How Often Should You Change Kitty Litter

Litter box

Who knew there was so much to kitty litter? Dr. Justine Lee provides some valuable litter box communication. For more from Dr. Lee, notice her on Facebook!

Last week, we talked nigh calculation the appropriate number of litter boxes to your house. Well, merely because you added n+1 litter boxes doesn't mean you tin can make clean less frequently! We neurotic types clean litter boxes daily. If that's also much for you, litter boxes should be scooped out at least every other day. Of class, this depends on how many cats you have. The more than cats yous have, the more frequently the boxes should exist scooped out. While it'southward a dirty job, it really should be done for the best interest of your true cat(s).

If y'all notice your cat scratching outside the litter box instead of inside ("What'south a cat gotta do to go you lot to clean the litter box? Helllllo!"), it's his way of telling you that the litter box is icky and he doesn't want to become his anxiety filthy while he'due south "attempting" to cover upwards his poop within. If you just cleaned the litter box and he'due south withal doing it, it'due south probable from a bad retentivity of getting soaked or dingy while in the box, so unless yous desire a pet that poops in random places, get in there and scoop.

Some cats volition "hold it" and urinate as infrequently as possible to avoid stepping into a muddy, filthy, full litter box. Instead of urinating two to 3 times a solar day, your cat will tighten upward and only go in one case a twenty-four hours. This makes his urine get more full-bodied and could make crystals and urine droppings plug up and cause him to go a life-threatening feline urethral obstacle (FUO). With FUO, cats may accept stones, crystals, or mucous plugs in their urethra that prevent them from existence able to urinate. Non just is this painful, but it can also lead to temporary kidney failure, electrolyte abnormalities, airsickness, lethargy, cardiac arrhythmias, and decease. So to help prevent problems similar this or even diseases like feline lower urinary tract affliction or sterile cystitis (e.thousand., feline urinary tract disease or FLUTD), scoop!

The other added do good of scooping frequently is that information technology helps you detect medical problems earlier. If your cat isn't urinating, you'll notice when in that location'southward no urine in the litter box for two days. If your cat becomes a diabetic, he may exist making larger and larger clumps and your whole litter box will exist i huge clump after its weekly cleaning. Simply y'all'll never be able to tell this if you're not scooping enough. If your true cat is acting constipated or having diarrhea, yous won't find out until days later, and by and so it'll exist a bigger (and more expensive) medical treatment! Every bit tedious as it is, please practice your wife a favor and affluent, and your cat a favor and scoop.

So, how do you scoop? I realize that sounds like a stupid question, only I'm ofttimes shocked how people are erroneously "scooping." Some clients tell me they dump out the whole litter box (and all that clumping litter) every week. Yikes – no need folks! Yous and your cat'southward carbon footprints are contributing to the overfilled landfills and making Al Gore very angry. Not only is this expensive, but it's really wasteful. If you really want to know, I only completely empty and bleach out the litter box a few times year or so.

My tip? Use clumping litter if you're not sure what your cat prefers, since studies have shown that cats prefer this type of litter the best. (More on "Clay, clumping, and crystal kitty litter: Which should I choose?" next calendar week!). Adjacent, keep an empty container (e.yard., a five pound bucket that used to incorporate kitty litter), line information technology with a plastic bag, and employ a scoop to scoop out the urine clumps and feces every day. Dump the clumps straight into the empty container, and voila: yous just accept to dump the plastic bag once a week. It makes it oh so piece of cake to scoop, contains the smell in the empty bucket, and saves a few plastic bags while making it more convenient to scoop. As the kitty litter box becomes emptier, only add in clean clumping kitty litter. No need to dump out precious, expensive, eco-unfriendly full boxes when cleaning – just scoop out the muddy and add in clean.

I'll elaborate on this more in next week'due south blog on "Clay, clumping, or crystals."

Detest cleaning your box? Have whatsoever tips this dingy job?

If you have any questions or concerns, you should always visit or call your veterinary – they are your best resource to ensure the health and well-existence of your pets.