Question of the Day, Friday, March 20

[Winchester]

Good morning!

Let's talk about scooping litter boxes.

How many litter boxes do you have and where are they in your house? What kind of kitty litter do you use? How often do you scoop the boxes? And what do you use for litter bags?

For our four kids, we have five litter boxes: One covered in the kitchen, One covered in the living room, One Booda Dome in the bedroom, One covered in the computer room, and One uncovered in the compute room. We started using Tidy Cats decades ago and have just kept using it; a few years ago, we did the switch to scoopable. We generally scoop once a day, although the time may vary. We keep extra bread and roll bags on hand and any other bags we have, even cereal bags, noodle bags, etc; when that fails, we use plastic grocery bags. I swear if somebody could figure out a way to actually use kitty poop, they'd be rich!

What about you? Talk to us about how you deal with kitty litter.

 

[Kat0121]

Two cats. Five boxes. They are in a spare room known as the cat room. We use a few kinds, A&H, Tidy Cats, Fresh Step,whatever works and is on sale really. The only kind I don't like (neither do they) and won't use is the Paws & Claws from TSC. It's way too dusty. I scoop daily and use plastic grocery bags.

 

[betsygee]

Three cats, four boxes. Two are in the Cat Room, one is in the catio and the last one is in our bathroom. That one is a pain. No matter how often I sweep and scoop, there's litter on the floor that I can't help but step on when I'm getting out of the shower or getting dressed. In fact, we were just talking about trying to move it to the Cat Room with the other boxes and see if our picky boy Rico can get used to using it in there. I don't think the other two cats will care. Wish me luck.

 

[artiemom]

One cat, one extra large box in bathroom, with a large litter mat underneath it.

I am always scooping. I do not know where it got it from, but Geoffrey always tells me when he has used the box.

If I am sitting on the toilet, he goes to the extreme of yelling at me, looking at me, and then sniffs the box!!! Such a weird cat!!

I use Precious Cats, Dr Elsey. I order it from Chewy. It seemed that each time I go to by it, at Petsmart or Petco, they are all out of the boxes. I cannot carry not do I have room for a 40 lb bag.

 

[susanm9006]

One cat, one box. For her first year with me I set out two boxes and did everything I could to convince her to use both boxes but she would just choose one or the other and use that box exclusively. So after a year I just got rid of the second box. I scoop a couple times a week and change the puppy pad I line the box with once a week. I use lightweight unscented litter.

I scoop into a plastic lined wastebasket and at the end of the week throw the liner in it before taking to the garbage.

 

[Micaela227]

I'm honestly surprised to read that most of you have multiple litter boxes. Here in Argentina we don't usually have more than one, exect if one of the cats have some kind of heath problem that requires that it uses it's own.
We have one litter box, for two cats, that its usually in the patio (I guess in english you call it courtyard? not sure), and at night we bring it inside into the kitchen, because the cats are not allowed to go out at night.
We try to keep it as clean as we can, scooping every night before taking it inside, and changing the whole thing once a week.
Also, we don't actually use litter? Or sand? I don't know how to explain, I'll take a picture.

 

[LTS3]

One box in the bathroom. I use Scoop Away. I scoop the box 3 times a day. I use plastic shopping bags and those free produce bags from the grocery store for the waste.

I swear if somebody could figure out a way to actually use kitty poop, they'd be rich!

I think toxoplasmosis is a concern with cat litter waste. I suppose it could be sterilized first and then used for compost or something The tv show Dirty Job had a segment where cow manure was turned into Earth-friendly decompostable planting / gardening pots.

 

[verna davies]

Two cats, two big litter trays both in corner area of the kitchen. I use pine pellets and scoop each time they are used, usually 5/6 times a day. I put dirty litter in biodegradable nappy bags and then into the rubbish bin outside.

 

[MonaLyssa33]

I just moved and bought a third box for my two cats. I managed to have two litter boxes in my studio apartment, but it wasn't fun. Now that I am in a house, I actually have room for a third. One is in, what will eventually be, my craft room. That one will probably get moved somewhere. One is in the basement in the room I first put my cats in so they could settle in. The third is temporarily in the kitchen because I'm not sure where I want to put it. I use Tidy Cat or the generic at Petsmart. I've tried other litters because they were cheaper but I was always disappointed. As for scooping, I use a Litter Genie, which is pretty awesome.

 

[sivyaleah]

2 boxes in our main bathroom. They are side by side to each other. We have the NVR MIss litterbox in purple which was a limited edition (LOL). They are very high sided, with a low easy entry. Got it when we had Casper because he was peeing a lot due to kidney disease and it really contained everything. I have to say now with Luna, our Maine Coon, her tail isn't fully contained in it - as tall as it is it's not quite as long as she needs so I'm considering a replacement.

We use Arm & Hammer Clump & Seal Multi Cat. Happy enough with it. Had used pine litter when our kitten was very small since she was raised on it but she made her own choice once she discovered our other cats litter boxes. I actually preferred the pine litter myself but Cocoa wasn't interested so we are using what they both like.

We scoop daily. Haven't needed to do more than that since it's 2 boxes and they aren't peeing or pooping so much that it's overwhelming nor stinky.

I buy small regular garbage bags, whatever brand is available, the kind that go into bathroom garbage pails. They are nice and tiny and the perfect size and they come with a lot of them in each box.

 

[maggiedemi]

How many litter boxes do you have and where are they in your house? What kind of kitty litter do you use? How often do you scoop the boxes? And what do you use for litter bags?

I use 2 litterboxes at a time, but I have a stash of like 16 I think. One is in the cat room, the other is in my dad's bedroom since Maggie sleeps with him. The spare ones are stacked down cellar. I scoop twice a day, morning & night. I use plastic grocery bags, but since they are outlawed now, I don't know what I will use when we run out! Probably a bucket.

I use 40 pound boxes of Special Kitty from Walmart. Sometimes I use BJ's Berkley & Jensen brand or Tractor Supply Paws & Claws brand.

 

[LTS3]

I buy small regular garbage bags, whatever brand is available, the kind that go into bathroom garbage pails. They are nice and tiny and the perfect size and they come with a lot of them in each box.

Dollar stores often sell rolls of small scented trash bags that works great for cat waste. The bags tend to be very very thin so you may need to double up the bags to hold the daily waste of multiple boxes / cats.

 

[Graceful-Lily]

How many litter boxes do you have and where are they in your house? What kind of kitty litter do you use? How often do you scoop the boxes? And what do you use for litter bags?

I have 3 litter boxes. One of the first platform of the steps going into the basement, another one at the bottom of the staircase, and another one further into the basement. I use Special Kitty litter but I prefer the Arm & Hammer Slide cat litter. Little to no dust and easier to clean. I scoop the litter boxes once a day sometimes but it really depends on how much they go. I use doggie bags sometimes or shopping bags (the plastics ones).

 

[Show Me Your Kitties]

I have two litter boxes. One is upstairs in my bedroom closet. The other is in the laundry room in the basement. They favor the one in my room. Lucky me lol

I use Smart Cat grass seed litter and So Phresh grass seed Litter.

I clean the boxes when I get home from work, and I either use plastic grocery bags or these little trash bags you can get at the dollar store.

 

[WillowMarie]

3 cats and 3 litter boxes. Kept in my bedroom, all right next to each other. I use Tidy Cats Free and Clean scoopable and it is unscented. Scoop morning and night. I use shopping bags, empty chip, tortilla and bread bags. The used litter bags normally go in an empty tidy cats pail with snapable lid until they get taken out to the garbage.

To stock up on shopping bags, I go to Walmart self-check out and bag all my bags 10x.... might look silly.... but it works to help me get free bags to use for litter!

 

[margecat]

Twelve (and as many as 13 once) cats. We keep the boxes in the attached garage--no way could I have that many cats with indoor litter boxes! We have a cat door in the laundry room door into the garage. We installed a double laundry sink, which is only used for litter boxes and rinsing paint brushes. It even has one of those restaurant kitchen dishwashing hoses. We dump and wash each litter box every day ; we normally don't scoop. We have six boxes, lined with paper grocery bags, and only use about half of the normal amount of litter, which we buy in 50lb. bags every week or two. This amount of boxes and litter seem to wrok best for the cats. I do check the boxes when I get home from work, and scoop when needed. We keep two stacks of pre-lined boxes at all times. I even bought 12 more, lined them, put ltter in them, and tash-bagged them up (to keep the cats from using them) in case one of us gets sick with the Corona Virus, and is weak. I know from prior illnesses that it was tiring to do the litter boxes when I was so weak and tired. I was so sick, I laid in bed worrying about whether I could get up and feed the cats, etc.

We keep a huge, covered wheeled trash can in the garage for dumping them. It got to be hard for DH to empty, so I suggested a smaller one that I could use when I have litter box duty due to his crazy work hours. I used to have to start a trash bag on the floor, and then dump the boxes into it,which is hard.

 

[NY cat man]

For our six, we have three covered litter boxes- one downstairs by the back door, and two upstairs in a spare room. We get Frisco litter from Chewy in 160 pound shipments, and the boxes get cleaned twice daily. We use the four gallon sized plastic bags to line waste baskets, and they go into the trash can twice a week.

 

[maeganj]

1 cat with 1 no frills catbox in our downstairs mud room. World's Best Cat Litter. Mostly flush down the toilet. I heard this is a no no because it kills fish but I live in the mountains and have our own septic so I'm not seeing the logic in that argument especially since he poops outside 99.9% of the time and buries it anyways, then my dogs pee on it... I maybe clean it twice a year because he prefers to go outside with our dogs. When we are away we have a pet sitter that will clean it daily and use grocery bags for collection to toss in our outside garbage in order to make our landfill contribution.

 

[aliceneko]

We have just one in the sitting room. Toffee and Fudge are pretty good at going to the toilet in the garden.

 

[EmersonandEvie]

Three cats, two boxes. We had three at one time but one never got used, so we gave up on it.

We use pine pellet litter in sifting boxes. They are currently residing in our guest bathroom bathtub that we never use. It's easy to contain the kicked out pellets and super easy to deep clean every few weeks. I sift the urine to the bottom pan twice a day and flush solids as needed (I personally am not worried about toxoplasmosis with strictly indoor kitties). We have pee pads to help preserve the plastic boxes. Those get changed out twice a week.

I wash out the bottom pan with the hose after tossing the pee pads and rotate those through. About once every two weeks, the boxes get deep cleaned with some enzymatic cleaner, sprayed with vinegar, and are left in direct sunlight to dry.