Cat maintenance

Spending some time today reviewing our cat maintenance setup.

CURRENT
Two domestic shorthair cats
Omega Paw Roll' N Clean Litterbox (3x)
PetSmart ExquisiCat Naturals Pine Cat Litter

PROBLEMS
The Roll' N Clean litter box does not work with pine pellets litter. It does work well with pine cobble litter, but the cobble tracks all over our carpets. The pine pellets track much less. The Roll' N Clean litter box takes some effort to turn over and sift, which means, in practice, it does not get done, as frequently as needed.

With a busy student lifestyle, minimizing maintenance represents a goal.

IDEAS

Feline Pine Self Cleaning Litter Box

• Pine sawdust falls into sub-tray
• Unused pellets remain in upper-tray (note: we dispose of many unused pellets, currently, as too much hassle to sift)
• Manually remove solids, daily
• "The sawdust that falls to the bottom absolutely REEKS when you go to scoop it out...I guess because it’s so concentrated and no air gets to it down there."
• A response: "I find that spreading a little bit of litter on the bottom pan to help absorb the urine soaked litter as it falls makes a big difference. When I do this, I don’t get the urine smell."
• Pellets get wedged in the holes (note: yes; have noticed this also on our tracking mats)
• Lower sides (?)

PeeWee Cat Litter Box (note: not in the United States (?) )

Smart Cat Box

• Non-absorbent safflower seeds
• Liquid drains to sub-tray, then collected, via slope, into sub-sub-reservoir
• Manually remove solids, daily

Tidy Cats Breeze litter box

• Zeolite pellets; exchange after one month
• Pads trap liquids, in sub-tray; exchange after one week
• Anecdotal evidence seems to indicate can use pine pellets
• Manually remove solids, daily
• "Runny/watery solids which will go all over the pellets and is tougher and takes longer to clean."

Iris Cat Litter Scoop

We determined to go with the Feline Pine Self Cleaning Litter Box.

Additionally:

We recently purchased a BISSELL SpotClean Professional Portable Carpet Cleaner, 3624.

On Saturday, we wondered where to find BISSELL 2X Pet Stain & Odor Portable Machine Formula, 32 ounces, 74R7. Unfortunately, the ones we saw, at PetSmart, said, on the label, "for FULL SIZED cleaner only." So, we did not buy those. On the Bissell web site, they have some squishy answers (in my opinion) about this.

Bissell also recommend "pre-treating the area before cleaning for best results." So, we should probably do that.