Cat litter tips anyone?

zef

I have 3 cats, and one is larger than the avg cat and can lay some pretty disgusting 'cat eggs'. (sorry, I hope no-one is eating)
He is 8 and has road sense so is allowed out, but stays near the house, so at least he doesn't toilet that much indoors.
The 2 other girls are neutered and smallish, one is allowed out on a trial basis as she has more 'road sense' than the other, and is not flighty. Third cat is strictly indoors.
They all sleep in the kitchen/diner as if left roam they chase each other up the stairs at 4am or try get in my room/ lie on top of men bed etc. You cat owners get the picture i'm sure.
I'm using cheap Aldi litter and feeding them Science plan.
Has anyones cats learnt to use the 'litter quitter" device that sits atop your toilet bowl?
Are those rolling litter yokes any use? Not that i could afford the $300 model.
It's the only downside to keeping cats! Any advice on types of litter or good places to put trays? I have 2 hooded trays but they're years old and could be replaced, carbon filters are missing which dozen't help I guess.

Alun

What specific problems are you having at the moment with your current setup, if any?

zef

Best place to put litterbox in a 3 bed house? I have a spare room, or put one in the bathroom... I don't like it in the kitchen/ diner and when i try to change it to another area they go back to the corner of the diner. They don't like using the litter box under the stairs.
Are the dearer litters worth buying?

boomerang

No. 1 thing you can do to make it better for you and the cats OP is scoop the litter twice daily. Less smelly and the cats will thank you for it.

A LOT of cats have a problem with the noise and unpredictability of the self-cleaning litter trays so I wouldn't even bother if they didn't cost a lot. The other thing you can do is upgrade the litter to make your life easier. Ideally the litter should have the consistency of sand so non-perfumed, clumping litter is great. I get the non-perfumed Golden Grey from Zooplus.de, €22 for 2x14kg bags. I baulked at the price in the beginning but I wouldn't go back to supermarket litter now.

Nor would I recommend the litter-quitter to train the cats to pee into the loo. For one thing, for ever more, you're going to have to leave the bathroom door open and the seat up. Oh, and cats don't flush. An older kitty is going to have a problem maintaining their balance on it and if they're constipated or have diarrhoea, how are long are they going to have to perch on it? It's instinctual for cats to find a soft spot to dig in, eliminate and bury their waste, so you'll still have to provide a litter tray or they may well start to pee/poop outside the box. Plus if they ever have to go to a boarding cattery or spend an overnight at the vets, there's going to be confusion for them when they come home. I think using the litter quitter is just going to create more problems than it solves.

boomerang

zef wrote: »

They don't like using the litter box under the stairs.

That could be down to the type of tray that's under the stairs (too small, for example) or because the location means they feel a bit vulnerable to attack while they poop... This is an important issue for kitties! Could also be down to too much foot traffic through the hall so they feel insecure about using the tray there.

Ideally OP you should have a litter box for each cat, plus one. That's the golden rule to prevent litter box issues between the cats. At a minimum I'd have two trays.

Pam Johnson Bennett has a BRILLIANT book that covers all of your questions on litter box issues. Fantastic advice given. It's called "Starting from Scratch" and it's available on Amazon.

Alun

I agree with the choice of litter .. a non perfumed, clumping litter is the best in my opinion, plus my cats prefer it too! Make sure there's plenty in there too, a good 3 or 4 inches. Not only do the cats prefer it, it makes it much easier to scoop out the wee's as they don't soak right down to the base of the tray. I'd also say if you have trays that are getting a bit old, replace them as they can start to get smelly after a while especially if you've been using them with non clumping litter. I use one from MaxiZoo but haven't got a bag at the moment so can't tell you which one it is unfortunately.

As far as location goes, they need to be a decent distance apart from each other, and if they're somewhere where the cats wont use them then basically you'll have to move them to somewhere they will! I have two cats, and 3 trays (standard advice is trays = number of cats +1) with 2 in the kitchen at opposite ends and one in an unused bedroom that's used as a store room (we live in a bungalow). In a standard 3 bedroom house you could maybe put one in the hallway somewhere or in a utility room if you have one.

aonb

Good thread!
As a person new to cats, Im still REALLY gobsmacked by the hassle and nuisance of litter trays! Thankfully I have only the one tray to worry about, and I have a utility.

Having said that my little tux is an angel (!!) when it comes to using her tray - since she was a found "half dead thing", shes had TWO messes in the house (course she is a complete and utter pest in most other ways!!)

I dont order online, but am very interested in the advise I got from boardsies about non-supermarket litter (1 little kitten doesnt use too much litter, I scoop daily) - what is the better brand that is available in supermarkets do you experienced cat owners use? (I use the bog standard non clumping supermarket bag)

I was in someones house recently - 2 cats, no utility, didnt want the litter tray in the kitchen. So her solution: shes put a large box thing (its a rattan blanket box) in the corner. Shes cut a hole (where it cant be seen) and put the litter trays inside. Clever - hidden trays! There is a lid, she can lift to take out the trays. Shes got cushions on top for the cats beds, so all looks well - a possibility for you OP?

Pumpkinseeds

1 of our cats is a very big lad so we got a really big litter tray from Zooplus, more like a small boat:D We use Cats best oko plus litter and I find it great for odours and clumping. It's nice and light, is flushable and compostable, but we tend to just bin it. It lasts for ages and we haven't had any problems with it. I know the rule of thumb is 1 litter box per cat + 1 extra, but tbh, the female we adopted last year took over and they just share a litter box. Putting it somewhere quiet like the spare room is probably the best place for it. They like a bit of privacy, and scooping it at least twice a day. I'm not a fan of enclosed or self-cleaning litter boxes.

Alun

Yes, it can depend a lot on the individual cats. The two we had before our current ones were very un-fussy and were quite happy to share one box. Not so with the current two, especially Holly who is the epitome of fussy in all regards,

Irish Stones

zef wrote: »

Any advice on types of litter or good places to put trays? I have 2 hooded trays but they're years old and could be replaced, carbon filters are missing which dozen't help I guess.

I use vegetal and compostable litter from Cat's Best (Oki cat's Best clumping litter) and I would not swap it with anything else.
The hooded trays are good as long as they aren't broken, so they shouldn't need to be changed.
If the carbon filters are missing you can easily replace them with a minimum expense with the carbon filter for kitchen hoods.
I buy a sheet of filter for kitchen hoods at the hardware shop for about 5 euro, then I cut as many pieces as I can out of this sheet and use them for the litter trays. With a standard sheet I get filters for the trays for at least two years (two trays, I change the filter every two months).

Tranceypoo

This is a really dumb question....where do you put the carbon filters? I have a tray with a lid and the front bit of the lid pops up, so you don't have to take the whole roof off to scoop, does the filter go in that bit or at the bottom of the tray?

Yes I told you it's a dumb question....

Nody

Tranceypoo wrote: »

This is a really dumb question....where do you put the carbon filters? I have a tray with a lid and the front bit of the lid pops up, so you don't have to take the whole roof off to scoop, does the filter go in that bit or at the bottom of the tray?

Yes I told you it's a dumb question....

Depends on the individual design but in general it's on the top; for example you can see in this model they have flipped up a small blac plastic holder for it.

Irish Stones

Tranceypoo wrote: »

This is a really dumb question....where do you put the carbon filters? I have a tray with a lid and the front bit of the lid pops up, so you don't have to take the whole roof off to scoop, does the filter go in that bit or at the bottom of the tray?

Yes I told you it's a dumb question....

Usually the lids of this kind of trays have a small cover for one or two vents. The filter goes in there.
I have never seen a hooded litter tray without a vent and hence without a filter.
One of the two litter trays I have is this one

In the photo the cover is kept open by the included shovel, the filter is the black thing that you see on the top, under the cover.

The other litter tray that I have is this one


with two vents on the top.

Tranceypoo

Thank you for that Irish Stones, mine is like the top picture so I had put the filter in the correct place!!

zef

I never thought of that with the litter twitter, that they could get at the loo water etc.
Thank you all for the good advice, i am particularly impressed with the big rattan box idea to hide the things!
As i don't have a car atm i was going to order some litter online as carrying a 5-10kg bag home from the shops is no fun. Now to find an economical offer on zoo plus.
Great idea to just cut up some carbon kitchen filter too, the plastic top holders are broken on mine but i could just sellotape it on.
My 2 girls are smallish and use the same box also, i've heard the 1 per cat +1 rule, so 2 & an 'emergency' tray in the spare room .

taytobreath

I use wood pellets from woodies. 7euro 50 for a 15 kg bag. Lasts me about a month. I burn the used pellets in my stove with the poops ! Some stuff to heat a house

BoonDockMoo

I've tried wood pellets in the past but returned home to find my cat had decided to use them as toys. Fun times cleaning all them up!

I used Aldi/Lidl litter for a short time but the dust was terrible, in fact the dust out of the majority of litters is brutal. My indoor cat has some breathing issues so the dust was really giving her bother.

Started using "Worlds Best Cat Litter" 2 years ago and could never go back to any other kind(unless it was similar to this brand with the whole natural corn thing). She hasn't had any breathing difficulties since and there is no dust everywhere plus it actually smells nice and fresh. It's made from natural corn so it's safe to flush down the loo, saves on poop bags! It's bio-degradable as well.

I buy the offer of 2 bags of 12.7kg for €71.99 on zooplus and the 2 bags last me 4 and half months so that works out about €4 a week. Never went looking for any other corn litters but there might be some on the market that could be cheaper. If you find them let me know!