I know we have a bunch of cat [del]owners[/del] staff on the Dope, so I’m hoping you can satisfy my curiosity. It’s not really pathetic that I found myself wondering about this, is it??
Regarding litter box chores:
[ul]How many cats and how many litter boxes do you have?
[li]How often do you scoop?[/li][li]Do you periodically dump out all the old litter and replace it with fresh?[/li][li]Do you just add as needed?[/li][li]Do your feline overlords just use the toilet like civilized beings?[/li][li]What litter box? They go outside as nature intended!![/li][/ul]
We’ve got one cat right now, but our daughter will be moving here in May with her tortie. I expect we’ll need to have a box for each cat since each is used to being an “only.”
For our little poop-machine, we have to scoop daily. Our last kitty was more refined - we could do every-other-day for her.
I think we do the big dump and replace every month or so. We found that just adding extra, even with a box deodorizer, didn’t quite do the job.
Toilet? I wish. Then again, he’s such a troublemaker, I could see him playing with the water and flushing our well dry.
Outside - no. He’s strictly an indoor kitty. We’ve been talking about screening in the front porch, and if we do, he’ll be allowed out there. But that’d be the limit.
We have two cats, who share a litter box. It’s quite a large one, and we use a very good kitty litter that deodorises and clumps very well. As a result, we change the litter once a week, with no scooping in between. They seem fine with it. They also do some business outside I’m sure, as they’re outside cats (at least during the day, and until it starts raining).
So yeah, fairly low maintenance for two adult male cats.
I have 3 cats who all share a large box. It gets scooped once a day, though the cats would probably prefer twice. Dump and refill twice a month.
There’s a scientific benefit to scooping every day: Some parasites (Toxoplasma is the one that leaps to mind) need a day or so of sitting in the deposited turd before they become infectious. Getting rid of the poo every day reduces the chance of infection.
Thanks for the education on Toxoplasma, Pullet. Honestly, I mostly think about scooping in terms of keeping the house from reeking of cat pee and poo. Infections never came to mind, other than knowing that pregnant women aren’t supposed to scoop cat poo. Now I know.
3 cats, one box. 2 of the cats go outside and I think do most of there business there. I try to scoop daily, call it 5 or 6 times a week. I have only had this chore for about 2 months and have replaced all the litter once. I started with cheap clay litter but went to scoopable a few weeks later. It is much easier to scoop and it doesn’t smell at all. I add to the box as needed. Roscoe, my male cat, lets me know when the box needs cleaning by using the bathtub instead of the litter box. This use to happen on a regular basis when I lived with my soon to be ex, it has happened only once since I now live by myself.
2 cats, 2 boxes. I try to remember to scoop every day (because if I don’t, the Lunabrat will remind me by peeing in front of the back door), and do a complete change every couple of weeks, using el cheapo scoopable litter from Aldi’s.
I have one open box and one enclosed box; Luna will only use the open box (and only if it’s completely clean - watching her try to balance on the edges of the container so her dainty feet don’t touch the soiled litter is hilarious), while Oreo has decided that the open box is for liquids and the enclosed one is for solids. Interestingly, Luna had no problem using the enclosed box before Oreo came along; I suppose the lid concentrates Oreo’s smell, or something. I can relate; I don’t like going into the bathroom right after my husband’s been in there on chili night, either.
I’ve thought about toilet training them, but there’s already three humans fighting over our one bathroom.
I’ve recently discovered flushable litter. Since the box is about 2 steps from the nearest toilet, I just scoop up and flush whatever’s there, maybe once or twice a day. I never replace all the litter, just add to it as needed.
I have two cats and two litter boxes, but the second one is just for when I need to shut them up in the bedroom (or when the stupid one closes the door.) Generally they use the Litter Robot, which spins when they’ve gone and dumps it into a thing that I have to empty out once a week. As long as I remember to do that, peace reigns in the household.
When I’ve forgotten, poop gets in the tracks of the machine and you just don’t. want. to. know.
Three cats (four, when my husband is home with his truck cat), and we have two very large litterboxes.
We scoop daily, and do a complete change every week (I also wash the litterbox with bleach and very hot water, before it gets refilled with fresh litter).
We use either Scoop Away, or Tidy Cats (depending which is on sale that week), clumping litter.
4 cats, 5 boxes. I scoop 2x daily and totally replace the litter once a month or two, basically whenever I notice it getting smelly/full of too small to scoop chunks. Someone here gave me this tip - use the largest scoop you can buy. It really does make it faster to scoop.
I use large sweater boxes sans lids as litter boxes. They are cheap and I can toss them when they get too scratched. I spray the insides of the boxes liberally with PAM cooking spray before filling them with litter to make it less likely for urine to stick to the sides of the boxes.
I stopped using covered boxes and scented litter after I read an article that these features are for people and some cats develop aversions to scents/going in closed boxes. I try to head any potential problems off before they happen, and so far I have not had any litterbox problems (knock on wood).
3 cats, 1 large box.
I recently switched from clumping litter to pine or the “yesterday’s news” with a liner. I like it so much better. I scoop poops out and just pull the bag out once a week for a complete change.
I thought I loved scoopable, clumping litter but it really got tracked everywhere.
Four cats, two boxes. I use compressed pine pellets with Sweet PDZ sprinkled in it. Two of the cats go outside. I empty the boxes once a week and none of the cats seem to take issue. One cat would urinate in the dryer if he could get in, but that’s a personal thing, not a litterbox issue.
Two cats, one litter box. I scoop daily; it’s the first thing I do when I get home. I change out all the litter very infrequently, only when I’ve let the litter get too low so there’s not much good litter left. I try not to let that happen often tho’; the kitties are happier with a deep litter box of quality litter.
[ul]How many cats and how many litter boxes do you have?
2 cats, 1 large litterbox. I use Everclean (I believe that’s the brand - blue box, I buy it at Petco). It’s pricey but clumps beautifully and is totally worth it.
[li]How often do you scoop?[/li]
Every morning.
[li]Do you periodically dump out all the old litter and replace it with fresh?[/li]
About twice a month
[li]Do you just add as needed?[/li]
I add litter if needed
[li]Do your feline overlords just use the toilet like civilized beings?[/li]
I have to keep the bathroom doors closed, Diego likes to play with the toilet paper, he can shred a roll in 30 seconds
[li]What litter box? They go outside as nature intended!![/li]
Kitties are strictly indoors.
one cat, one box. Scoop daily (sometimes every two days, depending on usage), I use a clumping litter so I add as needed but I do a full change every couple weeks.
Two cats, four large boxes kept in a back room of the basement. I fill them pretty deep with Tidy Cats (the one with the blue crystals) and I easily can go a week or more without scooping. Once a year I buy new boxes. They get pretty scratched up.
No accidents, except once I found a couple of turds in an upstairs bedroom. I think Rick (he’s 16) was just too tired to go all the way to the basement.
