Tales of The Litter Box: Part 1

Cats and their owners are often at odds over the cleanliness of the litter box. So, in this blog post, we will discuss how to get your cat to love (or, at least, tolerate) their litter box.

For starters, if your cat doesn’t take to their litter box, don’t become discouraged! Cats are fastidious creatures and it’s not uncommon for them to rebel at using the litter box. Cats can be easy to train when it comes to using litter boxes unless there is a medical issue, such as diarrhea, urinary tract infection and/or inflammation. In our experience, dirtiness is often the leading reason as to why a cat will turn away their litter box.

Many cat owners think that using a scoopable litter product means they must only scoop, but that is not the case. That said, we recently saw a cat that was not using their litter box; their owner told us they never changed the scoopable litter (naughty, naughty!).  In this instance, cats can become turned off to the litter box due to bad smells that lingered or residual bits of eliminations that are left in the litter box. Our number one recommendation is to scoop daily and then, every 7-14 days, completely dump and wash the litter box.

Never dump the entire bag of scoopable litter in at a time. Yes, some cats like having a volume of litter, but generally, a bag can last 6-8 weeks. If you use regular litter or other products, be sure to clean the litter box at least once every day and thoroughly wash it weekly with mild soapy water.

When cleaning your cat’s litter box, strong-smelling cleaning products are something you should avoid. Once you’ve cleaned, be sure to rinse and dry the litter box thoroughly. When weather permits, let the litter box sit out in the sun for a while to fully dry.

That’s all for now! Stay tuned for Tales of The Litter Box: Part 2.