How often should I change the cat litter?

I know this sounds like a really generic question -- with a "duh" kinda of answer ...

But two kittens have finally been made members of my new apartment here in Portland. My only other pets besides tropical fish and Zebra Finches ...

I am wondering about this question because of the rumor I heard and because of the style of cat littler I use. The rumor : as cats become a year of age, each cat needs its own litter box. Because of the pee. True? I have two kittens, a 9 week old and a 13 week old. And as for the litter -- they share a fairly decent sized litter box I fill with "Tidy Cats Crystals."

I haven't had any problems yet, I'm still accident free! -- And daily I scoop out the "poops" .. I'm just nervous I may be wasting an excess amount of litter by changing it too often, or perhaps making my kittens unhappy about the litter not being clean enough.

Any help ... Thanks!

Hi,

I am not sure about actually having your own cat box for each cat, we have 2 in our house but i dont think they prefer any single one over the other. but its generally best to keep the cat litter cleaned at all times, just try to do it once a day or so. cats do not like smelly cat boxes, and i have heard that they will refuse to use em which either means he will find a nice carpet spot or i have heard that they will refuse to go and it can cause medical problems, not sure how true it it. but to be on the safe side, just clean everyday.

Yep, that's true about the cat refusing to use a dirty box. Wiggies did that to us not so long ago. Usually I scoop twice a day, more if I'm around. I change the litter completely and wash out the box once a month.

This thread should give you some answers: http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63906
I'm going to move your question into the "Care & Grooming" forum, where you may get more advice.

I change the boxes when the box itself is dirty or if the litter itself is so used that I can't get it clean by scooping.

There's some wiggle room here, of course. If someone poops down the side of a freshly cleaned litterbox, I'll just dump the litter into a new box rather than waste brand new litter.

With crystals, you should change them when you can smell the urine as you are scooping the box.

If the box is big enough, you can have just one for two cats. But adding a second can never hurt.

I've learned my lesson on this one. One of my cats was unhappy with the frequency of my scooping and decided to pee in the middle of my bed. Now, I've added a second box and I scoop whenever I see anything in the litterbox and change the litter whenever I can't scoop everything out and it doesn't look superclean.

The best way to answer this question is to ask one back.

"How many times do you go to the toilet before deciding to flush it"

Oh dear. ._. Cheesewoman, Rowan did that to me repeatedly.

Some cats are finickier than others. Rowan wanted brand new litter in the box every other day. This was back when I used the norma cat sand. I since switched to a clumping litter that she seems entirely content with. I scoop her box morning and night and no longer is she anointing my bed, the guest bed, my bath mat or my clothes. -_-

One of the reasons to clean/scoop the litter often is so flea eggs will not hatch in the feces & give you flea-infested cats.
I have 10 cats & 3 litter boxes, each of which is "weeded" twice a day minimum. I replenish each box with a couple of large scoops every night & change the entire litter (by dumping the bag) every other week. Also I keep Advantage on hand, just in case anybody gets fleas.
But I swera, the cleaner the catbox, the more it gets used. Not sure how they can control it, but as long as they stay healthy, they are happy & I save on vet fees.
(I also comb out everyone that likes it, to minimize hairballs - no fun to clean. For soem reason, the shorthairs love to be combed and most of the longhairs are not keen on it, even tho they have no matts.)
Another good tip for keeping a clean house with multiple cats is to use a carpet rake before vacuuming. I vacuum a maximum of once a week, but this keeps the oriental rugs' colors bright.

Thank you much! I love all the insight -- I've decided to clean once to twice a day -- Gariths comment really hit home about "How many times do we go before we flush." Thank you thank you ....

Originally Posted by TortyBunches

I know this sounds like a really generic question -- with a "duh" kinda of answer ...

But two kittens have finally been made members of my new apartment here in Portland. My only other pets besides tropical fish and Zebra Finches ...

I am wondering about this question because of the rumor I heard and because of the style of cat littler I use. The rumor : as cats become a year of age, each cat needs its own litter box. Because of the pee. True? I have two kittens, a 9 week old and a 13 week old. And as for the litter -- they share a fairly decent sized litter box I fill with "Tidy Cats Crystals."

I haven't had any problems yet, I'm still accident free! -- And daily I scoop out the "poops" .. I'm just nervous I may be wasting an excess amount of litter by changing it too often, or perhaps making my kittens unhappy about the litter not being clean enough.

Any help ... Thanks!

Click to expand...

Hi!I only have one cat, she is 16 and i change her entire litter box about once a month. I dont know if you like to shop @ walmart, but they have small and large plastic sturdy(she likes to stand on the edges) litter boxes in assorted colors and the large ones are 5$ at the most. I dont know if it is neccesary to redo the whole thing this often but it keeps us both happy!!! cats are very picky creatures by nature and as they age they develop more picky-ness so to speak. When ChiChi was younger she would eat almost any brand of food,now all shell eat is fancy feast( she thinks she is a princess)and as far as having 2 litterboxes when they get older I strongly reccomend it,especially if they are male/female the female will not like the smell of a mature males urine( or another adult females urine either!!!!) this is one way they mark their territory, they will be happier with at least 2

ChiChi and I send you all a lot of kitty love


BTW: I scoop at least twice a day to keep the peace lol lol

I have 2 boxes. I scoop 3x a day. Or more often if one of them "plants a rose." I do a complete change and wash out the box once a month. We are transitioning over to WBCL.

The older box since I've had when I got Prego is getting pretty scratched up. Should I replace it, or is it ok as long as I wash it out well?

We have a Booda Dome clean step, the kind with a little ramp to prevent litter tracking, which had been a big problem for us.

We're using clumping litter, although we've tried a few different kinds, trying to find the best. The boys seem to be rolling with the punches while we figure out the best litter to use, maybe because they're young. I want to settle on a particular brand before they get much older, though, because I don't want to encourage "extracurricular" activities, ya know?

We scoop at least once a day, sometimes twice if we notice a smell. I figure that if we can smell it, it must be awful for them, given that their sense of smell is so much stronger than ours.

The boys seem to be okay with sharing a box right now, they are neutered brothers who have been sharing ever since the rescue picked them up from a ditch in the road and nursed them back to health. When we adopted them, they had been sharing a box and a cage at the adoption center.

My preference is to change out the entire box, litter, liner and all once a week. I do it on the weekend, and I take the box outside and wipe it down before putting in a fresh liner and fresh litter. That means we're buying litter every week, pretty much, which is a little expensive, but it's worth it to give the boys a clean place to eliminate and keep our house from smelling like a litterbox.