Today I tackled the upstairs litter boxes. It was an all-out assault of dumping the soiled litter and cleaning each box, inspecting them for cracks or other defects and putting in new litter. I started at 11:00 this morning and finished at 12:18. Whew!

It is probably the most unpleasant aspect for cat lovers when it comes to caring for the indoor cat, and I have to admit, I wish it were an easier chore to do. I will share my routine and hope that it will help those of you who also look at cleaning the pans as the least pleasant aspect of sharing your world with a cat.
First of all, I do not use regular litter pans. I find them way to small for most adult cats to use and because I have so many cats, I use tall containers made by rubbermaid. The one cat sitter I had a few months ago when she came here to care for my cats expressed her disbelief that I use these containers. I guess she didn’t think the cats or the kittens are capable of jumping over the edges, but they love to jump and will do so willingly. Plus some of the boys like to keep their rear up and I got tired of wiping cat pee off my walls. Upstairs, I have fourteen of these containers for litter pans.

I dump all the soiled litter into garbage bags inside a trash can with wheels. This makes getting the bags downstairs a bit easier, plus the bags don’t have a chance to break on me- which has happened in the past.

Then, I carry the containers downstairs and scrub them out good with a mixture of hot water and bleach. I wipe them dry with paper towels and YES I always wear rubber gloves.

Once the pans are dry, they all get a solid coating of PAM cooking spray, then I dump fresh litter in the pans. The PAM allows for no sticking of urine or feces to the bottom of the containers.

By the time I am done- then I sweep and mop the floor and go downstairs and reward myself with a big drink of water and hot shower.

I do this three times a month- this complete scrub and I scoop litter pans daily, sometimes more than once.

Right now I am so dog-dead tired, I just want to curl up on my sofa with a good book and a kitty by my side, but I am sure they are upstairs baptizing each litter pan as is their custom!