The longer I have children and pets, the more I appreciate the similarities of being a pet owner vs a parent. Both kids and pets have abundant unconditional love, can cheer you up on your most low days, are dependent upon me for things like food and water, and both (as of this moment) need our assistance when it comes to cleaning up after they do their business.
Being a parent and fur-mommy has made my heart swell in ways I never new possible. I love spoiling my little ones with treats and toys, and I also love photographing my children and fur-babies.
But children and cats have also put pressure on my relationship with Tall Dad.
You’re probably sitting there, reading this, saying “How can cats put pressure on a marriage?”
I’ve got one word for you.
Litter.
That’s right. Cat litter.
Cat litter boxes, the clean up, and worst off, the SMELL, absolutely drives me B-A-N-A-N-A-S.
Does anyone else feel like they go absolutely bonkers over small chores like dealing with the smell of cat litter? Please tell me that I’m not alone!
When we first got our cat, Khaleesi, I was optimistic that I would be able to take care of all of her needs, including the litter box cleanup. I kept the litter box in our kitchen (we lived in a tiny apartment) and I was extremely diligent about cleaning up after her.
Then we moved, the litter box also moved to our new basement, and I became pregnant. And if you’ve ever been pregnant, you know that one of the ten commandments of being pregnant is “Thou shall not touch cat litter .” So Tall Dad officially took over the cat litter responsibility.
We rescued our second kitty, the energetic Sassenach, and suddenly our cat litter clean up became an issue. My super-human pregnancy sense of smell, combined with my not-always-kind pregnancy hormones, made me despise the smell of dirty cat litter.
Tall Dad was never a cat person, and never a 2-cat owning person. So he didn’t understand that with two cats, the litter needs to be cleaned constantly. We had many (unnecessary) heated discussions about proper removal of cat litter, frequency, etc.
There was such a bad misunderstanding about cat litter cleanup, that my cats actually began to show frustration, and I would find urine spots around the house.
I felt terrible that our little furbabies were unhappy with the cleanliness, but also was entirely grossed out that I now had more messes to clean up in our household.
I was fed up, and so was Tall Dad, and we finally made the decision to plan out cat litter clean up dates and times. We actually took a whole evening, listed out all of our family chores, and made a schedule. We felt so adult, proud, and yet boring at the same time. #Adulting is hard sometimes guys!
In addition to our new chore schedule, I picked up the Litter Genie® Cat Litter Disposal System when I was at Target. Target has some of my favorite cat treats, and also has some super cute toys for my kitties, so I usually stop by to check out their selection. There’s actually a cartwheel offer from 6/26- 7/10 through Target – you can learn more, here.
The Litter Genie® was in the same aisle as all of the litter boxes, and being a mom of a baby and a toddler – I am well aware of these types of pails which help eliminate odors – but I had no idea until now that they made them for cat litter!
The Litter Genie® Pail locks away litter odor in just 3 simple steps: Scoop, Open Lid, Pull Handle.
Ba-da-bing Ba-da-boom!
I like it because instead of having to grab a bag upstairs, clean the litter, carry the dirty bag back upstairs, and throw the bag away — DAILY — Tall Dad or I can now just clean up the litter and litter odor basically effortlessly. We are down in the basement several times a day anyway because of the kid toys and it’s where our podcast studio is – and now we can just scoop the litter into the new Litter Genie® Pail – and the 7-layer refill with built-in odor barrier technology will protect against odors, germs, and messes.
A Litter Genie® Pail refill contains 7 bags, and each bag holds approximately 14 days worth of dirty litter for one cat. Basically, a lasts up to 2 months with one cat!
It’s super easy to empty, and keeps my home and basement now smelling fresh. Even my super sensitive nose (I feel like my super smell never went away, even after pregnancy) can tell a major difference.
So now that my house smells clean, and Tall Dad and I spend less time worrying about taking out the dirty cat litter, we can spend more time enjoying our cats! One of the ways we have been doing this is by making some homemade treat cat toys out of toilet paper rolls.
I love these toys because the supplies are super cheap, and my toddler and baby can even help make them. Having the whole family, of both the human and feline variety, play together is such a joy! I don’t know about your kitties, but mine LOVE batting around toys that make a noise across our floors. These toys are pretty cool because there are treats hidden inside, and our kitties try to pry them out while they play.
TREAT CAT TOY SUPPLIES:
- Empty toilet paper roll
- cat treats – or even just some pieces of dry cat food if you do not have treats
- (optional) markers to decorate the toys
INSTRUCTIONS:
- (optional) Decorate outside of TP roll. My toddler likes this part, especially if I make a little cat face
- Fold in one end of the toilet paper roll.
- Flip over roll, and put a few treats inside.
- Fold in the other end of the toilet paper roll.
I have so many friends who have husbands that bonded with the cats over litter duty during pregnancy! The litter genie, of course, makes litter duty so much more pleasant no matter the family or household. Thanks for the adorable cat toy idea! #client
The Litter Genie was the best invention ever made!!!!!! I remember thinking about that long ago before they did make the Litter Genie. I had thought to myself that they creators of the diaper genie should make something like that but for cat litter. Then about 6 months later, they made a Litter Genie!!!! I love mine!!!!!!!