Litter tray cleaning

[Judystilldreamsofhorses]

Our previous cat used the litter tray very, very infrequently and mainly toileted outside (although we always had two trays in the house). We sadly said goodbye to her earlier in the year, and now have a little ginger boy who loves the litter tray and will come in to use it if he’s out. He makes a right racket digging to Australia, so if I am in I then immediately go and sort it. I remove poo straight away, turn over the litter if he’s done a wee, then sprinkle some fresh on top. I clean the whole thing once a week - when it was hot weather I did it twice a week.

My friend was round for coffee today and was surprised to see me leap into action. She said she would only attend to her cat’s tray once every few days. My DP would do it once a day if I wasn’t here - but I thought that was just him being a lazy bloke! Now I am wondering what’s normal. What do you do if your cat uses a litter tray? (We actually have three trays so in theory he could pick and choose and go a while with a fresh tray but he tends to always use the same one.)

Cat tax - this was a delivery of sale towels from The White Company earlier today which also came tied with a ribbon. Stripy-face was delighted!

Your friend’s house must smell if she leaves waste in the tray for days on end. I clear any solids or clumps of wee a couple of times a day. Sometimes I check and there’s nothing to remove but I still check regularly. Your cat is lovely. I love gingers.

I have 3 cats, so more litter tray usage, but the tays are scooped probably 5 times a day.

I can't face cleaning trays so I use tray bags and empty them out every time (not for pee). I've a little ginger boy too. Is yours moody and cuddly too ?

i have five cats and two enormous litter trays. I litter scoop if I hear/smell on is in use, otherwise it’s a quick check and clean if necessary everytime I use a bathroom, plus every morning and every evening when I get up/go to bed. As a lady of a certain vintage- that’s several times a day. I do keep the litter deep and it’s clumping litter, so a full empty and clear out is rarely needed.

She has a covered tray so I think it probably contains smells, and it’s tucked away in a utility room - but I can’t get past the idea of poo just lying around 🤢. Thank you, he is a cutie!

@serialcatbuyer we used to line the trays with newspaper for our girl, but this guy rips them up with his digging. He’s very cuddly and good natured, but has an awful lot of mad half hours, going around with toy mice in his mouth, chasing them around, and shouting about it. The first time he did it I thought he had been injured in some way, he is very loud!

Mine seems to have a strong hunter instinct too, he scarpers about a lot, with this stern look on his face, not like my other cat, mews all the time too, he's very vocal. I've never had a cat like him

I empty it completely once a week and disinfect and put new litter in. I have mummy who goes out to use the toilet now and two kittens who can shit for England, so I'm on top of it all the time during the day. Every time I pass, if it's got something in it, I remove it. Cats like a clean toilet, as do we all. It absolutely horrifies me when I hear that people leave litter trays for days on end. That is so stressful for a cat. And upsetting to hear.

@serialcatbuyer he is less keen on being out than I expected (but was found as a stray kitten living in a shed so maybe feels safer in the house) but I think he will definitely bring “presents” once he gets going.

@MoonWoman69 i was really surprised at my friend and asked her if she would want to use an unflushed toilet for three days on end.

I have 4 cats and 5 litter trays with clumping litter which is scooped every time they have been used. My female uses two of the trays virtually exclusively but if one of the boys has a poo in “her” tray, she will poo on the floor beside the tray 😕. Thankfully this is not a common occurrence.

And your boy is gorgeous 😍

We have one of those high litter boxes . They use garden and this. We do it morning and night. Two cats.

I have 7 cats but 6 of them go outside. The youngest has a large litter tray (old base of a rat cage) which is lined with a wheelie bin bag, newspaper and then a large amount of cat litter. If she poops during the day I use poo bags and a pair of gloves to remove. The whole thing is changed once daily. If anything has gone through the liner onto the tray then I hose it down outside.
Litter trays need to be changed at least once daily if they've been used. Even if just for wee. They can easily decide that it's too dirty and then toilet anywhere else they choose, which isn’t worth the hassle of trying to stop them reusing the same spot. It's easy to go nose blind but visitors notice the smell if not changed regularly.

I use clumping litter in a large under bed tray (which isn't under the bed!) as my cat is.. long and also tall
I scoop immediately unless I'm out or asleep, I do admit I rarely clean the whole thing because the litter is so deep that nothing touches the bottom

I used to use covered litter trays years ago but they really don’t stop the smell. Then you have the hassle of popping the top off and cleaning up any poop that's touched the sides (why can some cats aim so badly?!) if they've got a bad tummy even worse (not envy).

Are you chucking the whole litter every single day? I think we would be bankrupt if we did that. We’re using Catsan litter which is what he had at the CP foster home and it is quite £. I thought once a week for a complete clean/disinfect was okay but happy to be corrected if this is not the case.

@Judystilldreamsofhorses I use Asda's own clumping litter. I certainly couldn’t afford to carry on with catsan! I do have the odd outdoor cat contributing to the tray randomly. I'd rather have the whole thing changed out daily. I don’t like having a dirty tray in my hallway. You might be able to get away with more using catsan, but the price of it!

If it's just a wee then I won't leap to remove it, but I do pick up poo right away and will pick up any wees at the same time.

Otherwise if they don't poo, they get checked three times a day and any clumps removed then.

I have one tray and two cats use it. I pick poo out as soon as I know it's there and sprinkle fresh litter at night or if it needs it. Completely empty and clean the tray every other day. If it was a single cat that would probably equate to completely emptying and cleaning twice a week and picking poo as it's done.
Cats don't like using dirty litter trays. If ours isn't clean enough the cats pee elsewhere. Usually in the shower or the laundry basket hence I try and keep it clean enough for them!
Cleaning a tray once a week only if the cat isn't toileting outside is minging.

Extra strong tray liners are my saviour. I too have an orange boy who goes like an old hungover man. Scooped a few times a day and changed every 5 days.

Scoop twice a day or more if needed, change whole thing and wash litter box once a week.

I wouldn't just turn over the wees, I'd remove it as much as I can. Harder though if it's not clumping.

Thanks for all the replies. There are three litter trays so I think if he thought it was “minging” being changed once a week he would use a different one @Beamur but maybe I need to use less litter (it’s a big deep tray) and change/scrub the whole thing more often. I’m reluctant to mess around trying different types of litter as he clearly likes this one even though it’s expensive. (Or in fact because it’s expensive!)

I've been using apparently strong ones but they still rip and pull them up. I've just ordered a months worth of cardboard lids to try

We do exactly the same as you OP, scoop the poop as soon as possible (immediately he's been, or immediately we get home / get up if we've been out or it's overnight). Litter turned over to soak up wee, changed fully minimum once a week.

How do people dispose of the litter if they are changing daily? Our black bin is only emptied fortnightly so it would be full/heavy without any other rubbish. The tray he uses is like this (the others are more rectangle shaped but he prefers this one)

www.therange.co.uk/pets/cats/cat-litter-trays-and-loos/jumbo-cat-litter-corner-box#8150949