Chore Wars Thread 3: Cat Litter

[CommonCents]

After reading all of the threads on the chore wars, I am now curious where people generally fall on the frequency of this particular chore.

*A family member trained their dogs to ring a bell when they needed to go out.  Apparently the (indoor) cat watched this and started ringing the bell too rather than use her litter box.

[hops]

When I had two male cats, they peed competitively. One would exit the jumbo-sized shared litter box, and the other would wait a few minutes (a few seconds, sometimes) before hopping in to outdo him. They were locked in a never-ending "Dueling Banjos" of the bladder, and the box was cleaned twice daily to keep things from getting too grisly.

Now, with an older girl and younger boy, all is calm and the box is cleaned every other day. They have two boxes but prefer to share one.

[Frankies Girl]

Down to one cat with one litterbox, and it is cleaned every other day.

When we had more cats, we had more litterboxes, and they were cleaned daily.

[Katsplaying]

Two cats, male & female litter mates, and I scoop the box every time I go into the bathroom. I use World's Best litter (yay flushable!!!) so it isn't that awful a chore. Just wish they'd figure out how to wipe their feet and not track the grit. :/

[TN_Steve]

When she had one or more cats, DW cleaned it daily.  For 10 years or so, she delegated this to our sons; on nights when she never made it home from work, I picked up the slack despite no love for cat(s).  :-). 

Now, with impending retirement, no cats.  YAY!

[justajane]

Haha - "Litter Lady" migrating over. I almost never scoop the poop, since this has always been my husband's explicit responsibility. Always has been. It was his cat. I would say he scoops it every couple of days. It's disgusting, but the cat doesn't seem to mind. It's in our unfinished basement, so we don't smell it.

[MissStache]

I joke that BF follows the cats around with a trash can and they just poo right into it.  He is uber diligent about it, which makes me feel bad because they are 100% my cats!  When it was just me, I usually did it twice a week or so.  Now those cats have the cleanest litter in the world.  He has sonic hearing and always knows when they are in the box. 

[Guses]

I put once a week.

I have two cats, but we let them go outside. Last time I cleaned it, there was like 1 pee and 4 poops (in case you were wondering).

[geekette]

Less in the summer (weekly?), when they prefer the outdoors, and more in the winter (daily).

[pbkmaine]

Every day. 3 cats, 3 litter boxes.

[MsPeacock]

Every day in the morning - and the scoopings are bagged and put in the outside trash can immediately. Three cats, two boxes. I also give them canned food in the morning and the cans have to go outside immediately. IMHO the canned cat food smells much worse than the litter.

[Kris]

Two cats, two boxes, every other day.  I get no protest poops that way.

[irishbear99]

I no longer have cats so I didn't respond to the survey, but have a funny story that's relevant to the topic.

How often we cleaned the litter box was dictated (literally) by one of our cats. Any time he was unhappy with the cleanliness of the litter box he would poop right next to it on the floor, thus earning the nickname "The Mad Shitter."

[Cpa Cat]

We have two boxes - one in the basement (my husband's dwelling place) and one in a bathroom next to my office. Guess which one these pesky cats use 100% of the time? Oh, that's right, the one outside my office. So I clean it daily. Sometimes more than once a day.

They haven't even used the basement litterbox in over a year. I don't know why we even have it.

[MrsCoolCat]

One cat, every day or so whenever I remember since I seem to be the only one that does it.

[Zikoris]

My boyfriend generally does it once a day, though lately the cat has been playing a game where he waits until right after he cleans it to take a shit. It's like an old western showdown now, with both of them trying to outlast the other. Cat even sits right outside the bathroom (where the box is) and stares at him in a taunting way. So it's been twice a day more often lately, within like 20 minutes of each other.

[MrsCoolCat]

My boyfriend generally does it once a day, though lately the cat has been playing a game where he waits until right after he cleans it to take a shit. It's like an old western showdown now, with both of them trying to outlast the other. Cat even sits right outside the bathroom (where the box is) and stares at him in a taunting way. So it's been twice a day more often lately, within like 20 minutes of each other.

LMAO I love cats! My cat, Houdini, does the same thing. Always manages to get right in after I clean it. Damn troll. LOL

[justajane]

My boyfriend generally does it once a day, though lately the cat has been playing a game where he waits until right after he cleans it to take a shit. It's like an old western showdown now, with both of them trying to outlast the other. Cat even sits right outside the bathroom (where the box is) and stares at him in a taunting way. So it's been twice a day more often lately, within like 20 minutes of each other.

LMAO I love cats! My cat, Houdini, does the same thing. Always manages to get right in after I clean it. Damn troll. LOL

My cat too. What can they say? They like a clean litter box for shitting. I guess I like a clean bowl too :).

[Kris]

My boyfriend generally does it once a day, though lately the cat has been playing a game where he waits until right after he cleans it to take a shit. It's like an old western showdown now, with both of them trying to outlast the other. Cat even sits right outside the bathroom (where the box is) and stares at him in a taunting way. So it's been twice a day more often lately, within like 20 minutes of each other.

LMAO I love cats! My cat, Houdini, does the same thing. Always manages to get right in after I clean it. Damn troll. LOL

My cat too. What can they say? They like a clean litter box for shitting. I guess I like a clean bowl too :).

One of mine likes to come hang out in one of the litter boxes while I'm cleaning them and squat down to take a shit WHILE I'm scooping that box. So I literally get to sit there and wait until she's done to finish.

[enigmaT120]

With 3 cats there was always lots of "stuff"! I used the multi-cat clumping litter and it worked good. Added something (can't remember what) to the cat's food that made their "stuff" unappetizing to the dogs so no doggies rooting around in the litter box or outside for tasty kitty-stuff munchies :-)!

So your dogs would have cleaned the litter box for you, but you didn't want them to?

Our cats go outside.  There's 1.5 acres inside the fence.  If that's not enough for them, they'll probably get eaten.

[shadowmoss]

I have a (non-Mustashian) Liter Robot.  I put once a week, but this thing rotates 7 min after a cat leaves the bubble (looks kind of like a small cement truck?) and rotates and dumps the clumps into a drawer below.  It filters the clean litter on the way around to a pocket inside.  YouTube it, I'm not explaining it well.  Once a week I pull out the drawer, gather up the plastic trash bag of litter clumps and put it out with the trash on trash day, put a new bag in the drawer and top off the litter.  Two cats (who seem to also need to go right after the other a lot) so I'm happy to let the machine to the scooping for me.

No affiliation, just a happy customer.  It is amazingly expensive, but worth it to me.

[okits]

I have a (non-Mustashian) Liter Robot.  I put once a week, but this thing rotates 7 min after a cat leaves the bubble (looks kind of like a small cement truck?) and rotates and dumps the clumps into a drawer below.  It filters the clean litter on the way around to a pocket inside.  YouTube it, I'm not explaining it well.  Once a week I pull out the drawer, gather up the plastic trash bag of litter clumps and put it out with the trash on trash day, put a new bag in the drawer and top off the litter.  Two cats (who seem to also need to go right after the other a lot) so I'm happy to let the machine to the scooping for me.

No affiliation, just a happy customer.  It is amazingly expensive, but worth it to me.

I don't even own a cat and was curious enough to YouTube this. Great invention, but $300?  Yikes!

[Melody]

One cat in my ensuite bathroom in my sub 400sqm apartment. When she poops I scoop instantly. I do a full litter box change whenever it's too damp in there (varies depending on if she's been outside a lot, as is the case on weekends when she plays in the communal garden if I am home in the day) but probably every 2 or 3 days. It never smells. I use cheap clay litter, it's not particularly absorbent but doesnt smell before it gets too wet, and because it's cheap I have no qualms throwing the whole lot out. I guess I spend about $5 every two weeks on litter.

[MMMaybe]

I scoop once a day just before I take the garbage out. My husband never does it but I make him clean up cat vomit and any nasty cat backside issues.

With the pine litter that I use, there is no smell. Its not cheap but my nose notices a significant difference when we use clay litter.

[Dicey]

I inherited my kitty about a year ago when her rescue daddy passed away. I was scooping every day, but decided to see what happened if I didn't. Amazingly, she doesn't seem too picky. I've also been gingerly experimenting with different litters and she doesn't seem to have much preference there either. I just bought a 5# bag of Johnny Cat litter at the 99 Only Store for, yup, 99.99 cents and she really seems to like it. They also had 10 packs of litter pan liners* and I think we both like those, too. If this litter is still holding up by the end of the week, I think I might go back and buy the store out. Experienced cat humans: Is there any reason not to buy this cheap litter if she likes it?

*I'm expecting some pushback on the liners, but we're in a drought here and washing out a litterbox just seems worse than using a plastic liner bag thingy. Gentle feedback on litter/liners appreciated.

[MMMaybe]

Experienced cat humans: Is there any reason not to buy this cheap litter if she likes it?

*I'm expecting some pushback on the liners, but we're in a drought here and washing out a litterbox just seems worse than using a plastic liner bag thingy. Gentle feedback on litter/liners appreciated.

With regards to the litter, the only real concern would be smell. Some kinds of litter just don't cover the smell of cat pee.

I don't bother with liners. It just creates extra garbage :)

[2Cent]

Oh man, you guys clean it so often. I clean it once per week for 1 cat. Don't buy the cheap litter. That will mean you need to clean daily. I use silicate based litter. (Tigerino Crystals).
In the end it's even cheaper because it lasts longer, and it's a LOT less work.

[Mrs. PoP]

Spoiled myself and Kitty PoP last Christmas and bought a Litter Robot.  It cleans the litter box 7 minutes after every use, and I empty the bag in the tray 1x per week.  Love it! 

[Astatine]

We use crystals cos that's what our cats were using when we adopted them. We scoop the poo as soon as we notice it (it's particularly stinky from the cat with end stage renal failure) and we change the trays about once a fortnight. We have 2 large trays and use liner bags cos it's less gross and easier to put in the bin.

We have noticed a pattern of welcome home poos. I assume because they like us to scoop the poo asap.

[little_brown_dog]

once a week, but we only have 1 cat (on dry food) and his litter box is in our unfinished basement. we just give him a nice deep layer of plain clay litter and it makes it a week without getting *too* foul. weird side note - i think my cat may be the only one in the world who HATES wet food, cat treats, and anything other than bland dry food.

[geekette]

Interesting that many of y'all mention changing out the litter box so often.  I can't remember the last time I needed to wash out the tray.  We use the World's Best Cat Litter brand, which we much prefer to clay versions.  It seems expensive, but it lasts well.  Flushable and no stinking.  Much less dust, too. 

[Sibley]

2 cats, 2 boxes. I clean daily, though sometimes miss a box on that day. I do not like clay litter, and the cats have never used it. Not upsetting the applecart.

Boxes get emptied and washed periodically - 4-6 times per year maybe. Basically, whenever it smells and scooping doesn't fix it.

Trying to find a litter that I'm happy with right now. Used Fresh step forever, is good for odor, but the dust got ridiculous. I hate dusting. Giving Tidy Cats a try now, but don't think I'm happy with the odor control. We'll see.

[FLBiker]

I scoop twice a day, when I feel him.  I could totally get by with once a day, though.  We use a clumping clay litter that is expensive but works really well -- Dr. Eisley's precious cat.  ~$15 for 40 lbs.  And we use a Litter Genie, which I really like.

And we keep the litter box on our screen porch, except for when it's really cold (here in Florida).  I fully empty and wash the box a couple of times a year.

I'm going to google that World's Best Litter.  I like the flushable idea, but I guess we'd have to move the litterbox to a bathroom then.

[MishMash]

Two Words....Litter Robot  Stupidly expensive (and decidedly unmustachian) but OH SO worth it.  It cleans itself after every use, seals the clumping litter in a drawer below it, and once a week I pull out the garbage bag and put in a new one.  We live in a small house and there is ZERO cat litter smell with this thing.  I HATED walking in every day and smelling cat pee if we didn't clean it multiple times a day.  We've had it three years now and we've literally had people comment when they see the cats that they are surprised we have cats since they couldn't smell them.

[MissStache]

I also use World's Best Litter.  You can often find it on sale at Target or PetSmart, so I stock up when I see it marked down.  One 15# bag lasts us a month or so with 2 cats, and it really keeps the odor to a minimum. 

[ZiziPB]

One cat, one box.  I scoop it out every day in the morning, and completely dump out the litter, wash out the box and fill with clean litter every other month or so.  I use Petco litter - I bring my own bucket and just refill it from the large bin in the store for $10.  It is relatively low dust and not scented.  When I do the bi-monthly wash and replace, I use the entire bucket of litter in a fairly deep box. 

ETA: the Petco litter clumps well so it's easy to scoop.  Filling the box deep enough with litter prevents the clumps from reaching the bottom of the box so there is no sticking and after you scoop, there is no lingering smell.

[ZiziPB]

This is the best article I've read on litterbox maintenance and preventing related issues:

http://www.catinfo.org/?link=litterbox

[OlyFish]

we have an automatic litter box which sounds really lazy but it is one of the best marriage peace keeping devices that I have ever bought. there is a full litter switch every 2 weeks.

[golden1]

We outsourced this to my daughter.  She is SUPPOSED to do it every day but she forgets so it is more like 4-5 times per week. 

[katstache92]

I love my litter robot.  It is absolutely worth every single penny.  I got one of the refurbished one, so there was a discount, plus I googled a coupon code and got an extra $30 off.  It was less painful with that combination.

Seriously, this machine makes me so so happy.  No more scooping!!

Before I got the litter robot I scooped 3 boxes twice a day (#cats + one extra box) now I change a bag twice a week.

Not affiliated with them, but you should definitely get one.

[Thinkum]

Roughly once a day; one cat and we use feline pine. No stink and all the shavings go underneath the main box. Hardly a chore.

[Dicey]

Experienced cat humans: Is there any reason not to buy this cheap litter if she likes it?

*I'm expecting some pushback on the liners, but we're in a drought here and washing out a litterbox just seems worse than using a plastic liner bag thingy. Gentle feedback on litter/liners appreciated.

With regards to the litter, the only real concern would be smell. Some kinds of litter just don't cover the smell of cat pee.

I don't bother with liners. It just creates extra garbage :)

Thanks! I only tried the liners because the current litter is a clumping variety and it sticks to the pan in the cat pee places and won't shake off, hence the need to soak/rinse.

BTW, we just flipped a house where the previous owner had what I think was a Litter Robot thingy. (It was hooked up to the water under the sink and I only saw it once.) There were hardwood floors and this contraption had ruined the floors underneath it. We couldn't remove the flooring because some idiot had glued them down so we ended up sanding and staining all of the beautiful white oak in the whole house dark walnut, at great effort and expense. Yeah, not the look we were going for. If this it the gizmo you're using and you have hardwood floors, please put something waterproof underneath it and save yourself an even more ridiculous expense.

[TansyPants]

Three cats, one GIANT box. Twice a day.

We had two boxes, but they never used the second one, so we stopped filling it. Now the boy cat sleeps in it. Dumbass.

They're my SO's cats, but I feed out and get the box in the morning, he feeds and gets it at night. We both get drunk, get out the catnip and then piss ourselves laughing. Now *that's* value. Who needs a TV?

[jawisco]

I can't believe how often you all scoop your litter!  I know some cats can be finicky and I guess small apartments would necessitate it, but I am still shocked.  I never thought I would be such an outlier...

I scoop every two-three weeks or so and I have 2 cats.  I have my litter boxes in an unfinished basement and I have walled off an area with old sheets to keep dust from getting to other parts of basement - about a 4x6 area where I have 6 litter boxes set up. 

I started doing this when I needed to travel for 1-2 weeks at a time and my cat sitter was an elderly lady and I didn't want her to have to go down the basement stairs (stairs are steep).

My cats do just fine with this arrangement and have never complained (or gone somewhere else, which was my initial concern with this system).  Certain litter boxes become in vogue in a cyclical fashion...

Earlier this year, this arrangement lasted a month with no issues when I was on vacation.  I don't often let it go that long though because I don't want to risk them going somewhere else because I have read that once that starts, it can be hard to stop.

I know you all are thinking it must really stink down there but it doesn't (I am not sure what brand litter I use - I just know it when I see it).  My wife can't stand cat urine smell.  It did smell in the basement when we got back from a month's vacation...

[MishMash]

Experienced cat humans: Is there any reason not to buy this cheap litter if she likes it?

*I'm expecting some pushback on the liners, but we're in a drought here and washing out a litterbox just seems worse than using a plastic liner bag thingy. Gentle feedback on litter/liners appreciated.

With regards to the litter, the only real concern would be smell. Some kinds of litter just don't cover the smell of cat pee.

I don't bother with liners. It just creates extra garbage :)

Thanks! I only tried the liners because the current litter is a clumping variety and it sticks to the pan in the cat pee places and won't shake off, hence the need to soak/rinse.

BTW, we just flipped a house where the previous owner had what I think was a Litter Robot thingy. (It was hooked up to the water under the sink and I only saw it once.) There were hardwood floors and this contraption had ruined the floors underneath it. We couldn't remove the flooring because some idiot had glued them down so we ended up sanding and staining all of the beautiful white oak in the whole house dark walnut, at great effort and expense. Yeah, not the look we were going for. If this it the gizmo you're using and you have hardwood floors, please put something waterproof underneath it and save yourself an even more ridiculous expense.

The Litter Robot doesn't hook up to a water supply, it looks like a giant Death Star and the concept of it is, cat steps on stair, sets off sensor, cat pees and leaves (or is like mine who sits there and watches it "eat" his poop) then the ball rotates, separates out the clean litter from the clumps, dumps the clumps in a garbage bag through a trap door, then rotates back to it's original placement with clean litter in place. 

[Lis]

I use World's Best litter (yay flushable!!!) so it isn't that awful a chore. Just wish they'd figure out how to wipe their feet and not track the grit. :/

WHY DID I NOT KNOW FLUSHABLE LITTER EXISTS????? Scouting out my Petco tomorrow... I don't remember seeing this brand at my Target. I usually use Target's brand so I'm there often enough :/

Two cats, one giant litter pan. I end up doing it 2-3 times a week.

(I also started asking you what type of litter you used since I read it as you used the worlds best litter... not realizing it's the brand. Clearly it's bedtime for me!)

[Rural]

I can't believe I'm the first never vote! Three cats, one cat door, two acres fenced (also contains large dogs), and no litter box.

[Squirrel away]

Litter robot, I've never heard of that!

We have 5 cats and my husband changes the tray every morning. I usually scoop out every time I hear them using it as we have a small house.

[BMEPhDinCO]

Three cats, two boxes, nearly every time they go!  My DH is super picky about the smell and one of the cats likes to cry and announce that he's used the box, so that one gets cleaned more, the other one is twice a day.  I am the one to clean them though, as I am more the "cat person".

We use Dr. Elsey's and it works great... my King Soopers has it for $13 a bag (40lb) and I usually go through 2 bags a month at most... the boys like to kick the litter out of the box :-/

[FIRE Artist]

My cat is toilet trained.  It is both mustachian and anti-mustachian at the same time as when I bought my house, one criteria was an extra bathroom in the basement for the cat.

I taught her when she was a kitten using a Litter Kwitter.