Am I being disgusting? Litter tray cleaning!

[QuestionableMouse]

My friend and I both have cats. She uses half a bag of litter per day and empties completely every morning. (so all the litter is dumped and completely new litter added.)

I put a good amount of litter in about once a week and then scoop/top up as needed.

She thinks I'm disgusting and it's unhygienic. I think she's being really wasteful.

Who's right? 😂

I'm the same as you, I have three cats who can come and go in the day, but are kept in overnight, three litter trays. I use Catsan, poo pick as needed (one cat insists on coming inside to poo), and full litter change twice a week. I do put a good thick amount in. I'd prefer to use clumping, but they won't use it, they are rescue cats, set in their ways. I've found that cheaper cat litter is a false economy as it needs changing more regularly so ends up costing more. I get through about 30litres (big bag and a half) every week, depending on the weather - they won't go out in the rain. The cheap stuff (Tescos own) I probably was changing every day, it stank really quickly. Could this be an explanation?

I just think changing everyday is really unnecessary and it can't be great for the environment to chuck away all that litter on a daily basis!

I was like your friend OP as overly twitchy about smells in a small flat etc.

Then I got sent a rescue boy who pees like a race horse & chucking a bin liner full of catsan away every day struck me as being ludicrous on the environment for one

Now use a mixture of supermarket super clumping litters & it's fab. Scoop out pee 'cakes' as needed daily (solids here rarely thankfully) & change the whole lot once a month.

Was totally paranoid about 4 weekly total clean but no smells ((have dragged honest friends in several times asking if it smells of cat piss in the flat with a puzzled 'no!' each time.

Recommend large litter tray for clumping type though, decent depth helps everything stick together immediately (under bed storage box rather than commercial tray here)

I am same as your friend.cat pee stinks

It really depends on the litter you use. The one i use doesn't stink with pee and you remove it in clumps anyway so it isn't there to smell for long. I found catsan stinky

I have two cats and change their tray every day, otherwise it stinks.

It really does depend hugely on the litter you use - the difference in odour control between catsan vs wood pellets vs our current one is very noticeable, especially for pee.

My current one really doesn't smell at all with pee.

Old MOG (miserable old git!!!!) has two trays...
Poos get cleaned out as soon as he has done them (later in the day, I put they tray outside, as he is outside, and so the smell isn't as bad for me!) I change the trays completely when they start to get pongy.
It works for me and him.

You are right, it is wasteful. Our cat stopped using one almost immediately, which I am pleased about but which is totally out of my control!

@Penfold007 OKO cats best

I found oko cats best tracked everywhere so stopped using it. I have corn litters that are more like pellets and track less

okopus is great stuff - I used catsan for ages - I found that more 'scatterable' Oko just doesn't smell - it's magic

I've looked after my dad's cat and he mostly goes outside. His litter only gets a full change if he poos in it, which isn't often, or it gets lots of wees in it. He has Sainsbury's litter - he's very fussy about his loo apparently.

The cat litter in the pens at work is changed daily, but we have cats coming in and out a lot.

I have The Worlds Best Litter and scoop out the solids and 'wee balls' twice daily and change it once a month. Best litter ever! No clumping, smell, apparently flushable and cats prefer it.

I have 3 cats, scoop out the poos as soon as I smell them(!) and probably wash the tray and change the litter every 2-3 days as it goes soggy and stops absorbing moisture from any new deposits

But I do think you friend is being a tad excessive especially with the amount of litter.

Our cat pisses like the Trevi fountain, but this stuff is good for at least a fortnight before it starts to wiff! We scoop out and flush all turds and clumps twice a day.

[{http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/cat_litter/cats_best/14001]]

Not a cat owner and always wondered why cats dont wee outside like dogs?

Three cats, two litter trays (we used to do the one each and one over thing but they only ever used the two so we got rid of the extras) poo removed as and when needed , complete change out once a week. We use the catsan smart packs (litter and liner in one package). They have recently started going outside but still come into do their business. She must spend a fortune on cat litter! I thought I was being a bit precious with my fancy pre-packaged stuff!

@Fattywattyswalkofshame

One of my cats doesn't go outside. The other one does.

What is this magic MN litter please? Although I'm not sure I can bring myself to spend £££s on something for my cats to shit on, but curious as to whether it lasts longer so works out cheaper overall Fears Zooplus are going to have to start sending a forklift to offload my monthly order from them.

We have 4 of our own cats, who nearly always go outside and also foster rescue kittens which are mostly confined to barracks unless they do a poor job of selling themselves when prospective new Mummies and Daddies come to meet them and they get old enough to go outside. I mostly use supermarket value litter.

Currently have six of the buggers and three litter trays that are scooped 3 times a day, which is not enough tbh and a complete change 2 or 3 times a week.

I have tried the wooden pellets that end up as sawdust but they are a bit rough for delicate kitten feet, but it does seem to last a long time without smelling, but that might be because I don't think they use it as much if there is a normally filled tray in the house (but if it goes sawdusty they must be peeing on it)?

My cats go outdoors when I'm in (no catflap) but come in to use the litter. It's because they were kept indoors to start with before being chipped/neutered so they are used to using the tray/litter. They don't know that the outside world is their giant toilet!

I found oko cats best tracked everywhere so stopped using it.

@dementedpixie I put down one of these mats and it means virtually nothing gets tracked past the mat.

My cats go outdoors when I'm in (no catflap) but come in to use the litter.

Same... the cat comes inside to do a poo then off out in my garden again. But I would rather the did it in the litter tray than in my flower beds really.

I started out doing a full change once a week but have had to switch to doing it twice. I don't know if my cat is especially stinky (his shits are certainly pretty foul no matter what he eats) but if I go a whole week the tray smells very pissy and acrid and the smell gets all round the house. I scoop poo ASAP after he does it, and any obviously peed-on bits of litter daily, but def can't go a whole week without the full change.

Daily is not necessary though IMO.

Not a cat owner and always wondered why cats dont wee outside like dogs? blush

Because cats are lazy.

You're asleep on the bed, when you decide you need a wee. Do you hot foot it to the litter tray in the centrally heated bathroom, a few metres away? Or do you go downstairs, out into the garden in the cold and the rain to pee?