I have been emailing a follower of my blog lately. She has found herself suddenly in the midst of strays and has taken five into her home (she had three already) She was asking me about how many litter pans she needs. I told her six is ideal (one per cat and one more besides.) Cats don’t like to pee and poop in the same spot. They will if they have to, but it is against their nature.

She asked me how many cats I have currently (26) and how many litter pans I have and how in the world do I scoop these pans out on a daily basis. When I shared with her my system, she told me I should blog about it- so here it goes.

First of all, I don’t use litter pans. I hate litter pans. They are to small for anything other than a kitten, so I hit the WalMart and buy those under the bed containers that are plastic, and other similar sized containers. Those are my indoor litter pans and I have ten upstairs, two in the hallway, three in the bedroom and four downstairs. They are scooped several times a day (and I cheat) I took an old beat-up cat carrier and disassembled it. I tossed the cage door out and I use the bottom of the carrier as my holder for soiled litter. I pour all the soiled litter into this “dustpan.” Then a strong plastic bag is slid over the opened end of the dustpan and the litter pours right into the bag. No mess, no litter on the floor because the open end acts like a pour spout. I scrub out the containers, spray the bottom of the pans with PAM cooking spray (the wet litter won’t stick then) and dump the new litter on top. I also don’t use cat litter. I would go bankrupt if I did! I use a combination of PDZ and Stall Dry. The PDZ actually eliminates all the ammonia smell and the Stall Dry comes in 40 pound bags that last a long a time. PDZ wesbite is here PDZ. Stall Dry comes out of Canada and their website can be found here Stall Dry

In the enclosure, I use plastic kiddy swimming pools as “litter pans” I have ten of those inside the enclosure. I scoop with a small garden rake into a trash can lined with a heavy plastic bag. Works just fine for me. The only time I have accidents is when the cat isn’t feeling good. They like the extra room these type of containers offer them and it also stops litter pan ambushes.