- Joined
- Sep 19, 2018
- Messages
- 438
- Purraise
- 406
How often do you change the whole box?
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."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.
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.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.
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. 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.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!
That's right kittypa. Very good point. It does get dusty and powdery at the bottom.Every time you scoop you break down some of the litter. Over time it will get powdery and dusty