How do people put up with litter trays?

[DreamOrNightmare]

How do people actually cope having a litter tray? I got two kittens as our older cat sadly died and the kids really wanted some kittens so we got two but omg cleaning the litter tray is just awful! They seem to poo constantly! Every time I clean it it's like they were holding a new one ready for me to clean it so I have to clean it again after just cleaning it! Literally every single time! the smell is horrible, washing it out is horrible, they never and I mean never bury it so it's just sat at the top. I didn't estimate how often cats poo! It's like constant, how do people put up with this it's worse than a baby in nappies!

What are they eating? If cheap, low quality, low meat food, change it to something decent. Our cat came home from rescue centre on whiskas wet and Royal Canin dry food, we have switched to Harringtons wet (much higher meat percentage) and Scumbles dry and it has made a HUGE difference to odour levels.

Yes - current advice is a tray each, not next to each other, and an extra one. If you don’t provide enough trays they will mark / wee more to mark territory which can make them stinkier.

I’d be looking at their diet as they really shouldn’t be pooing more than twice a day except for when they’re really little.

Why are you washing is every time?

If they dont bury it just remove it?

I have 4 cats and 4 trays. They never smell because we take any poos out as soon as they're done. Once they go out they use the trays less.

A tray each + 1 more is the recommendation. So 3 for 2 cats. Although we only have 2, which my pair are happy with.

as mentioned above for some reason they are pooing at the corners so some of it goes up the side of the plastic, no idea why they are
doing this as the trays are big enough

They are 20 weeks.

I use litter liners so that all goes in the bin and they tray just gets wiped round with baby wipes.

I’ve bought some after posting this so hopefully it’s a less messy task now!

We use Johnson's Clean & Safe spray (the one specifically for cat trays - there are different ones for different pets) for wiping/disinfecting the cat trays. Also for just spraying onto the remaining cat litter after we've scooped out the nasties. Highly recommend this, as it's safe for cats and smells much more pleasant than most disinfectants. It definitely makes a difference.

Invest in big closed boxes and amazing litter. Ever clean, tigerino and golden grey are great at control and clumping the pees neatly.

I became convinced that as my kitten didn't know what I was doing with her poo, only that I quickly "collected" it. She needed to ensure a regular supply hence going as soon as the tray was clean even if she had been 10 minutes ago!
She rarely uses the tray now and always lets me know if she has - usually by informing me loudly at 3 in the morning 😼

Interested in the comments how many use clumping litter. We do, but find it very difficult to find. We buy from B&M but our local supermarkets don’t sell clumping!

Tend to get it from Amazon and Zooplus delivered to our door.

What they eat does massive impact the smells - but they get very picky but more meat less grains and avoid wheat. Also style of litter does affect behavior - one loves the cystals other hates - we tend to do vary what they have - best is BioKitty Clumping Cat for our cats but we often end up with cheaper.

We have two of these large litter trays and a smaller one for two cats- they went though phase of kicking the litter out - and try and fill as much as the packets say.

It will be her gut flora. We had a rescued stray several years ago (he'd gone missing and was on the run for weeks) and his poos stank to high heaven for about three months before his intestines sorted themselves out and got used to a better diet. Lord knows what horrible things he'd been eating while he was awol.

Try Perfect Fit cat food, it says on the packaging that it supports a healthy gut microbiome. Maybe that will help. There are probably other makes of cat food that do the same.

They should only be going 2-3 times a day really at that age.

I would also stop washing the trays completely everytime - if the poo gets stuck on the sides just use a wet wipe to get it off.

Charlie is coming up to 20 weeks and is still going 3 or 4 times a day. Harry used to go once a day at most so I wasn't expecting this! We use Worlds Best clumping litter as it was the only one that I could find that said kitten safe and it's also supposed to be good for allergies, although it's not helping me at the moment! Food definitely makes a difference. Charlie has been having Scrumbles poultry flavours and I gave him fish yesterday and there's a distinct difference - let's just say he won't be having fish again in a hurry!

I use a hooded tray and litter crystals. My 14 year old cat doesn’t cover her poo in her tray. Some pouches make her poo smell worse, so worth looking into their food.

she does go outside and has now taken to having a poo outside too. She doesn’t cover that either so I now have multiple places to clean up after her

Thank you for the advice @Dabberlocks💕