Keeping Your Cat Litter at Bay

You are doing your morning chores around the house and you get to the cat's litter box, you can smell it before getting to it and you just cleaned it the day before. What's worse, as you stand over the box you note that there is spray of litter in what looks to be like a nine inch ratios on the floor. Sighing heavily you get to work…once more.

Ever wonder how to keep the litter from making such a mess all over your floor? When your furry little friend or friends use the litter box we are proud of how smart they are but then you have to clean the mounds of litter off the floor. It can be frustrating. Litter boxes can be found in a tremendous selection of sizes, designs and colors but just because they can now be added to your household as a fashionable piece doesn't make that mess any more fun to clean up. With all the choices there are it is a chore to determine which is going to be best for our pets as well as suit our household needs.

There are many new systems designed to help minimize this chore.

One method is litter boxes that can be purchased with covers that help keep the litter contained inside. They are easy to use; you simply snap the lid off for cleaning. These types of litter boxes have been around for a while and have gone from really simple, just a top that sits on the litter box, to refined, a top that is vented that snaps onto the litter box and even has a place for an air freshener! The only problem with these litter boxes is that there are some cats that will not use them. Once inside the litter box that has a top, the cats are more confined and this may deter them from wanting to use them.

Another type of litter box that seems to have proven popular is one that comes with disposable bags. The bags fit onto the box. They are designed to cover the outside lip of the box as well and ties down so that your cats and/or kittens can't accidentally pull the bags off. When it is time to change the litter box the bag is simply lifted out and tied off. There are two problems with this type of method however, one the cats tend to scratch up the bag while attempting to cover what they have deposited and two, it can be difficult to scoop the box without tearing the bag.

Perhaps the most revolutionary development is the new self cleaning litter boxes. These new systems automatically sift litter after each use by your pet. The boxes are outfitted with an infra-red monitor that checks the pans interior constantly. Once your cat uses the litter box, the system detects that the box needs cleaning and then, using a raking system, an automated arm scoops the waste into a clean bag. When you are ready to clean the box, it is simply a matter of pulling off the bag and replacing it. These systems come with a large removable lid for ease and a carpet or mat to help control litter scatter. The logic is that your cat will get use to the system cleaning itself and hopefully not do so much trying to bury their deposits themselves. Whether that works or not remains to be seen. The other potential problem with this system is that, although you may think it is really cool, your cat might have a very different opinion. The fact that it is automated may scare your pet thus making them leery of using it.

Finally there are a lot of new age designs out there to try out on your cat. It could get expensive but if there is no price tag finding your feline the right litter box then there are a lot of alternatives. Another rather interesting one is the Booda cat box. The Booda is a cat box designed with steps into a spiral dome that makes your cat walk up a small set of stairs and then use the litter box inside a dome shaped area. The problem with these boxes is that they are bulky and again there is the issue of your cat wanting to use a litter box that in enclosed.

Which ever cat litter box you decided to use to ensure the control of that litter mess it is very important to keep your cats litter box clean. The most common cause of a housetrained cat to stop using the litter box is that the litter box isn't clean enough for your cat. Cats are picky when it comes to the cleanliness of their litter boxes. A cat will stop using the litter box it he/she thinks it is too dirty. It is best to clean your cat's litter every day.

In addition to scooping the litter, you obviously need to change it from time to time to ensure good cat health. Daily cleaning is best, this ensures that odors and wetness won't have too much time to build up to unacceptable levels and it also reduces the likelihood of sickness due to high levels of bacteria.