The WhyCat Rig: Some Necessary Updates |
Heh. “Rig.” My cat package dealwhen you’ll. I like when lovers of some random esoteric ardour start talking about their “rig” or their “setup” or their “package deal.” Successfully, that’s my setup. Come peep it. (Is that the way in which you say that? I am cool.)
Anyway, we’ve formally mooooved! For the ultimate time, I hope. With that, I decided to fine-tune and refine my cat package deal. The place sooner than, I was proud of massive hooded cat containers and intricately constructed litter-trapping mazesI can now boast one factor a teeny bit additional…elegant.
(Aren’t cat people crazy?? We crazy. I prefer it.)
The New Litter Setup
I was turned on to sifting litter containers by a superb pal of a coworker, who raved regarding the Breeze Litter Discipline System, pictured below:
It makes use of non-soluble pellets, fabricated from silica gel and “zeolite,” which allow liquids to maneuver below into the prepared pad-lined tray, whereas solids keep inside the pan, awaiting scooping. So far so good. Moreover I’m not a fan of attending to repeatedly replenish the (costly) pellets as they get caught to poop and thrown out, or the even pricier packs of absorbent pads.
I study a lot of critiques that useful using Feline Pine litter as an alternative of the pellets and pads, which is what I ended up doing.
Proper right here’s the way in which it works:
The pine litter breaks down into sawdust when moist, which then will get filtered down into the tray. The sawdust moreover absorbs any additional urine when it’s inside the tray, negating the need for specific urine-pads. Win! Pine litter might be extraordinarily low-cost, notably once you buy in bulk out of your native farm-supply retailer (horse pellets, I take into account is what they’re).
My nightly litter scooping routine consists of selecting out any poop clumps from the pan with a scoop (or specific inexperienced salad tongs that I bought, I do know, gross, nevertheless I notably bought lime inexperienced so that they would on no account be confused with my kitchen tongs), and stirring the pellets (successfully, additional of a vigorous stir-fry) so all the sawdust will get sifted into the tray. Every totally different day, I empty the tray of damp sawdust right into a delegated trash can. It takes decrease than 2 minutes each time, and litter cleanup has gone from a dreaded, and I suggest dreaded, dusty, pungent chore to a quick nightly exercise that I hardly consider anymore. Cross my coronary coronary heart and hope to die. I swear it’s not too good to be true.
The containers, full with inexperienced salad tongs and a Sita-Pippin butt sniffing session in full swing. (Btw, the cordless hand vacuum pictured is SO good and necessary to any extreme cat litter area rig. *Adjusts monocle*)
Just some caveats:
In the event you occur to don’t identical to the fragile, barnyard-y scent of damp sawdust, this setup isn’t for you. It smells a bit like a hay bale after a summer season rain. (I truly ought to put in writing for Yankee Candle.) I don’t ideas it, and really uncover it vastly preferable to being able to scent ammonic cat pee/turds, which the pine litter largely neutralizes.
In case you could have a big monster cat of the Bengal/Maine Coon/jungle choice, this setup in all probability isn’t for you each. The pans are pretty small (my one grievance), and the white “scatter-guards” make them actually really feel even smaller.
In case your cat is greater than frequent AND kind of dumb (like my sweet, sweet Pips), additional in all probability than not you’ll come dwelling a minimal of as quickly as a month to cat turds on the bottom, merely outside the pan. I observed him in movement as quickly as, balancing precariously on the perimeter of the pan, as his poop bounced off the very best of the scatter-guards and rolled away onto the bottom. He then proceeded to attempt to bury the poop, which was not likely inside the pan. One different time he peed so forcefully that the stream sprayed horizontally away from his bum, fairly than downwards, and went trickling in just a bit waterfall down my white partitions and picked up in a pool on the bottom. That was satisfying to scrub up.
So, not a really fool-proof reply by itself. To therapy this, I modified my pans by placing them into massive, clear storage bins ($6 at Walmart!) with added cutouts for simple cat entry and tray elimination:
Current area setup, full with cat turds and a nifty BAGGMUCK shoe tray ($3.99 at IKEA!) to incorporate stray pellets. Holler once you’re involved a few tutorial for the sphere cut-outs! I used a Dremel rotary gadget with a lowering and sanding bit.
No additional unintended outside-the-box pooping, and any future urine sprays will accumulate inside the bin, not on my hardwood flooring. Success, ultimately!
Oh, I practically forgot to say—the litter monitoring downside has been efficiently ELIMINATED. No additional crumblies embedded in rugs throughout the house. No additional litter mud on my couch and mattress sheets. Once in a while, I’ll see a single stray pellet sitting someplace inside the hallway (batted by a playful kitty paw), nevertheless that’s about it. Life…will not ever be the an identical.
Purchased questions? I’m glad to answer.
The New Meals Setup
One morning, as Pippin stretched out luxuriously on my pillow and yawned an superior massive kitty yawn, I noticed little black specks on his chin.
That’s feline zits y’all, and it’s attributable to micro organism from meals bowls getting rubbed into your kitty’s pores and pores and skin. Feline zits is likely to be prevented by using strictly ceramic or stainless-steel meals bowls (No plastic! Evar!), and cleaning them religiously (I was lagging inside the “non secular cleaning” division).
I decided to go a step further and alter them over to “whisker-relief” bowls, which save them from the torment of getting their whiskers over-stimulated. I do know that looks like ridiculous hogwash crazy cat-lady satire, but it surely absolutely’s actually an element. It’s known as whisker fatigue.
On the basis of each of your cat’s whiskers are clusters of extraordinarily delicate nerve endings, which help her “actually really feel” her means by the use of darkish or cramped environments. They’re undoubtedly not meant to be repeatedly prodded and squeezed. A traditional cat bowl forces your cat to plunge her terribly delicate cheeks proper right into a slender, high-walled opening, which could make the neurotic little buggers way more harassed. It’s moreover additional in all probability than not the root of all these “haven’t accomplished my meals bowl and am nonetheless demanding a refill” cat memes:
Do you feel harmful for mocking them now? Do you?? It’s best to essentially really feel harmful.
Cats who skim the tops of their meals bowls and current reluctance to finish the bits left inside the corners are nearly positively aggravated by whisker fatigue. Furthermore, if you uncover that they want to kick, scoop, or drop their meals outside the bowl, that’s one different sure sign they’re uncomfortable with their consuming experience. Hey, no one talked about cats had been simple to please!
Comparatively than spring for these expensive, specialised “whisker-relief” bowls (like $20 a pop on Amazon), I make the most of creme brulee dishes. They’re ceramic, sufficiently shallow, and cute in addition to! Plus, they’re solely $20 for six! Multiply that by however many dozens of cats you have gotten, and it’s nonetheless a sweet deal.
Shallow bowls are sure to be messier, and in addition you’re additional susceptible to find bits of meals outside their bowls—nevertheless I uncover it’s a small value to pay for happier, extra wholesome kitties. And furthermore, that’s what place mats are for!
There you have gotten it! A near wonderful cat litter rig (in my opinion) and repurposed, whisker-friendly meals bowls for a discount.
Hold tuned for additional useful vertical home updates, coming…successfully, at any time after I finish unpacking. :]
Forge on!
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