Need recommendations for HIGH back litter boxes

[otto]

Originally Posted by katladee

astroturf doormats?! what a great idea!!

I used those for a while when Ootay

had her litter box upstairs in my bathroom, but the other cats wouldn't step on them, so once Ootay went to the Brige I stopped using them.

Instead I use a large "industrial" type doormat I get at Home Depot. It picks up everything. the only drawback is it has to be vacuumed rather than shook out.

 

[ritz]

Do these doormats have a special backing on them that keep them from sliding? Ritz is pretty agressive when it comes to burying and jumping out of the litter box. I put down a bathmat with a plastic backing and it moved when she got onto it, spooking her. (Though 30 minutes later she threw up on it instead of the carpet so it was good for something!)

 

[otto]

This is the one I use:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

Maybe I got it at Lowes. They both have them but one store had them for a little less than the other. Of course prices can be higher on line sometimes, the one I got was $15 and change

 

[piikki]

Originally Posted by otto

This is the one I use:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1...atalogId=10053

Maybe I got it at Lowes. They both have them but one store had them for a little less than the other. Of course prices can be higher on line sometimes, the one I got was $15 and change

My mat is probably exactly the same. I use shop vac until the mat gets too grungy and then just get new one. It stays in place well but then again we have 4 boxes to nail it down too

Btw, I prefer Sterilite boxes to Rubbermaid. Seems like the plastic is less porous material and little easier to keep clean. Altho every time I find a good size and go to get another one it seems like they discontinued the size.

Right now I am planning to move into couple of inches higher too. Teppo is sometimes hitting the upper edge. None of my boys mind jumping into high boxes - I think they actually like the security of doing their business in the tall boxes. It's funny though when two of them still manage to paw the wall to 'cover' when the box is nearly up to their arm pits

 

[otto]

Must....paw.....wall....at....all....costs.....must...paw....wall.....

 

[papiamento]

Did you ever find a solution to Ritz's standing and peeing routine. We have the exact same problem with Richie (Richmond). He starts squatted but very frequently "rises to the occasion."

We are a 10 cat, three large box household.

Like you, the dome-lidded Booda Box doesn't work and for the same reason, plus round boxes are harder to clean and for several of our bigger kids, simply too small.

We are considering a 20 gallon RubberMaid tote that we can cut down the front edge a little for an entrance way. Problem here is that the bottom is not flat inside, but has raised portions - which will make cleaning difficult. One solution we thought about is if there is some kind of pourable plastic or acrylic that can even up the floor and harden to liquid resistance and scrape-able when cleaning, that would be the perfect solution. The 20 gal totes from Rubbermaid are 15" high, but I think that would work for Richie.

How did you resolve your problem with Ritz?

 

[ritz]

Yea, Ritz is like that, sometimes she starts small and grows taller as she pees. Other times, she squats like a normal girl should
Honestly, she's been peeing standing up so long I just learned to work around it. But, wow, 10 cats and three litter boxes, I could see where the time to clean up after your cats and in particular Richie would add up.
I do know what you mean about the raised portions. And you're right, it does make clean the litter box more difficult. But I couldn't find any other kind of Rubbermaid type container that had a totally flat surface that was also at least 17" high. (Yes, I measured how high Ritz' stream is.) A smaller rather than larger scoop helps to dig the used litter out of the crevices.
I'm a neophyte / helpless 80 pound female when it comes to handyman/woman stuff, so I don't know if there is any kind of pourable plastic that can even up the flooring. But if there is any kind of gap between the pourable plastic and the floor of the container, urine could stream in there and eventually stink. That's a similar problem I ran into with the covered domes.
BTW: Ritz litterbox is in the shower stall (I take baths). I close the doors all the way, leaving an opening a little larger than her. Sometimes I put down puppy pads in front of the litter box. If she pees with her rear end towards the opening, the urine goes on the floor of the shower stall and sometimes underneath the box, rarely down the drain. I mention the puppy pad in case that's another option or an additional step that would help with Richie.

 

[andrya]

l have the opposite problem, one of my boys has to "perch" on the opening of the box, so l can't use anything with a cut down opening, it has to be a brimmed litterbox.

Anyway, l saw these one day at Canadian Tire (l'm sure they're sold elsewhere too) and considered getting one for the other two cats. l noticed they are perfectly flat on the bottom and come in various sizes:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/kis-omni-box-50-l-0424227p.html#.UrRUJfRDt8E

 

[papiamento]

A friend of mine who makes countertops says that Lowes or Home Depot should carry a pourable countertop urethane. Tape on the outside of any holes. Pour the goo until the raised portions are covered and let it dry. The goo will fill the holes and harden. Pee pads will not resolve the urine on the underside of the box necessitating a box swap. We have three large boxes in use and three clean spares for swapping. We remove content twice a day at the very least. Imagine filling a plastic grocery twice a day.

 

[papiamento]

plastic grocery bag twice a day

 

[Anne]

These boxes are so popular, I've added them to our litterbox Reviews section. Would love to see some reviews of them there!
[product="19165"]Kis Clear Omni Box  [/product][product="18992"]Sterilite Storage Box  [/product][product="19164"]Rubbermaid Storage Box  [/product]

 

[maewkaew]

Here is one that I  bought because i had a very long-bodied , long-legged cat who often peed standing up,  or almost -- anyway,  he didn't aim down in the litter.

  This worked great for him.    I'm sure some of those storage bins cut like this would also work.  but this was not too expensive -  about  - $18 --  ( I bought it at a cat show so I didn't have to pay shipping -- and I didn't even have to cut the bin and smooth the edges . 

NVR-Miss-Litterbox.jpg

• maewkaew
• Dec 23, 2013

 

Here is the link for the company   http://nvrmiss.com/index.php

  &  here is a review on a blog   http://consciouscat.net/2011/09/20/nvr-miss-the-perfect-litter-box/

 

[jmh42]

Newbie here. I share your grief at vertical pee-ers, have about 3 of them. Which isn't bad, out of 18 cats. Yes, 18. All inside. I know, I'm crazy. But they keep dropping cats off in my neighborhood, and somebody has to care for them. Anyway, I've used the tote litter boxes for about 6 months, great solution for the vertical issue, but I'm still perfecting the opening, have one that pees out the doorway, need to make it smaller. It's a work in progress. I only have 2 litter boxes, one made of a 20 gallon tote that was hanging around and missing a lid so I had nothing to lose, the other is a HUGE 50 gallon size that's about 3 feet long, it holds 100 pounds of litter without trying, but is really awkward to clean, so I'm thinking of replacing it with 3 smaller totes, if I can get them into the same space. I scoop twice a day, I know what you mean about filled grocery bags.

 

[asherdash]

Petsmart has several high sided litter boxes. I think Natures Miracle is the brand I bought

 

[jmh42]

Looked at Petsmart, none high enough for my guys.  Totes have solved the problem, just have to get the opening issues straightened out.  Totes are cheap enough to play with, keep trying new designs.

 

[andrya]

 
Looked at Petsmart, none high enough for my guys.  Totes have solved the problem, just have to get the opening issues straightened out.  Totes are cheap enough to play with, keep trying new designs.

Have you tried a top opening? l have a friend with a giant Maine Coon who was way too big for a regular litter. She has a tote for him with a square cut out of one half of the lid. He drops down into the litter, then back up onto the "roof", or lid, to get out. Similar to this:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Kitty-Litter-Box/?lang=de

 

[papiamento]

I am going to post the contents of two emails I had with Harold, maker of the NVR Miss.

Start from the bottom with my first inquiry, his first response, my reply and his second response - which I found quite informative - especially the problem with storage totes.

We are likely going to get three boxes with the extensions. I'll post our experience.

(remember to scroll to the bottom FIRST to play follow the thread)

Hello Terry

Thank you for your reply and questions. I want to take this opportunity to share some insight that I have, with regards to the the topic of litter boxes in general, and in particular the problem of missing, or peeing over the top.

The wall extensions are made by cutting off the bottom of an existing litterbox and trimming the opening. I make them from a non sellable litterbox, where there is a bit of material missing at the rim from an incomplete fill during the molding process.
There is no charge for them if a customer buys a litterbox from us and their cat clears the top. Most of the time the problem relates to overfilling with litter. Some customers insist on payment, but generally I am reluctant to charge for them.
The issue in a multi cat house hold, is how do you get the super high peer to use the litterbox with the wall extension, and the only practical way is to put wall extensions on all the litterboxes.

I have read the posts on The Cat Site that you are referring to and your group is a subset of cat owners dealing with this super high peer problem. It may not seem like it to you, but relatively speaking it is quite rare. I do not mention the wall extensions on our site, expecting customers to contact us if there is a problem, and compared to sales, the ratio is less than 0.002, so our litterbox, as is, works for almost all situations.

I can tell you that almost always, the problem of a super high peer is a neutered male. The family with the twin box setup has four neutered male cats, and the youngest one is the problem. This family fosters cats, and he was abandoned at a shelter. They did not realize he had this issue until they brought him home. Well, he is a wonderful cat with a great temperament, so he is part of their family now. Their issue and our solution got me thinking, and I realized that it is simply not natural for a cat to be such a super high peer, and that something else was causing it. My suspicion is that a neutering operation that was performed incorrectly is at the root of this cat's super high peeing problem.

On some level, we do not compete with other litterboxes. Our competition is actually storage containers, and I want to say a few words about that. I fully understand the appeal of using them, and their low cost is their greatest appeal. The issue though is a case of penny wise and pound foolish. The cost of a litterbox is a minute fraction of the cost of the litter that goes in there on an annual basis.
Storage containers have two main drawbacks. They are designed for stiffness and have recesses and protrusions on the bottom, that impede cleaning. Typically then, a much higher level of litter is used to compensate, and when a clump works its way into a corner or the floor, it is obliterated when trying to get it out, polluting the rest of the litter.
The other drawback is the texture on the plastic. Some are smooth, but for the most part the mold surfaces of storage containers are machined, then finished just enough to get the machining marks out and then bead blasted. This leaves a rough surface and leads to the myth that plastic absorbs cat urine. What actually happens is that urine sprayed on the walls becomes trapped in the microscopic valleys and dries there. The result is the smell of dried urine and difficulty in getting the surface clean, and ties in with the previous problem.

Our litterbox has a mirror finish on the core, which creates the inside surface.

There are subtle elements that work together to make this product better than I though possible. Customers, knowledgeable cat bloggers, cat breeders and exhibitors at cat shows, cat rescues, cat boarding businesses and feline only veterinarians agree. Cat people know!

If you wish to share the information regarding the wall extensions with The Cat Site, please do.

Thank you
Harold
NVR Miss Litterbox

----- Original Message -----
From: Terry
To: Harold
Sent: Tuesday, December 24, 2013 3:57 AM
Subject: Re: Reply from NVR Miss Litterbox

These look like the tops without the bottoms molded in?

How much are they?

Do I have your permission to post your pricing and description of the extensions on The Cat Site? ( members are already touting your box as a solution)

Terry

"Love 'em anyway and DUCK when they swing!"

On Dec 23, 2013, at 10:45 PM, Harold wrote:

Hello Terry

Thank you for your inquiry. I can understand your frustration in not being able to find an ideal solution that works for your situation.

In any design, compromises are made to balance competing requirements. That it work is the most important one, with price or value being a close second. There is no question that it works as intended and the feedback from customers is nearly 100% positive.

On occasion though, the problem of the extremely high peer comes forth and we have a solution for that. We expect our customers to contact us if there is a problem, and on the rare occasion that a cat clears our litterbox, we make a wall extension that can raise the walls to nearly 18 inches. It is effective but not very pretty. This was a solution for a 4 cat household where one of the cats had this super high peeing problem. The extensions are attached with sticky backed Velcro.



I want to address the economic aspect. A litterbox sized to 24 X 18 X 15 high would cost in the neighborhood of $60 or more when shipping is factored in, and be totally uncompetitive with the current storage bin solution.

Thank you
Harold
NVR Miss Litterbox

----- Original Message -----
From: Terry
To: NVR Miss Litter Box Orion Precision Ltd.
Sent: Monday, December 23, 2013 8:34 PM
Subject: Enquiry from NVR Miss Litterbox: high wall cat litter box with center entrance

Please consider engineering a larger and taller box, maybe 24x18x15 high. At those dimensions, I would order six immediately and based on what I am reading on The Cat Site, you'd have a lot of sales of the larger box - maybe even outselling the original.

We're a 10 cat family and some of our kids are quite tall and like to "rise to the occasion" when peeing.

How hard is a new design, not to replace the NVR Miss, but as a "Seriously NVR Miss" jumbo box?

As I said, I'd buy 6 on the spot for the jumbo and could easily envision a $35.00 price tag not being an obstacle for those of us routinely cleaning the walls and floors around the box as well has having to swap out the box to wash the underside.

 

[buddy5000]

I hear 30 gallon with an entrance cut out is the best.

 

[Anne]

Thanks for taking the time to find out more about the [product="19169"]Nvr Miss Litterbox High Wall Cat Litter Box With Center Entrance​[/product]  and sharing the info with us @papiamento  !

I added the product to our Reviews section, so whoever owns one, please do share your review - 
[product="19169"]Nvr Miss Litterbox High Wall Cat Litter Box With Center Entrance  [/product]

 

[otto]

I disagree with the NVR Miss litter box representative in one aspect, and if he read this thread he would realize his comment is not accurate. He stated

I can tell you that almost always, the problem of a super high peer is a neutered male

My high pee-ers and in fact many who have posted in this forum (and other forums I have read in) are spayed female cats.