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Comment by Robin Dotson on September 29, 2011 at 5:57pm

I have 9 cats (4 are 3 weeks old and looking for a new home as soon as they are weened) and 4 litter boxes. I bought one of those new Febreeze litter boxes from Wal-mart. The "litter pellets" for it are $5 a bag and the pads that collect the urine underneath in the tray are kind of pricy, too. The cats like using it to pee in better, but they hate trying to cover their poop in the pellets. They prefer the old short plastic litter boxes that we put regular litter in, so we've kind of quit using the $30 Febreeze litter box and are just sticking with the old faithful cheaper plastic boxes. We have a local grocery store that sells cheap litter that has odor control. I can get 2 large bags of litter for the old faithful litter boxes for $7. My problem is being home enough to keep the boxes scooped because cats do not like stepping in a messy litter box, so when they feel it is messy, they will find other places to go and then I have to use my steam cleaner to get the carpet clean. I drive for the railroad, so I work 12 hours a day (sometimes up to 16 hours a day). I do this usually 4 days a week, unless they run short of drivers and call me in to work extra. I have APL leukemia, so the other 3 days a week, I reserve for running errands, paying bills, Dr. appointments, chemo, etc. I just do the best I can do and go on with life, such as it is. But, I have found that considering all alternatives, cheaper is better. I seem to save more money by going with the cheaper, more traditional cat supplies than going with the fancier things that end up costing me more money, still require a lot of my time and don't make my life any easier.

Comment by Sandra on June 4, 2011 at 2:09pm

@Donna Horwood - Kitty sanitation engineer indeed!  That's exactly what I feel like a lot of the time.  lol

Comment by Sandra on June 4, 2011 at 2:08pm

Thanks.  It's something that I really never gave much thought until I was reading someone's comment here at Cat-Share that made me start thinking about litter boxes.  As I thought about it, I realized I've seen some crazy examples of litter boxes - and some that are downright expensive - and I wondered if it was worth spending the extra money.

Comment by MediaGrump on June 4, 2011 at 9:04am

I love this conversation!  Sandra you picked a great topic.  I love the viewpoints.

Comment by Donna Horwood on June 3, 2011 at 12:45am

We have 5 cats so as you can imagin litter boxes and litter are an important part of our lives....we have 3 boxes right now and we are going to add another one this week for the screened in porch...I have one large box that has a cover and our boy Teddy loves it because when I only had the smaller ones he would have to stand with his front legs outside the box to use it...I have found out by trial and error that it pays to buy a quality litter and I use Scoop Away for multiple cats.....it keeps the odor down and clumps really well making my job much easier...and like every one else's cats, they get litter on their feet..a small rug in front of the boxes helps but I have to vaccum regularly to keep it cleaned up...My hubby says he is going to get me a T shirt that says  kitty sanitation engineer...yep thats me all right...hope this helps.

Comment by Gina Young on June 2, 2011 at 9:23pm

i have 3 cats and 2 litter boxes. its a general pain no matter which way u go about it! but i have a large covered box and then a smaller uncovered pan. the litter goes every which way no matter what ive tried so i just sweep it up once or twice a day. but i think that the litter that u choose is more important, in my opinion. i am lucky that i have found a cheap 40-lb box of scoopable unscented litter at our local kroger. it clumps very well and doesnt get all wet and gooey. it keeps the smell at a minimum too. and then i try to scoop both boxes every 2-3 days. but if it goes a day or so longer my cats havent really fussed about it which tells me that the litter must be doing its job. i have been lucky also that my larger cat, mikey only manages to poop outside the uncovered pan on a seldom basis lol... i think that big cats just have trouble fitting their butts and bodies in the box lol.

Comment by Clairissa Brooks on June 2, 2011 at 1:40am

My cat Pikachu had this problem of if we had a plain cheap litter box, with short sides, he would hang his butt over and would end up pooping (or peeing) on the floor. So we always had to have a covered litter box because of him. Think maybe because he's a big boy.

When had one that we could roll, and all the waste would go into this drawer (all clean litter went into a different side) and you pull out the drawer and dump the waste. It made cleaning the box easy.

However when we took in a stray (well sometimes even before we did), Pikachu would go into the box but still managed to pee onto the floor (sometimes poo). Thinking that maybe the box is just too small for two cats to use (and he's an old cat, having to get in and out of the box might be a problem as well), we switched to a larger litter box that has a ramp that goes into it, kind of turns and they do have to step down but we haven't had any problems with it. The ramp also collects a lot of the litter so there's less on the floor, I take a vacuum on it once in awhile. We got a litter locker to put the waste in because we were using a lot of grocery bags.

Comment by Sandra on June 1, 2011 at 2:49pm

That's a good point.  I spend a lot of time cleaning up the litter, too.  I'm going to try the more expensive kind next time I buy some.

Comment by MediaGrump on June 1, 2011 at 1:57pm

I have the economy plastic box and spend more on the type of litter.  My cats don't like the litter with the larger "grains."  They prefer the smaller ones, which turns out better for me because the smaller ones smell better in my opinion.  If I buy the cheap bigger grain (being low on money), Gary will refuse to bury the waste and my other one Gilbert will fling the litter out of the box! (I think due to Gary not burying)  It has become worth the extra $5 - $10 a month to buy the better litter so I don't have to spend so much time cleaning up the mess.

 

I have had covered litter boxes before. Pain in the butt to clean.