Litter, litter everywhere

Get past the cute kitten videos, and the cats taking dogs beds (or anything else), and you'll find also find a lot of online discussion about litter.  Placement, type, amount, boxes, cost, maintenance, even sustainability - they're all topics of discussion.

So I thought I may as well dive into some of these discussions, as I have some differing views from some of these most commonly held ones.  Being from New Zealand, there are also some slight differences in availability of products, and environment here.

As a starter I may as well dive right into the biggie - when cats 'go bad', and don't use the allocated litter trays.  I have a couple of issues with the many (many, many) discussions I have seen on this topic.  First, I do not understand the discussion about rigorously cleaning, and disinfecting a litter box.  Now, don't get me wrong I absolutely agree cats need, and seek out, clean litter.  I suspect one of the reasons cats will start going outside the box is because you've gotten a bit slack and not scooped often enough.  BUT, it makes no sense to me at all when people are scrubbing, and disinfecting with harsh chemicals like bleach, or even throwing out litter boxes because 'the plastic may have absorbed the smell of pee'.  

Let me explain why. As part of the conversation, it is common to talk about how to stop the cat or kitten returning from a spot that they start peeing in. Vast columns with advice on what sort of cleaning products are effective at removing the various chemicals in cat pee.  Cat pee that is specifically designed to be a long term smell marker by the way. Plus all sorts of advice on deterrents (everything from shutting off access to tin foil).  

So, hang on.  Cat pee is a long acting chemical marker.  It is specifically designed to get 'worse' the longer it hangs around (at first), and to hang around a long time.   The cat will return to a spot, to re mark, and re-use an area that they have started using as a toilet.  Yet, it doesn't seem to occur to anyone that this doesn't quite add up to having a pristine toilet area that you want them to use. 

The most powerful tool when training a kitten to use a toilet area outside the nest, is following Mum to the toilet area.  Long before kittens eyes are open, we know they can return to the nest if they somehow fall out by following their nose; seeking the scent of home. Similarly they seek the scent of Mum, and later themselves and the family scent, when they start toileting.  Mum, of course, will be ensuring that this site is cleaned, and waste buried to ensure that predators don't find the kittens.  She will also move the whole family from time to time, thereby establishing new toilet areas.  

When we get new kittens, we can easily establish a new toilet area by ensuring that a new (strange) box, or new type of litter has some of the old peed on litter (or a small poop) is put in it. Yet when a cat starts peeing outside the box, we suddenly think the answer is to completely eliminate all smells except our own harsh chemical ones (and I have no doubt at all that plastic itself has a harsh chemical smell to cats). 

A cat needs a clean toilet area.  But let's not mistake the modern day human obsession with 'cleanliness', with a logical assessment of what cat's perceive, and need, or want. Keep your cat's litter boxes clean by scooping used litter at least once per day, and I would advise twice per day.  Make sure you have litter boxes that are easy for your cat to find, and use and at least one more litter box than you have cats. Don't use litter box liners, and don't use scented litter.  But for goodness sake, stop cleaning your cat's litter boxes for you.  Clean them for your cat(s), and that means they own them through their scent markers,