1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to litter boxes for pets, and particularly to nested disposable pet litter trays that can be stacked in a litter box and include a side that can be formed into a funnel with a filter so that reusable litter may be filtered from the top tray into the next lower tray. The top tray with clumped waste material is thereafter discarded.
2. Description of the Related Art
Pet litter trays are typically pan-like structures adapted to receive a volume of cat litter or other absorbent material for receiving a pet animal's excretory waste. Conventional pet litter trays are generally provided with a liner or other impermeable layer for receiving the pet litter and, following the animal's excretory process, the liner and litter are removed from the tray for disposal thereof. Such a system, however, presents sanitary and hygienic problems for the user, in that it is difficult to remove the liner layer from the tray without at least a portion of the pet litter, and possibly the excretory waste, leaking therefrom. Further, although only a portion of the pet litter is used to absorb the pet waste, the entire volume of pet litter is disposed along with the liner, including a reusable portion of the litter.
Disposable pet litter trays have been utilized in an attempt to overcome the above sanitary problem, and typically are constructed from cardboard or similar materials, with the disposable pet litter tray being designed for a single usage; i.e., the pet litter tray receives the volume of pet litter and, when a substantial portion of the litter becomes clumped or too odiferous, the entire tray and the pet litter are transported to a waste disposal site, without removing the pet litter and waste from the tray. Such a system, however, does not overcome the above sanitary concern because during transport, the user must grasp the base of the tray and at least one sidewall, possibly bringing the user's hands into contact with excretory waste. Further, such a system is wasteful, in that only a portion of the pet litter is used for absorption of the animal's waste, and the remaining dry (or unused) pet litter is disposed of, rather than being reused.
Thus, nested disposable pet litter trays solving the aforementioned problems are desired.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds