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tangentially related to blog post but very relevant to cat shit – i recently bought a "top opening" cat litter box[1], and its incredible that they are not the

by pclark 12y ago

tangentially related to blog post but very relevant to cat shit – i recently bought a "top opening" cat litter box[1], and its incredible that they are not the norm. my biggest problem with cat litter is not the shit, but having cat litter be tracked across the bathroom - this is almost entirely solved with a top opening box. additionally, my dog is unable to eat the shit. [1]: https://www.clevercatinnovations.com/top_entry_litterbox_about.aspx https://www.clevercatinnovations.com/top_entry_litterbox_abo...

silencio 12y ago
I used to have a Clevercat litter box for my cat and she still tracked litter in places - not as much, but still. I replaced it with the Breeze litter box (http://www.tidycats.com/Products/Breeze http://www.tidycats.com/Products/Breeze) and I've been very happy ever since. Might be something to look into, although it doesn't solve the dog problem ;) Big pellets easier to deal with if flung out of the box + pads (you can use cheaper chux instead) drastically cuts down on the waste/effort and heavy bags of used and new litter, and makes me and my cat happy because there's no litter dust whatsoever to make us sneeze. It's a little loud and smellier, but whatever. One bag of pellets is one month, one pad per week (for my cat) and it's about ~$10-12 from Amazon (in bulk). There are some interesting workarounds for the box too, like I've heard of people using Feline Pine instead of the pellets and having the sawdust collect in the pad tray.
anon4 12y ago
Can you please not use "shit"? It's not that I mind or think it's profane, it's just so generic-meaning now (i.e. thing I don't like or involved in things I don't like happening) that when you say "my dog is unable to eat the shit", I'm not completely sure if you mean the poop, the litter or some other part of the whole construction.
- mandlar 12y ago
  Pretty sure they mean literally eating the (cat's) shit.
  - ansible 12y ago
    Yes. The cat's digestive system isn't that efficient, and they end up excreting a lot of fat. Some dogs seem to regard it as candy. Yuck, I know. Probably a good way for them to get infected with toxoplasma gondii too.
drdaeman 12y ago
I've taught mine to use ordinary flush toilet. Although he doesn't understand flushing and can't push the button (just meows for a human to assist), still needs to do a few scratching paw motions to soothe the nerves, and sometimes (no idea what he thinks, to me it seems like a completely random behavior) "forgets" about flush toilet and wants a litter tray, it's quite awesome. No litter whatsoever, obviously.
lutorm 12y ago
We use the Clevercat too, not because of smell or whatever but because our cat is such a vigorous digger that with any open litter box he sends litter all across the room. But otherwise he mostly uses the big litterbox called Nature, never needs cleaning and doesn't smell!

by pclark 12y ago

silencio 12y ago

I used to have a Clevercat litter box for my cat and she still tracked litter in places - not as much, but still. I replaced it with the Breeze litter box (http://www.tidycats.com/Products/Breeze http://www.tidycats.com/Products/Breeze) and I've been very happy ever since. Might be something to look into, although it doesn't solve the dog problem ;) Big pellets easier to deal with if flung out of the box + pads (you can use cheaper chux instead) drastically cuts down on the waste/effort and heavy bags of used and new litter, and makes me and my cat happy because there's no litter dust whatsoever to make us sneeze. It's a little loud and smellier, but whatever. One bag of pellets is one month, one pad per week (for my cat) and it's about ~$10-12 from Amazon (in bulk). There are some interesting workarounds for the box too, like I've heard of people using Feline Pine instead of the pellets and having the sawdust collect in the pad tray.

anon4 12y ago

Can you please not use "shit"? It's not that I mind or think it's profane, it's just so generic-meaning now (i.e. thing I don't like or involved in things I don't like happening) that when you say "my dog is unable to eat the shit", I'm not completely sure if you mean the poop, the litter or some other part of the whole construction.

mandlar 12y ago
Pretty sure they mean literally eating the (cat's) shit.
- ansible 12y ago
  Yes. The cat's digestive system isn't that efficient, and they end up excreting a lot of fat. Some dogs seem to regard it as candy. Yuck, I know. Probably a good way for them to get infected with toxoplasma gondii too.

drdaeman 12y ago

I've taught mine to use ordinary flush toilet. Although he doesn't understand flushing and can't push the button (just meows for a human to assist), still needs to do a few scratching paw motions to soothe the nerves, and sometimes (no idea what he thinks, to me it seems like a completely random behavior) "forgets" about flush toilet and wants a litter tray, it's quite awesome. No litter whatsoever, obviously.

lutorm 12y ago

We use the Clevercat too, not because of smell or whatever but because our cat is such a vigorous digger that with any open litter box he sends litter all across the room. But otherwise he mostly uses the big litterbox called Nature, never needs cleaning and doesn't smell!