Cleaning Cat Litter

Cats, despite what many owners may like to think, are like all living creatures and will need to periodically relieve themselves. Now, unless you have trained your feline friend to do that nifty trick from Meet The Parents, this means that you will need to clean the kitty litter box. Now, cleaning cat litter may not seem like a very difficult or complicated task, but the truth is that if you don't do it the correct way your home can easily end up smelling like you wouldn't believe. To ensure that you do it the right way, simply follow these simple steps.

1. Gather your tools. Before you can actually begin cleaning cat litter you need to make sure that you get all the tools and supplies together that you will need to use. Primarily these tools will be the following items: rubber gloves, hot water, soap, bleach, clean rags, kitty litter, newspaper, cat box liners, and a large trash bag.
2. Be careful. Once you have gathered all the tools and supplies that you will need, put on the rubber gloves. Ideally, you can use the disposable medical style rubber gloves, but if you can't afford those then use a pair of gloves that you have dedicated solely to this use. The gloves will help protect you from accidentally touching any of the mess left by the cat with your skin. It would also be a good idea to line the floor where you will be working with some old newspaper to catch any accidents.
3. Empty the box. If you have already lined your litter box with liners, than simply remove the liner and the dirty kitty litter and dispose of the two into a large trash bag. In the event that you have not, then you will need to carefully slide the litter box into a large open trash bag. Dump the contents of the box into the bag, and then tie the bag off. Dispose of the trash bag as quickly as possible.
4. Scrub and sanitize. Using hot water, bleach, and some clean rags, be sure that the interior of the litter box is nice and clean. Do this by simply washing the litter box the same way that you would your dishes. Depending on how dirty the box was, and whether or not you had any liners in place, you may need to wash the box a few times to get it really clean. After you have washed the box, rub the interior down with bleach to help sanitize it. Once it has been sanitized, rinse the box out to remove any remaining traces of bleach.
5. Dry and line. Either allow your litter box to air dry, or use a clean towel to dry the box off. Once the box has been dried place a liner into the box. These liners can dramatically reduce the amount of cleaning that you have to do, and also help ensure that the litter box stays sanitary.
6. Refill with good stuff. Now that you have cleaned the litter box, it is time to refill it with some kitty litter. While most cat litter brands will work the same, it is a good idea to choose a brand that will help reduce or eliminate odors. Be sure that you do not over fill the box, you really only need to fill the box 1/3 of the way full.