February 10th, 2010
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When you see a covered pile or a wet circle in the litter, tilt the box gently and slowly shake it so that all the dry litter falls away and you have just the wet clump waiting to be scooped. Scrape up the wet lump with the spoon. Put the spoon away, and shake the dry litter back so it forms an even layer in the pan. If you need to add a little more litter, now is the time. Even if the litter box is in the bathroom, you cannot risk flushing the dirty litter down the toilet, no matter what promises the manufacturer makes on the bag. So you have a couple of viable options – the main point being that scooping out the litter should be a five second maneuver with no muss, no fuss.
Radio show host and pet expert Tracie Hotchner is the author of The Dog Bible and The Cat Bible. Click here to follow her on Twitter. |
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Unless of course you have 4 large cats using the same litter box. I have found several solutions to this large problem. I have been using an extra large storage tote with high sides to prevent all that litter from hitting the floor when those darlings shake their feet. I scoop daily to prevent huge blocks of litter from forming. I also find using two types of scoopable litter helps to control the time between full box changing.
I use about 48 lbs for 4 cats every six weeks. I have recently used a cardboard box to raise the height of the sides and have hidden half the box inside an old end table and the top is perfect for the cats to sit on.
My advice is just to pretend you are playing in your old sand box =) My process has worked now for over 9 years.
great idea thanks…
Cat’s Pride Flushable is 100% safe for sanitary sewage systems, though I wouldn’t recommend any flushable litter for a cess pool.
I was suckered to getting an extra large one with high sides for our two cats who share just one box with no problems, except for rare times I get lazy in cleaning it in the usual schedule. I scoop to clean it 1x in the a.m. and 1 again at night.
My contribution to this posting is I use a plastic kitchen utensil (round/wide slotted spoon?) that I got from a dollar store. Improvise! In the same vein, why would one pay 2-3x as much for a small piece of door/floor mat to put in front on the litter box when you can get it 4x larger in size for the same money.
Tilting the box isn’t an option for me, so I bought a BIG heavy duty metal scoop (the best $15.95 investment I ever made!), take the top off the box and scoop, sift, drop in the (paper) bag. For six cats, I scoop 6-8 times a day. I used to have a nubbly plastic kitty litter mat in front, but my cats hated it so much they’d jump over it. Now I have a carpet square, easy to pick up and shake out over the trash.
I don’t get why I can’t flush the litter? I bye a biodegradable litter and it flushes nicely is it bad for the water system? I have in the pat kept a plastic shoe box linden with a shopping bag or a vegetable bag near the box or in a close cupboard to put the droppings in and eptied that once a day so as to reduce my work this worked nicly with no smell leaking out.
I got a metal french fry scoop at a yard sale for about 50 cents and that serves nicely as a litter scoop. I clean out the high-sided box twice a day and the tumble litter box (I forget its exact name) once a day, pull out its tray and dump it into the toilet AFTER I’ve flushed it and the vortex has formed. I don’t want any clogs there.
Flushing litter is truly bad for the whole eco-system – not just your own plumbing but whee the water goes when it leaves your house. So please flush only the actual feces if you wish to, but not the litter itself. I love everybody’s ideas about different scoopers – and I am amazed you have multiple cats all willing to use one box, since my “rule” in THE CAT BIBLE to avoid out-of-litter-box problems is “one box per cat plus one for the house.” I can tell you that over-filling the litter box makes for a bigger mess outside and even causes some cats to avoid the box because they don’t like the “sinking feeling.” one and half inches of a quality litter is the recommended amount – a company like Precious Cat that makes Cat Attract and other litters has a great free “litter box solutions” booklet you can request from them with lots of good tips.