Hey Ya'll,
 
Hope everyone and their fuzzbutts are doing ok.  I will admit to not reading
a lot of the fml or my email at the moment, too busy being sick.  Whine,
whine.  I have been in bed for over a week with my gut problems and am not a
happy camper.  Because I can only approach upright for short periods of
time, my email has gotten way behind.  Sorry.
 
Yes, cleaning litterboxes.  That is the joy of my life and living alone, if
you have enough energy to do anything, the ferrets come first.  As it should
be.
 
With 23 of the little beggars running around, you may wonder how I manage.
Well, the first thing I have made sure to have 2 complete sets of
litterboxes for the house.  That way I can clean one, fill with new litter
and replace the yucky ones with ease.
 
I use Yesterday's News pellets.  They seem to contain the amonia smell,
especially with the cats.  They last a long time for me and are easy to use.
I have used woodstove pellets, which are much cheaper, and they work well
also.  My guys seem to have a higher hit rate with the Yesterday's News, so
I stick with that.  Some folks don't like the smell of newsprint it has, but
that doesn't bother me.  Probably because I worked on newspapers and did
layouts back when it was cut and paste, not computerized.  I like the smell
of newsprint.  hehe.
 
I change out the litter once a week, and scoop daily.  Because the pellets
leave the litterboxes so much cleaner, I usually can get away with dumping
the old litter and spraying the inside of the box down and wiping it off.
For this I use a solution of one part chlorine bleach and 8 parts water.
 
At least once a month, more if they are nasty, I was the boxes in the
bathtub.  I pour in a goodly amount of bleach (until I can smell it, and
trust me, that is something with the rather sulfurous smelling water here)
and let the boxes soak.  I rinse, let them air dry and start all over again.
 
The bleach or something similar is very important at it will kill organisms
that other cleaners won't.  If you are messy like me, wear old clothes.  Or
be faced with spots.
 
I use a 40lb. sack of litter a week, for all my boxes.  I have boxes
everywhere and the little 2 brain cell testosterone poisoned boys still
can't manage to hit the things all the time.  Sigh.  Oh well, most men can't
hit the toilet standing up either.  ;-)
 
As for litter, I buy it 3 bags at a time and keep the clean litter in a 20
gallon trash can in the garage.  I use a grain scoop commonly sold for
horses to dispense the stuff with.  I also have a different colored 20
gallon trash can for used litter.
 
Give all the fuzzbutts hugs from their Auntie Maggie.  And no, we have no
new name in the "Not the Maggie" contest as yet.  Stayed tuned for further
updates.
 
Magpie
[Posted in FML issue 2206]