Well, this would be a ridiculous topic if it wasn’t so pathetic and oh, so true! Most of you know I have four indoor cats: Grace, Tink, Tess, and Charlie. Four cats equal lots of cat poop. How much can a person write about cat poop? Well, let’s just see…
My day starts out with cat poop. Right after my morning coffee and before I leave for work, I pooper scoop four cat litter boxes. And, once a week, I empty said boxes and re-fill with fresh litter. Needless to say, I go through quite a lot of kitty litter each month, probably close to 100 pounds, give or take.
Grace is the alpha female.
There is a place in my back yard at the edge of where my property becomes woods that I have been dumping the kitty litter. I call this place Kitty Poop Mountain. Brian recently suggested that I start alternately emptying the boxes at various other locales in the wooded areas of our property, so that we don’t end up with one huge pile of poop. Yes, good idea! Why have one huge mountain of poop when I can have numerous hills instead? So, every weekend, usually Sunday, I carry the litter boxes, two at a time, to the edge of our back deck. From there, I can load the four of them into the wheelbarrow for easy maneuvering through the back yard. (Clever, aren’t I?) After a wash at the outdoor water hose, I dry them and return them to the laundry room to be filled for another week. Now, any multiple cat owner can tell you that a pride of cats has a unique pecking order that allows its leader certain privileges, such as using the litter box first. Grace is our alpha female and until Charlie came into our lives, she was always first. But, Charlie, still a kitten and unschooled in the ways of cat society, likes to leap in each of the boxes, right as they are being filled, to do a little business, which, of course, pisses Grace off.
Can you see how much Tess loves Charlie licking on her?
Ideally, I should have five litter boxes in my house, according to what cat experts say – one for each cat and one extra. If not for Grace’s litter box rule, I would probably need to buy that fifth box. Grace’s rule is that two of the boxes are to be used for pooping and two are for peeing only. Three cats follow the rule, Charlie, of course, just doesn’t get it yet, which pisses Grace off.
The two boy kitties, Charlie and Tink.
Now, about the litter itself. With this many cats, I have tried to buy the super duper cheap litter, like Johnny Cat. Grace, of course, refuses to use it. So, although I cannot buy the really cheap stuff, I am lucky that I can buy two grocery store brands of litter, which are, at least moderately priced litters. I try to keep roughly 50 pounds of litter available for changes, but of course, the store is sometimes out and my stockpile gets low. Inevitably, the boxes need changed, I don’t have enough litter and I must make a special litter run to the grocery store. (Yes, normal people make beer runs, cat people make litter runs.)
Oh, and I haven’t mentioned that Grace will poop in my ficus tree if I forget to scoop the litter box. Or, that I sweep up several cups of kitty litter from my floors each day. Or, that Sam Dog will eat the poop when he can get into that room. (He normally cannot get in, we keep the door closed and have installed a kitty door.)
I figure I can talk poop with the best of the mommy bloggers! Or anyone, for that matter. Give it your best shot!
And let me leave you with this thought about poop: “Never kick a fresh turd on a hot day.” – Harry S. Truman
not sure if anyone has already commented or said this but……Have you tried any of the litters you can flush? If your cats would use the new litter might be a good try… plus its better for them – check out http://www.felinepine.com might be handy if you can just throw it in the toilet! ;o) or maybe something like this: http://swheatscoop.com/multi-cat — the bags may cost more (?) then offbrand litter but it may last longer too — something you would have to think about, read about, and experiment! best of luck!
Thanks, Jackie! Another consideration I have living in rural USA is that we have a septic tank, and I am very cognizant of what I put down the drain. We have also tried the more expensive clumping litter, but the cats and I do not like it!
“Your breath smells like kitttty littaaa….I was curioussss!!” -Family Guy
LOL!
Two comments: My cat did not like to go in the litter box, and would go outside of it, on the floor. It took me 8 years to figure out that, no matter what type of litter I used, she hated getting it between her paws. She used to rub them on the side of the box to get the litter off. Finally, I started using paper towels, and voila, magic…she started going in the box.
Also, when we had more than one cat, and had a box for each, I wondered, if you were to tape a photo of each cat (probably in a ziploc sandwich bag, to keep it semi-clean for awhile) to the litter box intended for it, whether you could train the cats to go in their respective boxes? You might need to put the catboxes in the same room, and point at the pic or something? It might work better than putting their names on the boxes (I’m not sure whether they can be taught to read, although you could try flash cards). It might also work only if you have 2 cats?
Kitties don’t like it when you underestimate their abilities–they say “I’ll do it because I want to, and not because you tell me to,” and “it’s not that I can’t do it, it’s because I prefer not to.”
I think over the course of time, you could teach your cats to use their own litterbox, if you really wanted. Some people have taught their cats to use the toilet!
I have come to understand that cat people really are unique!
Love this post: it made me giggle out loud! Who knew kittehs had kitteh litter preferences?
Thanks Maija!
Several years ago, Mandydog tried to hide from her bath by squeezing herself into the litterbox!
And, she thought you would not fine her there? LOL!
lol, yeah I’m hoping Maggie will grow out of it too. When we caught her first rolling in the litter box my fiance turned to me and said “well now we know why she always smells like farts” lol!
My youngest kitty, Maggie, loves playing in the litter box. Do yours ever do that?
Just my youngest, Charlie!I hope he grows out of that!
Thank goodness we have only one cat. Since we live in the city we do not have a pile of poop at the edge of our property; we have to bag it up and carry it to the bin in our alley. It really is a bummer when that bag breaks before you make it all the way to the bin… but our 3 dogs think it is fun!
That’s the thing about dogs! Everything about cat poop is fun!
All I can say is….What a load of poop! 😉
Haha! My thoughts exactly!
I’d be happy if Miss Kitty would just re-learn to cover up her poop after she uses her box. She used to. I think she’s just as stressed out as the rest of us …
I am happy to report that my current household of cats do cover up their poop, with one ecception! Grace, who is very picky about having a perfectly clean litterbox, sometimes tries to balance herself on the edge of the box to keep her paws out of the icky.When this results in a litter box tip-over, she doesn’t bother to cover it up!
oh jeeze …
I know now why I have 3 dogs. Hey I can blog about how they pee on just about everything they can. They don’t pee where they sleep though.
We are always told, “write what we know.” So, as I sat to write a new blog entry, I was thinking that I had to stop at the store to pick up kitty litter and I was suddenly struck by the amount of time I spend thinking about or dealing with cat poop!
Out cat, Grace, never pees where she sleeps, although, she has peed on Sam Dog’s bed!
Dear Readers, you may enjoy checking out Janey’s blog: http://lifesinwestcliffe.blogspot.com