Automatic Litterbox Central

I tried Dr. Elsey's crystal cat litter last week - supposed to last 1 cat 2 months. So i figured with 3 cats, at least 2 weeks, right? Well after 2 days, including removing some of the "slumps" where the crystals were saturated and adding new, and stirring 3-4 times a day, the litter reeked of urine on the 3rd day. I dumped it and saw that the crystals were totally saturated. My cats eat wet food only, but they don't have any medical conditions that cause increased urination. Is there another brand that works better or do crystals just not cut it for urine absorption?

which dr. Elsey's crystals did you use? Was it the ones for Seniors, or something else? I use the stuff for seniors, and it seems work great in my LM and my SF both, and lasts for about 2-4 weeks in each. This is for 2 kitties, 2 auto boxes upstairs (though I think I can dump the LM now that it's got the same stuff as the SF) and one plain one downstairs.

It was the "senior" cat type. I think my cast just urinate too much and the crystals saturate fast. i am in CA and the air is very dry so it's not a huminity problem!

To prevent your crystal litter from becoming a soggy mush sprinkle Glade Carpet and Room Odor Eliminator in the tray before you add the crystals. When the powder gets wet it crystallizes. This will absorb excess urine that the crystals can’t handle. When I got my 2nd cat I started having this problem and my 1st cat refused to use the box. Now that the litter box isn’t a big soup of urine he has no problem. Skip the fruity smelling ones. They just create this nasty smell when it mixes with urine. The scent “Fresh Linen” is great and “Pet Odors” would be my 2nd choice. This is the only thing that prevented me from going back to clumping litter and cleaning the box every other day. I have to change the litter weekly now that I have the 2nd cat. I used to go a month because my 1st cat just doesn’t use the litter box as much as the 2nd one. He’s ALWAYS in there.

I am using fresh step crystals but I hate how every time my cat urinates the pretty blue crystals turn an ugly yellow. Is this normal or does this mean every time I see yellow I should be scooping it out? I use the scoop free automatic litter box but I find it's always dirty unless I clean the yellow crystals out all the time and that is way too expensive. I just ordered the forever tray but if the crystals are about 8 lbs and one cartridge is about 4.5 is this that much cheaper and will the crystals last longer?

The crystals won't last any longer with the forever tray, it'll just be cheaper to replace because you only have to buy the litter, not the ScoopFree tray system. It also lets you experiment with litters as well. I use the Dr. Elsey's Senior Crystals because my cats don't really like crystals very much. My one REALLY finicky cat only likes clay, but the Senior crystals are much smaller and more clay-like in their feel, so he accepts them. The crystals will yellow with use, but I go in about once a week per litter box and just stir the litter really good so there are not big yellow spots where the kids like to go over and over . I get about 2-3 weeks out of each litterbox with 2 cats.

I'm a big fan of crystal litter but had trouble with saturated crystals too. What I did made a ton of difference. I use a "lift n sift" litter box that consists of three pans: two solid pans and one "sifting" pan with a grate on the bottom.

First, I put a plastic liner in one of the solid pans to make changing the litter easier. Then I place a puppy piddle pad in the pan and add about 1 inch of crystals on top of that.

Next, I place the pan (with the grate) on top of the first pan and pour about 1.5 inches of crystals into it. This gives the cats 1.5 inches of litter to scratch around in but allows most of the urine to flow straight through the crystals, through the grate, then through more crystals and eventually into the piddle pad at the bottom. The grate keeps their feet from coming into contact with the soiled litter underneath and the top layer of crystals stay remarkably clean. I scoop poo every couple of days but the litter lasts for a full month with TWO cats!

The other solid pan isn't needed but I set it up with a liner and a piddle pad and store it underneath the other pans so it's all ready to go when I change the litter.

When we travel, we use a similar system but use the scoop-free litter box to automatically rake the solid waste. We recently took a 3 week vacation and never worried about the litter box.