Catit, Petbarn and Bunnings

The manual trays most Australian cats actually use, sold by the pet chains and, increasingly, the hardware stores. This is the sensible starting point, and for many households the sensible finishing point.

What Catit offers over a supermarket tray

Catit is the brand most visible in Australian pet chains, and its useful contribution is size. The jumbo hooded pans are genuinely bigger than the general-retail trays, which matters because the most common manual-tray mistake is buying one too small. A cat needs roughly one and a half times its body length to turn around and dig, and a lot of trays do not offer it.

The hood, the flap and the filter are conveniences. The flap in particular is the single most common reason a cat refuses a hooded box, so buy a model where it comes off and start without it. There is more on that in enclosed and cabinet boxes.

The Bunnings answer nobody advertises

For a very large cat, or a cat that has rejected everything commercial, a deep plastic storage tub with an entry cut into one side is a standard and effective solution. It is larger than any tray sold as a tray, the walls are high enough to stop almost all scatter, and it costs less than a specialist box. It looks like what it is, which is the only real objection.

Where the pet chains genuinely win: litter

The trays are a commodity. The litter is not, and this is where Petbarn and Petstock earn their place, because the range is far wider than a supermarket and the per-kilogram prices are competitive. Current sourced prices:

The upgrade path, in order

1. A bigger tray. Cheapest fix for the largest number of problems, including scatter, refusal and smell.
2. A second tray in another room. The vet guidance is one per cat plus one spare, and two cheap trays solve more than one good one.
3. A sifting tray. Two nested trays with a sieve between them. Halves the effort without any machinery, and works beautifully with wood pellet litter. The Australian-made Oz-Pet system is the best-known version.
4. An automatic box. Only when the daily scoop itself is the problem. It costs between $559 and $1,575 and it buys back about five minutes a day.

Common questions

Is a Catit litter tray worth the extra over a supermarket one?

For the jumbo sizes, often yes, because size is the one thing general retailers under-supply and it is the thing that matters most for a large cat. The Catit jumbo hooded pan is genuinely larger than most Kmart trays. For a standard-sized tray the premium buys tidier moulding and a filter, which is nice rather than necessary.

Does Bunnings sell cat litter trays?

Bunnings carries a small pet range and, more usefully, the storage tubs that many owners of large cats end up buying instead. A deep plastic tub with an entry cut into one side is a common and effective answer for a cat that no commercial tray fits, and it costs a fraction of a specialist box.

What is the upgrade path from a manual tray?

In order of cost: a bigger tray, then a sifting tray, then an automatic box. Most people who think they need an automatic box actually need a bigger tray and a second one in another room. If the daily scoop itself is the problem rather than the results, that is when the automatic category earns its money.