Why does my cat tear up the litter box liner? I've always used a liner for easier clean up?

I've always used a liner for easier clean up. I dread doing without the liner, and I don't use clumping litter. But if I have to resort to no liner and using clumping litter, how often will I have to totally clean the box?

I have 3 cats, a 17 year old and 2 kittens. Asked by wendjammer 50 months ago Similar questions: cat tear litter box liner easier clean Pets > Cats.

Similar questions: cat tear litter box liner easier clean.

Litter box I've got 3 cats, similar in age to yours (14 years, 7 months, 4 months) and I've got three boxes. According to wisdom, that's one too few. You should have one more box than you have cats.

I hate cleaning 2 boxes every night (the third is an automatic) so much that I am going to train the kittens to use the toilet as soon as the smaller one is big enough not to fall in. It sounds like you only have 1 box. You should have, really, at least two.

I use clumping litter in the two extra boxes I've added since getting the kittens. Every night I scoop and if needed I add a bit of litter--I keep them kind of shallow because I've read that more litter actually makes the box more stinky. If I can get all the pee clumps out whole each night, I don't have to completely change the litter.

If the pee clumps break, a dark smelly ammonia build-up starts along the bottom of the box. Then I dump it all out and start over--maybe every 2 weeks. Cats dig.

That's their nature. If you put plastic bags on the bottom of the box, those bags are going to get shredded. If you make the litter really deep, you are wasting litter to save the silly bag.

You might want to consider investing in an automatic cat box for your second box. I have a litter maid and it served me well when I had two adult cats--I never had the need for a second box. But with 3, the cartridge fills up quickly, and the kittens are very fastidious and won't use the box if the cartridge is full.

With two cats we emptied the cartridge about once a week, but with three, it's about every 2-3 days. But changing the cartridge is less work than scooping constantly. MissBert's Recommendations How to Toilet-Train Your Cat: 21 Days to a Litter-Free Home Amazon List Price: $6.95 Used from: $0.01 Average Customer Rating: 3.0 out of 5 (based on 24 reviews) This is a GREAT book, very short and precise, with a good amount of the history of cats for entertainment..

Tell you what I did... I had the same problem because one of my cats was very determined to bury his poop. He spent about ten minutes clawing at the litter and, of course, destroyed the liner. What I did, which has worked great, was to buy a roll of the cheap large black garbage bags at wall-mart.

I rolled out two bags and cut the sealed end off so that I could make the bag open ended. Then after I have emptied the cat box, I simply laid the collapsed bag down over the catbox. I centered the bag so that there was a generous amount of bag extending beyond the edge of the catbox.

Then, I filled it with very cheap clay litter. I put three or four inches of litter in the box (it may take a deeper box than you are now using) and then tucked the extending flaps of the bag under the box and put it back in its insert (I use a catbox that has a removable insert that fits within a tall external enclosure with a doorway). The depth of the litter and the double layer of bag are enough that even my most determined cat doesn't damage the bottom, even though he does sometimes shred the front flap.

The beauty of this system is that when you are ready to dump the box, just gather up the end flaps and make a bag by holding them in your hand and transfer the whole thing to the regular garbage for discarding. Turned a nightmare of cleaning up shredded liner and a mess into a very easy and quick cleanup. Most of the time, you really don't even have to clean the box.

Sources: trial and error .

Your cat is trying to clean up after itself Cats love to clean up after they do their business and they try and cover their stuff with litter. If your cats have sharp claws, they will end up scratching the liner as shovel litter onto their stuff. I've never found a liner that stands up long to that kind of abuse, although I'm very happy with Jonny Cat liners.

You might want to try those liners and/or make sure your cats' nails are trimmed often---which can be hard if your cats hate having their nails trimmed. If you end up not using a liner, just make sure you disinfect your box when you change the litter so that bacteria doesn't grow. If you have 3 cats and 1 litter box, I would recommend changing it completely every 5-6 days.

I've noticed that cats will refuse to use a dirty litter box and once they start doing their business elsewhere, it's hard to get them to use the litter box again. So it's best to keep it clean. Sources: My own cats .

1 wendjammer: You may want to consider switching to a natural clumping litter for health and environmental reasons. Clay litter produces lots of dust that may be harmful to inhale. There are clumping litters available made from corn, wheat, recycled paper, and sawdust.

Examples:drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=14886&cm_mmc=Shopping+Portal-_-Froogle-_-Cats-_-7+lbs&ref=4171&subref=AAhttp://www.tonkatinkers.com/swheat_scooptk4.htmhttp://cats.about.com/tp/aapremiumlitter.htm?terms=feline+pineI like being able to remove urine from the litter box. Conventional clay litter makes urine removal very difficult. If you use clumping litter, and keep it clean, you can just add litter to replace what has been scooped, and changing the litter completely may only need to be done every couple of months, especially if you add an additional litter box.

With 2 or more litter boxes, they should not get very dirty, and the litter should last longer.

Wendjammer: You may want to consider switching to a natural clumping litter for health and environmental reasons. Clay litter produces lots of dust that may be harmful to inhale. There are clumping litters available made from corn, wheat, recycled paper, and sawdust.

Examples:drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=14886&cm_mmc=Shopping+Portal-_-Froogle-_-Cats-_-7+lbs&ref=4171&subref=AAhttp://www.tonkatinkers.com/swheat_scooptk4.htmhttp://cats.about.com/tp/aapremiumlitter.htm?terms=feline+pineI like being able to remove urine from the litter box. Conventional clay litter makes urine removal very difficult. If you use clumping litter, and keep it clean, you can just add litter to replace what has been scooped, and changing the litter completely may only need to be done every couple of months, especially if you add an additional litter box.

With 2 or more litter boxes, they should not get very dirty, and the litter should last longer.

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I need a self-cleaning cat litter box that would be large enough for 3 cats. Litter-Maid didn't work, too shallow.

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