How to Clean a Litter Box

The pungent odor of cat urine accompanied by the equally repelling smell of animal poop can easily fill the room where your litter box is located. When the litter box is not cleaned often, those nasty smells can waft through your home. This is unpleasant for you and everyone else in the home. While cleaning a litter box isn’t the most fun way to spend your time, it needs to be done often. Learn how to clean a litter box.

Why Cleaning the Litter Box Is Important

Minimizing the smells of cat urine and feces in your home is only one reason to clean your litter box regularly. Bacteria and parasites thrive in dirty litter boxes. These can cause illness in your pet. In addition, cat paws can track these germs throughout your home, impacting human health.

In addition, cats typically don’t like to use a dirty litter box. When the litter box is too filthy, your cat may refuse to use it. As a result, your cat may choose to go outside of the litter box. Cat urine is notorious for being difficult to remove from carpet, upholstery and other materials, so you definitely want to reduce the chance of an accident.

What Is the Best Way to Clean a Litter Box?

To clean your litter box, gather essential supplies. These include new cat litter, a litter scooper, a small trash bag, disposable gloves, dish soap, paper towels and baking soda litter deodorizer.

• Scoop out the poop and clumps.
• Empty the litter box entirely.
• Soak the box in hot, soapy water for a few minutes. For additional cleaning power, add white vinegar or hydrogen peroxide to the water.
• Thoroughly dry the litter box.
• Sprinkle deodorizing baking soda in the bottom of the litter box.
• Refill the litter box with fresh kitty litter.

How to Eliminate Cat Urine Odor in Litter Box?

The best way to eliminate cat urine odor in your litter box is to clean it often. When you remove clumps, either replace all of the cat litter or add fresh litter on top of the old.

In addition, when you deep clean the litter box, sprinkle baking soda across the bottom of the litter box before filling it with new litter.

How Often Should You Clean the Litter Box?

Your cat’s litter box needs to be cleaned often for the best results. The rules below are accurate for one cat. If you have multiple cats, clean the litter box more frequently.

Daily Maintenance

Each day, remove dirty clumps and poop from the litter box using the scooper. Replenish the litter you removed with fresh litter.

Deep Cleaning

Weekly, your litter box should be deep cleaned. This involves removing all of the litter and cleaning the box with soap and water. Deep cleaning is also the time to deodorize the box and replace the kitty litter.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

The impacts of a dirty litter box are significant. In addition to making your home smell worse than a dirty toilet, bacteria and parasites are problematic. While the steps to properly clean a litter box are easy to follow, there are common mistakes to avoid.

What shouldn’t you do when cleaning a litter box?

• Don’t forget to wear gloves.
• If you’re pregnant, don’t forget to wear a dust mask.
• Don’t use a cat litter that your cat doesn’t like. The best cat litter has small, easy-to-move granules.
• Don’t change your brand of kitty litter suddenly.
• Don’t make multiple cats share one litter box.
• Don’t use artificial scents close to the litter box.
• Don’t clean your litter box with ammonia, bleach or other strong chemicals.

Tips for Keeping Your Litter Box Clean & Smelling Fresh

The easiest way to keep your litter box clean and smelling fresh is to completely replace the kitty litter daily. However, this is costly and wasteful.

Instead, you can:

• Scoop out the clumps daily.
• Choose a clumping litter so that scooping is easier and more effective.
• Change the litter on a weekly basis.
• When you change the litter, deep clean and deodorize the box.
• Replace your litter box each year.
• Use baking soda to deodorize the litter box.
• Store the litter box in a well-ventilated room.
• Use one litter box per cat.

Cleaning the litter box regularly is only one of several important tasks necessary to keep your home smelling great and to minimize germs. With home and apartment cleaning in Boston from Cleanzen, you can enjoy all of the benefits of a fresh-smelling, clean home without doing the work yourself. To request a quote and set up your first service, contact Cleanzen today.