The SmartCatBox got used already!

[kami kat]

Clean wet sanitized seeds put into a mesh laundry bag can go in your regular dryer on low. If you have or can borrow a Dremel the slots would be ez to do on your homemade SCB. Felinepine has a cat litter box that could work w/safflower seed litter. Safflower seeds will sprout if left damp, so keeping them dry will help to prolong the lifespan of the litter.In a pinch you can use black oil sunflower seeds instead of safflower seeds. Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by Kami Kat

Clean wet sanitized seeds put into a mesh laundry bag can go in your regular dryer on low. If you have or can borrow a Dremel the slots would be ez to do on your homemade SCB. Felinepine has a cat litter box that could work w/safflower seed litter. Safflower seeds will sprout if left damp, so keeping them dry will help to prolong the lifespan of the litter.In a pinch you can use black oil sunflower seeds instead of safflower seeds. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Thanks for the tip about the feline pine box! The pine pellets are bigger than the safflower seed though, it's hard to tell by picture if the holes are small enough.

I hadn't thought about the seed sprouting if not dried properly

I don't have a dryer, so I will probably end up getting one of the sweater dryers. I found my old one but it's been cannibalized and there's not enough pieces left to use it.

Do you use this system or a variation of it?

Isn't a dremel a drill?

 

[kami kat]

Yes, I made a variation of the SCB for my friends cat, ez to test urine without any drama for the cat. The dremel is not a drill, it's a multi tasking small hand tool, that has many options ( bits ) for grinding/cutting/polishing.

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by Kami Kat

Felinepine has a cat litter box that could work w/safflower seed litter. Safflower seeds will sprout if left damp, so keeping them dry will help to prolong the lifespan of the litter.In a pinch you can use black oil sunflower seeds instead of safflower seeds. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Originally Posted by Kami Kat

Yes, I made a variation of the SCB for my friends cat, ez to test urine without any drama for the cat. The dremel is not a drill, it's a multi tasking small hand tool, that has many options ( bits ) for grinding/cutting/polishing.

Thanks for the tips. So are you saying your friend uses the feline pine box with the safflower seed and it works well?

thanks for your help

 

[nekochan]

I have used a hot knife and a hot skewer to melt holes/lines in plastic storage containers before. It worked out. There was a little plastic left on the knife but not much. It did smell like burning plastic but it was not overpowering and by putting water on the knife and plastic right away it kept down the odor.

 

[kami kat]

Originally Posted by otto

Thanks for the tips. So are you saying your friend uses the feline pine box with the safflower seed and it works well?

thanks for your help

Some of the seeds do slip thru the screen on the felinepine cat box, but it's still works. Have tweaked a few other boxes ( very large morter/ cement tubs stacked w/holes drilled )
to accommodate her old diabetic kitty. The morter/cement tubs can be found @ Lowes/Home Depot for about $ 5.00 for a 28"x20"x7"

 

[otto]

Here's a tip with using the SCB. If you take the reservoir out to wash it, remember to put it back before the box gets used again

Fortunately I always keep a retired plastic shower curtain under the newspapers, under the litter boxes. So the mess wasn't as bad as it could have been.

I still have one clay box going. Mazy has not been able to adjust to the other boxes with the safflower seed and gets very depressed if I don't put her big box with clay in it back right after washing it.

Unfortunately they all still use the clay box too. They ARE using the SCB and one of my homemade boxes (the other original one needs bigger holes drilled in it) but I am still scooping pee laden clay also, for now.

The dust is less though.

 

[strange_wings]

So far I've noticed that my cats are starting to pee in the safflower more and more. No one will poop in them, though.

I think Siri even peed in one of the boxes, which surprises me. (fussy cat)

Since I can't even get the smart cat box around here, all of mine are DIY. I saved the lids and put those under the boxes. When I take the bottom box to be dumped and washed it can sit on the lid and if anyone got over eager that would catch urine. (in case you have a spare lid or two laying around)

 

[otto]

Ah, lids, what a good idea! I think I'm going to get an extra reservoir for the one SCB I have. I'm glad it's going well with your gang. I get poop in the safflower seed and the seed hardly sticks to it at all, it's great!

Did you use a drill and make holes or a hot knife and make slats?

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by otto

Did you use a drill and make holes or a hot knife and make slats?

Dremel tool with a cutting wheel to make slats.

 

[otto]

The safflower seed as litter was not a success. <sigh> What I liked best about it was the lack of dust. NO dust.

Mazy cat was unable to adjust to the safflower seed. The other cats used it okay, but I had to keep a clay box for Mazy. As long as there is at least one clay box, all the other cats use that first, and the safflower seed boxes were used only as a last resort.

Mazy is my FLUTD kitty, so, as far as litter, what she says goes.

Since I still need to find a system that is easier on me, I am now going to attempt to mix world's best clumping corn litter with regular clay to see how that goes over.

My mother is mixing clumping pine with clay and at first she said it was working great, but then the next box of clumping pine she bought did not clump the way the other did and she can't remember what the other kind was.

So until she figures it out, I am trying the WB, though I am not thrilled with using corn litter. If I like the clumping action (mixed with clay) I will try the clumping pine (and mix it with clay), too.

I am only starting this today.

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Gosh, after all that work you went to, creating your own "smart boxes" and everything, sorry it didn't work out. Hopefully this newest venture will work. (why not just use World's Best by itself?...too expensive? Or is IT the corn based?)

I HATE the dust from clumping litter, but love the clumps!! Also HATE the expense of "expensive" clumping litter, and we go through lots of it, especially with our CRF cat (tends to pee alot), so wish I could find a perfect, inexpensive litter...doesn't everyone

 

[otto]

Thanks for your reply!

Yes, all that work and expense for naught, but on the other hand if I hadn't tried it I wouldn't know, and would be wondering and second guessing myself.

I don't know if Mazy will use the corn litter by itself or not. I may try it straight up, after doing the mixing for a while, though I am still not thrilled with the idea of using corn litter. I've read too many things about mold and bugs, with corn litter. Not to mention the "corn odor". Time will tell if that corn odor will be a problem for me.

I won't use clumping clay litter at all. I hate the stuff. But regular clay litter is difficult to keep clean, up until recently it wasn't an issue for me, but I am getting older and more arthritic and all that copious scooping is getting very hard on me.

Yes, the never ending quest for the perfect, inexpensive litter

! I really thought I had found the solution with the safflower seed, it is a big disappointment, but Mazy's comfort must come first.

 

[strange_wings]

Why not just carry on with a combination of both litter boxes in the home? Or are they all just preferring to use Mazy's?

WBCL and chicken feed (cheap alternative) is much lighter. There are also some crumbly litters made from corn cob and a crumbly one from paper (that looks like non-clumping clay).

If it weren't for this thread, though, I wouldn't have known that safflower seeds could be used and have a locally available alternative. So for that I'm very thankful to you for making this thread.

Oh, I was in a local hardware store (chain) yesterday getting some more window caulk when I looked over and noticed that they had safflower seeds... 5lbs for $9.50! I'll stick to the store that has 20lbs for $19.99.

 

[bastetservant]

I'm starting to sound like a religious fanatic about it, but I am pretty happy and amazed that members here (strange wings, sharky, and others) led me to chick crumble (non-medicated) for cat litter. It seems in every way just like WBCL, for about on quarter of the price. My cats like it just as much.

So, if you like WBCL, you may want to try it. I buy 20 lbs. bags. But it comes in 50 lbs. bags that are even cheaper per pound. You get it at feed stores (including "farm" type stores like Tractor Supply Co. and Farm & Fleet). Be sure you get non-medicated chick crumble. It's a mixture of grains.

Robin

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by strange_wings

Why not just carry on with a combination of both litter boxes in the home? Or are they all just preferring to use Mazy's?

WBCL and chicken feed (cheap alternative) is much lighter. There are also some crumbly litters made from corn cob and a crumbly one from paper (that looks like non-clumping clay).

If it weren't for this thread, though, I wouldn't have known that safflower seeds could be used and have a locally available alternative. So for that I'm very thankful to you for making this thread.

Oh, I was in a local hardware store (chain) yesterday getting some more window caulk when I looked over and noticed that they had safflower seeds... 5lbs for $9.50! I'll stick to the store that has 20lbs for $19.99.

I'm so glad you are having success with the safflower seed! and I'm jealous too that is working for you and didn't work for me, I was so excited about it.

It would be nice to keep at least one safflower box going but there's a space issue to consider. Since it only gets used once or twice a week, the other boxes are getting dirty faster.

I was down to one clay box (for Mazy) and three safflower and the clay box would look like it hadn't been cleaned in days, with four cats using it, and avoiding the safflower boxes, so I went back to two clay and two safflower, but still the clay ones get used way more often than the safflower ones.

If I removed the clay boxes entirely, the other cats would use the safflower boxes without apparent problems, except for Mazy, and she became very depressed.

If I get rid of the safflower boxes, I have room for more of the kind they prefer to use.

Originally Posted by bastetservant

I'm starting to sound like a religious fanatic about it, but I am pretty happy and amazed that members here (strange wings, sharky, and others) led me to chick crumble (non-medicated) for cat litter. It seems in every way just like WBCL, for about on quarter of the price. My cats like it just as much.

So, if you like WBCL, you may want to try it. I buy 20 lbs. bags. But it comes in 50 lbs. bags that are even cheaper per pound. You get it at feed stores (including "farm" type stores like Tractor Supply Co. and Farm & Fleet). Be sure you get non-medicated chick crumble. It's a mixture of grains.

Robin

Thank you Robin. If the WB works with blending, I may try the inexpensive alternatives. You don't sound like a fanatic

, you have found something that works for you, and it's good you are willing to tell people about it.

I would have no place to store a 20 pound bag of chick feed though, so will have to stick to smaller bags, even if I do try the feed as opposed to WB.

We'll see how the blending with regular clay goes first. Mazy's comfort will be the deciding factor.

 

[bastetservant]

Oh, my, you wouldn't want to go with a 5 lbs. bag (the small size) of WBCT, unless it is just your experimenting first bag. I think that's over $10.00 - $2.00 a lbs.!

The normal size of WBCT is 17 lbs., I think, and it costs about $23.00 at Petco or Petsmart around here.

The 20 lbs. bag of chick crumble is under $8.00. That's the smallest size I've seen.

I'm really kind of outraged at the WBCT company now that I realize how much of a markup they must be putting on what is essentially a cheap product. Pet owners will pay anything for their pets, is probably the logic, and fact. But I've found (thanks to help here) an alternative that works just as well for so much less.

Thanks for not thinking I'm a fanatic, otto.

Robin

 

[mrsgreenjeens]

Originally Posted by bastetservant

I'm starting to sound like a religious fanatic about it, but I am pretty happy and amazed that members here (strange wings, sharky, and others) led me to chick crumble (non-medicated) for cat litter. It seems in every way just like WBCL, for about on quarter of the price. My cats like it just as much.

So, if you like WBCL, you may want to try it. I buy 20 lbs. bags. But it comes in 50 lbs. bags that are even cheaper per pound. You get it at feed stores (including "farm" type stores like Tractor Supply Co. and Farm & Fleet). Be sure you get non-medicated chick crumble. It's a mixture of grains.

Robin

Does it clump? (the chick crumble?) I'm so spoiled that I can't even remember the days before clumping litter...I honestly don't remember how we cleaned out the pee! (and I don't want to go back either)

 

[strange_wings]

Originally Posted by mrsgreenjeens

Does it clump? (the chick crumble?) I'm so spoiled that I can't even remember the days before clumping litter...I honestly don't remember how we cleaned out the pee! (and I don't want to go back either)

Semi-clumps. It's dependent on the feed itself as some clump better. What you get, though, is a urine clump that isn't super tight like a clay clumping makes it. So you can use your scoop to scoop it out just fine. I found the simplest way to get the urine clumps out was to scoop all the poop off the top first, then tip the chicken feed to one side and scoop the urine clumps out with no shifting with the scoop (that can break the clump apart). Tip back the other way to get the other end.
But I have 7 cats, most of which are corner pee-ers, and would hop right in after each other to pee in the same corner.

So even clay clumping can't handle cats doing that.


Sorry to hear the rest of the cats were being picky. When I was transitioning from chicken feed to safflower I left two boxes, then went down to one. They all preferred to go poop in the chicken feed box though most accepted peeing in the seeds pretty easily. Once I knew they would all use the seeds I took away that last box.
The only problem I had was with Blasa, she wasn't particularly happy about the change and had to complain to me a couple times about (while using the seed boxes).
Ironically, the bedroom litter box that didn't get much use with chicken feed now sees regular use with the safflower seeds.

 

[otto]

Originally Posted by bastetservant

Oh, my, you wouldn't want to go with a 5 lbs. bag (the small size) of WBCT, unless it is just your experimenting first bag. I think that's over $10.00 - $2.00 a lbs.!


Robin

I bought my first bag of World's Best Clumping corn litter at the grocery store yesterday, it cost $6.49 for 8 pounds.

It is possible that it is a new item (I don't know, since I never looked for it before) and the price will go up once people start buying it regularly. But if I am mixing with clay it might pay for itself, by reducing how much clay I need to use.