My family is owned by three cats, all of which are indoor only. We have multiple litter boxes to handle them, but with our aging bodies, daily cat litter duty has become a real pain! So I am looking at reasonable options and wanted your opinions...

Option 1) Lighter-weight litter. We tried one brand of the so-called light weight litter, and while it did its job okay, the cats tracked it all over the house because it stuck to their feet much more easily!

Option 2) Automated litter box. We have seen ads for those automated litter boxes, and based on customer reviews, while they seem to work well at first, over time they seem to fail and leave you stuck with manually scooping.

Option 3) Sifting litter pans. We currently have two of them now, and they do work rather well and are better than manually scooping, the "good quality" cat litter is heavy and hurts the backs of myself and my wife.


Now what are you guys using, and what do you find works best? I would really love one or more of those "automated" boxes, but for the price they cost, the sucker had better last longer than a few months (or even a year)!

Thanks in advance!!!

Seven year old boy. Works ok, but tends to leave the pee clumps deeper in the box and you have to manually remove them yourself once a week or so. Trying to get this fixed, but not having much luck. I hear this is something that may improve over time? Not sure. Child does sweep up most of the litter off the floor in the immediate area, so that's an upside for sure. Complaints aside, it is nice to not have to mess with the litter box more than once a week or so, but at this point, the maintenance vs. performance ratio isn't exactly stunning, so I can't recommend unless you just really want one.

We use Scoop Away Complete Performance. Seems to keep the smell in check without getting tracked all over the house. And it's at Costco.

I use Worlds Best Cat Litter. Flushable and corn based. Clumps fine, too. No odor problems since I scoop daily. A bit more expensive than conventional litter. I use a litter mat that spreads the cats paws after he bails out of the box which reduces tracking. Where I buy it there is a program in place to get every tenth bag free. I have never compared its weight to other litters.

^^^THIS, 100%

Old fashioned clump litter belongs right up there with bell bottoms and Pierre Cardin cologne and don't forget to add Jovan Musk Oil too.

After doing regular litter, pine pellets, clump and everything else, the Go To, with much satisfaction, is the Tidy Cat Breeze system.

It uses pellets that don't dissolve or break down but are odor absorbing. The urine goes through a mesh bottom into a removable tray that has a material like you'd find a in a diaper where it absorb a lot of urine and has zero smell. The pads are replaced every week if you have a single cat.

To get out the poop you take a doggie poop bag and pick it up and that's that. Litter doesn't track or get all over the place like clumping or clay.

Whoever invented it should get a Nobel Prize of some kind.

I'm not the op but that Tidy Cat Breeze system looks interesting. I may try that when I get down in litter supply.

I was using Tidy Cat Multi-Cat for quite a while and found that it stopped clumping the urine like it used to...maybe they changed the formula? Don't know.

It caused me to go on the hunt for something different, and I came across a lady in Petco scooping litter into a refillable bucket. I asked her if it kept the odor down (a BIGGIE for me) and clumped the urine well...she said yes to both.

I bought a 30 lb. bucket and took the opportunity to swap out litter boxes to a clean one (do that about every 2-3 months). I also have a large mat under the litter box that gets most, not all, the litter of my girls' feet when they egress the box. It does a pretty good job, but I do sweep the floor every morning just to get rid of the grit on the floor (box is in my laundry room).

So far, I like the So Phresh litter. It's a little "heavier" than the Tidy Cat, but it does control the odor and clump the urine to my satisfaction. To boot, I have a Litter Genie that I scoop their waste in and change that out about every 7 days or so.

Here are some links...

So Phresh Litter

Litter Genie

Litter Box

The mat I bought is no longer available, but just search Amazon for "cat litter mat"...you'll get plenty of choices.

I have a Glade Plug-In thingy in the laundry room and one in the hall. I have them on low setting so they don't overpower you with their scent, and everyone I ask that comes into my house says they don't smell cat box when they walk in. So I guess whatever I'm using and doing is working for eliminating odor and ridding the waste.

Hope that helps...

Well, I never thought I would be giving litter guidance but in this area I can provide some about litter since my wife and I have 13 cats. Many who come to our home cannot believe how clean and fresh our house smells when they hear we have that many cats - but in our favor - some are separated as we have a cat room that has cat condo's with individual litters for them and a catio for them to spend outdoor time and just 5 roam our house at large.

Over the years we have found that a few litters work best and have naturally gravitated to the clumping variety as it makes cleaning up multiple litter boxes easier. My main thing is the clump ability but also minimizes the litter that sticks to the sides and bottom of the litter box.

My favorite we consistently use is Fresh Step Total Control Scented Litter with Power of Febreze followed by Purina Tidy Cats Clumping Litter with Glade Twin Pack

The Fresh Step clumps well, does not stick terribly bad to the litter box, and when it does, you scoop what you can then just scrape litter across the stuck part with the scooper and it clumps right up cleaning messes stuck on sides and bottom. [we got some messy boys] To aide in keeping the sticking at bay - we clean the pans every few weeks to not dust up and cause stickage along with scooping daily. Clumps well enough, save for scooping right after they go - time is good for clumping and the litter after being scooped stays fresh enough it allows me to just add litter and not have to change out the complete litter to fully freshen it. In order to freshen it up, just scoop litter, dump litter out into a bucket, then clean pan then put litter back in every 3-4 weeks - if that makes sense - whereas some litters over time, some as soon as 3-4 weeks like the Menards litter, no matter how much you add new litter as old is taken away - it gets to the point you can tell you have to toss the litter in it even after scooping and start all over with all fresh - so cheaper litter has a cost that to us makes up for it in ease of use and overall usability and less waste. The Purina is *this close* to being as good as Fresh Step. I simply prefer the way the Fresh Step is packaged in a flat with 4 small bags, as a single bag is easier to open and dump to refill individual litter boxes when they get low to fill back to level over time that 20# jugs of Purina.


We also keep a supply of Menards litter for long term emergency storage - especially since on sale it can be as cheap as 6.99 for 40# so we keep a small emergency stock of that when its on sale (last year when we locked down - we bought a half pallet which cost much less at one shot than the premium litter and even temporarily used during lock down for a while). On the more expensive fresh step we just keep a rolling 4 weeks worth on average, and as of now solely using the Fresh Step again and holding Menards for emergencies.

We did for about 3 months end of last year mix 1/2 Menards and 1/2 Fresh Step but over time it was a pain - so Menards is our cheap when we need it alternative. So yeah, in our world - we 'splurge' on Fresh Step - the life of cat parents.

Runner up is the Petco branded litters, especially multi cat in the bucket which is pretty good but not as great as the Fresh Step or Purina Tidy Cat. We stopped using Petco a few years ago for the most part as they had issues with stocking in our local store and well - we need litter consistently stocked.

ETA - Next to Petco runner up is Arm & Hammer multi cat which is pretty good but again - stocking issues caused us to look elsewhere - and its definitely not as good as fresh step or purina - it clumps well but clumps stick like concrete and I was scooping more often than once a day to stay ahead of it

We also have one litter robot in the living room to keep that common area fresher and it works like a champ - been using one for years - and no issues with it at all - did have to take apart to clean a sensor once but beyond that it works. We also only need to empty it out a couple times a week. Some of our kitties don't like it so we never invested in any more but for the living room works great.

The pans that auto scoop side to side are eh - okay but the litter robot has them beat for automated hands down all day every day.

Hard pass on the litter sifter pans - tried that on the single cat condo's for a few of the cleaner kitties that don't spray the sides or heavy wetters - still a pain and rather just scoop.

Never tried the light weight but now I am thinking of giving it a go since I really don't know much about them

I am hearing good things about Chrystal cat litter. Fresh Step, maybe. It’s silicone gel. Absorbs 40x it’s weight, needs cleaned out far less often. Of course fecal matter will still need done daily.
I still use Tidy Cats Unscented in the 35# bucket. I get it shipped by Chewy. I wait for someone who comes over without a bad back to carry it down to basement. I’ve offered everyone I know free buckets. The bucket handle may look wimpy, but it’s designed for 35#. Great buckets for recyclables, yard work, or leave the lid on to store things.

We have been using Dr Elsey's non-scented, clumping cat litter for about a year. We use it in a Litter Robot automated litterbox. Works good so far. The LR is nice as we can go several days without any scooping. When it gets full, pull out the bag, tie it up and put in a new one.

Every now and then it does need a more thorough cleaning with a couple Clorox wipes, but gone are the daily scoopings.

Liter Robot and tidy cat liter. The Liter Robot is not cheap but you can get refurbished units and they look like just like new. We won't be without a cat or a LR.

The Litter Robot looks like an awesome choice, but the price is simply prohibitive at this time, even refurbished!

Will look closer at the Tidy Cats Breeze system as it ticks all the boxes of my wish list, except for the cost of the consumables. Still, I don't think they would be any worse than our normal scooping litter that gets all over the house!

Thanks for all of the suggestions!

We also use World's Best litter. Won't use any other brands, works very well for us.

https://www.bizrate.com/omega-...ing-14292376368/shop

This is what we use, we have 3 of them you roll it over and tap on the bottom then roll it back and pull out the tray and dump it.
Takes 30 seconds per box. Then add a bit of new litter and go on about your day.

We use clay based litter for clumping and to help not track ut around the house.

quote:

Originally posted by tiwimon:
...[we have] a cat room that has cat condo's with individual litters for them and a catio for them to spend outdoor time...

This post is worthless without pictures.

Down to two indoor only cats (had four) and I am still using the cheap litter and two covered litter boxes. I don't scoop them out I find that it just stirs the piss up and start stinking real quick.
I just change them out weekly, 1/2 bag per box. Never smell anything until about the time it needs changing.
This doesn't help with your heavy litter back hurting but its what works for me.
My daughter used one of those auto boxes with the hard pellets that I think could be washed if I am remembering correctly. I would see a few pellets out of the box sometimes when I was watching her pets and home while on vacay.
Cats can be weird about changes to litter boxes so I have just stayed with what I have always done. I like the cover boxes with the doors removed. It keeps the litter tracking down with those mats at the entrance/exits. Wife bitches about litter on the floor so I have two boxes in the main bathroom. One on each side of the commode facing in. Dogs cannot get in them to clean them out with them facing in.
The two cats we have now are brother and sister and around 14 years old. When hey pass and/if we get another I may get the automated one with the pellets like my daughter used but still would prefer covered as to not have to look at it.

We use Purina Tidy Cats 4-in -1 strength for 2 cats here. Scoop out the clumps about twice a week. Box is right next to my desk. If I forget to scoop, wife reminds me as I can't smell anything.