I am a very bad meowmy but I repent

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I've just done a thorough scrub, disinfect and replaced all the litter with new.  Then I did the test - stuck my head inside the flap to test the smell!  No pong as of yet    Mosi did come and christen it before I'd even put the lid on though 

[Mark]

  

[bluecat]

You leave the poo in for a week? 

God no !  I scoop as well lol

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

Is it just me that changes the whole lot every week     lol

I suppose it depends on what kind of litter you use.  If you use clumping litter and remove the clumps and solids each day, then it's not really necessary to change the whole lot every week (and would cost me an arm and a leg given the size of the tray I use!), but with other types of litter it might be necessary.

[Mark]

You leave the poo in for a week? 

[bluecat]

Is it just me that changes the whole lot every week     lol

[Mark]

You aren't the only one Susanne - There are times when it slips my mind. Especially as I have been rearranging the tray situation to avoid conflict. The other week I forgot to take the poo out of Willows tray in the bathroom for nearly a week  - I felt awful as she was still using it. Luckily she produces small fragrant nuggets - unlike the others 

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

They are both very good boys and will continue to use their tray no matter what.  It's usually kept nice and clean for them, but I accept that I've taken their good nature for granted and have promised them I will be a better meowmy in the future 

[berties mum]

You're lucky they still lowered themselves to use it ... Bertie is very picky about smelly litter trays and will usually protest with a wee on the front doormat    The weirdest bit is that we have three trays but he only likes one of them, so when he's weeing on the doormat, there are two perfectly clean trays only a stone's throw away ...

[Gillian Harvey]

Someone I know used to keep spare hoods so that one could be shoved outside to 'air' ! Mind you that would mean buying whole extra trays just to have the extra hoods...hmmm 

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I feel suitably chastised!  I've always been a bit paranoid about covered trays holding in the smells more so have been particularly careful about cleaning them.  But I have become lazy and complacent!  I tend to change the trays quite often too.  I've only had this one since xmas. 

[Gillian Harvey]

You bad housekeeper you! LOL!  Thats why I'm not keen on covered trays, but saying that, the smells can still build up in open trays - the plastic just seems to absorb them over a period of time, even with regular cleaning. I chuck all mine out every so often and buy new trays, the ones I get are only about £4 each (just ordinary large open trays), so its not too bad (even with 9 trays!)

[Susanne (urbantigers)]

I'm usually pretty good at keeping the litter tray clean.  Twice a day it gets scooped, then once a week it gets scrubbed and disinfected (with the scooped litter being returned after cleaning).  Then about once a month - 6 weeks I let the litter run low so that I can chuck it all out and start over with fresh litter.

But I have to confess that I've been a bit lax lately and while I've been scooping regularly, it's a good 2 weeks since I scrubbed and disinfected the tray and it must be 2 months since I last did a complete change of litter.  Anyway, I was in a rush this morning and didn't have time to scoop, but since I did it very late last night, I reckoned it could wait until I got home from work.  As planned, I scooped a bit earlier this evening because of that.  Jaffa then went and did a poo in it so I decided to get the scoop and reach in through the flap (it's a covered tray with a flap) to scoop that out without taking the lid off.  Let's just say that I wished I'd been wearing a gas mask!      It wasn't the poo that was causing all of the smell - it was the general odour of a box that hadn't been properly cleaned for some time.  It was gross and I can't believe I was making my boys go into that to do their business!  It may have been gone 11pm but I've just emptied it and done the scrub/disinfect so at least now it doesn't pong.  I feel like such a terrible meowmy!  And a very lucky one that they continued to use it even when it was stinky.