Litter Box Cleaning Methods That Do Not Work Well As we said, we've tried 'em all. Here are some of the reasons other products and methods of litter cleaning don't work. And why you should just get yourself a DuraScoop! Non-clumping Litters If you have just one cat, you might be able to get away with non-clumping litter for a while. But sooner or later, you'll discover clumping litter and make the switch. Clumping litter has captured over 60% of the US litter market since 1993 and is still growing. Here's why:
Sifting Litter Boxes Have you tried one of these? You know, the litter boxes that come with two pans and one or more inserts for sifting? Or the ones that you turn upside down? Looked like a great idea at first. But what a logistical nightmare! First, you have to try and "pour" the clumps and turds from the flat sifting unit into a bag with just your two hands. OOPS! All over the floor again. Then you have to pick up the entire pan to get at the empty pan underneath and you also have to constantly clean the sifter to remove the stuck-on litter so that it will continue to sift. Oh, I could go on and on. What a mess. Both of the units we tried are long gone. Standalone Litter Sifter We really could not believe this one. So, instead of the sifting litter tray method, with this one you need a bucket. You rest the sifter on a bucket, pick up your pan and dump the whole thing into the sifter. Presumably the clean stuff goes through and the dirty stuff stays in the sifter. I have a dirty bucket, a dirty sifter, a dirty floor and I still have to manhandle my stinky litter pan. Oi! Plastic Liners Liners can seem like a good idea at first and might work if your cat is declawed. Personally, we find declawing cruel and don't do it. But even if your cat is declawed in the front, its rear claws will still tear a plastic liner to shreds when burying its waste. Our cats make mince meat out of liners. Oh, and liners add more non-degradable plastic to the waste stream. Flimsy Plastic or Metal Scoops Junk. The worst ones bend and break. The best ones just bend and flick litter — at you, on the floor, wherever. The metal ones corrode or are too small or flat. When it comes to multiple cats and clumping litter, there's really no substitute for a real tool that was designed to do the job you need it to do. Automatic, Electronic Litter Boxes There are at least four of these on the market today. Do you want to spend $200 - $350 on a piece of junk that has all sorts of moving parts, uses electricity and wears out and breaks? Oh, and the thing they don't tell you is that these complex units must be taken apart and scrubbed on a regular basis. Boy, that really is a time saver! By the way, none of these units can cope with the large volume of waste produced by multiple cats. The Cat Toilet The LitterFree Cat Toilet has apparently been discontinued. Like other automated gadgets, it had its problems. The biggest issue for us is that it was only recommended for one or two cats. Another is that it liquefied the cat feces with water and created a very bad odor in the process. It also required a plumbing hookup and cost about $300. Better luck next time. Toilet Training Yes, you read it correctly. There are systems, books and video tapes for teaching cats to go on a human toilet. Are you up for it? I don't know about your cats, but ours show very little interest in any type of training. And none of these systems teach your cat how to flush, or put the seat down or wipe the seat off after they're done. (We've even heard of kittens drowning in toilets with the seats left up.) If we taught our cats to use the toilet, our bathrooms would be occupied all day! Future Methods For fun, we have thought of some future methods of dealing with cat waste.
|