Kitty Litter Solution
Had I mentioned that our new kitten Widget - well, he's pretty much past the kitten stage now - has been making me pay the price for saving his claws?
He was tearing the liner in the litter-box to shreds every time, so I had to clean it out and wash it every Tuesday. It was disgusting. I tried a lot of different solutions; multiple liners, filling the box more, taping the liners down...all sorts of things. But I finally seem to have worked out a solution.
Partly, he seems to be calming down a bit as he's aging. He still claws things, but without quite the berserk abandon of his full kittenhood.
But instead of kitty litter liners, I'm using construction disposal bags. They're 3 mil. thickness instead of the 1.5 to 2 mil. of the standard kitty litter liner. They cost around 40 cents per bag when you buy a 50-pack, which is definitely cheaper than litterbox liners.
And they're thick enough that even though Widget claws holes in them, he doesn't tear huge slashes. They retain their structual integrity.
At first, that wasn't a huge help. When I pulled the bags off, used litter (etc.) would pour through the clawed holes. But I gave the issue some thought, and finally worked out a solution - with a little help from Sebastian.
He was standing at the bottom of the cellar stairs, watching me change the litter. I might have mentioned that I wished I had scissors, so I could cut a difficult litter-bag open. He pointed to a medium-sized pair of blunt-nosed scissors hanging from a hook nearby; they were completely blocked from my view by a light fixture, but he had a lower angle of sight.
Suddenly I had a brainstorm. I grabbed the scissors, and cut the bottom of the bag right down the middle of the underside of the litterbox. This didn't require moving the bag, so the clawed holes on the sides didn't have to be shifted under the litter.
Once the bottom was cut all the way across, I was able to lift the bag from the sides and pull it directly up out of the box. Not a speck of litter (nor anything else) escaped the bag. It was relatively easy to put the bag into a regular garbage bag and take it out to the trash can on the curb. A much cleaner and less-unpleasant process!
But I have a feeling that I'm not being clear. I wish I could illustrate this. Let me see if I can explain it better:
1. The litter box was place in the bag, like a wallet being stuck in a baggie. The bag is quite large, so there's plenty of room. The open end of the bag is folded down under the edge of the box. The box is now completely enclosed in the bag.
2. The box is then filled with litter, and used by the cats. Widget claws some holes in the sides of the bag.
3. I pull the tucked-under part of the bag (the opening) out from under the box. I slice from the middle of the opening on the side under the litter-box, all the way to the other side of the box; that is, to what was the middle of the bottom of the original bag, if it were standing up in a trash can instead of being on its side.
4. I then fold up the sides of the bag like...like a Hershey Kiss being wrapped in foil. The bag and litter pull straight up out of the box without shifting the position of the litter in the bag.
5. Put the result (carefully) into a garbage bag, and dispose of it. Mission accomplished!
Ridiculous, I know, but it's really nice to have taken a horrible chore and made it much less disgusting!
He was tearing the liner in the litter-box to shreds every time, so I had to clean it out and wash it every Tuesday. It was disgusting. I tried a lot of different solutions; multiple liners, filling the box more, taping the liners down...all sorts of things. But I finally seem to have worked out a solution.
Partly, he seems to be calming down a bit as he's aging. He still claws things, but without quite the berserk abandon of his full kittenhood.
But instead of kitty litter liners, I'm using construction disposal bags. They're 3 mil. thickness instead of the 1.5 to 2 mil. of the standard kitty litter liner. They cost around 40 cents per bag when you buy a 50-pack, which is definitely cheaper than litterbox liners.
And they're thick enough that even though Widget claws holes in them, he doesn't tear huge slashes. They retain their structual integrity.
At first, that wasn't a huge help. When I pulled the bags off, used litter (etc.) would pour through the clawed holes. But I gave the issue some thought, and finally worked out a solution - with a little help from Sebastian.
He was standing at the bottom of the cellar stairs, watching me change the litter. I might have mentioned that I wished I had scissors, so I could cut a difficult litter-bag open. He pointed to a medium-sized pair of blunt-nosed scissors hanging from a hook nearby; they were completely blocked from my view by a light fixture, but he had a lower angle of sight.
Suddenly I had a brainstorm. I grabbed the scissors, and cut the bottom of the bag right down the middle of the underside of the litterbox. This didn't require moving the bag, so the clawed holes on the sides didn't have to be shifted under the litter.
Once the bottom was cut all the way across, I was able to lift the bag from the sides and pull it directly up out of the box. Not a speck of litter (nor anything else) escaped the bag. It was relatively easy to put the bag into a regular garbage bag and take it out to the trash can on the curb. A much cleaner and less-unpleasant process!
But I have a feeling that I'm not being clear. I wish I could illustrate this. Let me see if I can explain it better:
1. The litter box was place in the bag, like a wallet being stuck in a baggie. The bag is quite large, so there's plenty of room. The open end of the bag is folded down under the edge of the box. The box is now completely enclosed in the bag.
2. The box is then filled with litter, and used by the cats. Widget claws some holes in the sides of the bag.
3. I pull the tucked-under part of the bag (the opening) out from under the box. I slice from the middle of the opening on the side under the litter-box, all the way to the other side of the box; that is, to what was the middle of the bottom of the original bag, if it were standing up in a trash can instead of being on its side.
4. I then fold up the sides of the bag like...like a Hershey Kiss being wrapped in foil. The bag and litter pull straight up out of the box without shifting the position of the litter in the bag.
5. Put the result (carefully) into a garbage bag, and dispose of it. Mission accomplished!
Ridiculous, I know, but it's really nice to have taken a horrible chore and made it much less disgusting!