Miz Allie Speaks out on Litter Box Ettiquette and Reassessment!!!

Litter Box Reassessment

My litter box itself may be the turn-off for not doing my "duty" there. A doctor friend of mine Dr. Christianne Schelling, a veterinarian in Three Rivers, Calif., who has a not-for-profit educational web site Litter-Box.org, recommends one litter box per cat in the household, plus an extra box. I can agree with this purrrseption of my habits. My mommy keeps two for me and I like it just fine. "Some cat friends of mine prefer to urinate in one and defecate in another," Dr. Schelling agrees with me. She says "You have to figure out what is right for each individual cat."

Schelling agrees with Miz Allie and also recommends these steps:

• Moms you need to figure out if the box is big enough for us Cats as we like to get in and be able to turn around. If a commercial box isn't large enough, consider turning one of your under-the-bed sweater bin into a litter box.
  
• Make sure there's enough litter as us Cats like to dig. Don't skimp on litter we know that you never do on the toilet paper!.
  
• Reconsider that plastic liner, I really hate that one!!! While liners make the cleanup easier for you, we cannot stand that crinkling noise or the slippery feel on our paws.


• And by all means learn about litter. I mean the type of litter is puurrrensential to what we want in our toilets! I purrfer sand in mine and give a paws-down on pelletized or clay litter. Schelling says most of us cats puuurrrrfer sand or clumping litter, and he is puurrexactly right about that one fact.
  
  
  
  
• Mommies everywhere listen up to this one.....Clean my box regularly!!! This is very important and all us Cats by nature can be a bit finicky. If there's even one little mess in my box, I may not go back. I just leave my little presents in the middle of the rug for my mom to discover later or sooner depending on what I ate!! You might want to keep a garbage pail right next to the litter box to make frequent cleanups easy.


• The jury is still out on automatic self-cleaning boxes I think that most of us really don't care for it. I know I cannot stand to hear the noise and to hang around to watch it scoop that is a big PURRR NOOO!! But some other friends of mine, the whirring noise of the motor "scares the living catlights out of them," and Dr. Schelling says he knows this little fact.

Kitty Litter "Boot Camp????

Here Dr. Miller explains what some friends of mine need to help in their "toilet" habits. Now Miz Allie does not need this....but some cats may need to be retrained to use the litter box. Dr. Miller suggests having these cats undergo "litter box boot camp" by confining them to one room with their litter box for a few days. The last thing any mommie or daddy should do to one of us cats with a litter-box problem is to punish us. If you catch us in the act, pick us up and put us in the box. and if by chance we have an "accident" and miss the box, well then its really too late to scold us so ignore it till the next time. After all were only Cats!!!

Now there is another situation that all mommies and daddies may not be considering???? Puuurrrr- stress....or could it be a medical condition????

• If its a medical conditions take us to the veterinarian to first to rule out a medical condition. Several medical conditions cause pain during elimination or an increased need to urinate or defecate. These conditions include colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, diabetes mellitus, hyperthyroidism, kidney or liver disease, and feline lower urinary tract disease (FLUTD). Oh I hope none of my friends have any of these catditions




• then it could be we are just puuuurrr-stressed as we are extremely sensitive to stressors such as you moving or changing our routine. Moms you can reduce these and other stressors whenever possible by petting us and making sure we are aware of where we will be going and maybe keeping us in the bathroom for a few days so we can get used to the new house smells and understand we are not being left behind or taken to this far away scary place.


• Our litter box locations needs to be easily purr-accessible - ground level is ideal. Also, make sure our litter box is placed in a private, quiet, pleasant area. A dark, damp basement is not the place for anyone's toilet.


• Too few litter boxes can make us angry with our moms. I mean how would you like to have one bathroom for 25 humans? Not too purrr-fun is it? Most of us don't appreciate having to share our litter box, regardless of whether it's fresh or filthy. I purrr-commend at least one litter box per cat - more if your cat is fussy. I sure am and love having the two mommy gives me!!!


• Be sure to keep our boxes puuurrr-fectly clean!!! We fastidious feline kittys will go out of our way to avoid a full box - even if it means "kitty poos" where we know we shouldn't. Change our litter puuurrrr-requently. If you're using a plastic pan, replace it puuuurrrrr-eriodically; it eventually will absorb our urine odors.

Miz Allie Cat