An in-between phase

foxgloves

I don't line litter trays. Tried it years ago with first cat & it never worked to my satisfaction. Ours have the wooden pellet litter. As soon as our cats get used to going outside, we only provide a litter tray in very wet weather or if they are poorly, so admittedly, there's less litter tray action going on here than there would be if they were indoor cats.
Used newspaper to line tray with first cat, but he didn't consider it a job well done unless the liner ended up on top of the litter, which rather defeated the purpose.
F

Sun_Addict

I don't line my cat litter trays for that very reason. I just put the litter straight in the tray. 

beanielou

i gave up on an ordinary litter tray & bought one with a high lid. Best thing ever. Cat goes in & can scratch to high heaven but it doesn’t come out. ( the litter). 

PennysIntoPounds

Thanks for your thoughts all. @Sun_Addict does the plastic not get degraded and manky quite quickly without an extra layer of protection from urine? Or do you have a special super absorbent litter? Suspect we're going to have to add another cost to our lives and go for a fancier type of litter, grumble grumble 

Debsnewbudget

We dont use a liner of any sort
just dig out the clumps and dispose of them in nappy sacks and then when needed we empty it, wash with disinfectant and refill.
They are outdoor cats a lot,  so the “indoor facilities” are not used that often

Sun_Addict

PennysIntoPounds said:

Thanks for your thoughts all. @Sun_Addict does the plastic not get degraded and manky quite quickly without an extra layer of protection from urine? Or do you have a special super absorbent litter? Suspect we're going to have to add another cost to our lives and go for a fancier type of litter, grumble grumble 

No the bottom stays clean mostly. I put a good thick layer of wood pellet cat litter in them which is very absorbent. I pay £5 a bag for it from Mr M. Having said that my cats are outside a lot so the litter trays are mainly there just in case. I give the trays a good wash when needed and leave them outside to dry. 

foxgloves

Same here. The wood pellet litter did suddenly shoot up in price a couple of years ago. We were paying £3.75 then it was £4....£4.50 & very soon £5. We now buy it in big sacks (think compost sack size) from village garden centre at £14.99 per sack. It lives in the shed & we just decant a smaller bagful for the house. It's v absorbant but doesn't clump. I'm not bothered about clumping abilities, I find the wood pellets v easy to sweep up if they get kicked around. 
F

WinterWarrior

I don’t line mine either. I have 4 indoor cats and 5 trays which I muck out every night. We bulk buy the wooden pellet litter, but they go through it so quickly. I have puppy pads next to the entrance to the trays (all in different locations) as ‘someone’ likes to wee outside the tray every now and again 😖 I just give the trays a scrub with disinfectant if they seem stinky, mostly it’s fine to just dig out the wet bits and lumps. 

PennysIntoPounds

Cheers all, she's an indoor cat so it is used regularly. I'll try upgrading her litter and not using liner or paper and see how it goes 

PennysIntoPounds

Well I wrote all the below then the MSE site wasn't working! Anyhoo..

Awake far too early again! I definitely owe myself a day in bed when the 'must to-do lists' calm down

Admin
Tidying
Comping
Survey

Had to veto the plan of getting any more furniture from mums today as we are both very achey from yesterday's manoeuvres.
Got some more stuff from hers though

Big sorting

Turned all the radiators off so we're not getting extra charged if the thermostat or weather goes mad

Entered some competitions, today I'm mostly looking forward to winning a years worth of beer but I am secretly hankering after the cheese

Have done as much sorting and tidying and organising of the flat as can plausibly be done at this stage so family friends will have to take us as they find us now! Will do a clean tomorrow once Mr PIP has gone into work

20 minute walk to Aldi, their red of the week this week is a rioja at 3.99 usual price 7.99

Bit of spec work

A third wussy situps

Moved 9.80 interest from council tax pot to current account, trying to work out how much I owe mum but brain too tired today

Premium bonds £100 received. 25 current account, 50 for mum thank you meal pot, 25 flat pot

Won a tenner on a work related thing, which is very pleasing but after much thinking about whether it's a win or work, I've sadly come to the conclusion I'll have to declare it for tax purposes. Still a few quid to help bolster the sad looking current account though!

30 minute carpet walk

Had to go and pick up all the sodden recycling that was either displaced by foxes or the recycling men.
Cut my finger in the process which is not conducive to productivity when you can't then touch anything cos it's bleeding too much (knuckles do like a good bleed).
Someone appeared to have abandoned a few plant pots though so I've had those for future cuttings (plants, not knuckles)

Mr PIP did a great job getting a few pictures up on the walls after work (I supervised), then we had a 20 minute walk getting the free paper for the crossword answers and went for beer and a catch up. Found a pile of books on the way back, and separately a box of random stuff someone had left out for taking so picked up a small picture and some costume jewellery bits that are cute and might be good for Christmas car boot sale without taking up too much room in the meantime. Better than them all getting rained on and beyond use! Will have to assess a few of the damper books tomorrow...

Made an onion, red pepper and courgette tomatoey sauce for pasta and we were then too tired so had cheese and crackers and an apple for dinner instead. It was marvellous

I am knackered and will still inevitably wake up too early tomorrow! I'm sure I'll chill a bit once family friends have done their first stay of tomorrow till Friday.
Though the rest of the month looks daft busy too 😁