I’ve recently been made the stepfather to a couple of cats. We have the litter boxes in the basement on a cement floor so it not a really big deal, but the cats seem to enjoy emptying the litter boxes onto the floor.
I’m not sure how this happens. It could be overzealous burying or maybe just having litter stuck to their feet when they get out of the box.
So, this question is two parts.
What causes the litter on the floor problem?
Can it be prevented?
On a side note - I don’t know if covered litter boxes would help, but it doesn’t matter. These cats, when given the choice of using a covered litter box, will choose anywhere else as a better place to do their business.
In my experience, if there’s a lot of litter on the floor, it’s the result of overzealous digging. A friend of mine had this problem with his cat, and he found a cardboard box big enough to accommodate the pan with a couple of inches around it, then cut the sides down so they were low enough for the cat to get over, but too high for the cat to fling the litter over the sides.
I have three cats. Two of them are dainty when they bury their stuff but the middle cat (Fantasia aka psycho kitty) likes to kick the litter about as though she’s digging a hole to Chine in a real hurry.
They will get litter stuck to their little feet too, especially if it’s the clumping kind of cat litter.
Like this. It took about $20 worth of materials - we used prefinished shelving, and that plywood-like stuff for walls on the bottom (looks like sand on the bottom, but it isn’t). Some glue and screws to hold everything together, and that’s it.
At the recommendation of the shelter workers from whom we adopted kitty #2, we switched over to Feline Pine. The little pine nuggets don’t stick to kitty feet the way regular litter can. Transitioning a cat from clay/clumping litter can be a challenge, but it’s possible - just mix a little of the Feline Pine in with the regular litter, and slowly increase the ratio of Feline Pine to normal litter until it’s all pine.
We replaced our litterbox with a large Rubbermaid storage container (like this one, sans lid). The walls are high enough that kitty can’t kick litter outside of the box, but still low enough for kitty to jump in and out easily. No real trick to getting them used to using it, just threw in a thin layer of already used litter so it smelled familiar, then put them in the box a couple of times.
We do the deep bin thing, too. We have four kitties. Also, we put a small throw rug (shag) by the kitty box. It catches a lot of the litter that they carry out with them. Then you can just shake that over the litter box.
I switched to generic feline pine pellet litter and it doesn’t track nearly as much as clumping litter. My kitty actually prefers her covered box, so I don’t have that problem. Before I had the covered box, and I lived in a little tiny apartment where I put her litterbox inside a closet and most of the litter stayed in the closet. I also followed another Doper’s suggestion of very shallow litter…about 1" deep. Four inches, like litter bags suggest, just gives Fluffy more ammo and puts it closer to the rim. I don’t even scoop much anymore, since I am not using much litter to begin with, I just dump and refill every week or 10 days.
My mother put the litter pans in a larger, cardboard box, with high sides around it-with one side cut out so they can get into it, of course! You can also use the lid of the box on the other sides for a screen, sort of.
We also use a large-ish Rubbermaid storage container (with the added bonus that it came with a lid, that you can use to cover the litterbox if there is ever a need).
My husband’s cat makes a hobby out of moving all the litter to one side of the box. I say one side of the box, but it is basically outside the box by the time she’s done (on the small, secondary box, not the big Rubbermaid one). My cat scratches the wall behind the box, completely missing her deposits. Cats and their bathroom habits - you could write a book.
If my experiences are anything to go by I strongly recommend you excavate a large pit in the basement.
The pit should be at least 20 feet deep and 10 feet in diameter. Install a small elevator on one side. Train the cats to press the elevator button when they wish to perform lavatorial activities. Then pour about 25 bags of cat litter into the pit. Thus the problem is solved.
I give you my personal guarantee that even the most enthusiastic cat, try as it may, will fail to disperse any of the litter onto the basement floor.
