It’s Saturday morning. You wake up, get your morning coffee. You sit down to relax, but you smell something foul. Something that makes you lose your appetite!
You look around the house and discover the cat litter box hasn’t been cleaned in a while. – The kids haven’t been as reliable as you thought.
You take a look inside the box and find not only a week’s worth of cat poop but bugs crawling around!
Disgusted, you quickly throw out the old litter and put fresh litter in the box. Then, you promptly pour yourself another cup of coffee to calm your nerves after what you witnessed.
You can’t trust the kids to clean out the litter box. You’re lucky the cat hasn’t used the floor as the toilet yet.
After you recover from noticing your kid’s science project, you find yourself shocked at what you learned.
It turns out; bugs can live in a litter box!
While the bugs here are from your cat being stuck with a nasty bathroom, there are other reasons to have bugs in the litter box. Some reasons will surprise you.
Others won’t sound so surprising. By the end of this article, you’ll know why you have bugs living in your cat’s litter box but what you can do to get them out of there. Your cat will thank you for keeping her bathroom clean.
Why are there bugs in the litter box?
There are two big factors as to why bugs are hanging out in your cat’s litter box:
- your cat’s litter box cleanliness.
- the type of cat litter you’re using.
Luckily, both of these factors are easy fixes. They could take some time to get used to, but once a change is established, the bug problem will be taken care of for your cat.
Litter box cleanliness to get rid of Bugs.
As we know, cats are insanely picky about the cleanliness of their litter boxes.
The biggest reason a cat stops using their litter box is that it’s too dirty for them. If the litter box is too dirty, it could result in serious health problems for your cat and your family.
Your cat will also be sharing her bathroom with some unpleasant guests.
To keep bugs from appearing in your cat’s litter box, you need to scoop out the poop every day.
Every week, you should be putting fresh litter in the litter box. Before you put in the litter, take the box outside and wash the box with hot water and soap.
If you don’t have a self-cleaning litter box, this would be the time to wash the scooper too. You don’t want to do this in the kitchen or the bathroom.
You could increase the chances of spreading parasites and Toxoplasmosis to the rest of your family.
At the end of every year, you also want to throw away the old litter box and replace it with a new one.
Not only will this help keep unpleasant smells away, but it will reduce the chances of bugs infesting your house.
Type of kitty litter to use to avoid bugs.
More and more people are choosing more eco-friendly types of litter every year.
These are made from different materials, like wood, corn, and wheat. These types of kitty litter can be used as fertilizer or part of a compost when you’re getting rid of old, dirty cat litter.
However, if you’re using corn or wheat, you will need to be extra careful when cleaning the litter box.
Because corn and wheat are edible, bugs are more likely to move into those types of kitty litter than they would with clay litter.
Solving this problem is going to take more time than a regular cleaning, for cats are finicky about their bathrooms.
If cats don’t like the type of cat litter you provide for them, they won’t use the kitty litter, especially if it’s a type they’ve been using since they were kittens.
Transitioning into different cat litter is going to take time and patience.
Every time you scoop out the poop in the litter box, you’ll want to add more of the new litter in the box so cats can get used to it.
Even when you change out litter, don’t instantly jump into the new litter. You’ll want to take at least a week or two of transitioning into the new litter for your cat to get used to the change.
What about fleas in the cat litter?
If you have an outdoor cat, they’re more likely to get fleas than your indoor cat. If you live in a multi-cat household, your outdoor cat could spread fleas to the rest of your cats.
No matter how many times you give them flea treatment, fleas could be growing in your cat’s dirty litter box.
A litter box is a perfect environment for fleas to grow up. The climate is just right for fleas when a cat urinates.
Fleas could also lay eggs inside a cat’s poop and cocoon in the litter box for a long time.
If you suspect there are fleas in your litter box, this is another problem that’s easy to solve.
After you thoroughly wash the litter box with hot soap and water, let it dry. After it’s dried, vacuum the box. Any remaining fleas or cocoons will get sucked in the vacuum and out of the litter box, never to be seen again.
What about roaches in the cat litter?
Roaches are a rare problem with litter boxes. If you find yourself with a roach infestation, they might go for the cat litter box.
They’re not entirely interested in the cat litter. They could be interested in the poop because of its rotting smell.
The corn and wheat litter types are a great food source for the roaches as well.
Depending on your roach problem, you may have to call a professional exterminator to get rid of them. Otherwise, they could disappear if you change the type of litter your cat is using.
Remember to transition into the new litter instead of changing at once, or else your cat won’t use the litter box.
Conclusion.
Finding bugs in your cat’s litter box can be a nasty surprise for anyone, no matter how clean the litter box is.
However, no matter the reason, the bug problem is something you can solve by yourself. Once you’ve changed your cleaning habits, and your cat’s bathroom preferences, you’ll be glad you got rid of the bug problem.