Finding the Purrfect Cat Litter Tray
We’ve had litter trays in our house for 17 years now. I've also seen a lot of different makes and designs during my work. Finding the most suitable litter tray for the cats that is easy to use and leak proof is not a simple task. This blog is about our homemade solution to create a perfect litter tray.
With having three cats that stay in our house and garden, litter trays are a large part of our life. Due to our cats not getting on, we have five litter trays inside. This works well for us as I don’t want any adventurous wee activity.
Obviously, with my work, I’ve come across lots of different types of tray – with lids, cat flap doors, high sides, low sides, top/front/side access and even automatic cleaning. Plus the position of the boxes varies greatly such as in a corner, behind a sofa and even in specific furniture.
The general recommendation for litter trays is one per cat plus an extra box. I think this is a sensible option to keep everyone happy. Plus cats prefer to have a clean box to use.
What makes a perfect litter tray?
This is a big question. What makes it perfect for the human, doesn’t mean it’s best for the cat. As a chief poop scooper, I want a tray to contain all the waste, easy to scoop and have the cat happy to use it.
Also, every cat is different so has their own preference. For example, our first cat Ginger loved a litter tray with a lid and a cat flap door. Not one of my current cats can work out cat flaps so we had to take them off.
Litter Tray Considerations
- Size
- Lid or no lid
- Door or no door
- High or low sides
- Front or top opening for access
- Low or high access into the tray
- Tray height
- What material it is made of
- Position in the house
My cats love a big, covered litter tray but without a cat flap door. Our girls prefer privacy without Bean nearby as he does tend to go and have a look to see what they are doing. There’s no privacy with Bean around.
What do I hate about litter trays?
From an cat parent point of view, the most important thing for me is to have a litter tray that doesn’t leak. I have a very large cat who will wee at height with great force. Even if she goes at the back of a high sided tray with a lid, her wee goes through the join between the lid and the base. It does make us laugh as you can tell it's her having a wee from the sound of it.
An Alternative Solution
My ideal litter tray (along with my cats’ wishes) would be large, covered tray, with a big opening and a high backed base. After trying various trays, I had a great idea to make my own.
I purchased a large plastic box and got my husband to cut a hole in the front. We found that the height of the opening had to fit in with the box shape. It was hard to tell with internet shopping. In the end I bought boxes that were 80L capacity with the dimensions W 29cm x L 48cm x H 40cm.
Ben drew the design of the entrance on the front with a marker before cutting with a jigsaw. He found that by the time he did the third box, the saw had heated up so the plastic was melting back together again. He also checked that the edges of the entrance were smooth around where he had cut.
This is great as a litter tray as the cats have lots of space in it to move. Plus wee doesn’t leak out any of the joining parts. The lid fits on well.
As I’d chosen long boxes, I can push the litter away from the front so it doesn’t spill out.
Issues with this Option
A problem that we found straight away was that the cats were unsure about it. We realised that it was because they were used to opaque boxes rather than the new transparent ones. Once I put a dark mat covering over the top, they were happy to use them.
It took some time to find a suitable box to consider the shape, moulding and seams to cut a suitable hole out of the front. Check inside the box first as some had dents in the corner for the feet. It just means that you have to dig a bit more in that area depending on the type of litter used.
The only downside to this solution, is that the box I used was more brittle. After a year of use, I dropped one while washing it and the corner smashed. However, it was possible to get hold of another box easily and make another one.
Also the previous boxes I’ve bought, often have the front part of the lid that lifts, This is useful for scooping at the back so I find sometimes I have to take the lid off to scoop easily. We could cut away some of the lid but I’m not sure if our cats would be keen on open air toilets.
An Alternative Option
I have seen at some clients houses, they just have a box with the lid off. This works well if the cats can jump in. Also, there is less spray of litter from the box when they cover up their use at the end. However, I have a little runt cat that wouldn’t manage to jump in easily.
There are all sorts of sizes and shapes of boxes so it’s possible to find one that fits you and your cat. The boxes can be found in places such as the Range, Dunelm, Argos, B and M, Asda and of course Amazon.