So, how do you scoop? I realize that sounds like a stupid question, but I’m often shocked how people are erroneously “scooping.” Some clients tell me they dump out the whole litter box (and all that clumping litter) every week. If your cat is acting constipated or having diarrhea, you won’t find out until days later, and by then it’ll be a bigger (and more expensive) medical treatment! As tedious as it is, please do your wife a favor and flush, and your cat a favor and scoop. But you’ll never be able to tell this if you’re not scooping enough. If your cat becomes a diabetic, he may be making larger and larger clumps and your whole litter box will be one huge clump after its weekly cleaning. If your cat isn’t urinating, you’ll notice when there’s no urine in the litter box for two days. The other added benefit of scooping frequently is that it helps you detect medical problems earlier. So to help prevent problems like this or even diseases like feline lower urinary tract disease or sterile cystitis (e.g., feline urinary tract disease or FLUTD), scoop! Not only is this painful, but it can also lead to temporary kidney failure, electrolyte abnormalities, vomiting, lethargy, cardiac arrhythmias, and death. With FUO, cats may have stones, crystals, or mucous plugs in their urethra that prevent them from being able to urinate. This makes his urine get more concentrated and could make crystals and urine debris plug up and cause him to get a life-threatening feline urethral obstruction (FUO). Instead of urinating two to three times a day, your cat will tighten up and only go once a day. Some cats will “hold it” and urinate as infrequently as possible to avoid stepping into a dirty, filthy, full litter box. If you just cleaned the litter box and he’s still doing it, it’s likely from a bad memory of getting soaked or dirty while in the box, so unless you want a pet that poops in random places, get in there and scoop. If you notice your cat scratching outside the litter box instead of inside (“What’s a cat gotta do to get you to clean the litter box? Helllllo!”), it’s his way of telling you that the litter box is disgusting and he doesn’t want to get his feet filthy while he’s “attempting” to cover up his poop inside. While it’s a dirty job, it really should be done for the best interest of your cat(s). The more cats you have, the more frequently the boxes should be scooped out. Of course, this depends on how many cats you have. If that’s too much for you, litter boxes should be scooped out at least every other day. Well, just because you added n+1 litter boxes doesn’t mean you can clean less frequently! We neurotic types clean litter boxes daily. Last week, we talked about adding the appropriate number of litter boxes to your house. Justine Lee provides some valuable litter box advice. Who knew there was so much to kitty litter? Dr.
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