How many more litter trays do i have to empty?

[chocolatecakeystuff]

My kitties are 8 months old & have just started to venture out in to the big wide world... There was me thinking the litter try cleaning regime was on the way out! OH NO it would appear they don't realise the old coots next doors' flowerbeds would make an ideal toilet, and zoom back in with the pure intention on taking a great big smelly dump in the litter tray, before swaning back off out to catch spiders & play balance beams on the fence.
I wouldn't mind so much if i didn't live in a bungalow... the smell kind of wafts through the whole place for a good hour after i have removed the offending goods!

I hear you - we have just added a kitten to our two older cats. The older two haven't used the letter tray for years. But now the kitten is here all three are using the litter tray again, sigh.

Have you got the covered trays with the cat flap style door? We find that and wood pellet litter helps keep the smell down.

Yes we have a covered one, however they don't like the wood pellets, which is a right pain in the watsits as i use them for the horse so would have worked out alot more economicaly. Fussy little so & so's get the baby powder scented stuff from pets at home. The wee doesn't smell which is a bonus, it's just the poop smell that blasts through the house at a million miles an hour

I've never been able to get rid of mine, most mornings he's used it.

I don't mind cleaning trays - and if the smell is really bad, maybe have a considered look at the food they're getting to check it's decent quality? (Some of the biggest and apparently reputable brands don't suit some cats so well.)

Two of my outside going boys have come in to use the facilities and I'd rather have that than have arguments with neighbours over poo in their flower beds. (And be able to keep an eye on their general health via their inner workings.) Besides which, my outside going cats have always been kept in overnight for safety reasons and they need their trays for that time.

Agree it's a pain to empty trays but my cat refuses to go outside too. I also keep her in overnight and wouldn't consider letting her out at night so the tray is necessary!

The pros are that I can categorically say to any neighbour complaining about cat poo in the garden that it's not mine plus I also like to check her digestion is healthy

Yup that's all just great... mine to indeed come in at night. I don't really mind cleaning the tray that much - however tonight they reached a new low - having a meeting (church home group) and one has to go for a huuuuge smelly dump! Ergh told everyone it was time to go

If your cat eats dry food then try a wheat free food like James Wellbeloved or Wainwrights. Our little cat was the stinkiest thing known to man. Smelly farts, sloppy stinky poos, the lot. And not thriving. Put her onto Wainwrights and the poo hardly smells. She is going out now and sti coming in and using the tray though. Never had this in a cat before.

Some dry foods on the market help make the poo less smelly. I found a real difference with royal canin dry.
Also, the type of litter can have an effect. Try a clumping variety as it sticks to the poo which should help trap the smell. I wouldn't use food or litter from supermarket, it's generally less effective. I personally rate worlds best litter, I have 3 house cats and my house does not smell of poo.

You may find they use it less as they get older-our cat used to greet poor dh with a big stinky one every morning, but over the last few months she ownly ever does wees in it and then not that often.

We keep it cause she is shut in overnight and sometimes when I am at work as she is dim and cannot use the catflap..

It's taken ours over a year of having an always open cat flap to realise that they can shit outside!

On a practical note, what do you do with used litter? We are one week into a gorgeous kitty and I've been putting the stinkers in bags in the bin / do you bag it first? Or put it in the green bin? Thanks!

My cat is eight and she always, always uses the tray. Mind you that's an improvement because she used to shit on any item of haberdashery which had fallen on the floor, or knock the lid off the washing basket.

What changed her, Kleptronic ?

I use clumping litter which can't be flushed, Stars, but does have the advantage of forming very neat deposits. I make a parcel using two sheets of tabloid size newspaper (free papers from the supermarket or library) and by scooping straight into the spread sheet and then folding over the edges and rolling up. The parcels go into a bag, edges down, and when I have a few (usually a day or a day and a half) the bag is tied up and put in the bin.

The newspaper and litter combination (but particularly the newspaper parcels) disguise any odours.

Thanks Cozie, I'll try that - I was thinking nappy bags, the biodegradable ones might be a good idea?

Bloody minded perseverance, Cosie. Clean trays all the time, bathroom door always closed, nothing on the floor ever, no access to the room she'd weed in (oh yes). Although she still tried to get in there until we moved. She also ruined all the carpets sharpening her claws, despite having every type of scratching post known to catkind; turned her nose up to the lot of 'em. Cost me my rental deposit, (fair enough!) damn her! She's also had to have an eye out and half her tail off.

What with spaying and needles and fleaing and worming too, most expensive cat ever!