Litterbox war

[Groves]

I had all manner of dogs and cats growing up.

I wasn't put in charge of them, didn't know the incredible mess they made.

fast forward to adulthood.

For my wife who has been ill for over a decade, I gladly keep a few indoor cats.

Now,

I'm not excited about the lack of progress in cat litter & litterbox technology. We can put a man on the moon...yadda yadda yadda.

I seek the vast accumulated knowledge of the planet.

We buy the clumping litter from Sam's.

Is THAT as good as it gets?! Hoochie-mamma, I might go with animatronic cat substitutes for as long as I can get away with it.


Pour forth the wisdom of the ages.

What do you buy? Where? I'd prefer magical stuff, but I'll settle for "works awesome".

Would love "no stink & easy to deal with". Dream on?

[ptlyon]

"Hey cat - git down there and fetch me some crappie for dinner. Now git!"

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Fish

That completely defeats the point though. You don't want to hold in the smell, as that's what makes the cat shit elsewhere. The #1 reason why a cat doesn't shit in its litterbox is because the smell is too strong. Felines have a much much better sense of smell than humans. And their urine has a high concentration of ammonia. It's why they bury their shit. If you can smell cat piss at all, then it's 50 times stronger for the cats. Litterboxes that are completely covered require even more frequent cleaning to reduce the smell enough to get the cats in there.

Actually, they bury to cover up their scent because you're the dominant animal, your domain (no matter how you perceive their attitude). A cat that doesn't bury is doing it to mark territory.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

Actually, they bury to cover up their scent because you're the dominant animal, your domain (no matter how you perceive their attitude). A cat that doesn't bury is doing it to mark territory.

http://m.livescience.com/33147-why-d...heir-poop.html

The act of meticulously burying their waste stems from cats' long history of using urine and feces to mark their territory. Cat poop may all smell the same to us, but cats can tell their waste apart from another's thanks to unique chemical scent markers called pheromones, which are present in their urine and feces.

In the wild, dominant cats including those of the Panthera genus, such as lions, tigers , leopards and jaguars that are competing for territory often do not bury their excrement as a way of signaling that they want to claim a particular area. Smaller, weaker or more submissive wild cats bury their feces as a way of ensuring that dominant cats do not feel challenged.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Why Not?

Get a dog. House train it.

Winning

Constantly have it run your life. Can Never leave the dog alone for more than 8 hrs at a time before you have to take it outside and watch it poop.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Constantly have it run your life. Can Never leave the dog alone for more than 8 hrs at a time before you have to take it outside and watch it poop.

Dog door. Problem solved.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

Dog door. Problem solved.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Frosty

A raccoon coming into my house would be a Scooby Snack for my dogs. If you've got small dogs you don't like walking, though, you can actually train them to use a canine version of a litterbox.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Frosty

Yep. I also had a dog that liked to drag things outside that belonged inside.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

A raccoon coming into my house would be a Scooby Snack for my dogs. If you've got small dogs you don't like walking, though, you can actually train them to use a canine version of a litterbox.

No way. Then you have a needy, slobbery animal that's high maintenance, AND you have to clean up its poop. F that.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

Yep. I also had a dog that liked to drag things outside that belonged inside.

I never wanted my dog being able to come and go at will. Otherwise, she would have taken off after every damn skunk that came around. Or tracked mud all over the house, etc.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Just Passin' By

A raccoon coming into my house would be a Scooby Snack for my dogs. If you've got small dogs you don't like walking, though, you can actually train them to use a canine version of a litterbox.

Could you imagine the mess a dog attacking a raccoon in the house would make?

[Pablo]

Dogs are an incredible pain in the ass.

The wife insisted we get a puppy. So now we have a puppy; and while adorable and most certainly destined to be a great little buddy for a decade plus, he's annoying the ever-loving shit out of me at the moment.

The cat was so much easier. Just way, way, way easier.

[Fire Me Boy!]

Originally Posted by Frosty

I never wanted my dog being able to come and go at will. Otherwise, she would have taken off after every damn skunk that came around. Or tracked mud all over the house, etc.

This was an outdoor dog whose "dog house" was my garage. He had free reign of the back yard and garage.

He was also 120-pound Great Pyr, so if he wanted something outside that didn't quite fit through the dog door, he was large enough and strong enough to generally make it happen.

[Just Passin' By]

Originally Posted by Fire Me Boy!

No way. Then you have a needy, slobbery animal that's high maintenance, AND you have to clean up its poop. F that.

WTF kind of dogs have you dealt with? Small dogs don't tend to slobber, and dogs are low maintenance pets if you set up a bathroom situation that works for you.

[alnorth]

This is really not hard. If you have indoor cats, getting the clumping litter and making sure you have enough litter boxes all helps, but you MUST scoop it at least every 2 or 3 days. Every day is better, but you can not let it go past a few days unless you are on some long vacation.

There is no shortcut, if you don't want your house to smell, then you must keep that cat box clean. This goes right up there with needing to feed them every day and make sure they have water as a mandatory requirement for indoor cats. If you fail to clean the litter box often enough, then your house will smell like cat ass, and there's no way to prevent that other than just getting used to keeping it clean.