Tittle says it all. I currently feed my critters Meow Mix. I let them “free feed” (By that I mean I keep a big bowl full at all times.) I figure this is OK as neither one of them are over weight.
But man, that said, these guys can fill up a litter box in no time flat. I bought a self cleaning litter box recently. The thing works great. The only problem is, the box claims that for two cats, I should be able to go 10 - 14 days between cleaning.
I’m currently doing twice a week. Something aint right here.
Are you talking about actually washing the box and replacing the litter? Or just scooping? Because twice a week is too often for the former, and waaaaay too long for the latter.
We have 7 cats. We feed them good but not super expensive food (Iams), scoop the litter boxes once a day, and clean them…oh, every 3 weeks to a month each (that much litter is expensive, so too-frequent full cleanings aren’t really practical). We’ve asked friends to tell us honestly if our house smells like cat and they tell us no, so I guess we’re okay.
And to answer the question I think you’re asking: yes, more expensive food leads to less poop, because there’s less filler and undigestable stuff in the higher quality food.
Consider that cats are obligate carnivores, and their ideal diet is whole mice, whole birds, small reptiles, bugs, and occasional grass or leaf nibbles here and there. Dry kibble-style cat food containing fillers such as rice, wheat, corn meal, and other things not animal-based is going to produce plenty of stuff the cats can’t digest out the other end. So the higher-quality foods with less fillers and more stuff cats are supposed to eat should produce less waste. It’s a theory, anyway. Talk to anyone who had fed the gamut to a multitude of cats, and the reality answers vary widely.
What I’m wondering is what kind of self cleaning box is it, I haven’t encountered one that requires emptying/cleaning so infrequently? I also haven’t looked into them as I’m content to scoop daily, so I just don’t know about them. I’m curious as to whether you’ve inspected the collection container to see just what it’s full of. Maybe it’s somehow collecting a bunch of unused litter and filling up prematurely? If it collects clumping litter, is there a ton of urine clumps in there, disproportionally so? A kitty with diabetes or kidney problems will drink a lot and urinate a lot. Part of why I prefer to scoop daily is that I can track whether someone’s peeing a lot or having trouble with poo (too loose, too firm, not going [and yes, I can tell which poo belongs to who, and generally where in the boxes which cat likes to pee - it’s the technician in me!]). I collect with a doggie-poop bag, so can tell whether there’s a larger or smaller amount per day than usual.
The first ingredient in Meow Mix is corn, the second ingredient is corn gluten meal, which provies protein, though not in a particularly digestible form for cats. Cats are obligate carnivores, so corn is not really high on he list of stuff they need. So, yeah, a more expensive, meat based food, rather than a corn based food would most likely result in more of said food being digested and less of it being passed through the cat essentially unused and ending up in the litter box.
We switched to catfoods that don’t have corn as any of the first four ingredients a couple years back, but I haven’t noticed less poop output. Happier cats, though.
I feed my cats and dogs raw animals only, so they produce very little waste (and what they do hardly smells). The cheaper the food, the more ‘filler’ it includes generally, none of which is digestible and which leads to voluminous stool.
Are you re-using it by emptying it and replacing the litter (I read a few reviewers who were doing this), or are you doing the complete switch-out, throwing out the whole under-thing and replacing with the proprietary pre-filled tray? If the latter, something’s not right, but heck if I would know what - maybe the crystals don’t agree with your particular cats and their chemistry or something, and they’re not deodorizing properly. Different cats also use the litter trays differently. I have one who digs an empty spot through the litter and pees directly onto the surface of the litter pan. If your kitty does this, scratching into the cardboard at the bottom and then peeing directly onto it, I would think the litter isn’t going to deodorize that. It looks like the poop-trap part is also cardboard - I can’t imagine it has much of a seal - I’m not sure how it’s supposed to lock in odors!
I tell people about the “system” I use - I collect with biodegradable doggie poop bags, and then use a Diaper Champ diaper pail lined with a bigger biodegradable kitchen trash bag. Tie the doggie bag shut, place in the Diaper Champ, and take that out when full. With four cats that’s about every 10 days.
So, I dunno. Maybe this just isn’t a system that works for your particular cats. Something else - some cats pee against the side of the litter box - I had one that went right on the edge and over to the outside occasionally, even with high-sided litter boxes. If urine is getting anywhere but in that catch-tray, there will be smell. Also be sure they’re really both using it consistently. Maybe one isn’t, and is going nearby instead. I’ve heard of the motorized trays causing litter box aversion in some cats. Maybe set up one plain litter box nearby? I know that defeats the reason for getting the automatic one in the first place, but if a cat isn’t liking it, it doesn’t matter.
My cats were free. The little bastards head to the litter box about 153 times a day with a cup of coffee, the newspaper, a bran muffin and a cigarette.
