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 Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 6:31 am
For now, my kitten just has a cheap-o litterbox from the grocery store. I also bought a large jug of Fresh Step kitty litter. As the generic litter is used up (the stuff that came with the cheap-o litter box), I gradually keep refilling it with Fresh Step.
The problem is, no matter which litter I use, it doesn't seem to absorb my kitten's urine properly. The urine turns the litter into.. a sort of dust, which then goes down to the grooves in the litterbox and cakes like dry mud. By that time, if I want to remove it, I have to scrape it out with the scoop, and then it's just like having a lot of sand mixed in the litterbox, so that's no good.
To make matters worse, this "urine dirt" smells heavily of ammonia. I actually went out and bought a new cheap-o litterbox to replace the first one, as I had it for about a month and the smell was starting to become unbearable.
I'll be getting her a fancy automatic cleaning litterbox sometime in the future. In the meantime, any suggestions or explanations as to why this happens? And importantly, how to protect my nose from burning off? xd
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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 7:30 am
I've found that most clumping litters tend to cake in the bottom of the box and have a strong ammonia smell, both the clay stuff and Swheat Scoop. The clumping is convenient but it's a pain in the a** to clean in its own way.
Personally, I'm a fan of the pressed pine litters, Feline Pine and the like, which doesn't clump (though they do have a clumping version that I haven't tried) - it doesn't stick to the box and it controls the ammonia smell.
Other people here will probably be able to recommend a clumping clay litter that controls the smell a bit better than what you have - they're definitely not all created equal.
As far as the sticking, I'd just suggest getting a flat bottomed litterbox so that you can pull the clumps off the bottom/sides more easily and completely changing and washing out the box ever week or two.
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Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:04 pm
I've just always dealt with the ammonia smell... D;
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:10 am
Perhaps try a plastic lining on your liter, to help the sticking, although cats generally rip at it because i mean, what cat dosnt like a plastic bag!?
i use a mixture of cat liters. I use expensive clumping liter (generally 'special kitty' deodorizing liter with baking soda, which is a very fine grit) and then something cheap that has bigger pieces, i put the bigger s**t on the bottom and the deoderixing on top, i find it helps because then the pee is absorbed by the fine grit and the large grit keeps the pee off the bottom.
Also if it smells like ammonia really bad, try a stronger deodorizing liter like Anlina said, Pine step is awesome for drying up smell!
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Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:16 pm
I use that pine litter too. but the problem is, my cat tries to eat it sweatdrop She's so weird
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