This week’s scoop!

If you're like me and are having trouble remembering what you had for dinner two days ago, you probably haven't got any idea how often your kitty goes number 1 and 2. That's right, I went there. I know it's not the most interesting conversation starter, but at the vet it might very well be the topic. And can you really answer those question correctly if you need to? A lot of cats struggle with urinary problems or experience tummy issues, so keeping track of their litterbox activities might be heplful. Although admittedly not very glamorous.

Litterbox: a lifesaver?

People with outdoor cats are lucky they don't have to deal with litterboxes. Scooping poo and pee several times a day isn't very insteresting and you save a lot of money on kittylitter.

But for us with indoor cats it's part of the package. The upside with litterboxes is that it gives us an insight into our cat's health. Because we actually see what comes out of them, we have an idea of whats going on inside of them. We will be able to discover things like blood in the urine, long before the cat gets so desperate that it pees on the floor as a cry for help. Or we can see when it has a bad tummy and try and remedy that. What they leave in the litterbox can be a big tell tell on their health and we can catch on to things at an early stage, when we scoop daily.

Scooping doesn't mean remembering

Of course we notice big issues like blood in the urine or diarrhea. But a cat who pees more or less can be much more subtle. Especially if you have more than one cat. And if you never really kept track, how do you know what's a normal amount to scoop? I was asked questions like how many times a day my cat goes, when Ronja was dealing with recurrent tummy issues. I answered the best I could, but I'd wish I had more exact answers. Maybe if the vet was better informed she could have diagnosed her earlier?

Ronja also suffers from permanent urinary problems where we can only treat the symptoms. If the problem gets worse I need to adjust her medicine. So I realised I have to keep track of how often she pees and taking mental notes just isn't good enough.

A Derrière Diary

I decided to log my cats litterbox habbits. Ronja and Victor are sharing boxes, so I won't know exactly who did what all the time. But I can take note of the total and see if that suddently varries. I can also take notes if one of them gets an upset tummy, so I know exactly when it started and how often it's a problem. I made this little notepad to keep track.

Every day I write down how many number ones and twos I scoop and take notes if there's anything unusual. I've been using this methiod for a month now and I'm already better informed on their habbits. If you had asked me how many times a day my cats goes number two, before I started taking notes, I would have said maybe 2-3 times a day. But the answer is that they both go only once a day actually. So this just shows that I can't rely on my memory alone on these (fascinating) questions.

Taking notes really forces me to pay attention. With "This Week's Scoop" I feel a little better prepared for any vet visit revolving around urinary or stomach issues. If you too want to be on top of these issues or have a cat that struggles with any of this, you can download it here for free!

This is standard A4 format that you can print, but I made mine into an actual notepad half the size of that. I always keep it next to my litterboxes, ready to get the latest scoop!

Thanks for reading this crappy post of mine 😉