How do you hide your cat's litter box?
Over the years I've used different methods of hiding my kitty's litter box. From keeping it in an unused half-bath, to stowing it under teh bathroom sink and teaching the cat to open the cabinet door, to just accepting my fate and buying one of those dome style litter boxes that are left out in the open but leave the actual litter covered.
I recently found this on Ikea Hackers http://www.ikeahackers.net/2009/07/ikea-ps-locker-into-litter-box.html. I like how it has two sections, one for litter and one for food, separated by a wall. I also like that there's still plenty of room to store the litter scoop and box of kitty litter. I also like how it doesn't scream "I'm hiding a litter box here!"
There's no Ikea even remotely near me, and they seem to hate the very notion of shipping their merchandise. Maybe I can find a similar cabinet somewhere else.
Aw. Reading the comments, it looks like that cabinet doesn't have anything dividing the two halves. My kitty likes to kick her litter all over, and so it's probably not best to keep her food so close without a barrier of some sort. Still looks like a great idea for the litter box and associated products storage though.
We use a Shoji screen, and divide off one coner. Works great. Cheap and easy to access.
Lollin' at the 
I hope they don't get changed.
Anyway, cat door into basement/ laundry room/ garage. I even have a buddy who cut a hole into a wall he shared with his garage, put a cat door in it, then built a box with a hinged top on the other side, inside the garage. Smell stays in the outside, and he can empty it without being in the house.
Under the sink in the laundry room (which has no cabinet underneath) the box fits very well - with the entry to it toward the back wall with not too much space. The washer is on one side and a wall for a bathroom is on the other. Very little room between sides for dog to enter and if she did, no way to fit into box which is covered. No problems.
I found something nice to hide the litter box on Amazon: http://deals.woot.com/deals/details/f47f71f2-c6fe-4db4-99fd-800612d51138/merry-pet-cat-washroom-night-stand-pet-house-pet-supplies
Looks like a regular piece of furniture, and price looks good for under $80.
If someone can teach me how to hide the litterbox SMELL, I might get a cat again. It didn't help that our former cat liked to pee on the same corner of the litterbox every time, so even daily cleaning using clumping litter was useless (turned into a stinky paste) and it especially didn't help that as Kitty got old and senile, she preferred to use the carpet behind the bar rather than her litterbox (spent $300 getting it professionally cleaned - and that was just for the 4x10 section behind the bar).
I've never been in a cat household where you couldn't immediately smell the litterbox when you were in the same room (or worse) though, so I suspect it's futile.
We have stairs that go into the basement that curve around, so there is a decent sized crawlspace under it. I boxed it in, built a 3x3 door, in which I put a cat door. The cat uses the cat door, and we use the 3x3 door to get access to the litter box for cleaning.
We also tried CitiKitty. Was taking too long and once we cut a hole in it, the cat got too freaked out. But, YMMV with something like that.
@tsfisch: I use Arm & Hammer Double Duty and the litter box is uncovered, in the open. Since using A&H I haven't come in from outside and thought "Oh, you've got a cat." I have a single female and don't smell it like I did with a different brand litter.
@tsfisch: The Arm and Hammer litter really is the best thing I found for controlling odor, along with constant scoopings. It's also important to sometimes dump out all of the litter in the pan and scrub it down with bleach. That makes the smell less noticeable.
Sometimes I've gone into houses with cats and haven't smelled the litter box. I assume it's because they kept it clean or else had it tucked away somewhere so the smell was contained in an out of the way place.
I'll have to try the Arm and Hammer litter you all mention. Right now I use Scoop Away for Multiple Cats. I only have one cat but find this is better at blocking the odor than the regular version. My problem is my cat doesn't cover up everything with the litter after she goes, so I have to take the scoop and cover it quickly. Then I use a dollar store pet odor spray to spray the mat I have in front of her litter box. Of course if she goes when I am not home, it smells when I come in. Maybe I need one of those automatic litter boxes?
@mtrlgrl: My wife and I used to buy a silica cat litter called MiMi Pearls (available at Walmart). One bag would last 2 weeks for 2 cats. It never smelled and it actually got to the point where we would forget to change the litter because we never got the odor reminder. We stopped using it after it went up in price, but it's still available. It would be worth a try though
I have a Littermaid. It's over 10 years old and works great. It's in the basement, and when the cat has to go at night, there is a night light down there for him too.
Just reread my post above, and wanted to make it clear we did NOT get rid of "kitty" over these issues. She got old, senile, we helped her along the best we could. It got to the point that we started realizing we needed to take her in and let her go, for her own good. And before we could, she quietly left on her own, sitting in my lap being comforted by my wife and my then-only son.
She was a good pet, even with her terrible litter habits.
Potted Plant Litter Box
Add a raffia rug to catch the strewn litter (opening facing a corner)
we have a little crawl space under the stairs designed so you have access to the pipes for our stackable washer/dryer. So we keep one door cracked so the kitty can come & go.
We have a tiny house, so sneaking a spot for the litter box was perfect. Usually I'd find a spot in the bathroom or laundry room, but there wasn't a spot like that in our current house.
@capguncowboy: Thanks, I'll check it out.
Stats
- Asked
- Asked By
- purplefeather
- Answered
- 16 times
- Viewed
- 3027 times
- Voted Against
- 0 times
- Voted For
- 34 times
16 Answers answer
Sort By: