Metro Provides Misguided Advice On Litter Box Maintenance: New York City Felines Freak Out

I was thrilled when I picked up a copy of Metro this morning and saw a teaser on the front page promoting a story on kitty litter. It's a subject often overlooked by a mainstream media obsessed with the economy, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and celebrity deaths.

But while reading the story, I was distressed to find the author informing people who use clumping litter that they can scoop out the litter box "about once a week."

When I shared this tidbit with my best friend/partner-in-cat-sitting T, who, like me, is an expert in litter box maintenance, she responded, "That's insane! Can you imagine how gross a litter pan would get after a week of not being scooped? It's bad enough when our clients let them go a couple of days without being scooped."

I advise clients who use clumping litter to scoop out their cat's litter box twice a day or at the very least once a day. Cats like a clean litter box and don't want to have to stand on a mountain of pee and poop clumps. If you use non-clumping litter, you should also be scooping out the poop twice a day or at the very least once a day.

But don't take it from me. I asked some cats whether they'd be okay with their litter boxes being scooped only once a week, and here's what they had to say:
"I'm fine with my litter box being scooped out once a week as long as you're fine with me pooping on the bed," Fonzie said.

"Are you kidding me?" Gudrun asked. "That's disgusting. I'm not an animal, you know. Would you let your toilet fill up for a week before you flushed it?"

"Are humans that lazy? Seriously, it just takes a few seconds to scoop out my litter box twice a day," my cat Charlotte said, noting, "I'm glad I have a mom who is fastidious about it. Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to sit in my litter box like this."

"I'm shocked!" Elephant responded. "Are there really cat owners out there who only scoop out their cat's litter boxes once a week?"

"Okay, I'm not a real cat, but if I was a real cat, I'd want my pee clumps and poop scooped out of my litter box every day," this plastic Re-Ment cat said.

Now that the cats have weighed in, I have to ask if you think it is weird that this catcentric column is called The Bark and features a picture of the author posing with a dog? It would be like me writing a column called The Meow, posing with my cat in the accompanying author photo and offering advice on how to walk a dog!