MOST MOST MOST important is to use an UNSCENTED litter.
For a long time I had a terrible time finding unscented scoopable, but it is out there. I also throw the box away a couple of times per year - the smell truly does permeate the plastic and no amount of anything is going to fix it.
yeah arm and hammer litter is the worst EXCEPT for the double duty (says urine and feces on the box), its the only one that when you scoop the clean smell comes back.
http://www.armandhammer.com/double-duty-cat-litter.aspx
I usually use fresh step or scoop away
The worst smelling litter I ever used was this:
http://www.armandhammer.com/pet-care/cat-care/Products/arm-and-hammer-essentials-natural-clumping-litter.aspx
no matter how much baking soda, how often you scooped, anything you did it stunk so so so bad!
Neosporin with pain relief for irritated cat bum?
One of the side effects of my cat’s bout with an antibiotic that didn’t agree with her was diarrhea. I took her off of the antibiotic on Friday, at Doctor’s orders, because it was also killing her appetite. She got her appetite back, the diarrhea stopped and she has seemed to get steadily better until just this morning I remarked that she seemed her old self.
But, just now, I noticed that she was licking her bum a lot, and when I turned her upside down, her poor little bottom was bright red. I figure that she was cleaning herself from the diarrhea so much that she has now irritated it and is making it worse by continuing to lick. My fault for not thinking about that and helping her with the clean up problem.
I have, with the doctor’s permission, used Neosporin on cat injuries before. It apparently does no damage to their innards. And, I think it was the pain relief kind. But, has anyone else had any experience with using it? I figure that, if it’s OK, the pain relief will make the irritated area feel better.
Maybe it’s because we only have one cat AND religiously clean the box twice a day, but we haven’t had any issues with the arm and hammer litter. We’ve been using it for a year now. We usually put quite a bit in the box and the box gets totally cleaned out every other week (as well and scooping twice a day). We’ve used a variety of their clumping litters, including the double duty stuff.
I have one cat - and use Tidy Cats for Multiple Cats. I live in a small apartment. I can leave for three days, return, and walk in the door without the apartment smelling of cat.
It’s worked really well for me.
Agree with others on vinegar and baking soda being your friends. However - the used liter is your culprit and has GOT to go.
What do you feed your cats?
Maybe already mentioned - I have two indoor cats and two litterboxes. One litterbox in the master bedroom and one in the office. One box for multiple cats isn’t going to do it.
I clean them religiously twice a day. Be sure you keep enough litter in the box. I like about 4-5 inches of litter. The cats’ ability to “bury” the poop and pee depends largely on the amount of litter in the box.
I don’t think the brand of litter makes all that much difference. I go back and forth between Costco, Tidy Cats, Fresh Step and Exquisicat (Petsmart)…whatever’s on sale. I haven’t noticed any difference with scented or unscented litter.
Bad pee or poop smell can also be a sign of a disease process…diabetes is a major culprit.
DH would freak if he smelled litter box odor in the house. I’ve found that multiple boxes, cleaning twice a day, and using enough litter virtually eliminates litter box smell.
Wow, I don’t think my cats would know what to do if they lived at ya’ll houses! I clean my litter boxes once a week.:lol: With the fresh step, I can’t ever smell them.:winkgrin:
gotta say, I find that spending the extra money on the better quality litter seems to make a HUGE difference in the smell for my kitties. I had to use the cheap walmart brand for almost a year due to money issues and I always smelled the litter, no matter what I did. When I switched to fresh step or scoop away, the smell diminished greatly.
I clean my litter boxes every other day and sprinkle the arm and hammer pet fresh carpet stuff on them and on top of the dirty litter. I also use yankee candle plug in air fresheners where the boxes are and it helps a ton.
I have also noticed that what I feed them makes a giant difference in the smell as well…
[QUOTE=jewll27;5617825]
do you use this INSTEAD of litter???[/QUOTE]
Feline pine makes a scoopable litter that is basically really really fine sawdust. Way less odor, cuts back on the smell, and my cats had no trouble adjusting to it. There is also a product they sell at Feeders supply called odor no more that works very very well.
Right now, due to remodel, we have 4 cats using one box. I have to replace the litter completely once a week.
I also have an elderly cat with breathing problems. The Fresh Step and Arm and Hammer litters I have found to be very dusty and really aggravated her issue. The only litter we have been able to use is Tidy Cats. I tried the plastic pellets things but the cats dont like to use them.
[QUOTE=Beethoven;5620052]
Wow, I don’t think my cats would know what to do if they lived at ya’ll houses! I clean my litter boxes once a week.:lol: With the fresh step, I can’t ever smell them.:winkgrin:[/QUOTE]
Maybe that’s why the Arm & Hammer didn’t work so well for you? 
Your cats might not know what to do at my house (I scoop at least 2x a day), but I bet they’d get over it! On the flipside, I don’t think you’d want to live with my guy if you only cleaned the box once a week, Fresh Step or no - he’d let you know (in a fairly unpleasant way) that he likes a clean box!
Honestly, I don’t know that one brand of litter is really so much better than the others - just that some are going to work fine for some people and their pets, and somebody else is going to find that totally unacceptable… and some people are really lucky and have cats that don’t mind different litter or less frequent scooping… I’m just not one of them!
[QUOTE=Dr. Doolittle;5617241]
Without going to Petsmart (I work there P/T as a trainer, but don’t go out of my way to shop there unless I am already in the store ;)), is there anything around the house (or easily picked up at the grocery store) that can get rid of that wonderful catbox smell? I have guests coming tomorrow, and we will be hanging out downstairs (we moved the catbox into the corner of the finished basement awhile ago), and you can really smell it from the couch, even right after we clean it. The used litter is put into a small trash can in the same area, but I don’t think that’s the source of the smell. Any air fresheners that work, or will I have to break down and get some special urine neutralizing spray? Any suggestions would be most welcome, TIA![/QUOTE]
Lemme get this straight…you remove the used litter from the litter pan but you just place in a trash can beside the litter pan and you don’t think you should be able to smell it??? I’ve seen other people use this method and every one of their homes smell to high heaven
#1 rule of cat pee in your house is REMOVE it from the house ASAP.
I use Fresh Step scoopable litter for multiple cats. It works. I’ve tried other brands but I can still smell the cat pee and always come back to the Fresh Step. I scoop my litter box every single day…sometimes twice a day and each time the used litter goes outside into the garbage immediately. I don’t have a smelly litter box problem. I do completely change the litter often and clean the box the using a cup of baking soda, lots of hot water and soak it for an hour or more, clean, dry and replace with fresh litter. I also put a thin layer of Sweet PDZ on top of the fresh litter and when I top it off between complete removal.
Do NOT put bleach in a litter box inside! Bleach + ammonia = chlorine gas.
And HOW! We once cleaned the concrete floor of an old house we moved into with dilute bleach solution and nearly offed ourselves doing it! Even diluted, it mixed with what must have been the leftover ammonia from the previous owner’s pets but fortunately we recognized the bubbling and the smell and got out of there tout suite!
For our cat boxes:
We use a little laundry soap flakes to clean the empty box when I clean the boxes about once a month or so. I also dump a good shake( 1/2 -1 cup) of baking soda in the bottom of the cleaned box before I put in the new litter. No one has ever complained of cat smell in our house. I use the new box of baking soda for the fridge and when its a few months old, I use it for the cat box.
I use cheap clay, unscented, non clumping litter. I don’t like the cement in clumping litter and we compost our box litter with the horse manure, so don’t want little cat rocks in the compost.
I have 2 cats, 2 litterboxes and scoop them every day or two. You MUST take the feces and old litter out of the house. The ammonia urine smell easily permeates any plastic bag, even in a trash can, and fills the room. THAT is why many places have clean litterboxes and still have cat smell.
do you use this INSTEAD of litter???
Yes, I started with the feline pine litter mentioned above but with three kitties was going through it way too fast. It was also costly. I have a ferret and use shavings for his litter so I thought why not try it with the cats. Then I found the big bags of shavings at TSC and was sold. Cheap and no smell. I empty the whole box twice a day into the mulch pile in the backyard. I do scope poops when I smell them as my dogs will eat them if I don’t get there fast enough. I hated the smell of urine soaked cat litter and the clumping kind just turns to yucky goo, so not good for the mulch pile.
Agreed with the above. I also use World’s Best Cat Litter, which I find to be very good at controlling odor and its environmentally friendly.
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