How often do you scoop/empty and wash your litterbox

[paws4life]

So I was reading the cat water bowl thread and it made me think... How often do you guys scoop, fully change and downright scrub clean your litter pans? And what litter, cleaners and types of boxes do you use?

I try to scoop my 3 boxes daily I place the scoopings into a plastic box my cat litter once came in (10kg sealing white plastic bin) every wendsay I empty all 3 pans completely into the white dirty bin and wash my litter pans in the laundryroom sink with a sponge and sunlight and dry clean with the cat litter towl, fill and replace. Then i empty the white bin into a heavy duty garbage bag and soak the scoop and bin over night and rinse off thursday morning and let them air dry for when i scoop in the evening. I use the 22kg of Special Kitty clumping and I have basic litter pans from the dollar store they don't have anything to fancy as they honestly like what they have.

 

[tammyp]

Interesting thread!

I scoop 2xdaily minimum ( we have 2 litter trays).

In times of feline illness, I do a full empty and wash with bleach 1xweek.

Now that we are healthy again, I wash with bleach 1x monthly.

 

[andrya]

l scoop only once a day. We have 4 litters but they only use 2. The other 2 are on the ground floor and they rarely go down there.

Once a week l completely empty and wash both/any used boxes and refill.

We use whatever type of litter is on sale, they're not fussy. l have a huge personal preference for the pine nuggets but the cats didn't seem to like them. They used it, but looked uncomfortable digging and settling. When l got the kitten and bought some of the litter he'd been raised with, my older cats were downright excited and tried to go in his tiny litterbox, so l gave up the ghost and went back to buying clay.

 

[mservant]

I have 1 tray covered tray, 1 cat, and scoop at least once a day as he's a busy boy.  I use clumping litter and until last week I'd completely clean out once a week, emptying all the remaining litter. I spray and clean the tray with diluted Milton bleach solution and dry thoroughly with paper towels before refilling the tray.  Just changed to a new type of clumping litter (Tigerino Canada Clumping unscented) and it's scooping out /clumping so efficiently and wasting virtually nothing that it looks like with minimal topping up it could easily go on for an extra week without any odour build up. It's so efficient I'm feeling anxious about how long it seems to be OK without a complete change and tray clean! Never had that experience before.

I only have a small bin in my house for general waste and it gets taken out at least every other day so little wraps of scooped material doesn't stay in the apartment long.

 

[shadowsrescue]

I scoop 3 boxes for 2 cats 1x a day.  I empty each box completely once each month and wash out with bleach water.  I use Dr. Elsey's Precious.  It clumps really well.

 

[jcat]

We're back to one jumbo covered litter box (the second one wasn't being used at all, so has been put away again) with fine clumping litter for one cat. I scoop at least three to four times a day. Once a week the box is cleaned and the sifted litter put back in it. Every three weeks the box is steam cleaned and the litter completely replaced.

The clumps go into a Litter Locker with an odor-shield trash bag in it, and I change the bag every three or four days.

 

[jlc20m]

I scoop out the litter boxes (and sweep the floors) three -sometimes four- times a day. Once a week I sift the litter and wipe the interior of the boxes. They get washed once a month with hot soapy water and the litter is completely replaced. I use Nature's Miracle Just For Cats Natural Cat Litter (clumping) made from corn cob. I used to use Feline Fresh Pine Litter but the cats didn't like it. I have used Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat for kitten litter training.

Jlc20m

 

[Winchester]

We have six litter boxes for the seven cats. Two have clumping/scoopable and the other four have regular clay litter. I scoop 2-3 times a day, once in the morning and (usually) once at night, although sometimes, if there's extra stinky stuff, I'll scoop the third time. I am constantly sweeping the kitchen, bathroom, and computer room floors as Muffin, especially, tends to be quite the messy coverer and the litter goes everywhere. 

Every Wednesday night is our trash night. The scoopable litter boxes are cleaned and scoured every other week. The other four are cleaned out, taken outside, and thoroughly scoured and washed every week.

I'm always leery of urine odor in the house.

 

[buckwheat]

I clean feeding bowls daily ( hot soapy water, rinse and air dry), I clean liter box daily (soiled waste), and I clean liter box once aweek(soapy hot water& air dry) on the week en. This is my first cat he's 8mos old. I try to keep him pampered. I check on his toys, making sure their in safe/ good condition for play. Last nite he sat on my bedroom floor 3ft from me, but if I moved he was ready to bolt. I just enjoyed seeing him that relaxing near me. He plays with His scratching post

 

[tabbymommy]

I Scoop 3-4 times a week and then i cleanthe litter boxs 1-2 times a month. Cats are very good and they arent as picky as most

 

[tabbymommy]

When i clean out my litter boxs completly i wash it down with soap and water. I wash their food bowels when i give them fresh food and water.

 

[gloriajh]

We have 13 INSIDE cats.  The number of litter containers varies, usually there are at least 6 containers in the house and cat enclosure, -- 1 to 2 per cat zone depending on the number of cats or size of the container per zone. 

My nose cannot tolerate any odors that may linger because a "poopie"  hasn't been covered, either at all, or insufficiently.  So, a "poopie" is immediately removed - into the OUTSIDE trash container.  Of course, I also remove any other deposit in the container along with the smelly poopie. 

I make every effort to keep my house free of any offending odor producer - so I take it outside immediately.

Each container gets completely cleaned and bleached at least once a month.  In between those times sometimes it does need some cleaning - so I use alcohol to clean and disinfect the side of the container.  I do have extra containers to use to replace dirty ones if I don't have time to clean a container.

 

[tylerwaugh]

I have five kittens they are 6 weeks old (I rescued them) and I scoop once a day

 

[tammyp]

To those of us who bleach clean our trays...make sure you RINSE, RINSE, RINSE (bleach is toxic to cats).  

If you can get your hands on oxygen bleach, this breaks down to benign compounds (rather than chlorine).  I've only found it once in Australia.

 

[pinkman]

I scoop a minimum twice daily per box. Once a month thorough cleaning using dish soap and water. No litter smell complaints so far!

 

[zmeow]

I scoop once a day and I wash and change it once a week. He pees on one side and bm on the other. If I don't scoop daily he makes other "arrangements"... So there's no room for error lol.

 

[gloriajh]

I scoop once a day and I wash and change it once a week. He pees on one side and bm on the other. If I don't scoop daily he makes other "arrangements"... So there's no room for error lol.

I had to laugh about him making other arrangements because I know how  inventive  cats can be!

It's a lot easier to keep the litter pan clean than it is to clean up a mess that has been deposited elsewhere.

 

[my-boy-jasper]

I have one cat and one tray, using the pine pellets with a covered box. I scoop solids once a day, and Jasper is pretty consistent at leaving one each day. The pellets crumble with urine and the crumbles fall through to a second tray. So I give the box a shake daily to help the crumbles fall through. But I find that after about five days, the crumbles have stopped falling through and start collecting in the top tray. The whole thing gets replaced weekly, and I spray bleach/water and scrub. I probably should quit the bleach. The bottom tray is supposed to be changed every few days but I found that if I add those absorbent silicone crystals it can be changed weekly with the top tray. One problem with the pine pellets is that if the poop is a bit too soft, it gets too messy and it all has to be replaced. I've had that happen once or twice. I would prefer the clumping stuff for convenience but the pine is cheap and natural and there are no odours. Jasper hasn't been fussy.

 

[tammyp]

Ooh Zmeow, I know about 'other arrangements'!  Just this morning I was 10mins late with getting from bed, making the bed, and over to litter cleaning in the next room.  Kato started scratching around for a pee on our bed...I moved him once to the open litter box, then again to the closed litter box - and all he did was jump out, look at me, and shake litter off his paws....before heading back to the bedroom!!  I ended up ditching what I had been doing, closing the bedroom door, and attending immediately to the litter.  Just 3 overnight deposits in there, and 1 in the second box.  The minute I finished and topped up with fresh litter, in he jumps and does his business!!

 

[saigo]

I splurged on the litter robot, the bin gets emptied every 2-3rd day no scooping

 I wipe down the dome twice a week with those handy wipes. I do keep a box out on the deck that gets used very little. And one in Casper's safe room which gets scooped daily.