Cat Sitter Talks Cat Box

Ok. Let’s talk the Cat Box. I’m a cat/pet sitter that has scooped at least 150 cat litter boxes in San Diego County, some days I’ve

actually scooped so many litter boxes I had litter nose. What’s litter nose? It’s when you look in the mirror and realize your nose hairs have caught the dust of litter and you have white dust all in your nostrils. Let me tell you, that’s the worst!! I have come across many no no’s in litter maintenance and setups and I have seen the best set up you can possibly have for a litter box. I call those best setups a cat sitter’s dream.

Let’s first talk no no’s, the cat sitters nightmare. Cat’s are clean pets and prefer their litter box cleaned at least once a day. I know some cats that prefer twice (trust me they let you know by going outside the box) There have been a few times I’ve walked in and could tell the litter hadn’t been cleaned in a week. That’s my first no no. For your kitties sake – and your cat sitter’s =) clean the litter box at least once a day, maybe at the most every other day.

On that note, sometimes we don’t clean the litter box like we should because we’re just being lazy. So

setup the litter area where it’s easy to scoop. Some of the best setups I’ve seen:

• The Litter Genie (cat litter disposal system) sitting right next to the box (with litter mat in front of box) The Genie has a scoop on it’s side and all you have to do is put the litter in the Genie, switch the Genie bag when it’s full. Poof..easy peasy!
• Litter box (with litter mat in front of box) in its area with the bags and scoop in a container next to it.
• The box with flushable litter (litter mat in from of box), a small office garbage can next to it with the scoop so you can scoop the poop and litter into the garbage can and take to the toilet – assuming you don’t have the box in the bathroom. Another easy peasy set up! We like The Worlds Best Cat Litter.
• The Breeze Cat Litter System. This rocks! No litter dust and no tracking of litter, so no mat needed! It’sdifferent and may take time for a cat to transition to if she isn’t used to it. It has pellets in the box with a bottom that allows urine to seep down to the bottom on a pad. All you do is scoop the poop, flush and change the pad out as needed.

Note, all boxes (but the Breeze System) have a litter mat in front or under the boxes, this helps keep the litter on the mat keeping it from being tracked around the house. The best litter mat I’ve seen is the Purr-fect Paws Litter Mat. You also want to have a little sweeper and dust pan or dust buster in the immediate area to help keep you on track in cleaning. This also helps the cat sitter from needing to search for the cleaning supplies!

Another no no…too little or too much cat litter. Obviously

too little cat litter makes the box pretty dirty requiring more cleaning rather than a weekly or biweekly box cleaning. But trust me, there is such thing as too much. Too much litter especially clay litter can break the plastic scooper (a metal scoop is ideal, as long as it’s holes are big enough that you’re not sitting there for 30minutes sifting the litter) Too much litter can also be easily kicked over the box causing a bigger mess than we prefer to clean up. Depending on the kitty three to four inches of litter is perfect! It allows the ones that like to dig and bury to do so and keeps the box clean and it isn’t too high it goes over the box and great for scooping without having to dig too much yourself and unintentionally breaking the pooper scooper.

As far as boxes go, have one large enough for kitty to easily go in and out of and to

make sure they aren’t inadvertently pottying outside the box. I prefer the open box so I don’t hide what’s in it, keeping me on my toes. There’s the new cool dome boxes that aren’t so cool when you can’t seem to get the dome top back on…lol! Us pet sitters don’t care for those, because we end up spending 10 minutes putting the lid back on …. we prefer to spend that time with the kitties. Cat’s see two litter boxes in one room as one box, and those that are territorial can end up having behavior issues. So always

have a box per cat and each box in a different room.

Hmmm, I think that’s enough for now. What about you? Do you have any cat box tricks? What works for you?

Hope you guys enjoyed these pics, they’re just a few of our awesome kitty clients! I wanted to post a pic of all of them but I’m afraid we’d overload the site. Call JenLovesPets at (858)205-8132 if you’re in need of a cat sitter!