5 Ways to Maintain Your Cat’s Litter Box

Once you have found the perfect litter box and the right litter for your feline friend, you will now have the honor of maintaining it to their standards. Cats are notoriously fussy. They would much rather hold it in or do their deed somewhere else if their litter boxes are clean enough.

There are many consequences to having a dirty litter box. Other than the possibility of your cat peeing in undesirable places, you also cause unnecessary anxiety and put them at risk of developing health issues.

Maintaining your cat’s litter box is a combination of cleaning the litter frequently, replacing the entire litter, adding the deodorizers, cleaning, and changing the litter box. While these sound like a whole lot of work, it’s just a matter of integrating these into a routine that works for you.

However, before we can dive into these ways, it’s important to ask what your cat’s litter box actually tells you about your cat, and how often they need to use it.

How often does your cat use the litter box?

Most cats will urinate 2-4 times a day and can increase or decrease depending on their individual life stages and fluid intake. If your cat is urinating more frequently than this, you may want to consider bringing them to the vet for evaluation. Various diseases associated with the kidney and the bladder are related to frequent urination.

When it comes to defecating, cats usually do so once a day with more frequency if they are under medication or special diets. Cat poop is a goldmine of information on your cat’s overall health, and observing it may make a huge difference.

Upon scooping your cat’s poop, you should observe if it’s a solid consistency and a dark brown color. If you noticed any signs of blood, diarrhea, or constipation, you must bring them for a checkup with the vet to rule out any serious issues.

To create a comfortable toilet area for your cat there are various things that you have to make sure to do. Here are the ways that you can do to maintain your litter box:

Clean the litter frequently.

For a single cat, you should be scooping out your cat’s feces and clumped urine at least once a day. However, cleaning in the morning and evening is highly recommended. Should you have more than one cat and not enough litter boxes, the frequency of scooping out the excrements may increase to several times a day.

Put the waste into a sealed bag that is preferably biodegradable. Then, you may proceed to dispose of it outdoors. Remember to never flush non-biodegradable litters such as clay or sand in the toilet, or you may risk clogging your pipes.

Don’t forget to lightly wash the litter scooper and put it inside an appropriate container to avoid spreading bacteria. If applicable, wipe down the top portion of your open-top litter box or the sides of your fully open litter box.

Replace the litter.

Depending on how many cats, litter boxes, and type of litter that you use, you may need to replace the entire litter every other day to every two weeks.

For clumping litter, it is ideal for you to replace the entire litter every three to four weeks. However, for ordinary clay litter, you may need to replace it more frequently, as often as every other day to once a week.

It might be tempting to believe that your litter is still clean after several weeks of use as long as you scoop the excrements every day. However, there may be remaining bacteria that are lurking beneath the surface and may cause potential issues with your cat’s health.

Add deodorizers.

In between replacing the scooping out individual clumps daily and replacing the entire litter, you may add deodorizers to make the stench more manageable.

Baking soda

An affordable way to lessen any potential bad smells from your cat’s litter box is to spread some baking soda. Baking soda is a pH neutralizer known to absorb odors within hours.

Litter box wipes

Should you want to wipe down the outside or sides of the litter boxes in between changing litter, you may also purchase pet-friendly litter box wipes. With this, you are sure that no chemicals that are dangerous to your cat present in the wipes.

If you have invested in a good quality litter, it will likely already have some deodorizing functions. You may choose to use other deodorizers if you still smell any unpleasant scents from your litter box.

Clean the litter box.

Every time you replace the litter, you must also wash the litter box itself with mild soap such as detergent and water.

Avoid the mistake of using harsh chemicals when cleaning the litter box as they can be both toxic and a repellant to your cat. For example, instead of regular bleach, you may opt to use oxygen bleach used for laundry washing instead.

Sensitive to smells, cats tend to avoid chemical odors. Commonly used products that are toxic to cats are chlorine, ammonia, glycol ethers, Formaldehyde, and Phthalates. Many of these have side effects that range from slight irritation to cancer.

Change the litter box yearly.

Despite regular cleaning, many types of plastic will retain some bacteria after constant exposure. Due to the acidity of cat urine, it will erode the plastic and will leave a foul smell that will be very difficult to remove.

Additionally, several scratch marks due to use is a sign that your litter box needs replacing. Scratch marks tend to trap dirty litter powder, feces, and urine, which will make it difficult to thoroughly clean and make it easier for bacteria to flourish.

With this, it is best to replace the litter box of your cat every single year. If you begin to notice that your litter box remains smelly even after a thorough cleaning, you will need to replace it immediately.