Maintaining the litter box

[tightlacedboots]

I searched for this topic but the last thread I found was created years ago so rather than post on that one I made a new one.

Do you wear gloves?

How fast do you go through litter? We bought a 40lb of Cat Attract and I filled up the litter box close to 3 inches deep (as I thought was recommended) but that meant I ran out of litter immediately! Like 2.5 litter box changes.

How often do you dump/wash the box and start over? I was doing it about once a week but now am wondering if I should do it less as long as I maintain a deep box?? Just wondering after reading this link someone else shared: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=litterbox#Cleaning_the_Litter_Box: 

In that link they offered a "2-3 item" rule saying to scoop if there are 2-3 items. This leads to my next question... how many "items" should a kitten produce a day? It seems like I need to scoop at least 2x a day though I haven't always done that. I am just wondering if my kitten goes more than normal or if it is normal to scoop 2-3x a day (following that guideline, that is).

Thanks for the input.

 

[Willowy]

I don't wear gloves. Hands are washable :lol3:. I suppose it would be a good idea for those who are pregnant or have immune problems to wear gloves though.

I think most adult cats pee 2-3 times a day and poop once a day. Kittens are bound to go more than that because they eat more per pound. You can add another litterbox if you want things to stay cleaner without scooping so much.

In general, if you use scooping litter and scoop it every day, you only have to change it and scrub the box once a month or so. You might have to add a bit every week to keep it deep enough. And if there are any smears or pee up the side of the box, wiping it with a damp paper towel will keep it from getting smelly without doing a full scrub.

I use a full 20-pound jug to fill each litterbox. So, yeah, it does use a lot of litter to keep it deep enough. But if you only change it once a month it's not so bad.

 

[tightlacedboots]

I feel a little better now, thanks. I haven't been wearing gloves all the time, thinking that I'd go through them way too fast. I'm am obsessive hand-washer, actually. I got a new scoop with a longer handle since the one that came with the box is so small. But the thing is it seems like little clumps get stuck in the scoop slots more often now vs the old scoop which had the opposite problem... too many things not being picked up due to the large holes.

I had not been adding as I go (just during changes) but that may be a good way to maintain the depth and avoid a full change so often. The litter we are using is a clumping litter. At the very beginning of using this bag of litter I was using a plastic shoe box so my math was an estimate on how many boxes' worth of litter since we are using a "real" litter box now. It was probably closer to 2 than 2.5 (which would be on par with your 20lbs per box). I wanted the current box to be deeper but I ran out and I don't know if I want to layer the top with another brand which I have at the house. I am going to place an order for more litter right now.

 

[irinasak]

I do not use gloves and never thought about using, as I do not use gloves when I use the bathroom myself and I wouldn't use if I had a newborn baby and I had to deal with his daily toileting. I do wash my hands a lot though

I have three litterboxes, quite big, and I go through a 40 lbs bag in one month, maybe a bit less (25 days). I change the entire litter and wash the litterboxes twice a month.

I scoop as often as necessary, trying to stick with one item/litterbox. I do not like the thought of my cats stepping in a dirty litterbox. With three cats, that is about 12 weewees and 5 poohs in 24 hours. My two 10 months old kittens poo a lot as they seem to eat a lot

My one and a half years old princess goes once a day if all ok (she is prone to constipation). That doesn't mean I scoop 17 times, but I go though each litterbox at leas twice a day. And the moment one litterbox is clean, someone goes in and uses it *sigh*. And then I scoop again.

 

[tammyp]

Re your scooper, I read a tip once to use a metal egg flipper/spatula.  You know, the kind you turn eggs with when frying.  And that is all I have ever used - seems to work great, has a long handle, is metal so you can keep it cleaner than plastic which can harbour bacteria in scratches (I just use an oxygen bleach spray - not normal chlorine bleach - or a vinegar/water spray and spray and wipe the spatula every so often/if it gets dirty).

I scoop 2x day, more if I'm present during a no. 2 deposit.  I generally go on 1xpoo a day as healthy.  More (according to my vet) is a bit not normal, less is fine if they are on a raw diet as there is just a lot less rubbish ingested.  Wees are 2-3 a day, just based on experience, not a vet discussion.

 

[GoldyCat]

I use large sterilite tubs rather than regular litter boxes, 6 tubs for 7 cats. I like to keep the litter 4"-6" deep so the pee rarely gets all the way to the bottom before it clumps. When I fill the clean boxes it takes one 27# bag for each box, then another 2 bags per month to keep them topped up. I think that works out to about 30# per cat for the first month. I wipe down the sides whenever there is something stuck to them, otherwise I only do a full litter change and cleaning every 2-3 months, so that's about 7-8# per cat for the additional months.

 

[elsaborasiatico]

Seconding the Sterilite tubs -- they are very stable if you keep a good amount of litter in them, and they're far cheaper than pet store litter boxes. I do wear gloves, for no other reason than the ick factor of having to occasionally pick up a piece of poop or clumped urine. I also started using these metal litter scoops  after breaking a couple of the cheap plastic scoops, and I've been pretty happy with them -- you can do some vigorous scooping with these! However, having said that, I just saw these mesh scoops on Amazon, and they look even better for sifting litter, so I may try this out.

 

[elsaborasiatico]

(Actually, now that I look more closely at that scoop, the mesh might be too fine to be useful for anything but very fine-grained litter.)

 

[fhicat]

 
I searched for this topic but the last thread I found was created years ago so rather than post on that one I made a new one.

Do you wear gloves?

How fast do you go through litter? We bought a 40lb of Cat Attract and I filled up the litter box close to 3 inches deep (as I thought was recommended) but that meant I ran out of litter immediately! Like 2.5 litter box changes.

How often do you dump/wash the box and start over? I was doing it about once a week but now am wondering if I should do it less as long as I maintain a deep box?? Just wondering after reading this link someone else shared: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=litterbox#Cleaning_the_Litter_Box: 

In that link they offered a "2-3 item" rule saying to scoop if there are 2-3 items. This leads to my next question... how many "items" should a kitten produce a day? It seems like I need to scoop at least 2x a day though I haven't always done that. I am just wondering if my kitten goes more than normal or if it is normal to scoop 2-3x a day (following that guideline, that is).

Thanks for the input.

I wear gloves. I have to walk towards the other end of the apartment complex every day to dump the poop bag.

I bought a 40 lb bag of World's Best almost two months ago and still have some left in it, probably for another couple of weeks. I fill 3 - 4 inches.

I don't dump and wash the box. I probably should, but haven't gotten around to it. If it's deep enough you probably don't have to do it every week. Every month should be good enough.

I try to scoop twice a day, but Jed doesn't produce much items, so a lot of times there is nothing for me to scoop. Twice a day is normal for one cat.

 

[jcat]

I don't wear gloves. The box is scooped a minimum of three times a day (but checked more often) and dumped, steam cleaned and refilled every three weeks, though it could probably go longer. We go through a 15 kg. (33 lb.) bag of fine clumping litter every three weeks. Since the box is big, that only fills it to a depth of 3 to 3.5 inches.

Mogli only uses one box and had major digestive problems (he has IBD) when we got him, including an overgrowth of E coli, so I probably overdo litter box duty with him out of habit.