Stainless steel litter boxes?

[TyotyaKlava]

Hi all,

we are getting a kitten in a few weeks time, she will be 10 weeks old. She will be indoor cat so looking for a good durable odourless litter box. I read that it needs to be covered and there is a lot to chose from! However I would like it to last and researching stainless steel ones as they are meant to be less smelly?
if I am opting for stainless steel ones do you think it’d be best to have something uncovered like this one in the link? Or does it need to be enclosed as well?
thanks x
amzn.eu/d/dilzlet

https://amzn.eu/d/fAMqMxg
there is enclosed one like this as well

Stainless steel are brilliant

Which ones though, covered or uncovered for an indoor cat? Thanks

The problem we had with one cat with the ones with a break in the middle was she was a high pee-er and it would go through the gap and all over the floor. We had to get a very high sided one with no gap to stop her peeing everywhere. You may have a more normal pee-er though.

Some cats won't use a covered litter tray. They are vulnerable when they are going to the toilet and if they can't see all around them they won't use it. Covered trays usually have higher sides and kittens need lower trays until they are bigger.

Smell isn't an issue if you clean the litter tray properly and daily.

she is with her mum at the moment and litter trained already. They are using this tray at the moment in their current house. It is large but enclosed

Remember it is you who will be washing this tray regularly. I tried covered trays but found them a pain to clean properly. You get wee (and worse) kicked or sprayed into the hinges/ridges where the top/lid joins the bottom section and it's horrid trying to wash those fiddly bits. It's far easier to wash a normal non covered tray.

I always have plastic trays. It's the soiled litter which smells, clean that out and replace the litter regularly, the tray should not absorb the smell.

And as another poster said, for a kitten you do need something with a low-ish side to ensure they can access it.

My cats won't touch covered trays - it makes them feel too vulnerable. I'm also not sure if they'd like the feel or sound of metal on their claws.

Ours are just cheap plastic trays and they never smell - that's more of an issue with diet, type of litter and lack of cleaning than the type of tray, IME.

thanks all. I bought a cheap plastic litter tray, it’s quite low so she would be able to climb in. She’s currently using a covered albeit large litter tray as in the picture above. So I don’t think covered litter boxes should be a problem.
also I am going to use non clumping litter, the brand name is Catsan and I heard a good reviews about it not being smelly. As for the diet I’ll use kitten whiskas wet food with occasional raw meat so she should have a good diet?

Whiskas is essentially McDonald's for cats - it's not a diet I would ever feed unless the cat refused everything else.

You also need to be careful about feeding raw meat in terms on bacteria and also what is and isn't safe for them.

We use the pets at home ones above. Very good. In conjunction with corn based litter, they don’t smell at all.

The high sided ones with just a flat lid on top are great, way easier to clean than the ones with joins along the sides, less messy if you have a vigorous digger, and you can leave the lid off and still benefit from the high sides. They also mean you can have a much deeper layer of litter which most cats prefer.

A covered one may be OK whilst still little but if your kitten grows to a good size you may find they hate being enclosed. TempCat is 6.3kg and quite tall so he was crouching and ducking in in a covered tray and look really uncomfortable plus it wasn't long enough either. I now use a repurposed large plastic underbed storage box with the lid off. He likes to put his front feet on the edge when doing a poo! I considered a stainless one but couldn't find an extra large one and the plastic is fine, it's the litter that smells not the tray. So long as you scoop frequently it's fine.

Catsan is OK though I've been using Katkin's clumping one lately (OK for when kitten is older but not when small) and it's better on the smell front plus is compostable. Is made from pea fibre and millet. Wood pellets are OK too & corn as someone suggested. It's a question of finding out what your one prefers as they grow.

For food, any changes to diet need to be done slowly or you may make kitten sick so start with whatever kitten is currently eating and transition. I agree not Whiskas or Felix as they are junk, and not raw unless you are scrupulous with storage, hygiene & not leaving it sitting out for long if kitten doesn't eat it straight away. There are lots of good quality high protein, grain free canned and pouch foods or you can sign up for one of the (expensive) subscriptions like Katkin (which TempCat wouldn't eat!).

Oh thank you it’s good to know about the food! She’s currently on whiskas at her current home. I will start with them and gradually move on to something else.
what cat food would you recommend please ?

There are a lot of different brands to coose from - a lot depends on what you can afford/are prepared to pay and what your cat deigns to eat! TempCat only likes mousse textures and won't eat beef.....

You want to look for a Complete food, (meaning it has all the vitamins and trace elements required), grain free and with a high meat content that states the type of meat in it (not meat or fish "derivatives") and not too many fillers.
Some brands I've tried are
Canagan
Thrive
Little Big Paw
Zealandia
Orijen
Arden Grange
Subscriptions can be pricey but are usually good quality - Katkin, Untamed, Blink etc.

A google will bring up loads of options. Many brands & online stores (Pets Corner, Zooplus etc) have trial packs which are worth trying, though because cats can be suspicious of new foods swapping too often can mean they reject stuff and you do have to persist by mixing the old food with the new for a while.

Of course you might be lucky and get a non-fussy hoover cat who'll eat anything!

Also, if you do an advanced search on this thread there are lots of cat food posts asking the same questions and you can read the answers to your hearts content. Usually a list of all the things their cat wouldn't eat!

When kitten arrives don't forget to pay the Litter Tray cat tax (a photo).

Cat tax! Thanks for your suggestions! She’s setttling in nicely and doing lots of wees and poos in two litter trays! Not smelly at all as I scoop everything out straight away!

My overlord has two covered plastic litter trays , they are both deep and filled with about 4 inches of biokitty unscented litter.
The main reason I have covered ones is he liked to stand on the edge of his open one and tipped it over twice , he also seems to thinks he needs to dig to Australia and flings litter everywhere.

I agree with pp whiskers isn't great but keep her on it for a few weeks with a slow transition to which ever one you decide on.
Aa pp said the bulk buys can be a good saving but I would get just a few tins/ pouches to start with to make sure she likes it.
Of course as soon as you buy a month's worth she will turn her nose up at it!

Mine eats sheba in jelly and go-cat indoor cat biscuits ( he is a indoor cat (

Thank you for the prompt cat tax payment 😺

( edited for fat finger typing )