Here's The Scoop On Maintaining Your Cat's Litter Box

To make your litter box maintenance as easy as possible, you need the right tools.

Let's start with the box. Choose a box with a smooth bottom and no ridges or nooks and crannies to trap wet, sticky litter. Digging litter out of those little hiding places in a pain, and you never really get it all. Cats Rule and the new Rubbermaid boxes are the ones my cats and I like best.

Do away with the vinyl liners. They keep the litter from making hard, easy-to-scoop clumps, and since most cats just shred the plastic, they don't keep the box clean anyway. Maintaining the box will be a lot easier if your scoop's not constantly getting tangled in torn plastic. And your cats will be a lot happier without the liners since they inhibit digging in the litter.

Take off the top. Having to remove the top every time you scoop just adds one more step to the process. And most cats hate covered boxes. They trap unpleasant odors that are noticeable only to a cat. And cats like to be able to see an escape route from their boxes. That's not possible if the box has a top on it.

Location! Location! If the box is in a location that's inconvenient for you, it's probably also inconvenient for the cat. Most people -- and cats -- find dark basements and garages inconvenient. Try an upstairs powder room or bathroom instead. Spare bedrooms work, too. If you don't want to look at a litter box when you're using the room, Cats Rule makes very cute privacy screens to hide litter boxes.

Love That Litter: If you use clumping litter, invest in a brand that makes very hard clumps. There's nothing more frustrating than having a clump crumble into wet sand and sift back into the box from your scoop. Litter that makes hard clumps also keeps the box dry and more pleasant for your cat.

Less is more: Most cats prefer just a couple of inches of litter in their boxes. And who wants to dig through four or five inches of litter every day? That's just too much work for both you and your cat!

Do you have a Littermaid? Bag it!If you have a Littermaid, bags that fit inside the waste receptacle will be one of the best investments you'll ever make. Look for them on eBay.

The "Purrfect" Scoop: Treat yourself to a really good scoop. You deserve it for doing such a great job with your cat's box. And there's nothing more frustrating than having a flimsy plastic handle break when you're right in the middle of your scooping chores.

My favorite scoop is the Litter Lifter because it comes in pretty colors and is practically indestructible. And it's designed so the unused litter slips through the slots in the scoop without a lot of shaking on my part. The Durascoop looks like a little aluminum trowel. While it's very popular, I find it's too heavy to comfortably scoop many boxes. If you want to keep your hands as far from the litter as possible, try the Scoopwell. The handle is long and comfortable to hold, and the unused litter sifts easily through the scoop, which is made of stainless steel screen.

Armed with the perfect scoop, scoop around the edges of the box and loosen all the litter stuck to the bottom first. Then lift out all the waste and clumps of litter.

You've scooped the box, but you're not done yet! What about all that litter scattered around the box?

Get rid of the newspaper and puppy training pads you've been using to catch the litter that lands on the floor. A pile bathmat or good litter mat will actually trap all that sand and will make cleanup so much easier for you. My favorites are the Cats Rule mats, which come in pretty, pastel patterns and are made of the same material as Yoga mats, so they're soft and comfortable underfoot for the cats.

My pet peeves: Those plastic "grass" mats and the plastic "traps" that look like grids. I wouldn't want to walk on either in my bare feet, and I imagine cats don't like them either.

Keep a little dust pan and whisk broom next to your boxes, so all your litter box tools will be within easy reach. Oh, and one more thing... recycle those newspaper sleeves and use real bags for the contents of your cat's box. There's nothing worse than dumping a pile of damp litter on your feet because your scoop is too big to fit into the opening of the bag!