- Joined
- Oct 30, 2019
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- Purraise
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Hello!
Just joined the community here, and this is my first post. Please accept my apologies and caveats for posting a topic that is probably well trodden: litter box stuff.
But everyone's litter box needs are unique, and so are mine, so if there are any extra-large litter box champions or super users on here, I'd love some direction to make my liter box life a little bit better. This is gonna be a long post so I can cover everything and weed out the usual journey posters who don't read past the first few lines.
My wife and I have 2 cats who we adopted in January, a few months after losing our 16-year-old calico to a long battle with cancer. They have very different litter box needs; Phoebe, a 2-year old Torby, maintains the box well enough you could probably eat off it. Ok maybe not, but she's very tidy. But Oscar, a 12-14 year-old orange tabby with an unknown, yet obviously tragic history, is a different story.
Firstly, he's huge. We have what I thought was a BIG litter box. 23" long by 15" wide, and 15" deep (it's an open box that was originally a closed top-entry. We removed the top because Oscar was having a hard time getting in and out, and was pooping on the lid). We have a step stool so that Oscar can easily get in and out now that it's open. But even at that size, Oscar takes up the whole box when he's in there. so he pees on the wall or very edge of the box, so his pee clumps are usually glued to the walls.
Secondly, he Pees A LOT {and high). I scoop that box every single day, and I'm using two hands on that scooper handle to dislodge football-size pee clumps that are always stuck to the side of the box. Before we switched to a steel scooper, those pee clumps used to bend the handle of the plastic one that came with our jumbo-sized Litter Genie. He also doesn't burry his stool, and those, too are nearly human-size.
Now before people pile on about potential health issues causing those huge pees and poos, please know that we're aware of them, and he's received the very best health care since we adopted him in January. He has hyperthyroidism, and we have a rock-solid routine to make sure he gets his meds. And he gets more vet attention than he'd like.
But a recent bout of gastroenteritis (also checked out by the vet today) has made it clear that this big litterbox we have just isn't big enough. (I won't describe it. It's just freakin gross).
A second litter box isn't the solution. What we need is a HUGE litter box, but we have specific needs/wants.
I'm all ears. Please Please help!
-O
Just joined the community here, and this is my first post. Please accept my apologies and caveats for posting a topic that is probably well trodden: litter box stuff.
But everyone's litter box needs are unique, and so are mine, so if there are any extra-large litter box champions or super users on here, I'd love some direction to make my liter box life a little bit better. This is gonna be a long post so I can cover everything and weed out the usual journey posters who don't read past the first few lines.
My wife and I have 2 cats who we adopted in January, a few months after losing our 16-year-old calico to a long battle with cancer. They have very different litter box needs; Phoebe, a 2-year old Torby, maintains the box well enough you could probably eat off it. Ok maybe not, but she's very tidy. But Oscar, a 12-14 year-old orange tabby with an unknown, yet obviously tragic history, is a different story.
Firstly, he's huge. We have what I thought was a BIG litter box. 23" long by 15" wide, and 15" deep (it's an open box that was originally a closed top-entry. We removed the top because Oscar was having a hard time getting in and out, and was pooping on the lid). We have a step stool so that Oscar can easily get in and out now that it's open. But even at that size, Oscar takes up the whole box when he's in there. so he pees on the wall or very edge of the box, so his pee clumps are usually glued to the walls.
Secondly, he Pees A LOT {and high). I scoop that box every single day, and I'm using two hands on that scooper handle to dislodge football-size pee clumps that are always stuck to the side of the box. Before we switched to a steel scooper, those pee clumps used to bend the handle of the plastic one that came with our jumbo-sized Litter Genie. He also doesn't burry his stool, and those, too are nearly human-size.
Now before people pile on about potential health issues causing those huge pees and poos, please know that we're aware of them, and he's received the very best health care since we adopted him in January. He has hyperthyroidism, and we have a rock-solid routine to make sure he gets his meds. And he gets more vet attention than he'd like.
But a recent bout of gastroenteritis (also checked out by the vet today) has made it clear that this big litterbox we have just isn't big enough. (I won't describe it. It's just freakin gross).
A second litter box isn't the solution. What we need is a HUGE litter box, but we have specific needs/wants.
- It needs to have a significantly larger square footage than the usual 24" by 18" footprint of the "extra large" litter boxes I'm finding online so that Oscar doesn't have to pee/poo on the side of the box.
- Oscar pees high, so we really need a deep box. 9 inches won't do it, especially since his huge pees mean we need to keep a super-deep level of litter in the box.
- We would LOVE a non-stick surface on the inside of the box. I've seen some stainless steel boxes with non-stick, but they're never big enough.
- Cost is no object. We're not looking for a cheap litterbox hack. If it works, we'll pay for it.
I'm all ears. Please Please help!
-O
(he's the same with food)
. Thanks for including pics of your “monster.” Oscar, safe at last. 
