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!

I don't use a lot of litter in it, just enough for them to dig up a little bit

It is expensive though

Poo cleared immediately.

I just copied what the foster lady had - so a big deep fill of litter, probably as deep as my hand. This is possibly a mistake!

A sieve litter tray and wood pellets litter will save you a fortune going forward. You could gradually mix some wood pellets into the catsan increasing until he's using just wood and then buy a sieve tray system.

Sorry I don't know how to do links on the iPhone app but I bought mine from Brit Pet.

Poo immediately otherwise it stinks, the whole thing changed and cleaned every few days depending on use

No a covered tray does not contain smells!
Most people I know clear up the poos once a day and complete litter change at least once a week. My cats used to come in to use the tray but now go outside so yours might start doing that.

My cat is driving me mental playing in the litter trays and ripping up the liners as soon as i put them down. I give him in trouble but i don't want him to misunderstand and think he isn't allowed to use it. My other cat doesn't do this

When mine used inside I did exactly what you do. Now we only have very occasional use. Poo I pick immediately. Wees I might not change it for a while if it's just once. I use catsan and it totally absorbs wee.

We use clumping litter and scoop out the wee bombs ( of which there are many) several times a day. Poos get done immediately, especially after the slug licking incident where his upset tummy led to the most horrific smelly poos . Luckily Elton likes to announce his toilet trips so we always know something has happened. The whole tray is sieved out washed and topped up weekly.
He is very fussy about having very deep clean litter that's sufficiently gentle on his paws, and will take himself off outside under the bushes if the indoor litter is not to his liking. We are currently using Tigerino which meets his high standards, but is making him sneeze as he likes sniffing it. Expensive though, particularly at the rate he goes through it.

I'm very very anti litter tray liners for those that use them. Cats like to dig and they can't when there is plastic under their toes.

Game changer - we moved to Vancat for our 4 cats. I jump into action as soon as I hear one of our 5 boxes being used. I would hate to think that our cats had no choice but to stand in poop to have a poop. That's cruelty imo. Wees are also removed regularly.

If I've been out, first thing I do when I come in is check the boxes. They get topped up as and when and then get totally cleaned out about once a week as the litter naturally degenerates. Absolutely no need at all to chuck out perfectly good litter that isn't soiled! Madness in fact.

No. The foster lady was correct. Minimum 7 cm.

Check out vancat. Their litter trays are amazing too.

Recommendation is always for one more litter tray than you have cats. You should really have 3 trays minimum in your house. That's probaby why they've peed elsewhere.

That's grim. Poo gets scooped as soon as I am aware it's there (usually the stink) and wee I will add more litter, and change maybe every few days? I am paranoid about the house smelling though.

Mine go outside mainly, unless of course it's raining

When we had trays I'd do them morning and night and as soon as I noticed they'd done anything.

I think I used to change them twice a week as they were in common areas so very obvious smell.

Thanks for all the posts. I’ve done the tray today - it was last done on Saturday - and will move to midweek/weekend cleaning from now on, while continuing to tend to it immediately His Lordship has used it (which obviously he did the second I had refilled it with fresh litter!). I’m going to try using slightly less deep litter and see how that goes too, and I think next time we are in the supermarket we will have a gander at different brands. We usually do online delivery for the “big shop” then just top up bits at eg M&S but we’ll schedule a trip to a big Asda or similar (exciting!).

editing to add - I didn’t appreciate how good we had it with our darling departed girl, who I think used the tray about once a year and would rather have traipsed through armpit high snow to avoid it!

I have tried multiple trays - but they will only use the same one! They're sisters and literally do everything together. So I just change it more often.

What brand do you use ? I've tried Savic but one of my cats loves tearing them up. I've tried using disposable trays but the carboard gets soaked through

We use Catsan too as it only smells (wee) when it's been saturated.

Since we changed to Katkin food their poop doesn't smell at all so I have to remember look and see if they've been. Poop gets scooped as soon as it's spotted, into a biodegradable dog poop bag and into the outside bin.

I only change the litter when it starts to look damp or if I can smell wee when I check the tray otherwise I just give it shake and sweep the loose litter up. Our cats have outside access but will go indoors if the weather isn't great (or if we have guests!)

I do the same as you and my DH is the same as your DH lol. Ours goes outside now but will still use the tray when it’s bad weather.

My friend had a cat and one tray and everytime I visited there was dried poo in it. The house never smelled though which was odd.

Can I just tip you off that Snowflake Wood Pellets (horse bedding in a yellow bag) works out much, much cheaper than cat litter. Just a little of the pellets to cover the bottom of the tray in a thin layer soon fluffs up to half fill the tray.
If you’ve got a country or farm store near you, try them out.