Indoor Cat?? Advise Please!!!

[LauraLeigh]

If you have an indoor cat ((Or outdoor that uses a litter box...)) can you help me out a bit here?

My daughter has always been in charge of the Boxes, and never complained about it... LOL However just last week she moved in with her Boyfriend and his Dad to pursue a Career and Education opportunity that was too good to turn down. I miss her like you would not believe, but I am very happy for her as well. They have the little Doxie to keep her company and she is trying her hardest to get me to let her take Molly who is hers really as well... I said give it time and see how things go. She would have likely taken her cat (Nuts) as well, except Brad (Matt's Dad) is really allergic to cats......

Sooooo........ Now I am on litter duty, no biggie I figured????

OMG..... these two cats dirty up 2 BIG Boxes by the end of the day!!! I cannot believe how much ummmm *crap* they produce!!! If this is the way it has to be, then oh well I will just clean their boxes twice a day... but really, 2 cats, two full boxes in a day:yikes: How do they put out that much??!!!:lol-sign:

I am looking to hear what kind of regimes you have your cats on, food types, Litter types, how often you do boxes etc etc..... I am pretty busy these days and this extra chore just adds to that. I had hoped I'd be able to just have a bit to scoop each night not a full on half hour or more of box scooping...

If thats the way it is for everyone, well.... just added a bit to my regime, LOL

I have to say, in this way, in the past having always had indoor/outdoor cats... On this front that was much easier!!!

 

[xpaeanx]

My only cat was Sephora... and I would scoop out about 3-4 litter chunklets a day and clean the whole box every 2-3 days. of course she was pretty young when she died, so I don't know if adult cats poop more?

 

[Dekka]

I find it depends on what they eat. If they are eating foods with lots of 'fillers' then yes it is amazing how often cats will poop

 

[LauraLeigh]

I find it depends on what they eat. If they are eating foods with lots of 'fillers' then yes it is amazing how often cats will poop

I am using up food that was given to me by a friend right now, it is from a Co-Op that has stopped carrying cat food. Not great food likely, that may eb the issue....

Any suggestions on a good food, that may reduce the litter box *bombs*?

 

[xpaeanx]

Sephora really liked tiki cat.... but like I said, I only had one cat and she died young.

 

[Dekka]

Cats are obligate carnivores.. so you can easily feed them foods with little to no grains and they do very well. Bonus is they eat less and they digest it more fully.. so they poop less.

 

[LauraLeigh]

Sephora really liked tiki cat.... but like I said, I only had one cat and she died young.

I am sorry to hear that

I have never heard of that food? I am going to go looking tonight, my vet also said that with indoor cats wet is better? Hard for me to wrap my head around wet being better when for dogs it's pretty well opposite. LOL

 

[xpaeanx]

http://www.petropics.com/catalog.htm

scroll down, it's at the bottom, under the tiki dog.

 

[Dekka]

I am sorry to hear that

I have never heard of that food? I am going to go looking tonight, my vet also said that with indoor cats wet is better? Hard for me to wrap my head around wet being better when for dogs it's pretty well opposite. LOL

Wet is a lot better for cats. (wet is great for dogs too) But cats really don't seem to drink enough. Cats fed dry are usually living in a state of mild dehydration (which is why they have so many urinary problems)

 

[LauraLeigh]

Wet is a lot better for cats. (wet is great for dogs too) But cats really don't seem to drink enough. Cats fed dry are usually living in a state of mild dehydration (which is why they have so many urinary problems)

I am going to look at wet foods when I am in town, with two cats it won't be too expensive and if it is better for them, and reduces my workload as well then I am all for it!

 

[Labyrinth]

I have a 13ish year old cat and a young kitten. I scoop the box once daily, and there isn't a whole lot in there. The older cat has been eating Nutro Max for years, and the kitten is eating primarily Innova Evo.

 

[wcladymacbeth]

Sparky eats Felidae. Justin cleans out his boxes twice a week. (He has 2 litter boxes all for himself, lol. Spoiled!)

 

[vanillasugar]

www.catinfo.org

www.littlebigcat.com (the library here is FANTASTIC)

Both these sites are written by nutritionally minded veterinarians. Great resources.

Wet food is better for cats, but you still have to look for good quality. As Kerri said, cats are obligate carnivores, which means there's less leeway in their nutritional requirements for fillers than dogs.

A few good brands to look for (similar to dog, but a few minor differences): Wellness, Merrick, Innova, EVO. Even MORE importantly than with dogs is looking for low carb and grain free.

Good luck on your search

 

[mwood322]

I have one cat. Food is California Natural Chicken and Rice dry. I scoop the box about twice a week, once if I'm being lazy.

I don't feed wet. My cat has access to flowing water at all times, and I've had no urinary tract issues in the 5 years I've had her. In the beginning she got some wet, but I found wet cat food made for really nasty litter cleanup, at least with my cat.

--Mia

 

[eddieq]

My cat, Spook (who was PTS this past November) lived nearly 19 years on mostly Friskies Turkey and Giblets (senior formula later in life). We were recommended to use that because of the lower ash content since he had a bladder problem when he was about 3 or 4. We gave him a full can a day and a scoop of Purina Special Care crunchies and filtered water (he was a snob on that part :lol-sign. His box needed to be scooped daily and we emptied it once a week (more if he laid a stinker in there). For about the last two years of his life, we changed him to a prescription food (Purina UR I think) at the vet's recommendation.

 

[PoodleMommy]

We use the California Natural Chicken and Rice (dry) as well.

Our cats never wanted to eat wet and the vet said as long as they had plenty of access to water it was fine... well the cats are 17, 16, and 4 and so far no issues with that.

When I had the one cat... I cleaned the box twice a week... with three it needs to be done everyday because they all share one box... no matter how many boxes we put around they will ONLY go in the one.... and its best to choose your battles with kitties.

 

[Dizzy]

Cat's are gross. I think cats are far grosser than dogs, full stop.

We scoop as they poop, and totally refresh the trays once every few days.

We have just gone down to one tray as we are down to 2 cats.

You have to keep on top of it.

As for food, ours are on 3 sachets a day each. Morning, tea and evening.

I am prob going to start buying different food for my mog in the coming months if/when I move back out - currently she is just fed with the other cat, which saves me pennies!!

 

[Punkygirl0101]

The 5 kittens who are strictly indoor fill TWO litterboxes a day. It seems all they do is crap, and nothing else.

The cats that go outside, who do have access to a litter box...nothing much in there. I think because they have other things to do with their time but eat and crap.

 

[vanillasugar]

The cats that go outside, who do have access to a litter box...nothing much in there. I think because they have other things to do with their time but eat and crap.

Wouldn't it make more sense to assume they're going poop outside? If they're eating the same thing as your indoor cats, why on earth would they somehow make less waste?

 

[eddieq]

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