What cat litter system do I want? (2024)

I am not happy with my current cat litter situation, but I'm not sure what to replace it with.

I have a sensitive nose and a weak stomach. My husband does not, so he's been the designated litter box guy. However, because he does not have a sensitive nose, he doesn't see the need to clean the box every single day, and sometimes he lets it go for multiple days. The 2 cats don't seem to care, but I am revolted by the smell. And by the time it's been more than a day since it has been cleaned, it's too nasty for me to clean it myself without gagging. Because of this, I am planning to take over litter box duties so I can make sure it gets scooped every day, without fail.

Currently we use the TidyCat Breeze system and I'm not really a fan. The initial attraction was to not have litter tracked everywhere like we did with the previous "clumping" litter, but I find the little hard pellets everywhere anyway, usually by stepping on them. I also am disgusted by the pellet-encrusted poop clumps and the soggy pee pad whenever I've had to clean it.

What I want is a litter that simple to scoop, unscented, that doesn't track too much and keeps the odor to a minimum. And safe for the cats' health, obviously. If I just get a regular plastic rectangular litter box with no cover, what kind of litter do I want? And do I want liners? We don't have an outside hose so washing the litter box is a pain in the ass involving using the bathtub, trying not to let litter get into the drain and feeling like I need to sterilize the entire bathroom afterwards.

I can't afford a litter robot unfortunately.

posted by Serene Empress Dork to (4 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite

You want Arm & Hammer Platinum Slide. It’s a game changer.
posted by sacrifix at 6:43 PM on August 30 [1 favorite]

If you can afford to throw substantial money at the problem, I’ve been tremendously happy with my robot litter box, which is a PETKIT PuraMax. You do still wind up with some litter tracking, unfortunately.
posted by hollyholly at 6:54 PM on August 30 [1 favorite]

I use equine pellets and a sifting litter box and it's been a game changer. First of all, the pellets are dirt cheap as you can see. They sell them at home depot and other large hardware stores so you should be able to get some. They do sell the same pellets marketed as cat litter at pet stores for significantly more money, but I would highly recommend just buying the equine pellets for much less. The big thing is to make sure they're unscented and untreated with anything. The equine pellets should be fine since they need to be unscented and untreated for the horses. Basically how it works is when they pee on the pellets, or whenever the pellets get wet, they turn to sawdust and are totally odorless. So if it's the smell of cat pee in particular is what bothers you, it should be really helpful in making this more tolerable. The poop does smell, but I just scoop it right away and it's not much of a problem.

The daily routine is to scoop the poop into the litter genie everyday. That's it. When they pee on the pellets the sawdust is odorless. When you do a full clean, you basically shake the box back and forth while stirring it with the scooper in order to sift out all of the sawdust. I don't bother with this everyday. It doesn't smell, it's completely dry, and as long as it doesn't sit too long it doesn't bother the cats at all.

Once a week I do a full clean. I sift the box out completely so all the sawdust falls into the bottom pan. Then I dump it in the trash and wipe down the bottom pan with a cleaner specific to getting rid of pet smells. I also wipe down the sides of the top litter box, the sifting one, since I'm pretty sure cat pee occasionally gets on the sides. Once I'm done I add more pellets. This takes about 10-15 minutes with two litter boxes. Here is a video explaining how all of this works in case my explanation makes no sense (very likely).

Beyond that, my only tip is to sloooooowly switch your cats over. You may know this, but I was new to cats when I tried this system and switched them over way too fast. They got confused and peed all over the bag of pellets and all over the carpet. Mix in just a few pellets to start and slowly--SLOWLY--add more. They'll get the hang of it eventually. My cats learned surprisingly quickly and it's been smooth sailing ever since.
posted by Amy93 at 7:49 PM on August 30 [4 favorites]

I came to talk about wood pellets, but a much better job has been done by Amy93.

We used the side litter before and I think it was great. Pellets are just also great and cheaper (and less tracking)
posted by Acari at 8:15 PM on August 30 [1 favorite]

« Older Now What? No, seriously. Now what? | Overseas work trip tomorrow and I have cold... Newer »

You are not logged in, either login or create an account to post comments