Litter? Cheats? And apartment experience if you have it..

[acduhhh]

Hey guys! New to the sphynx fam but curious as to all of the things that everyone uses when it comes to their sphynx and more importantly.. their butts. As I'm transitioning my baby onto a new food (Instinct limited ingredient/turkey) from royal canin gi my baby's poop is moosh. Although I can't say it was very firm to begin with at any point because when I first got him his poop was literal soup and whatever food he was on just wasn't doing it for his delicate nature.. sorry for these mental images. Now, with getting him on track, he's finally using his litter box but what is everyone using? I could tell he wasn't loving the tidy cat's litter because the little granules would stick to his feet and get in his toe cracks so I've switched to Vibrant Life paper pellets. The upside is I flush that crap down the toilet (haha), the downfall is the mix of his urine with the pellets stinks to high heaven of ammonia in a big bad way. Anyone got any special secrets to help keep the smell to a minimum? I currently scoop the poop almost immediately, it's that bad, and I freshen up his litter every few days with a complete change about once a week. What's everyone's secret and special way they keep their room with a litter box fresh? Any tips or tricks? Thanks!

 

[Sheldon13]

I use grass based litter, but it does track a little bit. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about pine pellet litter not having too much smell. If he’s doing ok with the newspaper pellets you might try the pine.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need

 

[Breeze]

Also recommend pine pellets. No smell or tracking and work great with a sifting litter box to take out the used litter and keep the good pellets. Also recommend buying them from a hardware store, it’s about 1/4 of the cost of the exact same pellets marketed for cats at the pet store. A $5 40 pound bag lasted me a over a month with two cats when my cats used litter.

 

[Sheldon13]

I thought the ones at the hardware store are Aspen pellets?


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need

 

[Breeze]

@Sheldon13 I think it depends on who they use to supply them, I’ve seen pine and different types of hardwoods.

 

[Condo commando]

I use grass based litter, but it does track a little bit. I’ve heard a lot of people talk about pine pellet litter not having too much smell. If he’s doing ok with the newspaper pellets you might try the pine.

You're back to grass litter? I thought you hated the tracking.....

 

[Condo commando]

@acduff Tidy cats was exactly like you said, it sticks to their paws. It wouldn't even come off in the bath.

I use grass litter. I tried the pine pellets but my cats didn't care for it. One of them went outside the box a couple of times. She's 10 years old so I decided I shouldn't try to change her "toilet" at this stage. A kitten shouldn't mind though and pine pellets are really cheap.

I don't dump the entire box; when it's time to clean the box I transfer the litter to another litter box. Here is the trick - I use litter pan liners. The pee clumps peel right off the plastic liner. Without the pan liner, when I try to scoop the big ball breaks apart and it's impossible to scoop all the pieces out. That is the trick to not have to dump out the whole box. I have been buying pan liners from PetSmart....the inhouse brand.....used to be Whisker City and now they have relabeled to Exquisicat. I get the liners with an elastic band. Hope this helps!

 

[Sheldon13]

You're back to grass litter? I thought you hated the tracking.....

I do. Jasmine won’t use the pellets. Grass litter actually doesn’t track fir her, must be a naked thing. She has snow paws. I am not really looking forward to dealing with it with the new baby. I’ll have to figure some else out.


Love and Sphynx ~ It’s all you need

 

[Condo commando]

I’ll have to figure some else out.

Maybe put a box of pellets and get him used to it for a couple of weeks. Maybe he'll stick with it. It might not work but it's not an expensive experiment.

 

[Bobby]

I've been lucky with mine using Arm and Hammer type of litter. 2 litter boxes in their room and another robot box in the living room. I use the Black Hole type of mats inside and outside the double layer litter box. Between both of them that usually catches most of the litter from their feet.

 

[pussiette]

1. breeders choice paper pellets low allergy Breeders Choice Litter 30 Litres | Petbarn
2. avoid corn and clay.

 

[acduhhh]

@acduff Tidy cats was exactly like you said, it sticks to their paws. It wouldn't even come off in the bath.

I use grass litter. I tried the pine pellets but my cats didn't care for it. One of them went outside the box a couple of times. She's 10 years old so I decided I shouldn't try to change her "toilet" at this stage. A kitten shouldn't mind though and pine pellets are really cheap.

I don't dump the entire box; when it's time to clean the box I transfer the litter to another litter box. Here is the trick - I use litter pan liners. The pee clumps peel right off the plastic liner. Without the pan liner, when I try to scoop the big ball breaks apart and it's impossible to scoop all the pieces out. That is the trick to not have to dump out the whole box. I have been buying pan liners from PetSmart....the inhouse brand.....used to be Whisker City and now they have relabeled to Exquisicat. I get the liners with an elastic band. Hope this helps!

I had initially bought the liners and in my excitement I threw the litter box together without it. Definitely haven't made that mistake since, the liners are a time saver for sure.