Cleaning the cat litter tray is probably the most unpleasant task of owning a cat. We all love our cats and talk about how clever and beautiful they are, but no-one mentions the litter tray. Why? Probably because our society is conditioned not to talk about anything to do with the elimination of bodily wastes, even from our pets, unless there is a problem.
Cleaning out the cat's litter tray is a chore that often gets pushed to the end of the list, purely because it is smelly and not something that anyone looks forward to. And unfortunately in most households, it is left to mom to do this as the kids are busy at school, or doing homework, or are at sporting practice, or doing any other excuse they think they can get away with.
Your cat's litter box does need cleaning at least once a day to scoop out solids and rake over the liquids. The litter itself needs changing every week. And if you are a multi-cat household, you really need to have one litter tray per cat. Which means more cleaning. And if you have a two story house, you need to have a litter tray per cat on each level, and the job escalates further. Even with the best intentions in the world, sometimes the job gets forgotten.
We all know that cats are very fastidious, and they don't like using dirty litter trays. It is very much like you finding an unflushed public toilet. You want to go elsewhere. So what can your poor cat do if the litter tray has been forgotten and it cannot get outside to eliminate? It will use an area that is clean. The cat doesn't mind where the area is so long as it is not near its feeding area. Favourite places are the bathroom mat or bath towels left on the floor.
There are alternatives out there. You can purchase self-cleaning litter trays which will do the job for you. I've done some research on these and they can save you from having to manually scoop every day. I'm not going to go into brand names here, but you can purchase automatic litter boxes for your cat. The principle behind them is that they sense when the cat enters the box and a switch turns the automatic cleaner off so it can't accidentally start while your cat is in there. After the cat has left, they start up and sift and/or rake the litter, shifting the solids to a disposable unit and leaving the litter clean and odor free, ready for the next use.
Of course there are pros and cons for each unit. There are reviews of many automatic litter boxes online. This is where I did my own research. Most of the units I saw are covered. If your cat has never used an enclosed unit, you might need to retrain it. I believe there are some raking units that are not enclosed which will suit some cats. Some units appear to be more noisy than others. Some have replaceable cartridges which will be an ongoing expense. They will need to be placed near a power outlet and will take up more room than a conventional litter tray.
If it is you, the mom, who is left with cleaning out the cat's litter tray each day, I would suggest asking everyone to chip in some money to buy your cat an automatic one. If there are objections, and there probably will be, tell them it is their turn to start looking after cleaning up after the family cat.
Kathy Robinson has been writing articles on cat problems and the care of cats on her website http://www.CatProblemsResolved.com for a number of years. Why not download your free copy of The Joy of Owning and Caring for a Cat when you sign up for her free Cat Care Newsletter at http://www.catproblemsresolved.com/660
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