Litter Sifting Vs Scooping

[susanm9006]

I have been experimenting the last six months with sifting vs scooping my cats litter, and thought I would share my observations with folks. My cat is not at all fussy about the condition of her litter box like most cats, but cleaning her box is A chore and it's hard for me to crouch or bend long enough to get it done properly. The sifter box makes it much easier and faster, since all you need to do is set it inside a clean box and dump the dirty litterbox into it, shake a second and dump. A couple other things about it that I really like. Litter stays cleaner and smells less because you don't break wet clumps as you sometimes do while scooping, and poop also doesnt get broken apart so you don't need to spent twenty minutes digging around to get the tiny poop pieces in the box. The sifter gets every little piece, really important if you have a finicky cat.

The negative thing about using a sifter box is that as you transfer the sifter contents to your bag or bin, you tend to get more litter on the floor than with a scoop. But I will take sweeping the floor over scooping.

 

[madzoya]

I'm kind of curious to try it, but I'm not liking that there are no covered shiffing boxes around here, and Bruce is shy!

 

[susanm9006]

I assume the cover comes off your box for cleaning? If so, you just need another box, large enough that a sifting tray can fit in, that you dump your litterbox into, sift and return the litter to your covered box.

 

[madzoya]

I was thinking of one of those that already had all the trays and you just shift from one to the other... Lol. Shifting this one would be more work that scooping (Bruce likes a lot of sand in his box)

 

[IndyJones]

I've often wondered how would you put the liner bag in one of these?

 

[susanm9006]

I've often wondered how would you put the liner bag in one of these?

You line the primary litterbox, put the sifter in the other box. I use puppy pads as the liner in my box and just grab it and place it back in the litterbox as I tip and sift. Then I pour the litter from the sifter box into the lined one, but you could have liners in both boxes so you only has to dump the litter through the sifter

 

[momof3b1g]

I've tried those in the past and it was more work. I order to scoop. I just wish I someone would come up with a scoop that sifts. So many small pieces get left behind.

 

[orange&white]

I sift, but not with a "sifting litter box". I use a plastic-coated wire basket from Dollar Tree. I keep one empty litter box next to one with litter. When I notice a "deposit" has been made, I set the basket into the empty box and pour the litter through. Then just lift the handle and dump the basket.

 

[momof3b1g]

I sift, but not with a "sifting litter box". I use a plastic-coated wire basket from Dollar Tree. I keep one empty litter box next to one with litter. When I notice a "deposit" has been made, I set the basket into the empty box and pour the litter through. Then just lift the handle and dump the basket.

I've done that too. But I have used a large strainer. But I scoop first and use the strainer to sift what the scoop misses

 

[orange&white]

I have the same experience as Susanm9006 when I try to scoop: often the wet clumps break up and leaves crumbled pieces that are hard to get out. That little basket seems to keep the clumps all in one piece...95% of the time anyway.

 

[susanm9006]

Great idea orange&white . Between sifting vs scooping and using puppy pads as a liner I have cut my litterbox maintenance time way way down.

 

[orange&white]

Great idea orange&white . Between sifting vs scooping and using puppy pads as a liner I have cut my litterbox maintenance time way way down.

I lined my senior cat's litter box with a puppy pee pad because he barely digs in and barely paws the top of the litter to cover. Works great for him! My kitten digs to China. When I taped a puppy pad in the box, she stopped digging so deep for a couple months and I thought it was working. Then I came home one day and she had pulled the pad up and shredded it, so I had a mess of mixed litter, pad and plastic (from the pad) with pee/poop. Definitely worth a try though. I'll try again when she's older.

 

[susanm9006]

The morning after I brought my cat Willow, a year old at the time, home from the shelter I went into her room to check if she had eaten and used her litterbox. The sight of litterbox literally stopped me in my tracks. Her extra large box with three inches of litter had been converted to a litter tower. All of the litter had been completely scooped away from all four sides of the box and was piled in a high cone in the middle of the box. How or why she did it is a mystery and after that night she never created a litter cone again. Her only strange litter habit is that if given two litter boxes she will use only one and no matter how dirty it gets she will not use the second clean box.

 

[lavishsqualor]

Here's my dirty secret: I neither sift nor scoop. I keep a box of inexpensive plastic gloves in my pantry and twice a day I don them and go through the box. My partner has a fit if he's around when I do it. He thinks it's one of the most disgusting things ever. It's just quicker and easier for me that way. Plus, Atticus pees like a grown man and his clumps are huge. When I pick them up with my gloved hand they never crumble.

 

[susanm9006]

Well lavishsqualor , can't say I want to try that method but you have to go with whatever is easiest for you.

 

[orange&white]

Here's my dirty secret: I neither sift nor scoop. I keep a box of inexpensive plastic gloves in my pantry and twice a day I don them and go through the box. My partner has a fit if he's around when I do it. He thinks it's one of the most disgusting things ever. It's just quicker and easier for me that way. Plus, Atticus pees like a grown man and his clumps are huge. When I pick them up with my gloved hand they never crumble.

I think that may be the best idea yet....in fact, best idea ever. Those boxes of 100 gloves are not terribly expensive, if memory serves. Tangent also "pees like a man". I didn't know Lake Huron would fit in a cat box, until I go to sift the Tan Man's "Lake Urine".

 

[lavishsqualor]

I can get a box of 500 for around ten bucks, orange&white. Plus, I know it's weird, but because I feed raw I like to be able to check out the condition of my cats' poop. Being able to hold it allows me a better observation.

Yeah, I know. I'm an odd one.

 

[orange&white]

I can get a box of 500 for around ten bucks, orange&white. Plus, I know it's weird, but because I feed raw I like to be able to check out the condition of my cats' poop. Being able to hold it allows me a better observation.

Yeah, I know. I'm an odd one.

No, that's not odd. I feed raw too, and once or twice a week, I pick up a "tootsie roll" with a paper towel to break open and inspect for anything odd.

 

[orange&white]

I can get a box of 500 for around ten bucks, orange&white. Plus, I know it's weird, but because I feed raw I like to be able to check out the condition of my cats' poop. Being able to hold it allows me a better observation.

Yeah, I know. I'm an odd one.

I just remembered buying a pkg of 12 disposable gloves at Dollar Tree several years back. They didn't work well for whatever deep-cleaning I bought them for, so they got shelved. (My fingernails went through them and wash water filled up the inside of the glove. )

I just tried one for kitty litter "grabbing". Worked brilliantly! The best thing is no cloud of dust that happens when I pour the box of litter through the sifter basket. The next best thing is that I didn't have to jiggle the basket back and forth to shake the clean litter off the top of the clump.

 

[katma]

I've tried those in the past and it was more work. I order to scoop. I just wish I someone would come up with a scoop that sifts. So many small pieces get left behind.

I use Litter Lifter for the big lumps and a Four Paws metal scoop (much smaller) to get the small bits.