How to Safely Clean a Cat's Litter Box
By Alison Perry
Cleaning entails throwing out the old litter, scrubbing the box clean and adding fresh, new litter. If you use a liner in the litter box, pull the liner (remember our gloves, here) off of each corner and place the entire contents of the bag in a trash bag. If your cat is one of the persnickety creatures that hate litter liners, dump the entire contents of the unlined box into a trash bag. You might need to use your scooper to scrape the dried litter off the box. Open the bag wide enough for the litter to fall inside and not on the floor. A mask is key here because litter dust will begin to scatter. Make sure the trash bag is tied or sealed, and any litter on the floor is swept into the bag too.
The best place to ditch your cat’s business is not in your kitchen or bathroom trashcans. It’s the in the outdoor receptacle that’s waiting patiently for the garbage truck on Friday.
Now it’s time to clean the box. Don’t be surprised to look over and find Tiki inspecting your work. He’s just making sure you are in fact using soap. Using your gloves, wash the litter box inside and out with a sponge, warm water and dish detergent. Include the lid too if it has one, and the scooper. Other harsher cleaning products can be harmful to your kitty. Don’t clean the box in your kitchen or bathroom sink or tub. You can use your laundry sink, or better yet, take the litter box outside and use the house bucket. After you scrub, rinse all of the soap. You can scrub repeat the rinse again process if you would like.
If the box is outside, it’s okay to let it air dry or dry it with a towel. Add a new liner or just add no more than two to three inches of new litter to the unlined box.
After you put the box back in its familiar place, don’t be surprised again to see the Tiki for the final inspection of your handy work.
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