Please tell me your litter tray cleaning routine

[OutingMyDog]

We have indoor cats for their safety (a cat poisoner lives somewhere behind us), so I'm interested in what other indoor cat people's routine is?

I'm also trying to be as environmentally friendly as possible.

We pick poo out daily and change the litter every couple of days. We use catsan non clumping litter because we've found that's the only one that at doesn't stink. We tried the wood pellet one a few years ago but it seems to disintegrate and get everywhere.

Flushing cat poo down the loo isn't on is it? From an environmental point of view? Or is it okay with the paper based pellets? We haven't tried either.

I'm also interested in how you clean the actual tray? We use wipes at the moment which isn't ideal environmentally either.

Sorry, not the most pleasant thread!

Three large trays for three cats here. I use wood pellet litter. Poo gets scooped at least twice a day (or immediately if convenient), I scoop the wood that's turned into dust daily and change the whole lot every 5-7 days depending on how it's looking.

I use cat safe cleaning sprays (whatever I happen to choose from ZooPlus) and kitchen paper to wipe the whole tray when I do a full change.

Someone mentioned Dettol above - it's toxic to cats and shouldn't be used.

Four cats, one (very) large tray. Use Sainsbury's clumping litter. Remove all clumps and poos first thing in the morning and last thing at night. (And also if one of them has just done something really vile).
Only wash the tray out once in a blue moon. Soiled litter goes in bags which get binned.

Works for us and the house doesn't smell.

Cats best here. I wash out once weekly but the base litter itself lasts ages - about 6 to 8 weeks. Just pick out clumps and poos twice daily at voila!

Thank you everyone.

Anyone who washes them, how do you do it? What with I mean and do you throw it away after?

House cat here. Use wood pellets. Poo scooped as soon as. Cat will come and tell us ( even during the night !) Clumped wee sorted daily. Whole tray changed every 5 days ish. Use.Ecover antibac as heard a lot of others toxic to cats.

Four house cats, two large covered trays,
Scooped daily, cleaned every fortnight or so. I use Word's best litter.

I clean them in the shower with cheap sponges which I bin after.

2 house cats, theoretically 2 very large trays but in 2 years they have never used the second one. Wood pellet litter, scooped as and when (usually at least twice a day), wet taken up when I scoop the poo out. Whole lot changed fortnightly (fitting in with the rubbish removal), if I use wipes or any disinfectant I have to "seed" the top of the litter with a tiny bit of the old or they hold everything in as long as they can because it doesn't smell right. Don't use liners because they would tear them first use, one especially needs to dig until she's scraping the bottom of the tray.

Talking of which - seems like I need to scoop going by the odour whafting the length of the living room, across the hall & into the study!

Neither of mine bury so its done more or less straight away. I use worlds best in one tray at the moment thats the tray thats hardly used and that gets changed monthly. The otherone Catsan or Sainsburys equivalent if they have it in stock as its half the price. Weekly. We use liners.

I use litter tray cleaning spray and kitchen roll to clean. I use clumping litter so remove poo and pee and clean out properly every few weeks (less often now they mainly go outside to do the toilet)

I scoop out poo as soon as I see it. I have Sainsburys version of catsan. Weekly, I tip used litter into a bag, scraping out anything that ... lingers.
I sluice it with water and flush that water down the loo. I spray it with diluted....wait for it ....,Zoflora! I wipe that with kitchen roll and put the paper into the bag with used litter. Then I sluice it down again with water as before to reduce the smell as much as I can for her. The litter tray has a sort of detachable lip rather than being hooded. I usually just wipe that down with hot water or occasionally give it the zoflora treatment as above.
I make sure it's fully dry using kitchen roll before putting fresh litter in.
We have a local vet verified cat torturer too. Bastard.

Three outdoor cats here with one small-ish tray to share between them as they all prefer to go outdoors. The tray is barely touched by any of them tbh unless they need a wee in the night but we clean it out weekly. When there is poo it's binned, not flushed. We use catsan too.
Full clean out involves soapy hot water, bleach spray and wipes, and then dried with kitchen towel and refilled. It's worked for us for ages and it never smells!

I use this spray from pets at home:

I found catsan got smelly really quickly. I prefer clumping litter as it doesn't need changing as often

I used to get my cats Biokat from Zooplus it smells bloody gorgeous for weeks on end and all you do is remove the clumps. But it is a clay base and I found it not very environmentally friendly hence why I switched to the wood pellets.

I had clumping litter for my old lady cat but several years after she died and when I got a kitten, I switched to non-clumping to avoid clumps in the tummy if the kitten ate it

Everyday it's emptied, washed in soapy water and wiped with an anti bac wipe.

What a waste of littet to clean it every day

Yeah - that's what I was thinking! Less hassle and better for the environment to use a more expensive one that lasts 6-8 weeks. Works out not much different financially as not throwing out all the time. I just pour litter into an old shopping bag, wash down tray with water and washing up liquid, leave to dry, and refill until it is time to put in fresh

We have a rabbit litter tray for our cat. It's one of those small corner litter trays. So I guarantee I'm using less than you even if I empty it every day. My cat drinks a lot, so it has to be emptied daily. Plus it's nice and fresh for him.

I use the stuff made of walnut shells

We (DH) scoop 3 times a day, top up every 2 days or so; rarely if ever wash as it's spotless at the bottom, hasn't smelt yet

Occasionally I wipe the lip/rim as a bit of damp litter gets stuck there with a baby wipe along with the lid of the bin next to it where everything get gets scooped goes & that gets emptied about once a week to go in the outside bin

I use Oko cats' best and only do a full litter change and clean once a month! My two are outdoors most of the day at the moment and are not using the tray as much as they were. It just doesn't seem to need much more than that as it clumps really well!

Is that true about toxoplasmosis being transmitted through cat poo flushed down the loo, ie wastewater? I’ve not heard that. I’ve always flushed poo straight away as the litter is next to the loo.

Three cats but only one uses the litter trays...one upstairs one down. Poo is scooped asap and nappy sacked..I used to put it down the loo until I discovered we shouldn't. I change the litter twice a week and wash both trays at the weekend...just fairy liquid in the sink and chuck the sponge afterwards. let the trays dry outside and refill. Bleach the sink afterwards..job done!

We use some clumping wood based litter. It's expensive but amazingly non-odorous. I scoop it out once a day and flush the wee, poo and litter down the look. If I happen to see her go in I'll scoop it out as soon as she's finished (the tray is in the bathroom).

I change the litter completely and wash the tray in the shower when it starts to smell which with this new brand we've started using is once a month, and even then it doesn't really smell, with the old stuff we had I'd do it once a week.

I just use some Dettol hand soap squirted into my hand and clean it by hand after rinsing it with the shower head first. Not too bothered about the hygiene of it cause I'm sure her poo-y little paws track germs everywhere so a few more in the shower is no worry.