When we got our cat, Mr. Whia insisted that we get an automatic cat box. We first tried one that was round, but it kept getting out of balance and not scooping. I took it back and got a Litter Maid. That is the best damn hundred bucks I have ever spent on a cat. I use Big Bucket 'O Clumping Litter from my warehouse store, and I change the container in the box about once a week. Tha containers can be emptied and reused, but I guesstimate the cost of the container at about $1.00 a week.
I met a crazy lady who owned 12 cats ( and ran a used book store out of her house.) ( Caseville, Michigan, in case you are in the area.)
I could not beleive she had all those cats ( most were in hiding) because the house did not smell at all. At all.
She said she used a special litter from Canada that had ( I think) baking soda in it and she couldn’t get it here.
Back when I lived alone and did the boxes myself, I just used non-clumping litter and just changed it all when the smell became apparent.
I found two things that greatly increased this interval. One was using a covered cat box. The other was using the “long-lasting odor control” formula from Tidy Cats.
I had some of the deodorizer, but I never thought to use it until the smell was really apparent, and it really didn’t help any at that point.
I do the same thing - trash bag under the litter, dump it all regularly.
The wood pellet litter most grocery stores sell are a bit more expensive than the clumping clay kind, but don’t stink as quickly. Also, it doesn’t stick to carpeting or linoleum like some clay litter will when wet.
…and what did she say when you told her you only had one pussy?
I was using World’s Best Cat Litter (corn-based), which produced no smell, clumped very well, and the cats liked it. I’ve heard good things about Swheat Scoop, so I bought a bag of that, and since the cats are willing to use it I’ve stuck with it, as it’s half the price of WBCL. It doesn’t clump quite as well, IMO, but well enough for my purposes, and it also is very effective in keeping odor down.
Ack. I also wanted to put in a comment about the various brands of aforementioned silica crystals. I don’t use them myself, as they’re non-edible and non-clumping, but some friends of mine who have five cats and two litterboxes swear by the stuff, saying that it eliminates odor entirely, which I can verify is true. One of the litterboxes is in a small bathroom, and even after a steady succession of cats have been using it all day, it is still odorless.
$10 a week (one cleaning), you provide the litter.
I’m in the boonies, 8 miles from the nearest real town. I think $10 is more than reasonable for 10 minutes work, but you’d have travel time, so maybe $10 wouldn’t be enough.
If you had an efficient route with lots of customers, you could probably charge less and still make money.
Combine it with dog-walking or bathing and you could charge more, make it worth your time.
Two cats, one covered box, cheap store brand clumping litter, and sometimes I mix some baking soda in. I’m going to look into those crystals. We use half a box of litter (maybe 4 inches) scoop every day, and dump and clean it when the level gets low. I’ve been thinking of using a trash bag to line the box, but one of my kitties loves to lick plastic bags.
The stuff we buy costs $7 for about three months’ worth.
Second vote for the Litter Maid. LOVE IT. Hubby (he took over cat box duties when I started trying to get pregnant) only has to change the container every couple weeks, since Scooter spends some of his time in the backyard and so doesn’t use the box as much as if he were indoors all the time. You do have to keep an eye on the box from time to time to make sure the rake isn’t getting mucked up, but otherwise the thing is effortless. We use Fresh Step, since that’s what Mister Stinkypants prefers, but I believe any good clumping litter will work fine.
One suggestion is to get a covered litter box with a charcoal filter (Boodabox or a knock-off). They work very well at hiding the odor, the cat gets some privacy, and no one has to look at kitty poop.
The best clumping I’ve used is Litter Clean from Sam’s. 40 lb container.
We use a litterbox that has three parts: two solid pans and a sieve-bottomed pan. Instead of scooping, you lift the sieve pan up out of the solid pan, dump it out, put it in the other pan, then transfer the sand. It’s a lot better than scooping (no playing hide-and-seek). Even though we use really crappy kitty litter that doesn’t clump very well, it keeps things reasonably clean. Our cats are pretty picky though and demand that their box is cleaned every day.
I’ve tried them all and Target brand clumping in a covered litterbox is what works for me and the furry monsters.
Maybe I’ve had strange cats, though. I change the box every other week, no scooping. The cats like it fine and there’s no smell, though there’s always litter on the floor thanks to the one cat who doesn’t understand which direction to face when burying her business.
Yeah, that’s the stuff! Big Bucket 'O Cat Litter! Works great!
I recently switched to the pine pellet type litter. My kitty didn’t like it at first, but I mixed it in gradually until she got used to it. I had been using the clumping variety, but in the move, her litter box got moved to a carpeted area. Since she scatters the clumping stuff all over the place, and it is impossible to get out of carpet, I had to go with something else. I also have a covered kitty box with the carbon filter in the top. My cat is ‘overzealous’ in her attempts to bury her business.
Also, thanks to someone here (I forget who and where, but thanks!) I have gone to only using about an inch of litter in the box instead of the 4 that the manufacturer recommends. I pick poo every day or two with either plastic glove or with a baggie over the hand (like you would clean up after your dog) and dump the whole box when the scent shifts from piney fresh to soiled kitty box, about 1.5 to 2 weeks. I don’t scrub the box, just upend the litter into a garbage bag and add a fresh inch back. $7 of litter lasts me about 2 months with one cat. I saved the buckets that the clumping stuff came in to put the pine pellets in for easy access/storage.
Johnny Cat, any type… the multicat one works well.
This is for one cat… but more importantly three Ferrets.
If it can keep up with Ferret poop x3… it can keep up with 1 cat.
Gotta go with World’s Best. Not only does it clump, but you can flush it! (A feature nobody has mentioned about any of their other brands that I’ve noticed).
Keep it right next to the toilet, and just plop them in. Never once have had a problem with clogging up the toilet–it breaks down quickly, easily, and problem free.
I’ve used the Tidy Cat Clumping, and the Arm & Hammer. The kids like them, and when I’ve had to use anything else, I got a cat revolt.
Scarlett pees and poops wherever there’s a box. Marty is a finicky boy. At the last house, their box was in the closet with the furnace and he had to have his own box in a back bedroom because the noise from the fan bothered him. Now it’s next to the washing machine, and we have to time laundry with after he’s done his bidness. Marty’s a true pussy.
Cuervo (because you wanted me to bring him up again, right?) has a disposable thingee in his private loft and he’s using it like a champ. It’s also got the clumping stuff. I fear that once he’s out in the general cat population that we’ll have to go to a second box somewhere upstairs, which I don’t like, but the stress of Marty and the washing machine, and the appearance of Cuervo almost demands it.
Another fan of Feline Pine here, or the PetSmart equivalent. Just recently I was out of litter, and picked up some of the clay kind at the grocery store, and oh, boy, what a difference! The clay litter smelled bad almost right away; my pine stuff just controls odors so much better!
I only have one cat right now, male, in a covered cat box. I buy a big bag of the PetSmart pine and pour in, oh, an inch or so. I don’t usually have to scoop, although you can flush it, a big plus in my book. I change the box every week, unless he’s been outside a lot. If I see a lot of pellets left whole, I might just scoop and pour a little more in. A big-ish bag will last me two months or more for roughly $8USD.
I don’t line the box, because I used to have a digger. She’d get in there and dig like she was headed for China, and shred every liner I’d ever tried.
In my experience, the clumping litters break apart, leaving the smell of urine in the box. Same problem with the automatic litter box, plus they never seem to work quite right, so you have this fine, sticky litter everywhere but in the little plastic tub. I just haven’t been impressed.