Cleaning litterboxes, revisited

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...
OK, forget the bleach. I can't deal with all the precautions you have
to take, lest you inadvertently create deadly gases in your bathtub.

I'm going to go the environmentally friendly route. So I bought some
vinegar and some baking soda. And then I went hunting through my saved
articles from RPCA about this topic, but sadly I didn't find any recipes
for disinfecting cleaners made from these substances.

I wouldn't worry about creating dangerous gases - that only happens when you
pour liquid bleach into liquid amonia. The tiny bit of amonia that might be
left in the boxes from the cats' urine would not be enough to make a
reaction. In fact, chlorine bleach is the *safest* thing you can use to
disinfect litter boxes (we *drink* chlorinated water!). Just pour a little
diluted bleach into the empty box and scrub. After washing, just rinse it
well and dry it. The trace amounts of bleach left will not react with cat's
urine to create a dangerous fumes.

Hugs,

CatNipped


However, I did find this:

From: Sherry

This works *wonderfully* if anyone ever needs it: You take 1/2 cup of
salt, and 1/2 cup of baking soda and pour it down the drain. Then you
pour in about a cup of vinegar. You let that fizz a while, then pour
a pan of boiling water down it. Our back bathroom sink used to get
hair clogs a lot. I do that in that bathroom too, and it *never*
clogs up anymore.

This might not be for cleaning litterboxes, but I figure that if it can
unclog a drain, then maybe it can disinfect a litterbox? Any thoughts?

Sorry for harping on what is probably a boring topic for most of you,
but I am searching for the perfect cleaning agent which is (1) an
effective disinfectant, (2) not poisonous to humans or cats, and (3)
not a harsh mixture to pour into the sewers. So far, I've batted a
perfect zero. Please tell me I've found the holy grail!

--
Joyce

To email me, remove the triple-X from my user name. ^..^

Ted Davis wrote:

I have used ammonia, but only with even better ventilation than I demand
for bleach. Never, ever, mix the two - the resulting mono- and
di-chloramines are a nasty way to die.

Yeah, I remember hearing about that when I was young. Housewives died
that way!

I truly can't stand the smell of ammonia. It's worse than Lysol, which
I realize I shouldn't use. Bleach is the best of the bunch, smell-wise.

One idea I had was to (1) dump out all the old litter, (2) fill the box
with hot water, (3) take it out to the back porch, and (4) add bleach and
let it soak out there. Then (5) bring it back in to dump down the bathtub.

Or could I dump it in the back alley, behind my building? Would that be
safe? I'm not sure whether there's a drain back there. I thought there
was, but recently I looked for it and couldn't find it, although there's
a bunch of junk and leaves on the cement, so it could be underneath that.

--
Joyce

To email me, remove the triple-X from my user name. ^..^

wrote in message
...
Ted Davis wrote:

I have used ammonia, but only with even better ventilation than I
demand
for bleach. Never, ever, mix the two - the resulting mono- and
di-chloramines are a nasty way to die.

Yeah, I remember hearing about that when I was young. Housewives
died
that way!

I truly can't stand the smell of ammonia. It's worse than Lysol,
which
I realize I shouldn't use. Bleach is the best of the bunch,
smell-wise.

One idea I had was to (1) dump out all the old litter, (2) fill the
box
with hot water, (3) take it out to the back porch, and (4) add
bleach and
let it soak out there. Then (5) bring it back in to dump down the
bathtub.

Or could I dump it in the back alley, behind my building? Would that
be
safe? I'm not sure whether there's a drain back there. I thought
there
was, but recently I looked for it and couldn't find it, although
there's
a bunch of junk and leaves on the cement, so it could be underneath
that.

I would probably be a big improvement on the back alley, as long as it
isn't going to splash on anything the bleach could fade.

I put diluted bleach on the sidewalks and patio all the time in the
winter when they want to grow green stuff that gets slippery.

And I put bleach in the bird bath all the time too. Just rinse well.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but if you put a cup of bleach in a
gallon bucket of water and let it sit outside for a couple of days,
don't you just end up with salt water?

Jo

"Jofirey" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
...
Ted Davis wrote:

I have used ammonia, but only with even better ventilation than I
demand
for bleach. Never, ever, mix the two - the resulting mono- and
di-chloramines are a nasty way to die.

Yeah, I remember hearing about that when I was young. Housewives died
that way!

I truly can't stand the smell of ammonia. It's worse than Lysol, which
I realize I shouldn't use. Bleach is the best of the bunch, smell-wise.

One idea I had was to (1) dump out all the old litter, (2) fill the box
with hot water, (3) take it out to the back porch, and (4) add bleach and
let it soak out there. Then (5) bring it back in to dump down the
bathtub.

Or could I dump it in the back alley, behind my building? Would that be
safe? I'm not sure whether there's a drain back there. I thought there
was, but recently I looked for it and couldn't find it, although there's
a bunch of junk and leaves on the cement, so it could be underneath that.

I would probably be a big improvement on the back alley, as long as it
isn't going to splash on anything the bleach could fade.

I put diluted bleach on the sidewalks and patio all the time in the winter
when they want to grow green stuff that gets slippery.

And I put bleach in the bird bath all the time too. Just rinse well.

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but if you put a cup of bleach in a
gallon bucket of water and let it sit outside for a couple of days, don't
you just end up with salt water?

Jo


chlorine evaporates/dissipates quickly, which is why folks with swimming
pools spend so much on replacing the chlorine in their pools

I also recently read/was told that peroxide is actually better at
disinfecting, cheaper, and safer to use than bleach... anyone with any
information about that?

Sara

On Thu, 26 Jun 2008 22:51:16 +0000, bastXXXette wrote:

Ted Davis wrote:

I have used ammonia, but only with even better ventilation than I
demand for bleach. Never, ever, mix the two - the resulting mono- and
di-chloramines are a nasty way to die.

Yeah, I remember hearing about that when I was young. Housewives died that
way!

I truly can't stand the smell of ammonia. It's worse than Lysol, which I
realize I shouldn't use. Bleach is the best of the bunch, smell-wise.

One idea I had was to (1) dump out all the old litter, (2) fill the box
with hot water, (3) take it out to the back porch, and (4) add bleach and
let it soak out there. Then (5) bring it back in to dump down the bathtub.

1) dump the litter
2) scrape out the sticky residue
3) rinse, preferably with a hose (a hose with hot water is even better)
4) wash with something like dish detergent and warm water - use a brush
5) rinse with cold water
6) soak in bleach water, using a dish mop or something similar to keep
the sides as wet as possible - discard the bleach water maost anywhere.
7) rinse
8) rinse
9) rinse


Or could I dump it in the back alley, behind my building? Would that be
safe? I'm not sure whether there's a drain back there. I thought there
was, but recently I looked for it and couldn't find it, although there's
a bunch of junk and leaves on the cement, so it could be underneath that.

There is no need to use a large amount: keep swishing a relatively small
amount of bleach water around for several minutes. It really should go
down the sewer, but if diluted by filling the pan with water, it can
safely be dumped most anywhere.

--

T.E.D. ) MST (Missouri University of Science and Technology)
used to be UMR (University of Missouri - Rolla).

Ted Davis wrote:

Unscrew the heat lamp and use that fan. Assuming the heater is a
screw in type lamp.

This makes me realize just how many small problems are caused by the
fact that the world is not a friendly place for people of my body type.
That being short'n'fat [TM]. The short part means I can't reach things,
such as heat lamps that are in the ceiling. And the fat part means that
99% of ladders that you can buy in a discount store, which are reasonably
priced, are not rated for my "weight class". The more sturdy ladders
that are rated for my weight are very expensive.

(Wait - did I say more lightweight ladders are "reasonably" priced?
*No* ladder is reasonably priced. But sturdy ones are astronomical.)

I guess if you're a guy, you tend to take stuff like being able to
reach high bulbs, etc, for granted.

Sorry, I don't mean to be discarding your advice - it's actually
excellent advice, and if it were easy for me to do it, I would! I
would really like to have a usable fan without that stupid heater.
Hmmm... where's my 6-foot friend when I need him?

--
Joyce

To email me, remove the triple-X from my user name. ^..^

wrote in message
...
Ted Davis wrote:

Unscrew the heat lamp and use that fan. Assuming the heater is a
screw in type lamp.

This makes me realize just how many small problems are caused by the
fact that the world is not a friendly place for people of my body
type.
That being short'n'fat [TM]. The short part means I can't reach
things,
such as heat lamps that are in the ceiling. And the fat part means
that
99% of ladders that you can buy in a discount store, which are
reasonably
priced, are not rated for my "weight class". The more sturdy ladders
that are rated for my weight are very expensive.

(Wait - did I say more lightweight ladders are "reasonably" priced?
*No* ladder is reasonably priced. But sturdy ones are astronomical.)

I guess if you're a guy, you tend to take stuff like being able to
reach high bulbs, etc, for granted.

Sorry, I don't mean to be discarding your advice - it's actually
excellent advice, and if it were easy for me to do it, I would! I
would really like to have a usable fan without that stupid heater.
Hmmm... where's my 6-foot friend when I need him?


Sometimes this body type keeps us on the ground where we belong.
Charlie crushed his heel two years ago when a ladder collapsed on him
in our garage. Of course I was out of town at the time.

He was being careful. Our ladders are fairly decent. He checked the
weight rating. And he wasn't carrying anything UP the ladder. He
failed to take into account the weight of what he intended to carry
down the ladder.

My biggest gripe is seatbelts. I believe in them. I also believe if
I'm ever in a bad accident mine will probably kill me because it
creeps up across my throat.

Cars are not designed for my height (not much) or weight (fairly high)

Jo

Jofirey wrote:

Sometimes this body type keeps us on the ground where we belong.

LOL. I like to think that the earth is fond of me and wants to keep
me close to it.

Charlie crushed his heel two years ago when a ladder collapsed on him
in our garage.

Ouch!! This is what I'm afraid of.

The lights outside my front door are forever going out, and then I need
to bug the landlord to change them. That's pretty lame. But the balcony
is on the second floor, and I really would not like to not only *fall off*
the ladder (or have it collapse under me), but then also to fall off the
balcony 1.5 stories down. (I live on a steep hill, and the second floor
is one and one-half stories up in front.) So, so far I haven't attempted
to change them myself.

My biggest gripe is seatbelts. I believe in them. I also believe if
I'm ever in a bad accident mine will probably kill me because it
creeps up across my throat.

You'd be surprised. My seatbelt always goes across my neck, too, and
I've always assumed the same. But several years ago I was in an accident
and the seatbelt did exactly what it was supposed to do. I wasn't hurt,
except for several mysterious bruises in an unusual pattern across my
chest. The bruises started near my left shoulder, and were spaced out
about 3 inches apart, down and across my body in a diagonal line. The
last one was on my right breast. Finally I figured it out: they were the
places where the seatbelt made the most contact with my body. Nowhere
near my throat!

--
Joyce

To email me, remove the triple-X from my user name. ^..^

Ted Davis wrote:

1) dump the litter
2) scrape out the sticky residue

Instruction #2 is a major one. One of my cats' pee does not clump. Instead,
it creates a sludgy, grainy paste at the bottom of the box, like wet
cement. When I scoop that stuff out, the barely formed clumps fall apart,
and dark, wet litter falls back into the box and gets mixed in with the
relatively clean stuff. That's why I have to clean the boxes so often -
they start to smell within a week, even with frequent scooping. And that's
why I'm so obsessed with disinfectants. It's the only way to keep the odor
under control.

I've tried many different kinds of litter and the result is about the
same. In fact, this is the best kind I've used.

--
Joyce

To email me, remove the triple-X from my user name. ^..^

wrote in message
...
Jofirey wrote:

Sometimes this body type keeps us on the ground where we belong.

LOL. I like to think that the earth is fond of me and wants to keep
me close to it.

Charlie crushed his heel two years ago when a ladder collapsed on
him
in our garage.

Ouch!! This is what I'm afraid of.

The lights outside my front door are forever going out, and then I
need
to bug the landlord to change them. That's pretty lame. But the
balcony
is on the second floor, and I really would not like to not only
*fall off*
the ladder (or have it collapse under me), but then also to fall off
the
balcony 1.5 stories down. (I live on a steep hill, and the second
floor
is one and one-half stories up in front.) So, so far I haven't
attempted
to change them myself.

My biggest gripe is seatbelts. I believe in them. I also believe
if
I'm ever in a bad accident mine will probably kill me because it
creeps up across my throat.

You'd be surprised. My seatbelt always goes across my neck, too, and
I've always assumed the same. But several years ago I was in an
accident
and the seatbelt did exactly what it was supposed to do. I wasn't
hurt,
except for several mysterious bruises in an unusual pattern across
my
chest. The bruises started near my left shoulder, and were spaced
out
about 3 inches apart, down and across my body in a diagonal line.
The
last one was on my right breast. Finally I figured it out: they were
the
places where the seatbelt made the most contact with my body.
Nowhere
near my throat!

That is reassuring to hear. I have visions of it strangling me or
breaking my neck.

In spots where light bulbs are a problem to change, I make a point of
buying the super long life bulbs. Or the new mini fluorescents if
they fit.

Haven't changed the porch light in more than five years.

Jo