Hi Michael, I have vacillated on the litter issue quite a bit in the past year. We had a conversation here a while back about how clumping litters can cause issues in cats' stomachs because they lick the litter off their feet. So I got scared and switched to SweatScoop, a wheat based litter. But it smelled so horrible after sitting in a tied plastic bag in our kitty 'dumpster' that it made me ill. Plus the clumps can get really hard and they stick to the side of the box, making the box really hard to clean. It just did not work for me like I liked. I also talked to my vet and he said he has never seen any issues due to clumping litter and uses it himself. So then I went cheaper to Tidy Cats, and it is way too dusty! Plus, I found it did not clump as well as my original (the little clumps fell apart in my auto cleaner making it not work as well), so I went back to my original, Fresh Step Scoopable for Multiple Cats, and I like it. It's more expensive than some, which is bad for me, because we have a kitty with CRF, and she pees constantly. But, I also use an automatic litter box. The one that runs very slowly all day. It's round and I ordered it off of Petco.com for about $119. Best investment I ever made. I LOVE it! No more scooping and I empty the little reservoir out, which uses plastic grocery bags (which is another great selling point), whenever I need to. It has made cleaning the litter box much less of a chore. I do have to take it completely apart every now and then and give it a thorough cleaning, including the moving gears (they get litter stick in their grooves). So if you or someone in your house is good with tinkering with things, it shouldn't be a problem. I also have two other regular boxes in the house. I do not completely change the litter out every week. Probably every 2-3 weeks, if that. As long as I scoop it regularly, the remaining litter is fine for a while.
:) Wendy "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world - indeed it is the only thing that ever has!" ~~~ Margaret Meade ~~~ ----- Original Message ---- From: "[EMAIL PROTECTED]" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: felvtalk@felineleukemia.org Sent: Friday, October 19, 2007 2:13:23 PM Subject: Litterboxes Ok, guys, as you know, my cat population has grown to four. With that comes an exponential number of litterboxes (three currently, thinking about upgrading to four), and well, honestly, litter is getting a bit expensive with all the other costs. I'm curious about what you guys use? Right now I use Tidy Cats scoopable litter, and the Tidy cats litter deodorizer, too. I've also been changing the boxes out completely every week (at least every other week). This gets expensive, especially considering it takes a box and a half to fill three boxes every week. The problem is if I don't change the box out every week, it starts to smell, and one of the litterboxes is in the guestroom. :( So my question is, what kind of litter do you guys use, and what protocol do you use to keep the odor to a minimum? What are the differences in scoopable versus non-scoopable? I'd appreciate any opinions on the matter. :) ~Michael See what's new at AOL.com and Make AOL Your Homepage. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com