Cat Information

How can I protect my wood floors from cat litter?

My floors are hardwood and when my cat uses her litter box some of it winds up on the floor after she uses the litter box. It has scratched the floor and I usually have to sweep around it or it tracks further on the floor. I have tried one of those plastic mats outside the litter box but it wasn't really helpful. Any ideas on what I could place outside the litter box to get it off of her feet as she exits the litter box?

Public Comments

1. Get a piece of linoleum, and line the floor around the litter box with it. If your cat uses the same trail out of the litter box, you can try some of those litter catching mats to catch the litter as she walks across the room. It won't look nice, but you probably don't have the box in a high traffic area anyway.
2. I have a piece of scrap carpet that is bigger than the litter box. It is about a foot extra on each side. It is easy enough to vacuum and because of the pile of the carpet, it really collects the litter off my cat's feet. I have 3 cats and it works fine. One of my cats scratches on it as she cleans her feet.
3. TWO things................ Get a piece of carpet to put in front of the litterbox opening, if it has one, OR large enough to set the litter pan in the middle, in case she goes out more than one side! Invest in one of those small hand-held vacuums. Set it close by, and whenever you see litter on the CARPET, vacuum it up. That way, more doesn't get tracked beyond the carpet edge. The linoleum mat idea that someone mentioned, works pretty good, too, but you still have to sweep it. Actually, another thing that you could consider (but I'm not sure of the cost) is one of the "desk chair mats". The kind that your desk chair rolls on, to protect your floor? MIne has "prongs" on it, because I have shag (OLD) carpeting, but they make the ones that just protect the floor, and they don't have the prongs on the bottom. You could put one of those under the box.......... Hope some of this helps......Good luck.
4. If you can put the litter box out of the way, put newspaper under and some next to the box. That way the cat can wipe her feet after she goes.
5. find a different litter that maybe is made of flaky stuff (something you could find at the organic grocery store) or the weird soft cotton litter (i'm not sure how well it works, my friend swears by it though i'm skeptical). i live in a 150yr old house with all original wood floors and I was having the same problem, i just bought a GIANT beach towel and folded it and put it under the box, i got a white one so i could bleach the hell out of it every couple of weeks. it grabs most of the litter off their paws before they walk anywhere and it worked without me having to switch litters but you should look into it.