Updated: 26/12/2020

How Often To Change Cat Litter

Cat parents often face litter cleaning issues. Most cat and kitten parents wonder how often they should change the litter in the litterbox, and how much should be replaced. Since a litterbox is essential for felines to relieve themselves, training your cat to use the litterbox from an early age is best practice. Shelter cats and mature kitties do face problems when being house trained, but with patience and persistence, they can also be taught successfully. 

The litter in the box is meant for absorbing high quantities of urine and cat faeces. Since it does the job exceptionally well, many cat parents forget to change the litter. Since cats are known to be very particular about their hygiene, they may refuse to use the litterbox if the waste isn’t changed often. They may also start avoiding the litterbox and start urinating and relieving themselves in different corners of the house. 

To avoid this nuisance, it is best to change the litterbox at regular intervals. It would help if you made it a point only to buy the best cat litter available so that it can absorb all the urine, faeces, and smells. 

How Many Litterboxes To Keep?

Before you start worrying about how often to change the litter, you should know that cats like to have options at hand. Having a litterbox indoors and one outdoors helps the feline mark its territory without making it too obvious. Since cats are territorial creatures, allowing them to mark their property limits in a controlled manner is a great way to avoid urine and faeces in unwanted spots. 

If you have more than one cat in the house, you should keep one more litterbox than the number of cats present. Many felines do not like sharing the same litter, and this may also cause issues in the house. Territorial fights may break out, and your pets may get injured in the process. It is best to keep a separate litterbox per cat and one extra outside the house. 

Daily Litter Scooping: Cat parents should keep a schedule for scooping out the cat litter minimum twice a day to keep the litterbox clean and non-smelly. Many cats like to relieve themselves at their leisure and do not have a set schedule. If this is the case for your pets, install the best cat cameras available at strategic points in the house so that you are aware of the schedule of each feline.

If you can keep the litterbox clean, and scoop out the mess within a few minutes or half an hour after your cat has finished, your cat will start maintaining a daily schedule. 

While scooping the faeces out, always check for fur and other waste. Many cats shed heavily in the warmer months. If you see small clumps of hair in the litter, you should remove those as well. Do not allow the fur to remain in the litterbox, as this will also be a deterrent to your cat. Buy the best vacuum for pet hair to ensure that your furniture, curtains, and carpets stay clean at all times. Ingesting or inhaling animal fur can be dangerous for small children and elderly citizens, and may cause allergies. 

Types of Cat Litter and How Often to Change It

• Clumping Clay Litter: Clumping litter is made from bentonite clay and is highly absorbent. Once the cat urinates or defecates, the waste will form clumps that are easy to scoop out. The drawbacks of this litter are that it is non-biodegradable, heavy, and dusty. The clumps become even heavier after absorption. Clumping clay litter should be changed and replaced once every four to five days. It would help if you scooped the litter several times a day.
• Non-Clumping Litter: Non-clumping cat litter is not as absorbent as the clumping variant, and the urine may remain for a longer time. This litter needs to be replaced often as it also does not absorb odours. This litter is cheaper than the clumping clay litter and needs to be replaced once every two days. Since the non-clumping litter is not very absorbent, you need to scoop it out at least four to five times a day.
• Pine Litter: Pine litter is recycled from wood pieces and lumber scraps. The oils, allergens, and toxins are heat-treated and removed from the pine. This type of litter is present in the form of granules or small pellets that form clumps. It turns to sawdust upon use and should be changed once every two days. The natural pine is biodegradable and helps absorb all smells and faecal odour from the litterbox.