first off, i live in a small apartment. bed, bath, kitchen, living. there's no great place to put it in the first place [it's in the bathroom rn]
every time i see it it feels like a chore. it gives me anxiety, it is a constant chore, endless, does not stop. it will never stop. i cannot finish the chore, ever.
^ and to that point -- if i were to scoop every day or even less frequently, it is disgusting 100% of the time, no matter what. touching it at all is disgusting, putting my face or body near it is disgusting, i don't want to see or interact with it in any way. every time i interact with it, it's a mental barrier to break down. no amount of cutesy names or molded plastic will make it not fucking disgusting.
none of the self cleaning ones really work properly, do they?
it's bad for the cats if you don't maintain it properly
i mean ok whatever. if this is the worst part of their lives, fine, they don't have to work or pay rent or worry.
I'm with you. It's easy to forget about until it starts to stink up the place, and even then, "it can wait until tomorrow." I recently learned that I've been living with undiagnosed ADHD my whole life, and I'm curious if maybe you have similar issues that are inhibiting your ability to take care of these tasks. No need to share publicly, just a theory of mine.
So, know that there's no judgement here, but UTIs and possible renal failure are serious stuff, and when you say "at least they don't have to pay rent" it sounds really callous.
Maybe changing your perspective of how much harm a dirty litter box can do will help you maintain it better. (Assuming that you wish you were better at taking care of this responsibility.)
My best friend of 15 years died from renal failure and had chronic UTIs. I know that 15 is pretty old for a cat, but his last few months were pretty painful for him as we tried antibiotics and other medication to get him better. Sadly, nothing helped and he died in my arms as we were taking him to the vet to be put down. I don't know if he'd still be around if my litter box habits were better. I can only wonder.
Cleaning the litter box is more important than cleaning your own toilet (don't get me started on having to do THAT!) It really can cause severe issues, so don't think about it as just scooping shit, it's keeping your cat safe and happy. You wouldn't stop giving them food or water just because it's inconvenient, and this is just as important.
Again, I REALLY don't want to be the people like "OMG! You give your cat TAP WATER and non-organic cat food?!?" But, if the action FEELS more important, you might feel better about doing it.
Best wishes!