Litter box liner experiment

Based on a review I read in this forum of a different form of litter box liner, made from paper, I did some more research. Frustrated with scraping cement off the bottom of litter boxes, then a long soak to remove the rest, before I can wash them, and since I had a promotion, I decided to try them, though I chose a less expensive brand than the one being reviewed. The promotion was not directly related to the litter boxes, but it saved me $10 which made the boxes almost free.


As is my habit, I didn't use them right away. I had to mull things over for a few weeks. They seem a bit small and...well I don't like to mess with their litter boxes too much, but I am getting desperate to make life, including litter box clean up, easier on myself.

I've been told that the reason the bottom of my boxes get so dirty is because I don't put the litter in deep enough. But since I am compulsive about a weekly dump and scrub, I can't bring myself to go deeper than 3 inches, and even that gets lower as the week goes on. I just can't see throwing away so much litter.

Anyway back to the liners. So as I was ruminating on the paper liners, it occurred to me why can't I use cardboard? Goodness knows I get enough of it, since I order all my cat food, and many other things, on line.

So today is the day. When I put down the fresh litter boxes, in the large high sided sterilite container I put in a portion of a cut up box. It fits tight in the bottom, with one flap going up one side. I may eventually keep the flaps on both side, but I want to start slow. In one of the regular litter boxes I put one of the liners. The other regular litter box I left unlined. (the fourth box never gets used so I just left it as is. In fact I think it is still regular clay litter in it, not clumping!)

The plan is to see how long each lasts, as far as odor starting up. The cardboard, since I have a never ending supply of it, can be changed out as often as needed, just dump out the litter, put in fresh cardboard, then put the litter back. The pre-shaped liners could be used the same way, but of course, they cost me (though are eligible for subscribe and save).

I will be reporting on this as it goes along.

Does anyone else use any kind of litter liner?

otto said:

<snipped>Does anyone else use any kind of litter liner?<snipped>

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Before, my F3 Savannah, I used heavy duty yard waste and leaf bags. You know, like, black trash bags. I got them at Costco, very very very inexpensive. Once box, would last me, about, six months. However, since, Loki is a , that has ended. He ate them, way too often, for, my liking. My pure domestics never had that issue.

Hope, that was somewhat helpful.

I use Johnny Cat plastic litter box liners. I scoop my boxes once or twice a day and I use Sweat Scoop so whenever I change it out completely I just scoop the waste out,  toss the remaining Sweat Scoop under my pine trees, and throw away the litter box liners.

See, your problem is evident right at the beginning: You don't need to do a weekly dump and scrub.


Hope it goes well. I've never had any luck with liners.

I tried the plastic liners when I got my first kitten. Huge fail. She immediately scratched holes in the plastic and the pee all went underneath and got trapped there. Very stinky. I also found the plastic liners are the wrong shape to lift the litter out of the pan and tie a knot in the top. I ended up with litter all over the floor every time.

I bought a set of the cardboard liners you showed in your link thinking they would be good for overnight in a hotel when I go to cat shows. Another fail. The cat pee soaks into the cardboard and sits there stinking up the room. Not to mention that I have a couple of cats who like to tear up paper/cardboard, so I also had little bits of cardboard scattered around the room.

The method that works best for me is to use the large sterilite storage boxes and keep 4-5" of litter in them. When the level gets low I just add fresh litter on top. I rarely have any clumps stuck to the bottom and I only have to do a full change of litter about every 2 months.

Thanks for your replies everyone. This is ever a fascinating subject, isn't it?

Minka said:

See, your problem is evident right at the beginning: You don't need to do a weekly dump and scrub.
Hope it goes well. I've never had any luck with liners.

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Oh, but I do. I can't stand dirty litter boxes. I have an abnormally sensitive sense of smell (and a tiny apartment). Even though I scoop multiple times a day, if I try to go two weeks, by the 10th day I can smell the boxes. It's the plastic, I think. Supposedly, these liners are supposed to help cut down on that type of odor, too. I'd love to go to every two weeks, and be able to just chuck the liners, and give the litter boxes a wipe and rinse.

And anyway, I like a clean bathroom, and so do my cats. No matter what method I end up using, I know I will never go longer than 2 weeks between changes. If I can even get myself to go two weeks. That is the goal.

Mazy is a paper and cardboard box shredder, but so far she hasn't shown any interest in working on the cardboard or the formed paper liner.

PS The cats seem to like both the cardboard home made liner, and the formed paper liner. Both those boxes have been used repeatedly since yesterday while the unlined ones have not been used.

otto said:

Thanks for your replies everyone. This is ever a fascinating subject, isn't it?

Oh, but I do. I can't stand dirty litter boxes. I have an abnormally sensitive sense of smell (and a tiny apartment). Even though I scoop multiple times a day, if I try to go two weeks, by the 10th day I can smell the boxes. It's the plastic, I think. Supposedly, these liners are supposed to help cut down on that type of odor, too. I'd love to go to every two weeks, and be able to just chuck the liners, and give the litter boxes a wipe and rinse.

And anyway, I like a clean bathroom, and so do my cats. No matter what method I end up using, I know I will never go longer than 2 weeks between changes. If I can even get myself to go two weeks. That is the goal.

Mazy is a paper and cardboard box shredder, but so far she hasn't shown any interest in working on the cardboard or the formed paper liner.

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I would try a different type of litter or a new box then. If you're getting everything out, then there should be no smell left. :dk:

Minka said:

I would try a different type of litter or a new box then. If you're getting everything out, then there should be no smell left. :dk:

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I replace the boxes once a year. I am happy with the litter I am using, as there is no dust and no perfume. When I went to clumping litter a year ago, it took some researching to find a litter I could tolerate. I am not going to use 5 inches of litter, because that would mean I would be throwing away a lot more litter when I dump the boxes. I won't put used litter into fresh boxes, I just can't do it. No matter how hard a litter clumps, or how often it is scooped out, there is going to be some residue of bacteria left in the litter.

So that is why I am experimenting with liners.

Again today, the two boxes that are lined, one with cardboard, one with the formed paper liner, are the two boxes that have been used. So THEY like the liners. If the cardboard works well, I will stick with that, because it won't cost me anything. I do like the paper liners I linked to in my first post, but they are a bit small. The other brand makes a larger size, but costs twice as much. I'll give it the full week to know for sure if it's going to work.

Well, they are still concentrating all their attention on the two boxes that contain liners! The large box, which has the cardboard in it, and the regular box, that has the formed paper (bought) liner. Those are really too small, but the next size up is about twice as much. But hey, if they like the cardboard, I might as well just use that.

For those telling me that if I put more litter in the box I would have no need to dump and scrub weekly.... I did try adding more...and it's true, for my one middle of the box pee-er..it clumped better. But for the two who like to pee on the sides of the box, it doesn't matter how much litter is in there, it all sticks to the box. And still....I just don't think I can NOT dump and scrub weekly. But..with the litter liners in place, I'm going to TRY going two weeks, and see what happens. I just hope I can make myself do it. LOL!

In order for the side peeing clumps to not stick, the litter needs to be really deep.
I've found that regardless of what depth litter, if you shift it all to one side when you scoop, then you can get the entire clump off the side without contaminating the rest; the tiny pieces that come off will be in a spot that is now empty of litter and they are easy to scoop up.

Thanks for the tip. I do tip the boxes, before scooping, to find the clumps. It remains to be seen, whether I can stand to try to go two weeks. Sunday is dump and scrub day. I'm going to be very tired this week, I may not need much convincing to skip it, but as we go into the second week....well, we'll see what happens. And it depends on them too of course, if they complain that their boxes are not clean enough. Maybe they won't notice I've skipped a week. :lol3:

l feel your pain - l do the weekly dump and scrub too. l saw on another thread that l had been way underfilling my boxes, so now they have about 4'" in there instead of the inch and a half they had previously.

While it absolutely does help with the odour, l do still dump and scrub weekly. And another downside is that there is much more litter flung across the room by my vigorous diggers.

l'm very interested in what you learn about the cardboard bottom liner, l might try that one myself.

Andrya said:

l feel your pain - l do the weekly dump and scrub too. l saw on another thread that l had been way underfilling my boxes, so now they have about 4'" in there instead of the inch and a half they had previously.
While it absolutely does help with the odour, l do still dump and scrub weekly. And another downside is that there is much more litter flung across the room by my vigorous diggers.
l'm very interested in what you learn about the cardboard bottom liner, l might try that one myself.

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If you are going to do deeper litter, the boxes also need to be higher :nod:

Both the upstairs boxes are those high sided ones that are meant to take a cover.

l only cover one of them, sometimes.

The two downstairs are the flat shallow ones, and they are barely ever used. The litter is obviously shallow in those two.

With the upstairs deep ones, there is a good 8" clearance between the litter and the top.

l swear the cat with the dainty little feet turns into some kind of beast in the litter box. His feet become huge scooping shovels and he flings the litter right across the room.

Andrya said:

Both the upstairs boxes are those high sided ones that are meant to take a cover.
l only cover one of them, sometimes.
The two downstairs are the flat shallow ones, and they are barely ever used. The litter is obviously shallow in those two.

With the upstairs deep ones, there is a good 8" clearance between the litter and the top.
l swear the cat with the dainty little feet turns into some kind of beast in the litter box. His feet become huge scooping shovels and he flings the litter right across the room.

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:lol3::lol3::lol3::lol3::lol3:

I use the tubs too (for some of the boxes), and I also notice more litter out in the environment.

They are still consistently using the two lined boxes rather than the unlined ones. No odor from the cardboard yet, though it is starting to hold damp at end of the box where Jennie is consistently peeing. At the one week mark (Sunday) I'm going to turn the box around, so the other end of the box will get the action. I hope.

The box with the bought liner is doing very well, the liner is not at all damp, even when the pee soaks all the way through to the liner. (the liners are rather small, so I can't put the litter deeper than 2 1/2 inches in that one)

Keeping in mind that three cats, who each pee three times a day, are using only two boxes this week, that's pretty good.

I really like those 'paper' liners, but of course the expense would be a problem, using them regularly. It looks like the cardboard is going to work too. Now, even if I still dump and scrub weekly, the work will be a lot easier. But...since the bottom won't turn into a mass of concreted urine and litter, perhaps 2 weeks will be viable, since all I will have to do is dump the litter, pull out the cardboard and wash the boxes. No scraping or scrubbing. It sounds like heaven!

We'll see though. It's only Friday and I am already feeling antsy about leaving the boxes another week.

By the way I checked with a friend who works in a box making company, about the safety of using cardboard boxes. He told me that some boxes are treated to make them more resistant to moisture, but because the boxes aren't made for designated use, meaning they may or may not be used to box food items, or even medicines, everything in the boxes, be it glue or special treatments, is, has to be, by law, non toxic.

Time for an update on this.

I have tried two different brands of formed recycled paper liners, the Nature's Miracle brand large, and the Kitty Wonder Box, medium. Though the Nature's Miracle size large is $10 more (for the same number) and claims it's sides are 6.5 inches high, the fact is the NM size large boxes are only 3.5 inches high, and a half inch narrower than the Kitty Wonder Boxes. So I will stick with the Kitty Wonder Box medium, for my regular sized litter boxes for now, though I will keep looking.

For the large tote litter boxes I needed something else. I had tried just lining them with cardboard (boxes, cut to fit) but this was only partially successful.

The sides of the box pieces I was using were sometimes shorter than was practical, meaning when the girls do their stand up and pee routine in the high sided box the pee and subsequent litter would get behind the edge of the liner, making a mess and smell underneath. Also, there was some overlapping of box edges, the between of which, again because of the stand up pee-ers, would get wet and smelly.

When my next order of liners came they came in a box that seemed to almost fit the large litter box. My brain got to whirling a bit I wondered if I could wet the box and re-shape it, you know-mold it to the litter box shape.

doesn't quite fit

once wet, (with the flaps torn off) it was made to fit

because of the 'gap' between the two flaps on the bottom of the box, I cut another piece of cardboard just the right size and inserted it, also wet, in the bottom. I don't know yet whether this will be dug up by the cats when in use or not. I will report when it is used.

Final result

As you can see above, one end kind of..buckled, and doesn't fit flush to the box side. This also might be a problem, as Jennie is an avid side scratcher. So next time I do it, during the molding step, I will put a stack of other litter boxes in it, to keep the sides pushed back.


OR, I just realized, I could get one more of the high sided tubs, and use it as the top of the mold. But I'll try the stack of litter boxes I already have first. No point in buying another box that I really don't need, limited space being what it is in this apartment.

Any other ideas about helping the cardboard mold to form are welcome.

So I will use the formed recycled paper liners in the regular sided boxes and the home made cardboard liners in the large boxes, and my days of back breaking rinsing scraping, scrubbing, drying and airing are over.

PS I've discovered that those pre-formed paper liners can go a whole month without any odor starting. Time will tell, on the home made liners. Plastic boxes start stinking in about 10 days, which is why I have always done a weekly dump and scrub.

PS again: the savings in amount of litter used (with fewer dump and scrubs), not to mention the bleach, soap and vinegar used to clean and rinse them, I think may even out or even over-compensate for the cost of the liners. Let's see, the liners, if I only have to change them out once a month, will cost $6 a month.

Since, in my old method, I was going through a jug of litter a week (at $6.99 a jug), and the new method, with only starting new litter once a month, just topping off the boxes when needed, I am using only a jug every two weeks, yep, there is savings!

Old method: Litter used = $28 a month, and back breaking work every week.

New method: Litter used = $14 a month, liners =$6 a month. Total monthly cost $20 total monthly savings: $8. (not counting soap, bleach and vinegar use, not to mention hot water) And no back breaking work. Whoo hoo!

I have arrived at my final solution to the litter box liners. I LOVE the formed paper liners. (the homemade box liners were not a success)

I now use the WonderBox size medium for the regular litter boxes and the Nature's Miracle size jumbo for the high sided box. I also tried the medium size Nature's Miracle box but was not happy with it for a couple of reasons. It is even smaller than the WonderBox for one reason, and isn't as durable.

Though the Nature's Miracle product is not as long lasting as the WonderBox I have been unable to find the WonderBox in their jumbo size though their website does say they have one. Anyway, the description says it has a "fresh herbal scent" and I am not too keen on scented products, so it's just as well.

The medium WonderBox is a bit small but the cats seem to manage okay with it, and of course they have the high sided box for when they want to stand up and pee (Mazy and Jennie)

I place the liners in the litter boxes. Since the liners are a bit small, it actually works okay because the litter box catches overflow litter, then I can just lift out the liner and pour the litter back into it.

These paper litter box liners last a month or longer with no odor. I let one WonderBox go 7 weeks, just to test and it was only in the last week or so that I started to notice any odor and the paper started to tear up from the bottom a bit.

I keep track of what liner was started when. When a fresh liner is started, the litter from the old liner gets poured into the box with the next oldest liner and fresh litter is put in the new liner. So I am not dumping out a ton of litter every week any more either. I have gone from one jug of clumping litter a week to one a month or less, a savings which more than pays for the liners!

I am very happy with the new litter box regimen. That dumping and scrubbing, and the smell of the plastic boxes was just getting to be too much for me. No more dumping and scrubbing, and no more smelly plastic, for me, ever!

I don't use liners... Clawed cats just tear them up. They're kind of a waste, IMO. :]

Bentliy said:

I don't use liners... Clawed cats just tear them up. They're kind of a waste, IMO. :]

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Hello, welcome to TCS. My Jennie is a dedicated scratcher of litter boxes. If she can't tear these things up, they are not tear-up-able. :lol3:

I am not talking about plastic liners. If you read the thread you would know that I am talking about formed paper liners, also called "disposable litter boxes". There are links in my last post to the type I am using. These are hard, formed, made of recycled paper, and cannot be torn up with claws.

As I stated in my update, my monthly litter costs are actually less than ever now, including the cost of the liners, because I am using about one fourth of the amount of litter I was using before, the liners are so efficient.