Ever since Minnie-5 moved to Ginger’s Catio, they use automatically went back to Tiger’s Sandpit to do their business. I left all four litter boxes (which they had happily used while under quarantine in the two-bedroom “apartment” upstairs) with the tofu litter in the catio but nobody used them.
Everyone preferred the sandpit even though it’s quite small.
I asked the vet and a few friends and all said that cats would definitely prefer something natural if they have a choice.
But there were some problems with the sandpit.
(1) It gets the rain.
(2) It smells…because all five of them are using that small sandpit. It’s the ammonia smell and it’s quite sharp.
We could extend the sandpit for them, of course. We are planning to remove one planter’s box and extend the sandpit.
In a way, the rain isn’t so bad too because it washes the sand and removes the odour.
Initially they were even using the planter’s box as a toilet, which was fine, but nobody uses it now.
I wanted to buy litter box deodorizers but there’s no stock right now.
So a friend suggested using fruit enzymes, which is an option I should seriously consider.
But as an interim measure, I’m sprinkling sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) onto the sand.
This is Tiger’s sandpit. It’s small because it was meant for Tiger last time. Then, Ginger took over. Now, all five of them want to use this. There are four planter’s boxes beside it too (on the left) which they could use as well.
I’ve sprinkled some baking soda onto the sand. Baking soda is generally safe, just that a cat should not ingest (eat) more than a teaspoon of it. But this is just an interim measure. I think in the long run, fruit enzymes might be better and safer.
Here’s the science of urine:
The nasty offensive urine smell is due to ammonia. To break down ammonia, you need bacteria. That would be the most natural way. Baking soda is alkaline (so is ammonia) so it might not work very well. Fruit enzymes contain live bacteria, hence, that would be a much better option. Looks like I should start making fruit enzymes again.
Baking soda is sometimes used because it absorbs the ammonia (not sure about the chemistry of it, though). And also, vinegar is used because it is acidic (this chemistry is easy, alkali + acid = neutral). But I’m sure the strong smell of vinegar will put the cats off.
A cat’s sense of smell is 14 times stronger than ours. Not 40 (I got it wrong last time…sorry!).
Google says: Cats have more than 200 million odor sensors in their noses; humans have just 5 million. Their sense of smell is 14 times better than that of humans.
Where’s the math in that? 200 divided by 5 is 40. How did it become 14 now? Oh well….biology had never been my strong suit.
This is the sandpit at Bunny’s Place. They also prefer the soil/sand. But this doesn’t smell at all as it’s much longer and only four of them use it. They also use it mostly for defecation. They urinate elsewhere in the garden.
The boys come over to play all the time. But I still have to monitor them, because yesterday Cleo (again) screamed at them. Lynx and Rey ran back to their catio for safety but Robin stood his ground and stayed back. Believe it or not, little Robin stood his ground!!
This is Robin (I think?). Robin is actually starting to look like Rey. He was very thin when he first came back and had a sunken look in the face, but he is filling up very nicely now.
This is Rey (long tail). He’s sitting on Indy’s favourite shelf.
Indy: I’m watching you, young ‘un, I’m watching you.