Cleaning and Maintaining a Cat Litter Box

Make A Hidden Litter Box

I have found a great idea for a hidden kitty litter box! Go to the nearest thrift store find a decent sized two drawer night stand. Take top drawer out and cut the face of the drawer off. Glue or nail face back on to the front where drawer use to be.

Next, take kitty litter pan and cut it down to size so it will slide into bottom drawer.

Finally, cut a hole in the side of the night stand so your kitty can get in and out. You could put a little curtain on the outside of hole if you would like to.

Voila! You have a nice hidden kitty litter box. When you change litter just pull bottom drawer out. That easy. Hope this can be useful for cat owners. It was for me.

Source: I found this idea off of HGTV (Design on a Dime).

By Emily from Erlanger, KY

Less Odors from the Cat Box

When cleaning cat boxes, the ammonia smell lingers. Although ammonia is a weak base, it can also be a weak acid. Sure stinks, though. So let's add cat urine and notice it's PH level is also slightly acidic. My solution was to reduce the acidity by putting a small layer of wood ash from my fireplace in the bottom of the cat box, then add the litter. The lower PH of the ashes neutralizes the odor.

Source: Chemistry class, 1967

By bisonjump from Anaconda, MT

Tips for Maintaining a Cat Litter Box

Litter boxes can get smelly and dirty very quickly, especially if you have multiple cats. Here are a few tips to keep your litter box clean and smelling fresh:

• Use clumping cat litter do that you can thoroughly remove urine clumps.
• Clean your litter box once a day.
• Do a complete litter change at least once a month.
• When you do a litter change scrub out the litter box with a mild soap and water. Dry thoroughly before adding new litter.
• If odors persist, mix some baking soda into your cat litter. This will help absorb some odors.

Creative Cat Litter Box Tips

I have 10 cat litter boxes for our "always full" cat shelter. Over the years we have learned several things to keep the litter costs down, keep things clean, and we make our own litter boxes for some of our big cats.

First, we use large, high sided, plastic totes as litter boxes. We cut a hole in either the front or the side of the tote with a box cutter. (Be careful when using the cutter please.) These litter boxes fit our Maine Coon mixes (20 lbs. of big cat). The high sides of the boxes allow for any spraying incidents to stay within the box and keeps the litter inside the box as some cats love to really dig.

Second, we have a roll of paper towels and a cleaned, reused dishwashing soap bottle (with a hand-written label on it) filled with a mixture of bleach and water in every room of the house. The mixture is 1/8 part bleach and the rest water. The paper towels and bleach mixture take care of any accidents right away. Having these cleaning supplies within easy reach helps us keep on top of things and is very cost effective.

Third, we use cedar shavings as litter. This is the same type of litter used in small animal cages but we buy it at Wal-mart in very large, compressed bags. Cedar shavings smell wonderful, are very absorbent, have little to no dust, do not track all over the place as badly as most litter and it is bio-degradable. (A word to the wise, do not change your cats litter from one type to another all at once or you are doomed to failure. Go slow. It can take weeks or months, slowly mixing in some of the new litter to the old.) Cedar shavings are inexpensive and you'll feel how light weight the box is when compared to higher priced litter. But, you must change the box out completely about every 3-4 days. Unlike scoopable litters, shavings do not clump. On the plus side, cleaning and refilling the box is fairly easy. A trash can on wheels helps. Empty the litter box, use your handy bottle of bleach mix to clean it, wipe out with a paper towel and refill the box. Soon, you'll have this chore down to a science.

By Marie from Rosenberg, TX

Put Dirty Cat Litter in an Old Coffee Can

Save the can that coffee came in and the lid. When empty, use the can to put dirty cat litter in, the kind that lumps and put the lid on top. This will keep the odor at bay and can be used several times. You will not have to go out to the garbage can to empty litter very often. When I need to empty it, I just pour it into a plastic bag from the grocery store and then take it to the garbage can.

By Judy from FL

Keeping Litter From Sticking to the Cat Box

An application of non-toxic paste wax to a new litter box will keep clumping litter from sticking to the sides and it will be much easier to clean.

By Kim W from AZ

Check Litterbox Often And Other Tips

Check the litterbox for solids every time you use the bathroom. You were going to wash your hands anyway.

Instead of clumping or clay litter, use pine pellet bedding for horses. It's effective, inexpensive, has no unnatural chemicals, smells great, and lasts about twice as long as other litters. If you use pine pellet litter, you can tell by looking at it when you need to wash and refill the box. As it absorbs urine, the pellets turn into sawdust. When there are no more pellets, it's time to dump the box and start fresh.

The same product is packaged for cats, as "Feline Pine," for about 3 times the price. Some pellet stove fuel is also okay to use for cat litter. If the label doesn't say it's okay for animal bedding, it can be toxic.

Use hot soapy water and a toilet brush to scrub out the litter box. You can also put some borax or washing soda in the bucket. Rinse and dry thoroughly before refilling. Letting it air dry in the sun can help with odors. NEVER use chlorine bleach to clean a litterbox. Urine turns into ammonia, and mixing chlorine and ammonia results in toxic chlorine gas, not good for you or kitty. Don't try to deodorize it with citrus oil cleaners or vinegar. Both citrus and vinegar are effective cat-repellants.

By Fishercat from Albany, NY

Use the Litter Box Liners with Holes

My solution for maintaining litter boxes is as follows: Because I hate to dip, lol, I bought the liners with the holes in them (Wal-Mart) blue box. I maintain 2 cat boxes; one for each kitty, of which I have 2.

With this system you use clumping litter and every other day lift out the layer on top and it sifts the good litter down for the next day. Then just throw away the layer with the soiled litter.

After keeping cats for years and having a smelly house, this seems to work best. For me, the convenience and the peace of mind of not having a stinky house makes this system worth while. Hope this helps. Blessings.

Source: Saw this on Thrifty Fun about 4 months ago and it works.

By fancy61 from northern Dayton area, OH

Product Review: ScoopFree Automatic Litter Box

The ScoopFree automatic litter box system is a combination of an automated rake device which fits over a pre-packaged cardboard litter box filled with liquid absorbing crystals. The starter system cost me about $110 at Petco including the automatic rake and the tray refill. Each additional tray refill costs about $15 and, with one cat, is supposed to last up to a month.

Unfortunately for me, the ScoopFree has been a disaster. Setup was easy and the cat took to the litter box fine, but the first tray refill didn't last anywhere close to a month. After only about a week, the tray was already saturated with urine.

The system has an automatic rake which activates periodically. It first rakes forward pulling any solid material into a catch at the far end of the litter box. Then it rakes back re-distributing the crystals throughout the box and presenting a clean litter surface for the cat's next visit.

At least that's the theory. In practice, the crystals in my box clumped together so the middle of the box ended up nearly devoid of litter. Litter is pushed into the catch for solid waste end, but even worse litter ends up crushed in the area behind where the rake parks.

I can use a litter scoop to redistribute the crystals every day which helps some. Even so, after only about a week, the whole system is so saturated with urine that the tray refill has to be changed.

The cardboard tray refill is coated so the urine isn't supposed to seep through. The idea is that the lid can simply be put on the box and the box put in a garbage bag for disposal. Again in theory. Unfortunately, that only seems to work when the litter is distributed properly. One tray refill I changed was so damp that the cardboard had lost its structure. I had to slide a garbage bag under the tray because lifting it would have been impossible.

It's almost hard for me to overestimate how disgusting the device becomes when the litter is saturated.

By Fletcher Sandbeck

Try Scoop Away Clumping Litter

The previous solution covers the subject well. I will only add one comment: I'm not a spokesman for this product, but I have found that Scoop Away is by far the best clumping litter. Sometimes my cats get lazy and don't cover their "product," and Scoop Away leeches the odor very well; likewise, for the urine. You can even skip a day of cleaning. I have tried many other litters, but regret spending the money, even when they cost less.

By Carolyn from Green Cove Springs, FL

Use A Sealed Container For Used Clumping Litter

Having had cats, and litter boxes, all my life I've tried every combination of things to make cleaning out the litter box quick, clean and easy.

I've had the clay litter where you waited until it was pretty gross and then you threw it all away. That litter was heavy and a pain to clean up all at once. I've used flushable litter and kept the boxes in the bathroom. That's great if you don't mind litter tracking all over your bath mat every day. I've used pine litter so I just scooped the solids and then threw all the wet litter in the compost pile.

I always found clumping litter more user friendly and it didn't waste any non soiled litter, but putting it in a plastic bag that I had to untie to use every time was just disgusting.

I now use a container you get in the pet section of any store to dispose of the waste. It's a container with a sealed lid that is advertised for storing dog kibble in. It's completely air tight, so no stink comes out. I use a trash bag in it like a lidded trash can and I can wait until it's pretty full and then just take it to the trash bin outside. The top latches shut so nothing spills out and the dog doesn't do something gross. It's so much easier, completely odor controlling and child/doggy proof!

By Panktty from Anderson, IN

Use Hard Clumping Cat Litter

Hard clumping litter makes it easier to notice when you need to fork out the clumps. Plus having an automatic battery operated air spray freshener nearby helps.

By Vivian P.