Hi, I am Dr. Candy Olson from Greenbriar Animal Hospital. We’re making a video on tips for how to take care of your cat at home.
This section is on how to best do the litter box issue. One of the biggest problems with cats today is that they’re not always good about using the litter box. Some cats are really good, some cats are really bad, some cats are hit and miss, there are a bunch of things that you can do to maximize your chances that your cats will use the litter box religiously. A Couple of them are pretty standard and kind of self-explanatory, clean the box everyday. If you have more than one cat, I don’t recommend using those mechanized ones that self clean, the reason is a lot of cats get spooked by them. The way they work is the cats goes in the litter box, there’s a little timer, waits like five or ten minutes, until usually the cat has left, then it goes through and cleans. Well, if you have more than one cat, at that point the other cat may have come in there and go eek, it’s moving. So, they’re a great thing if you just have one cat, if you have more than one cat, not so good. There are a lot of different litters that you can use.
One of the big things about kitty litter is that cats get used to a particular type, and it’s a really bad thing to change it. So, you want to make sure that you don’t ever actually run out of your kitty litter. There are certain types of litters that are better and worse to use. You don’t want to use a litter that has a deodorant or a scent to it. You want to try and get litters that aren’t quite as dusty. Some litters are real dusty, and the cat digs in them, and clouds of stuff come up. You don’t want to use litter box liners, those plastic liners, again, because most cats don’t like them. Well, lot of cats will use them, if they don’t like it very much, it doesn’t take much to tip them over the edge and say huh, I’m going to go in the carpet instead. The other thing that’s really important is to have enough litter boxes, and for a lot of people today that’s a problem. Even if you need to investigate, there are several companies that make particular pieces of furniture, for example, that you can put a litter box in. It looks likes end table or a coffee table, something you can put in your living room or dining room if you need to. But it’s very important to have enough litter boxes. How many is enough? One per cat, one per floor of your home, whatever is more. So, if you have one cat and a two storey home, you need two litter boxes. If you have four cats and a one storey home, you need four litter boxes.
Lot of people say well, gosh, I have got four cats, I have got two litter boxes, they’ve been doing fine, they haven’t had any problems. Yeah, I know, but these are tips for how to minimize problems, maximize the litter box use. It’s always helpful to do it on a preventive basis rather than change it once you’re already having problems. The different types of litter that were talking about, there are lots of different ones. This is a standard, for example, regular clay litter, this is the most common thing out there, and there’s nothing wrong with this litter. Cats do develop likes and dislikes and have a tendency to prefer one kind of litter over another. So, if your cats not using the box or you have got a cat who uses it sometimes and doesn’t others, try some different litters. But, leave the old litter box there with the old litter in it, put a new box with the new stuff, so that there are choices there. This is a different kind of litter, its made out of recycled newspaper. These are actually little pellets, they’re very absorbent, and its another type of litter. This is a third type, these are actually silica pellets, and the way these work is they absorb the urine, so that there is very little urine odor, over time these pellets turn yellow, you scoop the stools out. The handy thing about this stuff, if you’re not really good about constantly scooping the litter, is the way it’s meant to work is you dump in a bag, you scoop it out every day, and mix up the litter, and after two to four weeks, depending upon how many cats are in your household, you dump the whole thing. So, its a little bit more user friendly, and it does tend to be low in dust as well.
The other thing, I personally like this, I use this kind of litter for my cat, because she is a digger, and she flings the litter, and its very hard to vacuum up some of the other stuff, this stuff vacuums up from anywhere, just a little tip. The most popular type of litter, we don’t actually have here to show you today, most people with cats are familiar with it, is the regular clumping kind of litter, that when they urinate in it, it forms a little clump so that you can just scoop it out.
If you were to look at all of the types of litter and say what do cats like the best? Most cats prefer that clumping kind of litter that almost looks like sand. That is the number one type of preference there, but all of these can be used. There are others as well, these are just some of the common ones. If you’re having any issues with your cat about using a litter box or not, or questions about litter boxes, how many kinds of litter to try, how to do this, don’t hesitate to contact your veterinarian, we have lots of information that can help you for it.
So, that’s the tips on litter box use. Next, were going to go over -- some tips on how to give your cat the right amount of exercise.
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