A ? for Cat Owners

Hey everyone,

I recently adopted two sweet little cats, my first time owning cats as I was previously a dog owner.

My question is regarding cat litter... I have only one cat litter box in my house for the two of them. Is this a bad thing?? The vet told me I should have at least one more but I have NO ROOM anywhere for another one.. I really dont want to put one in a living room or bedroom an that would really be the only viable options. That being said, my cats share it just fine and there's no issues about one of them being "possessive" of the litter box or anything....

My other question is, how often do you completely change the litter? Right now I am scooping it out every single night but I don't know how often the entire thing needs to be cleaned out..so I decided to clean out the entire box every two weeks.. Is this too long to wait to clean it out completely??

Thanks!!

I'm a pet sitter and have many clients who have just one box for their cats. Some have 2 boxes for up for 4 cats.

Ideally, for territory purposes, they shoudl each have their own, but it's not ridiculously important.

Scooop it every day and change the litter out completely every 4-5 days (I have plenty of clients who do that and it doesn't smell bad at all).

What kind of litter are you using? Check out the pine litter--it's like saw dust but ground up more. It is very good for odor, it's natural, and you have to change it maybe once ever 8-10 days.

My parents have always had two cats and one litter box (I'm talking since they've been married--30 years) and one box has never posed a problem. When I bring Cairo up north, they add an extra box for her.

As far as changing litter goes, I scoop Cai's poop every day (and throughout the day if I notice she's done her business). I get the Tidy Cat multi-cat clumping crystal stuff (it's 7-9$ depending on where you buy it) and it clumps up the pee which reduces odor even more.

I actually change out the litter completely about once a week. With two cats, maybe change it every 4 days or so, though. My parents change theirs once a week and have never had any problems (their kitties are thriving at 16 and 18!!).

So do we get pictures of the new additions? What are their names?

I use Fresh Scoop .. the clumping kind. That's what they were using at the place where I adopted them from.

I haven't uploaded the pics yet from my camera.. Their names are Orion and Ariel

I have 4 cats and one box ATM, they usually hit the box but after a little bit they start going #2 right beside the box, still #1 in the box, so I have to change it often. I need to get another box but there is not much space right now so I just scoop 1/2 times aday.

Wow. I would love to have 4 cats but no $ for that many!! Vet bills are expensive man

It was really hard picking out only two to rescue

I have one cat, and im paranoid about the smell and so i clean it out completely once a day.

But i use recycled newspaper for mine, which has been shredded in my shredder, as i was sick of forking out the money for the crystal stuff, and theres no where to chuck it.

No vet bills, except fixing them. I can't afford a vet so I just take the best care of them I can, feed them and keep their nails trimmed and play with them, particularly they love a chasing a laser pointer on the floor. I had 9 but had to get rid of some.

OOoooooh yes, the LASER pointer!!!! they go bat-poop crazy for those!

...9 cats and your name is cyberDOG

Hhahaa I was just thinking the same thing.. You should be CyberMultCat.. or CyberCatx4

There's actually different types of cat litter? I never realized that, LOL. I thought it was all the same?

OH YEAH...there's clay litter, crystal litter, pine/cedar/whatever litter.... Walk through the cat section sometime, MS. It will blow your mind.

OH YEAH...there's clay litter, crystal litter, pine/cedar/whatever litter.... Walk through the cat section sometime, MS. It will blow your mind.

I'll have to do that. Ha Ha I seriously thought cat litter was cat litter.

I know I overheard one of my friends saying one day that her cat wouldn't use her littler box after she switched cat litter and I just thought maybe she was being extreme or something LOL.. Maybe it's a good thing I don't own a cat. poor kitty

We have two cats that share the same litter box too without any problems. I'm not the one who cleans it but I think they scoop it out twice a day.

I use World's Best or Nature's Miracle.

The corn products work really nicely for odor, and it's flushable.

Just the one box should be fine-I had 6 cats growing up and only one box; we as a family took turns through out the day cleaning it though. It was always cleaned 3-4xs daily. Even now, I scoop my one kitty box 2x a day (morning and night).

I only clean out my litter box once every 2 weeks, too. I've never had a problem with odor, either.

Hope that helps!

if they share it without problem, you probably don't need another box as long as you clean it often enough.

i have 12 cats but certainly do not have 12 boxes. we have 5 boxes and the only problem i've ever had is that if i got more than a week without changing it, a couple of them decide the boxes are too dirty and they will go right next to them.

with so many cats and my baby [and currently pregnant] i dont' have time to scoop every day. once a week i just change the entire contents of each box and put in fresh litter. no problems at all.

What's the deal with the pine litter? I have never heard of that. Is it messy? Expensive?

I've been using the crystal litter for a while now with no problems. I love how it's so clean and how little of it gets out of the litter box with their digging. I scoop it every day and clean out the boxes completely once or twice a week depending on the look of it and if there is any smell. The crystal is good for absorbing the smell I've found - many many times better than clay.

When cleaning out the box, I put a bit of baking soda at the bottom and sprinkle a bit on top. That might be helping some too.

The only issue I have with the crystal is that it is more expensive. I have two cats, each has their own box - that is changed at least once a week so 2 crystal litters at 7 bucks a pop, 14 bucks at least a week just for litter.

It's not that bad but for something that is essentially just going in the garbage, it's expensive.

So if someone uses the pine or cedar litter - what are the pros and cons of it? How often do you change it? Is it messy?

As a pet sitter, I've seen all kinds of litter. I HATE the clay litter. It gets all in my face and the dust, I swear to god, gets in my mouth if my mouth is open and I can taste it. Disgusting.

This is what a lot of my clients use (it's a "green" litter, and Atlanta where I live is full of green people).

link removed

I can rarely tell that a cat has used it and I have to go "looking" for stuff to scoop out of it. Some of my clients change it completely after about 8-10 days, sometimes longer. They scoop it every day though. It's very clean, and you don't have to worry about dust popping up in your face. I don't think it's flushable, but it lasts forever. It doesn't clump the pee, but it doesn't mmake it smell either when it's been in there. Looking at the website though, I see that they do make the clumping kind, but I've never seen it.

I really need something that clumps.. fishing around for cat pee isn't my cup o' tea

After reading all the responses, I think I need to empty the whole litter box at lesat once a week. As ItsAllGrand said though - it's quite expensive considering you just take the unused litter and dump it. Sheesh...

Thanks a bunch hersmudders!

We have 2 cats, one is strictly indoors and the other does go outside. We have one litter box in our bathroom. Since I am pregnant my husband scoops the litter box (when I remind him,) every day or other day, and completely empties and cleans it out once every 10 days or so.

We've never had any problems with the cats going outside the box. They are both neutered males, 13 and 6 years old.

We use clumping litter, we get the 55lb boxes at Costco for about 8$.

I have two cats and two litterboxes. Sometimes males can get urinary problems if they each do not have their own box. My Siamese boy, Ming, has recurrent FLUTD problems, so my cats have to be on special diets and Ming has to be medicated daily. I cannot use less than two boxes or he is sure to have a flare-up and they are EXPENSIVE!. His last session with FLUTD cost me around $1,500. It's not rare in males, so watch out for it. Other than that, I clean their boxes twice a day and change them every other week or so. I just make sure I use the clumping litter and keep plenty of fresh water available to them.

 

My other question is, how often do you completely change the litter? Right now I am scooping it out every single night but I don't know how often the entire thing needs to be cleaned out..so I decided to clean out the entire box every two weeks.. Is this too long to wait to clean it out completely??

 

Thanks!!

 

With two cats using one litterbox, you should completely change the litter at least once a week. We now have one cat and we will get a second one from the shelter in a week or so. We also have very little space to have another litter box, so we will first try to have them share a the toilet. Hell we share the toilet too and we clean up after the cat every time she goes!

my vet told me a good rule was to assume one box per cat, and then one extra box. they can sometimes be territorial and sometimes they like to go #1/#2 in different boxes, but if one is all that is available, hopefully they can make due. i have one cat now and he has three litter boxes. i put clumping litter in and scoop them daily. he used to use clay litter, but had some medical problems which made him pee a lot... from that, we learned that scooping litter always smells fresher!

the big thing i think i'd say to you is that the cats are generally particular and only want to use fresh litter boxes. if you can't keep multiple boxes, do try to keep them as clean as you can. cats are like people, they don't like to sit in stinky places!

good luck.