After you have cleaned up the cat litter tray what do you do with the stuff that you’ve collected from the tray?
Do you put it into a plastic bag and then put that plastic bag into another plastic bag and that plastic bag into a cupboard until you need to use first plastic bag again whereupon you start the whole process all over again.
If you do the above, there is a possibility that there will be a smell inside the cupboard. And that smell will leach out of the cupboard into the room. This is despite the fact that the waste cat litter is inside two or three bags that are folded and temporarily sealed.
Do you put what you collect from the cat litter into a plastic bag and then immediately put the plastic bag into a bin outside your home?
Do you put what you collect from the cat litter into a special container which is completely sealed and from which no smell can escape?
Cleaning up the cat litter after your cat has had a poo and a pee presents some problems with respect to keeping the smell inside the container in which you put the poo/pee mix.
Everybody will have their own method of dealing with this. There must be a million different ways of dealing with it.
The most time consuming way of dealing with the used cat litter that you have collected is to place in to some sort of sealed container, perhaps a plastic bag, and then placing that container into a refuse bin that is outside of your home. This is the only way of ensuring that the smell from the used cat litter does not circulate around your home or at least a part of your home.
There may be restrictions on what you can do it but in the UK you can put used cat litter in the regular refuse (waste) bin that is outside your home, which is collected by the local authority employees. What is the best method? I’d be interested to know.
Photo (modified) by mynikfoto
Never down a toilet.
I scoop into a plastic trash bag that’s about 3 gallon size. Then, it goes immediately to the outside bin. Never stored, mostly because it is generally full since I have several litter boxes. Regular scooping is about 4 times a day. Additional scooping occurs if something particularly foul has happened.
Dee, do your house cats always use the same bins, or do they mix it up? I’m curious about that. I’ve never had more than one cat to a bin. Haven’t had the need. But I’m thinking, perhaps this summer I’ll start coaxing Marvin to stay inside sometimes in the evening. I don’t think I’ll be successful, mind you. He has lived outside his whole life. But he is getting used to being inside during daylight hours, when it is either hot or cold, and if I am here to hang with him. It is going to be a real test to let him stay inside all night. He is a different cat when the sun goes down. But I’m already starting to worry about him in the great outdoors. He is no spring chicken.
It’s just a mix.
About half always use the same box. The rest use any box.
I think I would give Marvin his very own box, at least for a while since it will be new to him if he’s never used one. But, I would keep it in the same vacinity of any other. He’ll learn from that.
Hmmm, same vicinity could be problematic. Bigfoot might feel put out. But then, I have a feeling it will be difficult to invite Marvin in full time while Bigfoot is still with us. Marvin needs to be around people while he is inside. Otherwise, his deafening meow would wake up the whole neighborhood. And I don’t think Bigfoot is prepared to share his bed. I am the only one who can sleep on it with him. Fortunately it is king sized! And he is the King!
This is going to take more thought. Dee, what are the chances Marvin will someday move inside? He is probably 12 years old and has lived out of doors his whole life. His first experience being indoors is since he moved here. He will stay in for many hours if it is raining.
This could be the start of a new post. “How to move your domesticated Tomcat feral indoors”. Write it Dee!
I don’t think Marvin would or should be completely indoors.
I doubt that he would be happy with it after all this time.
Even though he’s getting up in years, I wouldn’t worry too much about his safety unless he becomes injured or debilitated. He hasn’t lived this long without being very street-wise and savvy.
I think that I would settle for whatever time he wants to be inside and have the litter box as an option for long, rainy days. I’m not meaning to place the boxes side by side or even in the same room really. Just places that make them visible.
I think you are right Dee. It is what my instincts tell me. But I tend to “should” all over myself. Things are perfect as they are now. We shall carry on!
P.S. Once a feral has reaches early adulthood, it’s nearly impossible to fully domesticate to the point of fulltime inside. The indoor cats that I have that began as ferals, were snatched at young ages. The ferals that are now indoor/outdoor here evolved to that semi-feral level very slowly and with a lot of trust work. A few of them will go away for a couple of days, and I’ll see them visiting in their old colonies on my rounds. That’s the life they want and are thriving.
The fact that you use a lot of cat litter means that you can dispose of it on a daily basis, which is one of the advantages of caretaking a number of cats. It avoids storing used cat litter, which for me is the problem because of odour.
I have hundreds if poop bags from when Daisy was still with us. The kind you take on the dog walk. It will take Bigfoot’s lifetime to use them up. They tend to hold in the odor. Small enough, it is a once-a-poop use deal. Into the outside bin it goes. Fortunately, Marvin in is an outdoor pooper.
A plumber once told me that it is not not good for any system to put litter down the toilet. Even the supposed most toilet friendly litter. I believe it too. If the poop isn’t covered with littler, I suppose it is fine to flush, and why not? Off to the sewage treatment like for ours. But the litter could eventually wreck havoc on the plumbing.
I Think I need some of these because I run out of ordinary plastic bags. I use plastic bags provided by supermarkets when I buy my food. You use specialist backs 😉 They are probably better suited to the job compared to my supermarket bags.
As for putting poop down a toilet, I agree that if it is totally free of litter that is probably okay except for the point that you are flushing bacteria down system and the bacteria and protozoans in cat faeces is different to those ours (I don’t want get into too much detail here!).
But I am not sure whether you can always be confident that there are no bits of litter attached to it and when that goes down even in small quantities it may build up and cause a problem later on.
My general feeling is that the best way to dispose of used litter is the same way you dispose of any other waste provided it is well packaged and sealed. You can’t compost it as I recall. Wood litter is more environmentally friendly than clay litter.
Sounds funny, but I get them at dogpoopbags dot com.
Nice website title 😉 Sort of rhymes. There should a cat crap container dot com website 😉
You could be rich! Do it Michael!
Too old and tired 😉 Ahhh poor me. I am not that old but mentally I am losing the drive. I think I will source some sealable plastic bags of the correct size to use daily and throw out daily to stop any chance of odour leakage.
Usually I flush stools down the loo.
If I’m scooping a lot of litter out as well (fuller’s earth is not good to flush!) I put it in a biodegradable bag (the sort you use for recycling food scraps), put that in the bin and it goes out with the wastw. In the summer it can go out with the compostable waste which is collected separately. Because the recyclable bags can be tied tight, there is very little odour. In summer I might add a little Jeyes fluid to the bin when scrubbing it.
Professional approach, I would call that 😉 It is a combination approach. Sometimes the loo and sometimes not, which I like.
it seems we all have our own ways of dealing with it whether with bags or the natural way.
We do have different ways but I suppose one way is the best. What is it? 😉
not sure really i do prefer the nature one but i guess cant always do that