Kitty Health Care: How Often Should You Replace Cat Litter?

Written by clnews on February 20, 2020 in Animals and Pets with 28 Comments

Taking care of your cat is as exhausting as you think it might be. Well, keeping the cats’ toilet clean all the time is never an easy job. With our toilet, we only need to flush everything down.

With the cat, there’s much more than that! Scooping, shaking, replacing, ect., there is a lot to do, after every certain period of time. Use a clumping cat litter usually requires much less replacement than non -clumping types. You can find it at https://catthink.com/best-clumping-cat-litter.

But do you know how many times a week is enough? What type of litter does your cat prefer to use? How often should you replace cat litter? Does she have diarrhea? Read on…

You need to change the cat litter frequently! (Image source: currentc.com)

Why should you keep the litter box clean all the time?

Do you ever wonder why we should change the cat litter frequently?

Not only because of the unpleasant smell floating in the room, but it is also to prevent any possible disease or infection from you and your cat!

Keeping your cat’s litter box clean is one important task to protect your cat urinary system. Some infectious and dangerous bacteria in the cat’s feces and urine can also diffuse into the air that you breathe in!

So, in order to prevent your house from being contaminated, you should scoop and replace the cat litter regularly.

Let’s find out!

How often should you replace the cat litter

We don’t have time and money to replace all of the used litter every day.

In fact, cats’ owners only scoop out the waste or built-up dust on the box’s floor on a daily basis. They will consider changing the entire litter in the box for two or more times a week.

Replace used cat litter with fresh ones! (Image source: shopify.com)

Daily scooping

Yes, you do need to scoop out the clumped litter and the cat’s feces, then throw them away every single day! Cats are indeed our bosses!

You can find a litter sifter or a small shovel in the local grocery store to help you with the cleaning. Wear gloves and facemask for extra protection from harmful bacteria!

Now, you need to scoop out all the clumps. Put them all into a separate bag that you are going to secure later. If the cat litter that you are using is the non-clumping type, you will have to clean out the dust on the bottom of the box too.

After finishing scooping and throwing out the tied bag, remember to clean the scooper and wash your hand thoroughly to prevent contamination.

The last step is to maintain your cat litter box by adding fresh litter to the needed height, which is usually about 2 inches deep. Different cats prefer different litter’s depth. For example, long-haired cats often show that they love a shallower toilet!

Litter changing

Even though you have been cleaning the cat litter frequently, you should still replace the entire litter box after a certain period. The period’s length depends on many factors that we will talk about later.

Replacing the whole litter box is an easy task!

Grab a bag (should be a biodegradable one) and dump all the used cat litter into that, tie and throw it away!

After that, you’d better wash the box carefully with gloves to get rid of possible smell and bacteria. Minimize the use of fragrant substances that can turn your cats off or some harsh cleaning chemicals that might be harmful to them.

Besides, you can consider using a liner for easier cat litter disposal. Easy peasy!

What decides litter replacement frequency?

Number of cats

Generally talking, the number of cats that you own is also the number of litter boxes you need, plus one additional if needed. By that, no boss will have to hold his pee when all the boxes are occupied.

All the boxes are not necessarily placed in one corner. You can arrange them in different places, but make sure that you will remember to clean all of them.

Cat litter and cat excretion’s condition

If the litter box’s smell becomes unexpectedly gross one day and it is not the cleaning day yet, you’d better replace it right away! This might happen because your cat is having some excretion issues, such as diarrhea.

If your cat is pregnant, suffers from diarrhea, feeling sick, or just recovers from sickness, then you should take good care of her urination place. Along with daily scooping, you can change the entire litter box every two or four days if needed.

Different types of cat litter

#1: Traditional clay litter

Clay litter is a non-clumping type of litter that sucks at keeping odors. Since they do not form any clumps to be scooped out, you will need to replace the entire box frequently, for about once or twice a week, to keep it clean.

A clumping branch of this type is the bentonite litter, which does not require to be emptied as regularly as non-clumping cat litter.

#2: Crystal/silica cat litter

Crystal cat litter is a good alternative for people who do not want to use clay litter. This silica type has great absorbency and odor control.

Crystal litter is much less dusty than the clay ones. Most of them are white or transparent pieces, so you will easily know the cleaning time when they turn stained yellow or brown.

#3: Wood/biodegradable litter

This biodegradable litter is not the clumping type. Instead, the pellets turn into sawdust once exposed to liquid. They are not so good at controlling unpleasant smells, either.

That is why you need to replace the wood pellet litter regularly, at least once a week, to get rid of all the built-up dust on the litter’s floor.

Final Words

When you own a cat, you will need to spare a certain amount of time taking care of their little litter box. The most important thing is that you need to really pay attention to the cat’s comfort when he uses the litter.

The litter’s type that your cats are using and their urination condition will answer the question of how often you should replace the cat litter. If you have any more questions upon this topic, comment below to let us know!