(OT)Cat litter boxes--hooded or unhooded?

[agate]

A forum member has expressed concern about the silence on this board and suggested cat litter boxes as a possible topic.

OK. Supposedly cats often don't like hooded litter boxes. Would you expect your cat to use one?

I've never tried a hooded type but have dealt with one or two of them. They do contain the odor but the odor in there can get bad, bad enough to bother the kitty, seems to me. Just my opinion though.

[Howie]

Agate, you are a kind woman.

I have 2 cats, but 3 litter boxes, ALL hooded. I usually have a busy box, and another not so, and another may be totally unused. It seems to depend mostly where cat daddy is. We ARE a close bunch.

I use the clumping litter, and WISH I had invented it. It works SO well. That's my first chore each morning, I take my pills, then do litter boxes. By then, I'm usually awake.

[renee]

For one small cat:

One high wall, unhooded litter box, Feline Pine for litter (no clay tracks)
*Don't tell the landlord that I flush 2-3 cups of FP down toilet at a time.
No clogged toilet in cat's entire residence of 7+ years.

Was that exciting or WHAT!!!

[agate]

renee, your landlord won't get a mumbling word out of me!

I agree about clumping litter. I did have a cat who was so prone to ear infections that the dust from that litter seemed to irritate her ears, and so I gave up on using it for her but Phoebe used the clumping stuff and had no problem with it.

[jendie]

I haven't had cats in the past 10 years.... but in the past I usually had a hooded cat box.

[agate]

A couple of times I was tempted to get a corner litter box--it's triangle-shaped and would save space in a small room.

[Howie]

You mean that poor, poor cat, had to pee in a plain old, SQUARE litter box? OH the humanity!!!

[Cat Dancer]

my 4 use just two open litter boxes which are cleaned out twice a day, completely refreshed once a week (emptied completely washed dried, new litter put in). they have never known anything else

[Frog42]

You mean that poor, poor cat, had to pee in a plain old, SQUARE litter box? OH the humanity!!!

That's exactly what it is. If it was the cat's choice it would it be felinity?

[SalpalSally]

when I had my Friend's extra cat, for a few months, last year, She had a hooded
litter box for her, with an odor control insert in the hood....it work some of the time.
She was a messy cat and I was cleaning the litter up all over the house. To much
work for me and had to give Kitty back. I miss her.

In the old days, when I had two cats, I used an old deep dish cookie sheet....emptied
and cleaned it entirely once or twice a day. The good old days.

[agate]

Sally, a deep dish cookie sheet might make a perfect litter box . Some cats prefer a shallower litter box anyway because it's more accessible.

It's really unusual for a cat to be messy. Have you thought about trying again? Maybe with a kitten so you can train it to play by your rules at least some of the time?

[Howie]

I got both my cats when they were little, and they had me trained in no time.

[NanMacan]

My cat is as messy as they come. I have the highest sided litter box I could find. He likes to pee in the corners of the box with his paws on the edges so he's almost standing. then flings the litter allover trying to cover the corner up. I told my husband we need to put his litter in a kids wading pool.

[Mike Weins]

I have 3 open top litter boxes all in the same area in the same room. They are cleaned in the morning and at night before I go to bed. I use some rubber mats to catch the litter spillage from the front and sides of the boxes. The back of the boxes are backed up against a wall.

I don't like the hooded cat boxes because they typically harbor more bacteria as most people don't even think to wash the top. Also for larger cats it's a pain for them to move around to bury their business.

For really messy cats with open boxes try cutting off one end and one side of a cardboard box that is bigger than the cat box and place the cat box in there. It will contain a lot of the litter and is pretty easy to clean out.