Greetings and Salutations!
Sometimes it seems as if I have more cats than bees…and since I have NO desire to either end up on the 11:00 news, because my house has been condemned thanks to the waste products from the cats, nor, do I want the eyes of my friends to water when they stop by, from said odor…I have developed a technique for quickly dealing with multiple litter boxes. First, I will show you what I came up with quite a few years ago…then I will point to the commercial products similar to it (and yes, I DO wish I had managed to patent my design!)
I hate scooping litter, as it is slow and difficult to do a good job of getting all the bits out. So, I built a frame that fit nicely over the litter boxes I had at the time. It is about 3″ deep, and has a “bottom” to the box of 1/4″ mesh hardware cloth. I will not give exact measurements here, as I cut the sides to fit the litter boxes I had at the time. It works great on smaller ones, though…just have to be careful at the task.
Step 1: You will need one empty litter box for this process, and, it helps if all your litter boxes are the same size. Set the empty box down next to the full box, and set the frame, hardware cloth bottom down, on the empty box. (Here, I am using two boxes which each have litter in them…the process is the same, though!)
Step 2: Carefully dump the full box into the strainer frame. When the box is empty, loosen any chunks sticking to it. Gently shake the frame, so the unused litter falls through, leaving only the clumps of urine and feces.
Step 3: Dump the frame and the (now) empty box into a box or bag for disposal later. I purchase cat food in 15 Lb bags, and find that they are the perfect size to collect litter in. Once the bag is half full, I take them to the dump, and dispose of them.
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Step 4: Take the empty box, and the frame, to the Next litter box. Repeat steps 1-3.
Step 5: Repeat steps 1-4 until all the litter boxes are cleaned of used litter. if desired, wash out the empty litter box, and put aside for the next cycle.
For this to work, one has to use good quality, clumping litter. I happen to like the house brand that Pet Supplies Plus sells, but there are alternative brands and sources (A Tractor supply store, or Rural King, for example)
I like to get 6″ deep litter boxes, and put at least 4″ of litter in them. This will, typically, ensure that any waste will NOT make it down to the box itself…easing the process of cleaning QUITE a bit.
The steps detailed above took less than 5 minutes, including the time I spent getting the second litter box and putting it back.
Benefits of this technique include the fact that it eliminates the hassle and expense of litter box liners, and the real expense of replacing the non-clumping litter. Since I have to do this every day, that would become a serious problem. Also, I find that the good quality clumping litter does a MUCH better job of odor elimination than the alternatives I have tried.