Help: Newbie confused by litter issues!

[A very sweet stray or runaway cat has adopted us and we, ignorant of
all cat issues, are in panic. That's why I have a few posts each with a
question.]

Second question: what do we do about the litter issues?

Fortunately, she came from outdoors and prefers to go outdoors, but
this is Chicago, sooner or later it will be cold, snow, or we may just
have to leave her locked in for a few hours.

I went to Target and Petsmart, but was confused by the variety.

Small pan or a larger one?

I assume clumping litter is better? Start with unscented?

Line the pan or not? (At shelters they don't seem to.)

Now with "clumping" kind, do you ever change the litter, or just keep
scooping/throwing clumps away and adding new litter? I mean if it
clumps then the rest is clean?

Sorry about my massive confusion, but all advice appreciated..

In article , Newbie Nobody wrote:
[A very sweet stray or runaway cat has adopted us and we, ignorant of
all cat issues, are in panic. That's why I have a few posts each with a
question.]

Second question: what do we do about the litter issues?

Fortunately, she came from outdoors and prefers to go outdoors, but
this is Chicago, sooner or later it will be cold, snow, or we may just
have to leave her locked in for a few hours.

I went to Target and Petsmart, but was confused by the variety.

I get the Exquisicat unscented clumping from PetSmart.

40Lb box for ~12.00 or so.

Bubba must like it, he uses the box...


Small pan or a larger one?

Depends on how big the cat is.

It's nice for them to have enough room to fit while they're using it.


I assume clumping litter is better? Start with unscented?

Line the pan or not? (At shelters they don't seem to.)

Now with "clumping" kind, do you ever change the litter, or just keep
scooping/throwing clumps away and adding new litter? I mean if it
clumps then the rest is clean?

Scoop the clumps & solids. Add more clean litter as necessary.

I use plastic grocery bags to hold the scoopings till trash day.

You don't want to flush the clumps in the human toilet.
Eventually that will cause problems.

I'm sure others do it differently...

Good luck.

On 06 May 2008 04:44:21 GMT, (Claude V. Lucas)
wrote:

In article , Newbie Nobody wrote:
[A very sweet stray or runaway cat has adopted us and we, ignorant of
all cat issues, are in panic. That's why I have a few posts each with a
question.]

Second question: what do we do about the litter issues?

Fortunately, she came from outdoors and prefers to go outdoors, but
this is Chicago, sooner or later it will be cold, snow, or we may just
have to leave her locked in for a few hours.

I went to Target and Petsmart, but was confused by the variety.

I get the Exquisicat unscented clumping from PetSmart.

40Lb box for ~12.00 or so.

Bubba must like it, he uses the box...


Small pan or a larger one?

Depends on how big the cat is.

It's nice for them to have enough room to fit while they're using it.


I assume clumping litter is better? Start with unscented?

Line the pan or not? (At shelters they don't seem to.)

Now with "clumping" kind, do you ever change the litter, or just keep
scooping/throwing clumps away and adding new litter? I mean if it
clumps then the rest is clean?

Scoop the clumps & solids. Add more clean litter as necessary.

I use plastic grocery bags to hold the scoopings till trash day.

You don't want to flush the clumps in the human toilet.
Eventually that will cause problems.

I'm sure others do it differently...

Good luck.

Yup, lots of different ways of doing it. Big cat, big box. Small cat,
medium box. I have three cats and two litterboxes. That's way under
the recommended number, which seems to be one per cat, plus one more.
I don't feel like cleaning four boxes and they get along fine with
just two. I scoop them once or twice a day as I pass by. I keep a
closed bucket with plastic bag inside next to each pan and just scoop
into the bucket. Once a week or other week, the bag goes out.

I buy any clumping litter (at Target ususally) but some are dustier
than others so use one that you like. I've been reading good things
about the Breeze litterbox
(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001411SK0) system but haven't tried
it yet. I intend to do so. I have no problem with smell, but litter
does get around and the dust needs taking care of, perhaps this is a
better way.

No liners if the cat isn't declawed, and yours almost definitely
isn't. On that subject, do NOT DECLAW THE CAT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.
no debate, no discussion, leave it alone.

I tried liners once and the cats just shredded it while digging.
Besides, good litter makes it unnecessary.

You are supposed to replace all the litter once a month or so. I don't
do it that often, maybe every other month. It seems to work.

Good luck with the furballl.

"Newbie" wrote in message
A very sweet stray or runaway cat has adopted us and we, ignorant of
all cat issues, are in panic. That's why I have a few posts each with a
question.

First suggestion, have her checked out by a vet and then have her spayed. An
outdoor cat about to become an adopted pet has every chance of becoming
pregnant. If you're in a panic now, how much of a panic would you be in with
6 kittens running around?

Fortunately, she came from outdoors and prefers to go outdoors, but
this is Chicago, sooner or later it will be cold, snow, or we may just
have to leave her locked in for a few hours.

I'm in Canada, so you may not find the litter I use, but the one I like is
called Maxx Scoop. It has excellent odour control and doesn't cause
excessive dust.

Small pan or a larger one?

After several accidents with a few litter boxes, I went and got the highest
sided Rubbermaid container I could find, cut a slot in it and use that. It
was cheap, works fine and catches everything. Even though my kitty was going
in the litter box, her height meant that sometimes her behind ended up
aiming outside the box ~ thus the need for a high sided container. I tried
one of the automatic litter boxes, but it was a waste of time and money and
essentially took as much time to empty and clean as a regular box. Don't
bother wasting your money on one, attractive as they may seem.

I assume clumping litter is better? Start with unscented?

My Maxx Scoop is the clumping type. It's not scented that I can tell.
Occasionally, when I have friends over, I ask them if they can smell
anything and the answer has always been "no". If that changes, then I'll
consider a scented type, but so far three years into having my cat, there's
been no complaints. In reality, I think I've been very lucky with my cat.
Not once in all the time that I've had her, has she gone outside the litter
box. Not once that I've observed, has she every coughed up a hairball.

Line the pan or not? (At shelters they don't seem to.)

I don't bother, it's a waste of money in my opinion.

Now with "clumping" kind, do you ever change the litter, or just keep
scooping/throwing clumps away and adding new litter? I mean if it
clumps then the rest is clean?

Very small particles will eventually permeate the litter. They're too small
to be scooped. Approximately every three months, I replace all the litter in
the pan. And, all things being equal, expect that the moment you go to empty
the entire pan for a complete litter replacement, your cat will come along
and want to use the litter box. Count on it.

Sorry about my massive confusion, but all advice appreciated..

You maybe confused at this point, but expect to get great pleasure of having
a cat around as you both become used to each other. Enjoy!

"dgk" wrote

Yup, lots of different ways of doing it. Big cat, big box. Small cat,
medium box. I have three cats and two litterboxes. That's way under
the recommended number, which seems to be one per cat, plus one more.
I don't feel like cleaning four boxes and they get along fine with
just two. I scoop them once or twice a day as I pass by. I keep a
closed bucket with plastic bag inside next to each pan and just scoop
into the bucket. Once a week or other week, the bag goes out.

Hey, works for me!

I tried liners once and the cats just shredded it while digging.
Besides, good litter makes it unnecessary.

Same here. With clumping litter, they are kinda useless anyways.

You are supposed to replace all the litter once a month or so. I don't
do it that often, maybe every other month. It seems to work.

I tend to a bit more often but possibly have a less deep layer going on
here. With just the one pan, it's not a big bother to up-end it in the
trash bin.