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How often do you change the whole box?
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Those Of You Who Use Clumping Litter
- Thread starter Erin80
- Start Date
I'm interested in others' answer here too as I'm probably doing it wrong. I eyeball it--as long as it looks like fresh, clean litter after I've scooped it, then I just top off the litter to keep it at a good level. When the little bits and pieces of clumps that slide through the scooper/sifter start building up so that it looks dirty even after I've just scooped, then I'll change out the whole box. Of course I'm also using plastic totes for litter boxes because Angus is a digger and a normal litter box just doesn't cut it (half the litter ends up on the floor around the box otherwise). So generally it's a good two months or so between total change-outs for each box. I scoop each box daily (sometimes twice daily if I'm closely monitoring litter box content).
Never. I use clumping grass litter, I keep the three boxes fairly deep, and I scoop twice a day without fail—more if I see something in one of the boxes. And I make sure I scoop carefully so that I don’t break up the clumps. If a small something does remain, I have a large spoon to lift out the fragment and anything around it.
I wash the boxes every month, and I replace them once a year. I probably should do it more often! No matter how carefully I scoop, some urine reaches the bottoms or the sides, and plastic is porous.
Dr. Pierson has a great tutorial on litter boxes on her website: The Litter Box From Your Cat’s Point of View
I wash the boxes every month, and I replace them once a year. I probably should do it more often! No matter how carefully I scoop, some urine reaches the bottoms or the sides, and plastic is porous.
Dr. Pierson has a great tutorial on litter boxes on her website: The Litter Box From Your Cat’s Point of View
"Back in the good old days", I had a scoop that actually even captured the little pieces of debris from a clump of litter that would inevitably fall away when the clump was being scooped up. (That was with my first cat, Tawny, who passed away in 1991 - hence my reason for saying back in the good old days.) Nowadays, there is NO scoop on the market that will pick up those tiny pieces. And, they are the primary reason for having to change out the entire litter box. So, I am in agreement with Notacrazycatlady - the more of that debris that is in the box, the closer you are to needing to change out the entire litter.
It's so frustrating that I am contemplating buying a kitchen food strainer and see if it would be successful in removing the small pieces of debris left behind.
Other factors play a role as well - but the more of that debris you can remove, the less often you will need to replace all the litter as opposed to just adding some more as needed.
It's so frustrating that I am contemplating buying a kitchen food strainer and see if it would be successful in removing the small pieces of debris left behind.
Other factors play a role as well - but the more of that debris you can remove, the less often you will need to replace all the litter as opposed to just adding some more as needed.
I actually have an old metal mesh kitchen strainer that I rarely use. I'll have to try that with mine after I get the bigger clumps with the plastic litter scoops. Thanks for the thought.
PLEASE let me know how that works!! I use my strainer, so have to wait until I get to the store to get another one.
Okay, the verdict is a thumbs up. That said, it is labor and time intensive. You have to shake the strainer --think old school flour sifting or gold panhandling technique. I had one litter box due for a change out so I tried it on that one. The picture shows the unsifted litter on the left, sifted litter on the right and the strainer with what it was capturing. I found that the best way was to tip all of the litter to one end and sift the litter onto the empty section. I don't see doing this daily, but once a week or bi-weekly would certainly extend the life of the litter. The box I was about to change looked and smelled practically fresh out of the box. I ended up doing this for all of my boxes and ended up with at least two pounds of bits.
Yay! 
To start out, the first time might be a bit more labor and time intensive - but, maybe day after day of doing just the area(s) where there is urine/fecal matter, it will be less of an amount to do each time??
Of course, that may only be true for me because I only have one cat, and I already scoop each time she uses it (thankfully only once or twice a day). Not to mention, the she almost never bothers to cover anything either, so where she goes is where it stays!
To start out, the first time might be a bit more labor and time intensive - but, maybe day after day of doing just the area(s) where there is urine/fecal matter, it will be less of an amount to do each time?? Of course, that may only be true for me because I only have one cat, and I already scoop each time she uses it (thankfully only once or twice a day). Not to mention, the she almost never bothers to cover anything either, so where she goes is where it stays!
My two kittens both play in the litter box, even when they're not using it. Not to mention their penchant for 'helping 'me clean the boxes by trying to re-bury the clumps as fast as I find them.Yay!
Of course, that may only be true for me because I only have one cat, and I already scoop each time she uses it (thankfully only once or twice a day). Not to mention, the she almost never bothers to cover anything either, so where she goes is where it stays!
So, I have to do the entire box which I think will be about every other week. In your situation, if you use a strainer instead of a scoop, it probably wouldn't be more work than usual for you once you've sifted the first time.
No. I will have to do both scooper and strainer. She pees standing up, in a corner of the box. Ain't no way a strainer will scoop that up!
Too funny about your kittens!!
Too funny about your kittens!!
I almost never dump out the clumping litter and start with all fresh, I just add more fresh as it gets low.
Ruby tends to pee on the ends of the litter box, where the litter is sparse. Therefore it sticks to the side. I've tried hitting the outside of the litter box to knock it off, but that is what tends to cause the tiny little pee clump pieces. So what I do instead, is tip the box so that the litter moves away from the pee clump stuck to the side, then use a couple pieces of paper towel to carefully remove the stuck clump. Some tiny pieces will occasionally break off, but since the litter has been pushed away from the side of the litter box, I just use more paper towel to remove them.
Every week, I dump the litter in a spare litter container, and clean the litter box with litter box wipes. They are a little expensive, but are cat safe and do a great job, and I can usually get away with only using 3 or 4 a week. These are the ones I buy, and I usually get them at Walmart.
Ruby tends to pee on the ends of the litter box, where the litter is sparse. Therefore it sticks to the side. I've tried hitting the outside of the litter box to knock it off, but that is what tends to cause the tiny little pee clump pieces. So what I do instead, is tip the box so that the litter moves away from the pee clump stuck to the side, then use a couple pieces of paper towel to carefully remove the stuck clump. Some tiny pieces will occasionally break off, but since the litter has been pushed away from the side of the litter box, I just use more paper towel to remove them.
Every week, I dump the litter in a spare litter container, and clean the litter box with litter box wipes. They are a little expensive, but are cat safe and do a great job, and I can usually get away with only using 3 or 4 a week. These are the ones I buy, and I usually get them at Walmart.
Ditto - exact same thing with Feeby. I use paper towels to remove what I can from the sides, but no matter what I do there are always those little particles that get away! I do pile the litter higher in the area where she tends to always go, that helps some. But, again she almost never covers anything and almost always goes in the exact same place, so piling higher in that area is an option for me.
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I scoop daily and dump & clean the boxes once a month.
I scoop 2-3 times a day and change the litter once a week on the night before garbage day. Two weeks at most if I'm feeling lazy.
It's less wasteful than it sounds. I know how much litter my indoor cats use in a week and just add the right amount.
It's less wasteful than it sounds. I know how much litter my indoor cats use in a week and just add the right amount.
Erin80
, there's a recent similar thread to yours here in :- should-i-change-the-entire-litter.375260 and I copied my post from there and pasted it here. My boy's litter is slightly more than 3ins in depth and his is a jumbo open box. He uses clumping litter.
I scoop his pee clumps everyday with a normal scoop, about 3 clumps per day. I then use a smaller scoop with smaller holes to scoop out those dropped through the scoop with the bigger holes. I carefully scoop as much small broken up clumps as I can. Pee and poo clumps goes into a dump bag and disposed off immediately. I have an ice cream tub and a disposable bag in it.
He poops around 4 times a week, occasionally 5 times and that is in the middle of the litter box and I have no problem scooping out his poo.
My boy is a digger, he digs his way to China and he only pees at the four corners of the litter box meaning that his pee will get stuck to the sides and the bottom of the litter box. So I'll also scrape the sides and the bottom of the litter tray and after that I use wet disposable wipes the area clean and also wipe the top and inner sides of the box.
When all is done I wipe the scoops and scrapper with a wet disposable wipes and spray Isopropyl Alcohol 70% on the scoops
I top up his litter box with fresh litter to above the 3in mark every one and a half weeks. With all the careful scooping and topping up, his litter usually last around 2 1/2 to 3 months which I'll dump all the litter away and use a new box with new litter. he has 4 litter boxes, 1 use and 3 stand by
So with careful scooping and cleaning, you can get away with smell and litter last a little longer than usual. But as with clumping litter, with all the digging and scooping, lots of fine dust are below from maybe an inch down to the bottom of the tray. When the litter dust are wet or damp, they stick to the bottom. So have to scrape them out else pee will not be absorbed.
If you can, and box is big and deep enough and your cat has no problem getting in and out, 3-5 inches of litter will be good.
I can't go more than 3 inches as the current box he's using is quire shallow but his other 2 standby boxes is deeper so I can go deeper with the litter. The other box is the same as the current one.
My boy is neutered and so his pee is not stinky and even when I'm not home to clear his poo when he does his business, there's no poo smell as he covers his poo pretty well.
This is his litter box arsenal
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Change the litter out about once a month and sanitize the box. She has and extra large litter box that holds about thirty pounds.
Something I don’t see mentioned, or I missed it, is that if you have dust problems with your litter it’s time for a complete change. Every time you scoop you break down some of the litter. Over time it will get powdery and dusty. That’s why, depending on what kind you use, it is good to change it monthly or so.
That's right kittypa. Very good point. It does get dusty and powdery at the bottom.
I usually scoop out the powdery litter when I clear the pee clumps.
