Important litter box news!

(subject line with emphasis)

The really good stuff is preliminary, but...

For one year or more, I have been using a huge clear plastic
"Sterilite" container for my male cat's litter box. That and ultra
low dust Arm & Hammer "Essentials" cat litter. It appears to be a
perfect combination, no cleaning required and he hits the box like
a machine every time. I also have a feral female cat, that is the
opposite of him. She is a fiend. Been using a covered litter box
to help keep her from throwing glitter all over the room.
Unfortunately, it gets dirty quickly, apparently to do with the
plastic. One or two weeks ago, I switched her to the same
"Sterilite" container, not as wide and long, but it has higher
walls (using the same litter). If I'm not mistaken knock on wood
her litter box behavior is rapidly improving.

The really cool indication will be if the litter continues not
stick to the sides and make its way up the wall. That necessitates
frequent cleaning, and it might be a contributing factor to her
hideous litter box ways. As any regular knows, it could be worse,
she could go outside the box, but fortunately she hasn't done
that.

If there is no smell on the inner walls of the litter box, she
hopefully won't be scratching it either. Could be the specific
formula of plastic that they use. Conceivably, a number of years
of use could change things. My male cat is not a good tester, but
the female will wreck it if it can be wrecked. Will see.

Another couple of weeks should be enough time to figure out
whether this is litter box heaven or not. It will be obvious, if
the litter doesn't work its way up the side of the box, that will
do it. Also because of that, she won't be throwing her glitter all
over the place. A side benefit to the new box is that it's height
helps keep the litter from flying over the sides, without the need
for cover (hopefully).

This will be a relief, if it is the way it appears to be. Trying
to scoop that soft-clumping litter after she's kicked it all over
the box wasn't easy. But using a hard-clumping dusty litter (like
everyone other litter I have used) would probably be worse.

Sorry, of course "glitter" should be "litter".

After about six weeks for the female's box.

Ultra big litter boxes work great. The brand of clear storage box
that the megastore sells does appear to be self-cleaning. My male
has no problem hitting it perfectly, for about six months without
cleaning. My feral female hasn't scratched hers up yet, after
about six weeks. It's tall enough so that she doesn't kick/throw
litter out of the box (surprise). She had no real problem jumping
into it. Not having a cover makes cleaning the box easier to do. I
think maybe a really huge box like the male cat has will work even
better. Also, I use Astroturf around their litter boxes. Take some
time for a cat to get used to Astroturf, but it's the greatest
stuff to help avoid cleaning work.

On Thu, 7 Jun 2012 21:58:30 +0000 (UTC), John Doe
wrote:

After about six weeks for the female's box.

Ultra big litter boxes work great. The brand of clear storage box
that the megastore sells does appear to be self-cleaning. My male
has no problem hitting it perfectly, for about six months without
cleaning. My feral female hasn't scratched hers up yet, after
about six weeks. It's tall enough so that she doesn't kick/throw
litter out of the box (surprise). She had no real problem jumping
into it. Not having a cover makes cleaning the box easier to do. I
think maybe a really huge box like the male cat has will work even
better. Also, I use Astroturf around their litter boxes. Take some
time for a cat to get used to Astroturf, but it's the greatest
stuff to help avoid cleaning work.

That's good news. I don't really mind cleaning the litterbox but the
mess around it does tend to get ignored until I get yelled at.

On 6/8/2012 6:35 AM, dgk wrote:
On Thu, 7 Jun 2012 21:58:30 +0000 (UTC), John Doe
wrote:

After about six weeks for the female's box.

Ultra big litter boxes work great. The brand of clear storage box
that the megastore sells does appear to be self-cleaning. My male
has no problem hitting it perfectly, for about six months without
cleaning. My feral female hasn't scratched hers up yet, after
about six weeks. It's tall enough so that she doesn't kick/throw
litter out of the box (surprise). She had no real problem jumping
into it. Not having a cover makes cleaning the box easier to do. I
think maybe a really huge box like the male cat has will work even
better. Also, I use Astroturf around their litter boxes. Take some
time for a cat to get used to Astroturf, but it's the greatest
stuff to help avoid cleaning work.

That's good news. I don't really mind cleaning the litterbox but the
mess around it does tend to get ignored until I get yelled at.

i use old car floor mats outside the entrance to our litter boxes.
they're a very short nap rug, easy to clean and hose off, and the cats
will scratch a bit at them after they leave the box out of habit.

On Fri, 08 Jun 2012 07:38:01 -0700, chaniarts
wrote:

On 6/8/2012 6:35 AM, dgk wrote:
On Thu, 7 Jun 2012 21:58:30 +0000 (UTC), John Doe
wrote:

After about six weeks for the female's box.

Ultra big litter boxes work great. The brand of clear storage box
that the megastore sells does appear to be self-cleaning. My male
has no problem hitting it perfectly, for about six months without
cleaning. My feral female hasn't scratched hers up yet, after
about six weeks. It's tall enough so that she doesn't kick/throw
litter out of the box (surprise). She had no real problem jumping
into it. Not having a cover makes cleaning the box easier to do. I
think maybe a really huge box like the male cat has will work even
better. Also, I use Astroturf around their litter boxes. Take some
time for a cat to get used to Astroturf, but it's the greatest
stuff to help avoid cleaning work.

That's good news. I don't really mind cleaning the litterbox but the
mess around it does tend to get ignored until I get yelled at.

i use old car floor mats outside the entrance to our litter boxes.
they're a very short nap rug, easy to clean and hose off, and the cats
will scratch a bit at them after they leave the box out of habit.

That's a good idea. I use some mat sold at Target for litterbox use,
but an old car mat would do the trick as well.