With regard to cleaning out the cat litter tray - just how far do you go with regard to cleaning it?

I think if I am not careful I could end up with OCD

A long time ago when I had my first Persian kitten, I just used to empty the entire contents of the tray out onto some newspaper, put some cold water in the tray and a tiny amount of bleach, leave it to soak for about 30 mins. and rinse out, then fill with new cat litter.

This time round with my new kittens I have decided I don't like the idea of using bleach, or household disinfectant. So I thought I would try some liners, but these have faults cos the kittens claw the liner while burying their stuff and this ruins the liner.

Then I wondered about getting one of these sprays which are supposed to be just for disinfecting the tray.

What do you use to clean out your cat litter tray?

Personally I use the pet disinfectant below.

Johnson's Clean and Safe Disinfectant for Cats Trigger Spray 500ml | Pets at Home

I give the tray a spray and immediately wipe it down to remove any bits of litter etc that may be stuck to it. Then I give it a really good spray and leave to dry for an hour before washing off with boiling water and leaving to air dry.

However, I would have no issue with using bleach. Dilute bleach is one of the safest and most effective things to clean out litter trays with, leave the trays to soak in a 1:20 - 1:30 solution of bleach and water, remove and air dry.

Never use a normal household disinfectant.

Thanks for that. Will definitely try the Johnson's stuff. What sort of a smell does it have? Even though I used to use bleach, I really hate the smell of it.

Scarlett

I just use washing up liquid and totally boiling water.

I used to use the anti-bacterial washing up stuff until they started putting stupid smells into it - my cats just DON'T do Eucalyptus!!!!! - so had to revert back to normal stuff.

I have never had any problems with either smell or anything else.

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It has a slightly sweet smell but isn't strong and doesn't smell that much at all.

I use clumping litter and remove solids as soon as poss, whenever I'm in, do rest about 3 times a day (usually at the same time as I feed them).

When the litter is getting low and manky, instead of adding new I throw out the lot, pour boiling water and bleach into it and let it stand for a bit, then air dry. That's probably about every 5 days to a week.

It's just had a massive big clean out though, because when we went on holiday, for reasons best known to himself, my husband put the litter tray, complete with clumping litter outside the back door with no top on. It obviously rained and when we got back the whole thing had set like concrete and had to practically chiselled out!

Everyone seems to be talking about using boiling water. Do you actually mean proper boiling and you pour it straight from the kettle? Can the plastic cat lit tray withstand absolute boiling water?

Yes I use it boiling straight out of the kettle, it hasn't caused any problems with the trays I use but obviously check it with a small amount first. To be honest there probably isn't a need to use boiling water it's just force of habit.

Most good quality trays can. The very second the kettle clicks off, I am pouring it into the tray whilst the water inside is still bubbling.

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You're nowhere near

The protocol for cleaning litter trays devised by Diane Addie is generally accepted among breeders to be effective. It was part of her research into FCOV/FIP but holds good for cleaning in general.

Litter trays should be scrubbed out using washing up liquid or similar and then thoroughly rinsed. They should then be immersed in dilute bleach solution (or whatever disinfectant you prefer) and left to air dry. You can't disinfect organic material so it's pointless using either bleach or any other disinfectant to do the cleaning part of the process. When you've cleaned the litter tray and got round to the disinfecting part it's contact time that matters which is why you leave it to dry off slowly.