dumped, I have lot of spare boxes, I'd just dump the litter into one of those.

If the urine smell has gotten into the plastic, pouring white vinegar into the box to a depth of 1-2 inches and letting it soak for at least 10 minutes will really get the odor out.
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post #9 of 12
9/26/11 at 12:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willowy View Post

If the urine smell has gotten into the plastic, pouring white vinegar into the box to a depth of 1-2 inches and letting it soak for at least 10 minutes will really get the odor out.
Really? I will definitely try that. The litter boxes don't smell to me but apparently they do for my cats. I just cleaned a spare litter box a couple of days ago and it was sitting empty and clean on the floor in the bathroom. But apparently one of my cats could still smell the pee smell and decided it was a good idea to pee in the empty box. I rinsed it out and put it back on the floor to dry and within an hour another cat had peed in it.
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post #10 of 12
9/26/11 at 12:12pm
I use clumping litter (about 30 lbs. in a jumbo, "multi-cat" box), and scoop at least twice a day, sift the litter with a colander into a huge flower pot once a week , wash out the box, and put the old litter back in with new added. Every 3 or 4 weeks I dump all the litter and steam clean the box.
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post #11 of 12
9/26/11 at 12:24pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ziggy'smom View Post
Really? I will definitely try that. The litter boxes don't smell to me but apparently they do for my cats. I just cleaned a spare litter box a couple of days ago and it was sitting empty and clean on the floor in the bathroom. But apparently one of my cats could still smell the pee smell and decided it was a good idea to pee in the empty box. I rinsed it out and put it back on the floor to dry and within an hour another cat had peed in it.
Haha, a lot of my cats will always pee in an empty box, even a brand-new one. I don't know what the attraction is, but I made a "urinal" for them by drilling holes in the bottom of one box, then adding a small amount of litter to another box and putting the drilled box inside that one. It sees a reasonable amount of use.

But yeah, white vinegar really does the trick.
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post #12 of 12
9/27/11 at 5:07pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Willowy View Post
If the urine smell has gotten into the plastic, pouring white vinegar into the box to a depth of 1-2 inches and letting it soak for at least 10 minutes will really get the odor out.
Thanks for the tip!!! I was looking for something like this to really get the odor out of the boxes
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