Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for January 29, 2023

my girls have 2 massive boxes. one upstairs, and the other in the basement. Gracie loves playing, and hiding down there. I will say the upstairs box gets almost all the use, and in particular one corner where no #2’s are done, only #1’s #catrules #boxetiquette

The people want the cats to use the unused box just a litter bit more…

Beatrix, are you providing your new friend with colorful sharpies? Tsk tsk. You know you need to bring enough for everyone.

Translation: Can I have one?

What’s Ora doing with that crayon?

The graffiti makes it perfect .

It’s like guest towels…no one should ever touch them!

“Ora Zella was here” LOLOLOLOL!

Sunday Funday

My Louise has 3 litter boxes, next to each other in a line in what should’ve been my walk in shower. And she still sometimes doesn’t make a box. That’s why there’s newspapers right outside them. And of course, when she’s annoyed (edited for posting) at me, she lets me know by pooping right in front of my toilet. {sigh}

BCN’s alternate name should be “Lupin Ruins Everything”. :D

I love the comment of the “couch covered in plastic”! It made me think of a time when I was like 12 years old and riding on my babana seat bike with a couple of my friends in my old neighborhood. Anyhow, we got tired and hot and did not have the change that day to get a slurpee at the local 7-11 so we went to my friend Hector’s house to cool off. Hector lived with his grandma who we simply called Mrs Cuevas. So we go into the lanai which Mrs Cuevas turned into a Florida room by putting in louvre windows and adding a big AC and Hector turned on the lanai TV so we could watch cartoons or some wrestling on WTOG. About one minute later we heard: “Dios Mio! Aye Tremendo Paquete! What are you kids doing on the couch, you’ll ruin the new plastic I just got! Go back outside and play!” So back out we went! Grandma Cuevas was actually a very nice lady. She made the best guava pastelitos (turnovers) in the world (or at least North Tampa/Temple Terrace), even better than those at Publix or the local bakeries. This toon made me think of my old buddy Hector, his wonderful grandma, her 3 cats and that plastic covered couch and I wonder if anyone ever did sit on it. Rest in Peace Grandma Cuevas and thanks for the cool Sunday AM toon Georgia!

Miss Woman, if you ever discover the logic behind Cats they’ll change it to confound you. Or parachute Lupin in.

Ya see, woman. One’s the litter box and the other’s the glitter box.

Nobody likes sequels better than original see.

I live this one!

OMC, I have never known two cats sooooo extremely picky about their litter boxes. Not only are we cleaning them four times a day (YES they poop THAT much), but we have to totally replace the litter in FOUR big litter boxes every week because Mischief will not tolerate a litter box that she deems remotely dirty or else she expresses her chagrin by pooping or weeing outside the litter box. (rolling eyes) And she’s the dirtiest kitten alive! She refuses to cover her poop—her brother has to cover it up for her!! I have never dealt with kittens like this! They have us bending over backwards for them trying to make them happy. But I love them just the same. ❤❤❤

If you don’t have anything end up on the floor, you’re doing it right!

It won’t be pristine after O Z gets to work with her marker.

(I have to say that O Z’s graffiti are a lot less educational than some of the things I have seen written on human litter boxes.)

I have two large litter boxes for four cats, one upstairs and one downstairs. Since I’m home all day, I clean them often. Seems to work for everyone involved especially me.

3 cats, 6 litter boxes…25 pound bag of litter, weekly. Repeat this, to myself when I clean those boxes-You can do this, you CAN DO THIS!! While cats watch me, waiting to make fresh deposits!

OT: I was looking through the e-book daily deals at the big river website when I discovered one of those, “Now I’ve seen everything” titles. I can’t vouch for it, and I’m not planning on buying it, but it’s good to know there is a book called:

Crafting with Cat Hair: Cute Handicrafts to Make with Your Catby Kaori Tsutaya (Author), Amy Hirschman (Translator)

I think Georgia needs to put out a new book. I’ve been reading the four current books many times over. What do ya say, Georgia?

I can almost hear the TV commercial “ting!” of those sparkles.

Scooped once a day? We check the box each time we go into the bathroom, and also if the cats “announce” that they have been. I guess we’ve been over doing it.

We have the “number of cats plus one” setup, with one hooded box and one of the four on the catio. Monroe treats litter boxen like Zen gardens, carefully digging the hole, “filling it”, then covering it carefully and thoroughly.

Honor was picky about litter. When we used disposable boxes during the move, we had nonscoopable clay, pine pellets, and a white crystal box. Mac, Morrie, and Nimitz had no complaints about the variety, and used them properly. Honor didn’t recognize them as her litter, so she went on hubby’s bed in the hotel. Yes, his, not mine. We figured it out when she pooped on his bed, then carefully covered it with a sheet. No, he didn’t yell at her, but the lightbulb went on for us both. That’s when he went across the street to the drugstore and got “her” litter. We had no problems thereafter.

Ohh, I have only two cats and have two litterboxes, and they use only one of them too. I thought, that it was only my problem

I only have Loaner Cat and a HUGE Sterlite storage container for a litter box. It’s 24 by 36, low sided, and sits in my upstairs bathroom that we don’t use because there’s just the two of us and the whole entire upstairs is a useless waste of space that only Loaner Cat occupies. I use The World’s Best Cat Litter in it, she loves it, uses one corner pretty much all the time which is good because it helps me keep track of her urine crystals, at 18, she’s not having accidents (knock on wood!) and I clean it once a day. I keep a pee pad under it, but she does really well.

I love panel 3 and the look of disgust on Puck’s face, especially his tongue sticking out. That says it all!

The mask I understand, but who wears elbow gloves to scrape litter boxes. And with 6 cats, Woman, you need to rake them more than once a day. Don’t you flush more than that?

Elvis stands by ready to buff away any stray fingerprints the Woman might leave.

Panel six – Ohhhh, yeah. Litterbox fumes.

Be our guest! Be our guest!

Put our litter to the test

Scratch your way around the box, cherie

And you’ll find that it’s the best

Poop du jour?

Keeps dust discreetly off the floor

Why, we saved one box for you

It’s the good stuff

Makes your business expeditious

Don’t believe me? It’s not ficticious

You can sing, you can dance

And you’ll never wet your pants

Cause the box right here is always at your behest

Go on, and climb on into

Take a chance and then you’ll

Be impressed

Oui, the best

Be our guest!

- Howard Ashman, Alan Menken – Be Our Guest – Beauty And The Beast

This one is great and it’s neat to get an update on their litterbox situation, as we had that whole arc about each having a box… also Son of Megabox is glorious. I should also have scooped mine daily when my cat was alive instead of every other day, good tip. And it’s honestly not as impractical to keep son of megabox prstine for company as it sounds given they have two neighbors above, two bellow now, and Bea visits frequently. Their being considrate Woman.

OMG!! I thought it was just my cats!!

We bought an extra-long one for our 35"-from-nose-to-tail-tip male. We’d been told that a box should be 1.5 times the length of the cat.

So of course he ignores that box and uses the regular size box, which has to be cleaned twice a day because both cats use it.

Been there, scooped that.

From reading all of these posts, I suppose I’m lucky. We have one big box and both cats use it. I tried putting a second box in there but they never used it.

As for The Woman scooping once a day, if there are six cats, that thing needs more frequent scooping. For us, even with just two cats, it’s morning and night scooping and anything in between if I know someone has been in there.

Wow, between this and Lupin’s puke protest over Goldie, he has caused quite a few messes. Sundays do not usually have a follow-up, but I can imagine some consternation from the Woman if she figures out the likes of Tommy, Sir Fig, and Tabitha are the only ones using Son of Megabox.

That kind of thinking would be natural to a Slovak cat. There’s a Slovak saying that translates as ‘A guest in the house is God in the house’. You wouldn’t expect God to use the loo reserved for ordinary mortals, would you?

We have one of those self-scooping boxes. We call it “the poop farm” since it rakes and harvests.

We have a total of 4 for 2 cats. The two in the basement are close to each other, so maybe that’s a megabox. But when Punto had his tummy troubles, there needed to be a box nearby, and even then, he didn’t always make it. All resolved now, thank catness! But one on each level of the house seems to work best.

I like Ora Zella’s graffiti!

(And oh look: there she is in the final panel with her green pen, ready to “improve” the pristine box.)

Starlord insists the box is cleaned everytime he uses it. So I bought an automatic. Working out pretty good except…. he sits on the shelf to poop. When the rake comes across the shelf lifts up and the poop go rolling. I have to watch my step when entering the bathroom

I have two cats and three litter boxes. All three are used.

Our last cat Shellie explains why she liked Science diet TD, & FelinePine litter.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0liWES6qgxjUmt3SHQxaEkwQWc/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-olH7FOZwblNVnZl9XCZ3_A

My youngest kid moved out recently, so for the first time in YEARS I have to scoop the litter box. I’m gradually learning the system. I still haven’t figured out the balance between too little litter (not enough to cover the deposits) and too much litter (inevitably kicked out all over the floor).

I have 2 boxes for Rose and she uses both – one for Number 1 and the other for Number 2!

We clean both boxes every day; you have to with five Overlords running things. The funny thing is Hamilton will sit and wait, and as soon as the box is clean, he will use it. It is the Alpha cat in him marking territory.

I have an automatic box for my two. They love it. When the rake starts, they run into the bathroom to watch it work.

I didn’t have a relative who covered their furniture in plastic, but they had rooms in their houses that you were rarely, if ever allowed to go in. When I asked Floyd what he wanted after Aunt Hat (her name was Harriet) died, he said the cuckoo clock, cause you only heard it, never saw it being in that off limits room.

(Snerk) “Son of Megabox.” That’s a good one.

Put some of the litter from the used box into the unused. Sometimes that helps.

The Woman with her mask and gloves is hilarious. Although, to be fair, my cat BladeRunner who doesn’t bury has the stinkiest poops, and if I had a gas mask I might use it for his.

Sometimes I read here about weird things someone’s cat has done, and I’m reminded of a friend new to cat-servanting saying how he really started to get it when he figured out the entertainment value of the whole “My cat is weirder than your cat” thing.

We have a cat that’s been recovering from lower body paralysis due to excessive constipation injuring her spine. We’re very grateful that after a couple of years she’s back on all fours again and has bladder and bowel control again and tries to use the litter boxes. Problem is, her back legs haven’t fully recovered yet, and she has trouble squatting. Pee usually ends up flying over the side of the box and she usually ends up waddling around the house for a bit dropping a trail of stools. We have long put rubber mats under the boxes (silicone mats seem to work the best – easier to clean) and puppy “training pads” around the perimeter. Unfortunately, our “Permanent Latrine Orderly” (“No time for Sergeants” film reference) cat doesn’t appreciate uncovered or improperly covered messes in or around “her” litter boxes, so she does the noble deed of hurling litter out of the boxes to cover the errant pee. The worst-case scenario if you have multiple cats is you have one cat that’s too playful or just a bully that stalks the litter boxes and ends up making anxious cats start using the house. This is where hospital “chuck” pads are helpful – our shy cats seemed to figure out that’s what they were for.

What is the black squiggle at the bottom of panel 6? Is it Ora Zella?

Move the pristine one to the spot that the used one was at!

We have five cats. Two “Litter-Robots” Model 4, and a Model 3 for normal use and two regular litter boxes for emergencies when two kitties have to go at the same time and a bot is occupied. After we started using the litter bots life became much easier. The Model 4s will even alert you via internet messaging that it has been used. Just what you need, and IM telling you that the litter box has just been used./s

My girl Jez always gives me a funny look when I’ve finished cleaning her litter. I imagine she’s thinking “Eww. You know what I do in there, right?”

Perhaps Ora Zella was Kilroy in a previous existence.

Putting a little dirty litter in the clean box might make it smell like the right place to go!

While we’re on the subject of litterboxes, here’s a funny (h/t my sis):

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/19/b6/1a/19b61ac98a9b1ab8a5cff23fd653a5cc.jpg

When Sophie finally comes out to visit, she’ll be quite impressed with the pristine litter box. Unfortunately, she’ll probably be too polite to use it, and will decide to wait till she goes home to “go”…at home in her own, familiar box.

Coming Soon, to a Theater Near You

There was a potted plant!

Was that a real credenza or was it something else in disguise?

What can we do with more than one Loo?

Beware the answer found in:

SON OF MEGABOX

What if the litter isn’t the clumping kind?

Why is there so much bling in the box?

Come and watch

SON OF MEGABOX

If you dare!

Lupin toe beans! Pucky charts! Ora Zella’s green crayon!

I have 2 cats and one big litter box. It’s never been a problem. lol

Ora Zella needs to go back and add cat ears to the smiley face on Megabox.

With all the new space in the addition, the People will now have room for Megabox III.

One gift of old age. My sense of smell isn’t what it used to be. Doing the cat litter is not a problem.

This is so funny! Gave me a much-needed laugh! ♥

Cats are such strange creatures

I have found that the “door on the side” is a recipe for getting litter tracked all over the house.

Perhaps I’m just now coming onto the central metaphor of this strip. Whenever I’m doing some sort of housework or we have a plumber over Stormy is always right there, just barely outside of being in the way, watching the activity. Once I changed a valve in a toilet and she stuck her head in the tank in a way I thought she was double checking my work. So are they not “supervising” as I have been calling it, or “reporting from the scene”?

Lupin been watching one of Claire’s litter box challenges for her cats?

You all know we are dealing with a dog with IBS. When we have to leave the house, we shut him in the main floor bathroom which contains a litter box. Several times he has not managed to hold an urgent poop and a bathroom is the easiest room to clean up. Twice now he has actually used the cat litter box! Unfortunately it is a small litter box and he has not quite got the cover move working so I still have to clean the floor of poopy foot prints. But on the whole it is a help. He must have been observing the cats. We have three cats and four litter boxes; the other three are on the lower level.

LOL! I had a “poop” only box and a “pee only box” along with a “Girls ONLY box” and a “Boys ONLY box” when I had multiple cats and lots of boxes. With only two cats I cut down the boxes to just 2 large rubbermaid storage bins customized to be litter boxes. The very tall sides solved all the “why can’t you do your business INSIDE the box!!!” issues. The spacious interior meant there was plenty of room to dance around and dig without encountering someone else’s “business”. And as the kitties aged I could cut the “entrance” a little lower so it was easier to step into and out of.

Oh My Cat… I actually have a “megabox” for my two kitties.

Cats communicate by smell. Put some soiled litter into the pristine tray. That is the feline equivalent of putting a “toilet” sign on the door.

Sorry The Woman; that dust mask won’t do anything to filter out the odor of that six-cat litterbox.

Years ago both of my cats were very long and twelve pounds. I used a Rubbermade blanket storage box for them. They had to be replaced occasionally because the odor would get in the plastic.

Georgia just posted on face book. The photos show the boxes are very much like the ones she drew in the comic so you can visualize them. “Here they are, the real Megabox and Son of Megabox! These glamour shots were taken shortly after scooping and servicing, for the dignity of the cats lol. The first photo is Megabox, the “high traffic” box. The second and third photos are of the (significantly!) less used Son of Megabox. Ora Zella is lurking beside it as though she’s waiting to write some graffiti because she is committed to the bit These high walled Tupperware bins were originally selected after I watched Lupin standing in a shallow, regular litter box—peeing on the wall directly behind him. The high walls of these boxes helped Lupin to be a good boy. It feels like they have helped to cut down on litter spills and kick outs too. If you ever decide to convert a Tupperware bin, my word of caution is: Be so, so careful cutting the door out! We used a small reciprocating saw—do NOT do that!! (Seriously!) We finished cutting these out and agreed it had been a dangerous decision and we got REALLY lucky. It was harder to control it than we’d expected. (And we’re two artists who work with their hands Noooo!) Be super cautious cutting the door, NO MOVING BLADES! We lined the door edges with duct tape for a soft edge when kitties come in and out. We cut the door high enough to keep litter in, and low enough to be easy on Puck hopping in and out.”

9 cats and 6 big sterlite containers for their boxes. I stopped cutting the door hole, because they would stand with their bodies in the box and poop on the floor outside the door. I fill the boxes to 4" deep, and scoop daily, recharging when they go down an inch. But, I only clean them once or twice a day. I too have a life.

This is one situation where the cats (and you) do not want an impossibly small box … even for an impossibly small cat …

Yep. Definitely run into that with my cats too. I also use the dust mask for scooping hahahaha

Dude. We weren’t allowed in the same room as my grandmother’s good sofa. Those kittens don’t stand a chance