Litter boxes. All is well when your kitten comes into your home pre-trained by mama cat and uses the litter box even on the first day. You sighed in relief, felt awe, and promptly forgot about it. But what if your cat doesn't come pre-trained? What if you have more than one cat? What type of litter box and litter types to get?
So many scenarios, so many questions, and it's no wonder a lot of owners feel like pulling their hair out when faced with these problems. But before fixing them, we need to understand the origins of this basic instinct.
A cat's behavior of burying waste is linked to survival. A cat's urine and poo is strong smelling, and thus, they eliminate as far away as possible from their nest: where they sleep, eat, and raise their young so that predators do not track them back. They don't care about your inconvenience. To them, they are hardwired that way.
LITTER BOXES & LITTER TYPES
If you enter a large pet store today, you'll be amazed by the sheer amount of choices surrounding a basic tool for cats. Covered litter boxes, open litter boxes, automatic self-cleaning litter boxes. Litter boxes that flip, spin, rake. And for litter types, there are non-clumping, clumping, non-flushable, flushable, perfumed, non-perfumed, for multi-cat households, for singles.
The best are not the ones that cost the most. The best ones are the simplest. The short answer is to get a reasonably big (depending on your cat's size) litter box and clumping, non-perfumed and flushable litter.
I'll explain why the rest is not really suitable.
- Covered Litter Boxes
These are convenient for owners living in close quarters and small spaces. As you know, cat's wastes really stink to high heaven, and a covered litter box solves all that, right? Wrong. A covered litter box does not allow the stench to escape, so poor kitty has to step into an unbearably smelly loo to do his business. Not only that, but a covered box also eliminates many escape routes. If you have more than one cat, the other one might ambush while kitty is in the litter box. That will be enough to deter kitty.
- Automatic Litter Boxes
These are the most expensive one of them all, and while it seems really convenient on first impression, it really isn't what it advertised. An automatic litter box requires a clumping type of litter so that they may rake away the waste after kitty has stepped off. In actual fact, some automatic litter boxes totally missed the waste, or break them into smaller pieces which is harder to clean. Another reason not to get an automatic litter boxes is while it frees you from the dreaded scooping task, it also prevents you from noticing any anomaly in your cat's feces/urine, which can be a huge health indicator.
LITTER TYPES
- Non-clumping
This is what it's title says, a type of litter that does not clump. All you have to do is scoop out the solid waste and replace the entire box once a week. It's less hygienic and does not last as long as the clumping kind.
-Clumping
These will clump into little balls upon contact with fluid, making it easier to scoop them out (along with solid waste) and dispose. Read carefully though, some are flushable, some are not.
- Perfumed or non-perfumed?
It is advisable to buy the non-perfumed kind as kitty will be less likely to get offended by it. Some perfumed types serves very well to mask odor, but may be too strong for a cat's nose. Keeping them clean daily will eliminate any odor.
As a general rule, scoop at least once a day and ideally twice a day. This will adequately clean the litter box and prevent smell-built-ups. Even with clumping litter, you should dispose of the litter once a month and clean your box thoroughly before filling them again with fresh litter.
WHERE TO PLACE THEM
Litter boxes of course, needs to be placed at a convenient (for them, not you) and quiet place. You can place them in bathrooms, which is both convenient for you and airy because if you have clumping litter, you can just sift, scoop and flush it down the toilet.
Another popular place is the laundry room, which is not carpeted and quite easy to clean up. Just put it where you can see it everyday, so that you remember to clean it up for kitty. If it gets too dirty, kitty might reject the box and eliminate elsewhere instead.
Also, this is important: never put the litter box near the cat's food and sleeping area. As mentioned before, a cat never eliminates where he/she nests, so put it away as far as possible.
MULTI-CAT HOUSEHOLD
In a multi-cat household, you definitely need more than one litter box. A good rule of thumb is, you should have the equal amount of litter boxes to cats, plus one. For example, if you have 5 cats, you should have 5 litter boxes, plus one more. This is because in multi-cat households, the litter boxes gets filled up more quickly and get dirtier faster. Some cats may also object to sharing, leaving some other cats without a litter box to eliminate in.
TRAINING KITTY TO USE LITTER BOX
Some cats do not come pre-trained. And here, you act as mama cat and teach them! However, please do not shout or physically hurt them. All that will accomplish is making the cat fear you, and earn my disgust at your inhumane act. Also, another act that disgusts me is pushing the cat's nose into his own waste. That is seriously cruel, and does not solve any problems at all, only worsen them.
The first thing to do is show him where the litter box is. Confine him in a small room until he gets used to his surroundings, and successfully eliminates inside the litter box. You can let him out then. After he eats, you can also carry him over to the litter box and scratch the litter using your fingers, as if to dig a hole. Never lift his paws and scratch though. Cats really dislike having their paws handled, though there may be some that are exceptions to the case. If kitty still doesn't get the idea and eliminates away from the litter box, scoop it up the best you can and place it in the litter box. The scent of his own waste will pull him in later.
