What am I doing wrong?

Most people I know seem to fully clean their litterboxes (I mean dumping out all the litter and washing the box and putting in fresh litter) every two weeks, or once a month.

I scoop my boxes twice a day, and use a good quality litter (World's Best, and I've tried others as well with the same result), but after only a week the litterbox reeks horribly, even when totally scooped out, and I have to change the whole thing. What am I doing wrong? It's really expensive having to use fresh litter every week, as opposed to once a month like most people I know of - anyone have any suggestions?

I don't think you are doing anything wrong, but judging by your signature, you have 4 cats. So it goes four times as fast.
Also, what do your cats eat? I think feeding them high quality food makes them poop less and their poop is less stinky.

Originally Posted by Juniper

Most people I know seem to fully clean their litterboxes (I mean dumping out all the litter and washing the box and putting in fresh litter) every two weeks, or once a month.

I scoop my boxes twice a day, and use a good quality litter (World's Best, and I've tried others as well with the same result), but after only a week the litterbox reeks horribly, even when totally scooped out, and I have to change the whole thing. What am I doing wrong? It's really expensive having to use fresh litter every week, as opposed to once a month like most people I know of - anyone have any suggestions?

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I have 4 cats also...2 adults & 2 kittens. Litter cleaning is a daily chore around here. I have 2 litter boxes in different places in my home. Like yourself, I scoop twice a day and dump the whole thing every 2 weeks. You would never know I had 4 cats. No smell at all. I noticed that if I use a bit less litter in each litter box my litter buying is a bit less and the cats don't seem to mind.

Having more then one cat can make a big difference with how long kitty litter will last. We have 8 kitties and we have to scooped out every day - I love the scoopable litter it does seem to go a long way. My hubby comes home each morning scoops the litter, we sweep up any of the litter left behind and feed the kitties. as leesali about her 4 cats "you cant even tell" we have 8 cats - If we let it go, Then you would.. Its should be done everyday I think its actually healthier for the kitties too.

If you have a high pee-er, they may be hitting the plastic rather than the litter. The plastic in the box will retain the smell until you clean it out completely.

Perhaps add another box into your mix and change out the box each week - rather than dumping the entire litter into the garbage, dump it into clean boxes in between total change outs. Clean out the box and put it out in the sun if you can to bake out the smell. I started doing that with mine and it has helped a lot.

4 cats, 2 litter boxes scopped twice a day. We use arm and hammer scoopable multi-cat cat litter. Works very well!

I have 4 cats and 3 litter pans. I use Fresh Step scoopable and scoop them out once a day and hardly ever have offensive odor. I completely clean out the boxes and change the litter every 1-2 months.

I use WBCL and have 2 litter boxes (and 2 cats). One litter box always gets used more often and I have noticed that one does tend to get stinker way faster than the one that is used less frequently. I would agree that more cats and more waste probably means that you will need to change it more often.

I normally put about 2 inches of litter in the boxes and replace as needed until 4-6 weeks occurs. I have started changing the litter box that gets used more often by the cats closer to 3-4 weeks or simply when the 2 inches is no longer sufficient for the cats to cover their feces.

Wow this is very intersting. I am supposed to change the whole litter once a month? Just like you I change the whole thing once a week, I wash the whole box out with antibacterial soap, and just put new litter in the box because like you said I find that it stinks. I only have one cat. Thanks for asking this question as I just honestly figured that everyone was changing the litter once a week, and it does get a bit pricey.
I scoop once a day as well, will try to just put the littler in something and wash the box, perhaps she is peeing on the plastic and that is the reason for the smell.

Thanks for your replies! I have tried putting the litter in a bag, cleaning out the box, and then pouring the same litter back in, but this doesn't help the smell at all, it still smells terribly even with a clean box and all the clumps scooped out, so I don't think it's the boxes. It's like the litter absorbs the smell after about a week, is the best way I can describe it. Oh, and I have two boxes for the four cats. It's not terrible if I have to keep changing it once a week, just wanted to see if there was something I was doing wrong that would keep the litter from absorbing the bad smell so quickly - but if not, I can deal with continuing to use fresh litter every week. Thanks for your input, everyone!

I haven't tried this myself (no problems with odor), but I remember someone said they mixed coffee into the litter and it absorbs the odor. Now, the only problem is that I can't remember if it's fresh coffee grounds or used coffee grounds. Anybody else hear of this?

My aunt puts leftovers from the coffeemaker in the garden so cats donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t use the flowerbed as a restroom, and it works, cats donâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]t like the smell of coffee.

Well, if cats don't like the smell of coffee, then obviously you DON'T want to put in IN the LITTER, right? I don't know what to make of that recommendation...

I think it also depends on where your litter boxes are located. Mine are in the basement and my sister remarks that she can always smell them when she comes to visit and to buy a dehumdifier and run it in the basement. In the summer I only have 3 litter boxes for the cats and the use the great outdoors. I have the regular clay tidy cat in one box and clumping in the other two. I don't scoop out daily in the summer again they are going more outside. Its seems though that the clay litter gets more stinky faster so I have to scrub out that box every couple weeks. They clumping doesn't seem to get used as much. And on the floor in the basement I bought a few yards of the vinyl material you can use for picnic tables and duct taped it to the floor and up the wall about 9 inches or so. It makes clean up much easier