Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/03/23/a-16-pad-to-stop-stray-cat-li.html
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Don’t forget to read the reviews. It’s a good product, but the first page is full of caveats. Myself, the best solution I found to cats scattering litter was a high-sided litter box, to capture enthusiastic diggers, with a cutout for easy access.
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I’ve invested in a few large storage lids from Ikea to put under my boxes. Cheap, smooth, hose-off-able, quick dry with a thankfully large lip with a big catching trough. With 7 cats I’ve got to contain as much of that administration as possible. Admittedly some of the Bolton pieces crawl over the lip.
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Ah, yeah, we have these. My cats, however, have learned to spring out of the litter box at high-velocity in order to maximize the spread of litter over and around the mat.
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How is this different from a rug?
I got one of these, and a high side litter box. It inspired my cat to be more creative. He now goes to the box and digs so furiously to make sure it hits outside the rug it’s incredible.
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A TrafficMaster Rib-It charcoal door mat for $3 at Home Depot does a good enough job for me. Have to vacuum the shed fur every two weeks anyway.
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The primary difference is that this has a massive number of air spaces within the pattern to catch litter dust. It’s also made out of a rubberized material, so if the little furry butthead decides to pee just outside the box, this will catch and contain it. clean up from that is just taking out side and hosing it off.
+1 on the high sided littler box, or a hooded one- Apparently there’s a ‘peeing for height’ contest running with the house’s clowder, and the hooded litterboxes are (thankfully) catching it. 
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Exactly…they see it as a challenge. 
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We put litter pans on both floors, a good idea if you have an older cat. Since our upstairs is fully carpeted, we put the litter pan in the middle of a large plastic tray that is made to go under a washing machine to protect the floor. The tray catches almost all of the litter that our little diggers toss out of the pan.
When I clean out the pan, I lift the pan out of the tray as the last step. Then I pick up the tray and tilt it towards a corner, and dump the loose litter back into the litter pan. It’s pretty neat.
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SEVEN?! (eyes my paltry 2 cats speculatively… wonders if husband would notice a few more) Wow, seven!
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What kind of litter are you using? We use Feline Pine pellets which turn into sawdust when they get wet. The sawdust seems to be easily picked up by furry toebeans as it gets everywhere in the house. I definitely need some sort of specialized rug or contraption to reduce the sawdust tracking. (I did try to use the other gray cat litters but they gave me such a chronic cough, I had to switch to the pine pellets).
These are good until someone poops or barfs on it. After you clean that up a few times the whole thing gets tossed pretty quickly.
Between a friend who runs a holistic cat rescue here and being big softies ourselves, I’m amazed we’ve held the line there.
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I use World’s Best (green bag). Steelcut grains that clump. It says they are flushable but I don’t; certainly not a good idea in our quantities, anyway. They are very sweepable, don’t stick in their toes and moisture is pretty well contained.
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Even better, try one of the innovative litter systems that use PERMANENT litter granules like Tidy Cat Breeze or the Cat-illac Cat Toilet. Much less litter tracking plus you never have to buy or change cat litter again!
Have this. Yes, it is very good because it’s made of hose-off-clean rubber. Now what do I do to get the felines to use the actual box instead of the pad? Bastards!
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We quit replacing cats after they died. No more litter tracked throughout the house!
Or, you know, the same thing at the dollar store.
We had a cat with this problem. Though she has passed away. We put large flat cardboard scratch mats at the entrance. Still catches the litter, helps get the litter out of their toes, and not a surface our pee-on-rugs cat thought suitable for restroom duty.
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