Okay, so I’ve got a couple of cats, and let me tell you, the litter box situation can get nasty real quick. I was using a regular old scoop, and it was just… messy. Dust everywhere, bits of litter scattering, and honestly, it took forever. I saw this Van Ness sifting litter box online and figured, “Why not?” So I grabbed one.
First thing I did was dump out the old litter box. Gotta start fresh, right? Gave it a good scrub down, because, ew. Then I set aside the clean, empty, old litter box for later just in case things went sideways.
Next, I took the Van Ness box out of its packaging. It’s pretty simple, really. It’s basically three parts: two solid trays and one sifting tray with holes in it.
Putting it Together
- I nested the sifting tray inside one of the solid trays. Make sure it sits flat!
- Then, I poured in a whole bunch of fresh litter. I use the clumping kind, because, in my experience, it works the best. I filled to the level suggested, maybe a little more, my cats like to dig.
- Finally, I placed the second solid tray underneath the nested trays. This is your clean-litter-catching tray.
For the First couple of days, It was just there, the cat got used to it. It did its business as per usual. The real test, of course, is the cleaning.
The Sifting Magic (or Not)
A few days went by. Time to clean. I lifted the top tray (the one with the sifter and the dirty litter). The clean litter supposedly falls through the holes into the bottom tray, leaving the clumps and, um, other stuff behind.
And…it kinda worked? I gave the sifter tray a few good shakes, side to side, back and forth. Most of the clean litter did fall through. But I also noticed some smaller clumps were going through, too. Not ideal. And some of the, ahem, solids were sticking to the sifter. I had to use the old scoop to pry a few bits loose. So, not entirely hands-free.
After shaking (and a little manual intervention), I dumped the waste from the sifter into a trash bag. Then, I took the tray with the clean litter (the bottom one), and poured it into the empty solid tray I had at the beginning. I then nested the now-empty sifter tray inside that tray, and placed the other solid tray (the one I just emptied) underneath. Basically, I just rotated the trays.
So, is it better than just scooping? Yeah, probably. It’s definitely faster, and there’s less dust. Is it perfect? Nope. I still need the scoop sometimes, and it’s not quite as mess-free as I’d hoped. But, it’s an improvement, and my back is grateful for the slightly easier cleanup.
