Cat Breaks His Urine Clumps Up Into A Million Tiny Pieces?

[smosmosmo]

My foster cat has been eliminating more as he's gotten more comfortable, and I'm seeing when I scoop his box that he breaks up his urine into a million tiny pieces. For some reason his pee seems to say damp (with the parts directly touching the sand turning very hard) and breaks up when scooped instead of staying clumped. My female cat, who uses the same type of litter and kicks madly when she buries, still leaves behind mostly-intact clumps - I don't know why the foster cat's pee is so crumbly.

The crumbles are mostly very small, to the point where you'd literally need a sieve to get them all. I used a spoon to get out all the bigger bits but there are still tiny pieces mixed in there, quite a lot of them. I've done my best to mix it in with the clean sand, but I'm worried that the litter will seem "dirty" to him. With my cat Smo I scoop very, very thoroughly to the point where the sand looks fresh after I'm done, but this is just not possible with the foster cat.

Does anyone else's cat do this and how do you speed up scooping time? I can't seem to find a sifter fine enough online (apart from cooking utensils) and would prefer not to have to replace his litter every day.

 

[maggiedemi]

Is the litter deep enough, at least 3 inches?

 

[susanm9006]

I would try a different litter. Clumps should hold. As far as cleaning, You can try a box sifter. You set the sifter in an empty box, dump the litter through it shake it and dump. You can then transfer the cleaned litter back to the main litter box. You can clean a whole box in 15 seconds.

 

[smosmosmo]

M maggiedemi Yes, it was about 3 inches deep when I replaced it yesterday. I'm not sure why his urine is so much more crumbly than Smo's, I can usually get hers out in one go without them breaking up.

susanm9006 Yeah, this litter (Tidy Cats Free & Clean) is not really great...it seems to get tracked everywhere regardless of what cat's using it. I think crystal litter would be ideal but he's used to clumping clay, so the sifter is an excellent idea. Didn't even know these existed! Definitely adding it to my Chewy order.

 

[susanm9006]

I use Cats Pride Fresh and Light, Fragrance free and it clumps hard. It also has the added advantage of being lightweight so it’s easier to lift and sift the whole box.

 

[smosmosmo]

Just put a bag of the Cat's Pride in my cart, sounds like it doesn't track as much as the usual clay litters. I've been meaning to switch for a while after months of finding litter everywhere - in my bed, on my furniture, even in weird places like on my mousepad...

Also, I inadvertently discovered while looking for a sifting box that reptile "substrate" scoops look like little sieves - perfect for used kitty litter. Going to try that out as well.

 

[rubysmama]

Do you ever see the larger pee clump? If not, are you sure he's breaking up his pee clump, and not that's he's actually peeing tons of teeny little clumps. Teeny pee clumps is a sign of an UTI.

 

[smosmosmo]

rubysmama Yes, they are quite large! Enormous compared to my female cat. He pees twice a day and each one is about the size of a large man's hand. I think what's happening is that he pees, and instead of just covering up the clump he kicks into it so the top part breaks apart then scatters. I then add to the mess when I try to scrape his clumps off the floor of the box, and we are left with a million teeny pieces of sand.

 

[rubysmama]

That's good, re: the large clumps. At least not an UTI.

I just did a quick search and found this similar older thread.
Urine Not Clumping

Post # 4 in that thread is interesting. As is the suggestion of stress being a cause.

 

[danteshuman]

I'm going to try that brand next month rubysmama my tidy cats lightweight litter breaks up sometimes ...... on the flip side arm& hammer clumping clumps great BUT the crystals/sand are BIG (and weigh heavier to sift through compared to the lightweight.) Last month I had 1 box of lightweight & 1 box of arm & hammer clumping, so I really noticed the difference. My 2 tubs of Tidy Cat arrived for this month, so next month

Is he peeing it all at once or peeing lots of tiny amounts through the day? If he is peeing small amounts he may not be breaking it up, he may have a medical issue.

 

[maggiedemi]

Maybe try adding baking soda to the clumping litter.

 

[KarenKat]

I use Tidy Cats currently, and I have similar issues with some of the pee clumps disintegrating into a used litter mess. We also have it all over the house but I assumed that was life with cats.

I'm currently shopping around for another little myself, I'm going to give the Smart Cat Grass clumping litter a try, based on all the secret spying I did on various litter threads on TCS ..

 

[Jem]

My cats clumps will sometimes break apart when I clean the litter if he pee's in the same spot a few times over. I thought it was the "re wetting" of already clumped litter. Especially if the clumps are the size of a large hand, it could be two pees in one, and too much moisture for the litter to handle. As I said, it happens to me, if it's a normal sized clump, picks up just fine, but an oversized multi pee spot, breaks apart.