If you use clumping litter, you know it's a great product with a major drawback...if the urine reaches the edge of the box, it causes a gooey mess which defeats the purpose of the product. I designed an easy to build box that has an integral 'stand-off' that keeps kitty centered in the box. ( I made a diagram, scanned it, but at 145 kb, it exceeded the limit of 14kb).
My solution to a clumping litter problem.
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Not if you're using a high quality litter and keep it deep enough.
I had in mind the sides of the box. We tried several brands...same result. Our cats like to go near the sides, and when they do, you've got a gummy mess to clean off both the box and the scoop.
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I get a gooey mess a lot (sinatra loves gooey messes), I would like to see!
Not to be off topic but how does it compare to Tidy Cat? I have an automatic cat box and Tidy Cat's clumps aren't the strongest.
I have zero experience with an auto cat box, but if the type of gummy clumps we're talking about are in the box, then it would seem the mechanism is going to get clogged up. I wouldn't advise clumping litter for an auto box.
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I would love to see what your solution to keeping it from clumping on the sides like that. I clean Litter box everyday and at one point I had to get to the point of taking the water hose and spening forever getting the cakes off the bottom. My cat is particular about where she goes and it's never in the middle.
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We use Tidy Cats as well and have found that mixing two scents (the Orange and the Green, or dark Blue, or light Blue.... no specific mixture really) works the best for us. The scents are really non-offensive.
But....
We recently tried a bag of Swheat Scoop and found that we like it quite a bit. It clumps very well (maybe better than Tidy Cats which is surprising), and sifts easy. It's a little dustier than Tidy Cats, but not bad. It's expensive though.
My conscience forced me to take a look at natural based litter due to the sodium bentonite in clumping litters like Tidy Cats. We've tried the Arm&Hammer one made from corn and that was a bad experience. My wife and I both were having allergy problems caused from the corn. The wheat stuff is doing great though. I'm just not sure about the price.
But....
We recently tried a bag of Swheat Scoop and found that we like it quite a bit. It clumps very well (maybe better than Tidy Cats which is surprising), and sifts easy. It's a little dustier than Tidy Cats, but not bad. It's expensive though.
My conscience forced me to take a look at natural based litter due to the sodium bentonite in clumping litters like Tidy Cats. We've tried the Arm&Hammer one made from corn and that was a bad experience. My wife and I both were having allergy problems caused from the corn. The wheat stuff is doing great though. I'm just not sure about the price.
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I've heard that clumping litter can be dangerous to a cat to breathe due to the dust they stir up. It's kinda been a concern for me now to use it. rather this is true, I have no idea.
Ah, now it's coming back to me! It's been a few years since we used clumping litter, and I think you've raised a good point. My memory is hazy on this, but I believe I had noticed adverse effects on my breathing, just from normal cat box maintenance. If it affected me, think what it might do to little noses right down in there.
This comes up off and on and is brand specific. Dr Elsey's is genereally regarded as best but only in the really large bags I believe. I myself have noticed tidy cats is better (less dusty) than fresh step. I really would love to see your design idea to prevent cats from using the box too near the edges, did you strat with a standatd large box and build an overlay to keep them in a few inches? or something altogether differnet? Maybe a post on a facebook page with a link or some such?
N
Nora, I built a box out of wood, with a hinged pegboard top. The box is approx. 30% larger than a normal catbox, because with the integral restriction area in the middle, kitty wouldn't have much room. I made a crude(very crude) drawing that exceeded the limit of 14 mb of this site for uploads. Don't know how to convert to a different format to get more mb's to play with (beyond my tech ability), but I could probably email it to you. I don't have the box anymore due to my dislike of clumping litter.
Cat box drawing
Trying to insert my drawing(http://www.catforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4214&stc=1&d=1331135194)
Trying to insert my drawing(http://www.catforum.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=4214&stc=1&d=1331135194)
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I do get the gooey edges when there's urine near the edge of the box, but I don't think I would switch for that reason. We use S*Wheat Scoop because it's flushable, which I don't think any of the others are.
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