Cat litterbox solution? (not really OT)

Hopefully this isn't too off-topic...my husband and I have a cat, and live
in a 3 bedroom/2 full bath home. When my cat moved in we couldn't find a
better location for her litter box because she scatters litter everywhere,
so we currently don't use out spare bathroom which is tiny...we have her
litter box in the tub, on a litter mat, behind a closed shower curtain. I
liked this because no litter got on the floor and when it was time to clean
I just took her box and mat outside, vaccumed up the litter that made it to
the tub, and then cloroxed the tub really good. Then put everything back.
Now of course, I am not cleaning the cat's room or handling litter.

But our baby's nursery will be one of two bedrooms that are right outside
this bathroom (our house is a split bedroom plan, so our master bedroom and
bath are across the house). But, we are remodeling the nursery and I would
like to also just redo the bathroom while we are at it. Another reason I
used the bathroom as the cat's room is we don't have a laundry room or any
other noncarpeted room that can hold a litterbox AND the previous couple had
totally destroyed that bathroom- it was painted with streaky army green
paint and the ugliest fixtures and the wall was full of marks and holes etc.
We just never had a chance to fix it up because we had to paint the whole
house, and these walls need to be sanded etc.

I really want to find a better solution for our cat litter box. We don't
have a good area to put a covered litter box, I thought about that but I
believe it would still stink even if scooped etc too much to be in a high
traffic area and my cat would still track litter out. I also thought about a
cat door leading out to the garage...could I train my car to use that and
would it be energy efficient? Anyone have any other ideas for what we can do
to solve the cat litter bix problem so we can use our 2nd bathroom? I am
searching the net....I really want this to be a handy bathroom to the baby's
room now instead of a cat's potty.
Jill

Jill wrote:

I really want to find a better solution for our cat litter box. We don't
have a good area to put a covered litter box, I thought about that but I
believe it would still stink even if scooped etc too much to be in a high
traffic area and my cat would still track litter out. I also thought about a
cat door leading out to the garage...could I train my car to use that and
would it be energy efficient? Anyone have any other ideas for what we can do
to solve the cat litter bix problem so we can use our 2nd bathroom? I am
searching the net....I really want this to be a handy bathroom to the baby's
room now instead of a cat's potty.
Jill



Do you have an unfinished basement? When my daughter
moved her husband installed a cat panel in the door
at the top of the stairs and the litterbox is in the
basement. It's working very well, even though one
of the cats has somewhat of a squeeze to fit through.

gloria p

"Puester" wrote
Do you have an unfinished basement? When my daughter
moved her husband installed a cat panel in the door
at the top of the stairs and the litterbox is in the
basement. It's working very well, even though one
of the cats has somewhat of a squeeze to fit through.

gloria p

No, we don't have a basement at all. We don't have a laundry room since we
just have a laundry closet- which only holds our washer drier, and opens
into the hall. I am out of ideas! All I can think of is to try to find a
covered, corner litterbox and pray my cat can use it without scatering
litter everywhere- but if I want to put it in an area of the house that has
no carpet just in case (I can vacuum but don't like the idea of "dirty"
litter on carpet- at least on vinyl you can clean/disinfect better!), the
only option is the breakfast nook area of the kitchen which has our table in
it. We have a separate dining room leading to french doors , but it is
carpeted. Our cat's current bathroom is SO tiny- there is not even room for
a litterbox except in the tub!...I don't think it would work well to try to
put even a covered litterbox in a carpeted area...We don't have any really
suitable closets either. argh!

When we move (hopefully in 2-3 years), I am definitely going to consider all
of this and make sure our new house will have a laundry room/basement/3rd
bathroom or all of the above. The inlaws think I should just put the cat
outside. NO way- that's my baby purry puff, there are cars and tons of cats
in the neighborhood.

I think you should go for the door flap leading to the garage. You can get
rubber stuff to go around the edge of the flap so that it helps to seal it
off from any draughts. Cats are pretty strong and very smart, so I don't
think you will have to do too much training. They like being clean, so she
will probably WANT to go out there.

By the way, you might be interested in reading this cute email I just got
....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~
Dogs-n-Cats

EXCERPTS FROM A DOG'S DAILY DIARY:

8:00 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
9:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!
9:40 am - OH BOY! A WALK! MY FAVORITE!
10:30 am - OH BOY! A CAR RIDE! MY FAVORITE!
11:30 am - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
12:00 noon - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!
1:00 pm - OH BOY! THE YARD! MY FAVORITE!
4:00 pm - OH BOY! THE KIDS! MY FAVORITE!
5:00 pm - OH BOY! DOG FOOD! MY FAVORITE!
5:30 pm - OH BOY! MUM! MY FAVORITE!
6:00 pm - OH BOY! PLAYING BALL! MY FAVORITE!
6:30 pm - OH BOY! SLEEPING IN MASTER'S BED! MY FAVORITE!



EXCERPTS FROM A CAT'S DAILY DIARY:


DAY 183 OF MY CAPTIVITY

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects. They
dine lavishly on fresh meat, while I am forced to eat dry cereal. The only
thing that keeps me going is the hope of escape, and the mild satisfaction
I get from ruining the occasional piece of furniture.

Tomorrow I may eat another house plant. Today my attempt to kill my captors
by weaving around their feet while they were walking almost succeeded, must
try this at the top of the stairs.

In an attempt to disgust and repulse these vile oppressors, I once again
induced myself to vomit on their favorite chair, must try this on their bed.

Decapitated a mouse and brought them the headless body, in attempt to make
them aware of what I am capable of, and to try to strike fear into their
hearts. They only cooed and condescended about what a good little cat I
was. Hmmm, not working according to plan.

There was some sort of gathering of their accomplices. I was placed in
solitary throughout the event. However, I could hear the noise and smell
the food. More importantly I overheard that my confinement was due to MY
power of "allergies." Must learn what this is and how to use it to my
advantage.

I am convinced the other captives are flunkies and maybe snitches. The dog
is routinely released and seems more than happy to return. He is obviously
a half-wit. The bird, on the other hand, has got to be an informant, and
speaks with them regularly. I am certain he reports my every move. Due to
his current placement in the metal room, his safety is assured. But I can
wait, it is only a matter of time...

--
Babies are Born... Pizzas are delivered.

For our 2 kitties we use our spare bathroom, but I saw a lot of smart
litterboxes (covered) on Cat Fancy magazine. Just pick any issue at your
newsagent or bookshop. I have seen wonderful solutions and reasonably
priced.
Hope this helps.
Love

--
Nicky

EDD March 26, '04. It's a girl!

We enclosed our balcony and put the box out there. We installed a kitty
door into the sliding door and all 4 cats took to it really fast. Just
shove em through and they will come back thru on their own. They figure it
out really fast and the flap stays closed and keeps the cold out. It will
definitely work.

D

--




"Readers are plentiful; thinkers are rare."
~ Harriet Martineau

"Jill" wrote in message
. com...
Hopefully this isn't too off-topic...my husband and I have a cat, and live
in a 3 bedroom/2 full bath home. When my cat moved in we couldn't find a
better location for her litter box because she scatters litter everywhere,
so we currently don't use out spare bathroom which is tiny...we have her
litter box in the tub, on a litter mat, behind a closed shower curtain. I
liked this because no litter got on the floor and when it was time to
clean
I just took her box and mat outside, vaccumed up the litter that made it
to
the tub, and then cloroxed the tub really good. Then put everything back.
Now of course, I am not cleaning the cat's room or handling litter.

But our baby's nursery will be one of two bedrooms that are right outside
this bathroom (our house is a split bedroom plan, so our master bedroom
and
bath are across the house). But, we are remodeling the nursery and I would
like to also just redo the bathroom while we are at it. Another reason I
used the bathroom as the cat's room is we don't have a laundry room or any
other noncarpeted room that can hold a litterbox AND the previous couple
had
totally destroyed that bathroom- it was painted with streaky army green
paint and the ugliest fixtures and the wall was full of marks and holes
etc.
We just never had a chance to fix it up because we had to paint the whole
house, and these walls need to be sanded etc.

I really want to find a better solution for our cat litter box. We don't
have a good area to put a covered litter box, I thought about that but I
believe it would still stink even if scooped etc too much to be in a high
traffic area and my cat would still track litter out. I also thought about
a
cat door leading out to the garage...could I train my car to use that and
would it be energy efficient? Anyone have any other ideas for what we can
do
to solve the cat litter bix problem so we can use our 2nd bathroom? I am
searching the net....I really want this to be a handy bathroom to the
baby's
room now instead of a cat's potty.
Jill

JoFromOz wrote:

I think you should go for the door flap leading to the garage. You can get
rubber stuff to go around the edge of the flap so that it helps to seal it
off from any draughts. Cats are pretty strong and very smart, so I don't
think you will have to do too much training. They like being clean, so she
will probably WANT to go out there.


They even have cat doors that seal tightly and are
activated electronically by a thingie (sorry, nouns not
available this morning) on the cat's collar. I would
think that would fix any issue with draughts. If you
park your car in the garage, though, you'll have to
become super aware of the fact that any time you
put the car in or out, the cat could be in the garage
(or escaping!).

Best wishes,
Ericka

Since my husband took over the litter maintenance job, he found litter
called "Yesterday's News". It's little pellets of recycled newspaper and is
amazing. I've had cats for 20+ years, and this is the best product for odor
control & mess containment I've seen yet. He'll space out cleaning the box
for days at a time and we never smell a thing. And since it's not those fine
grains of sand, the cats don't track it all over the house.
Something worth considering because with that level of odor & mess control,
you've got more freedom over where to locate the box, since the reduced
maintenance means you can put it somewhere just a little less accessible to
you if you're short of practical space.

HTH.


--
Deirdre
Waiting on Joshua...
EDD 12/29/03


"Jill" wrote in message
. com...
Hopefully this isn't too off-topic...my husband and I have a cat, and live
in a 3 bedroom/2 full bath home. When my cat moved in we couldn't find a
better location for her litter box because she scatters litter everywhere,
so we currently don't use out spare bathroom which is tiny...we have her
litter box in the tub, on a litter mat, behind a closed shower curtain. I
liked this because no litter got on the floor and when it was time to clean
I just took her box and mat outside, vaccumed up the litter that made it to
the tub, and then cloroxed the tub really good. Then put everything back.
Now of course, I am not cleaning the cat's room or handling litter.

But our baby's nursery will be one of two bedrooms that are right outside
this bathroom (our house is a split bedroom plan, so our master bedroom and
bath are across the house). But, we are remodeling the nursery and I would
like to also just redo the bathroom while we are at it. Another reason I
used the bathroom as the cat's room is we don't have a laundry room or any
other noncarpeted room that can hold a litterbox AND the previous couple had
totally destroyed that bathroom- it was painted with streaky army green
paint and the ugliest fixtures and the wall was full of marks and holes etc.
We just never had a chance to fix it up because we had to paint the whole
house, and these walls need to be sanded etc.

I really want to find a better solution for our cat litter box. We don't
have a good area to put a covered litter box, I thought about that but I
believe it would still stink even if scooped etc too much to be in a high
traffic area and my cat would still track litter out. I also thought about a
cat door leading out to the garage...could I train my car to use that and
would it be energy efficient? Anyone have any other ideas for what we can do
to solve the cat litter bix problem so we can use our 2nd bathroom? I am
searching the net....I really want this to be a handy bathroom to the baby's
room now instead of a cat's potty.
Jill

Top posting for ease of reading...

I use a Littermaid (automatic litter box that scoops after every use) Yes,
people really do pay good money for these things (I laughed the first 100
times I saw the commercial until I broke down and bought one). I really
like it and find that it cuts down on the odor and number of times I have to
clean the box. As far as litter tracking, I find that using scoopable
litter cut down on that alone, plus using a rubber mat where they enter/exit
the box contains it as well.
I currently have mine in the basement with a hole (no fancy cat flap for
me...too much spent on the litter box already!) in the door, and they
figured that out no prob. When I've not had a basement I have used closets
and bottom cabinets (under the sink for example). Don't forget to look for
space up off the floor as well....I feed my cats on a shelf with (I kid you
not) smaller shelves spaced to be stairs. No reason you couldn't do the
same with a litter box I guess! I'd be nervous about the garage if you
don't intend the cat to go outdoors unless you don't park the car in there.
If you don't, the garage would work great. Just put the litter box there,
bring the cat out and let it figure out how to get back in!
Amy
"Jill" wrote in message
. com...
Hopefully this isn't too off-topic...my husband and I have a cat, and live
in a 3 bedroom/2 full bath home. When my cat moved in we couldn't find a
better location for her litter box because she scatters litter everywhere,
so we currently don't use out spare bathroom which is tiny...we have her
litter box in the tub, on a litter mat, behind a closed shower curtain. I
liked this because no litter got on the floor and when it was time to
clean
I just took her box and mat outside, vaccumed up the litter that made it
to
the tub, and then cloroxed the tub really good. Then put everything back.
Now of course, I am not cleaning the cat's room or handling litter.

But our baby's nursery will be one of two bedrooms that are right outside
this bathroom (our house is a split bedroom plan, so our master bedroom
and
bath are across the house). But, we are remodeling the nursery and I would
like to also just redo the bathroom while we are at it. Another reason I
used the bathroom as the cat's room is we don't have a laundry room or any
other noncarpeted room that can hold a litterbox AND the previous couple
had
totally destroyed that bathroom- it was painted with streaky army green
paint and the ugliest fixtures and the wall was full of marks and holes
etc.
We just never had a chance to fix it up because we had to paint the whole
house, and these walls need to be sanded etc.

I really want to find a better solution for our cat litter box. We don't
have a good area to put a covered litter box, I thought about that but I
believe it would still stink even if scooped etc too much to be in a high
traffic area and my cat would still track litter out. I also thought about
a
cat door leading out to the garage...could I train my car to use that and
would it be energy efficient? Anyone have any other ideas for what we can
do
to solve the cat litter bix problem so we can use our 2nd bathroom? I am
searching the net....I really want this to be a handy bathroom to the
baby's
room now instead of a cat's potty.
Jill

"Jill" wrote in message
. com...
Hopefully this isn't too off-topic...my husband and I have a cat, and live
in a 3 bedroom/2 full bath home. When my cat moved in we couldn't find a
better location for her litter box because she scatters litter everywhere,

I would buy one of those vinyl mats they make for office chairs to roll
better over carpet, or some other large, scrubable floor mat, and put the
litterbox on that, anywhere. I told hubby that unless he wanted to empty the
litterbox every day, it wasn't going to be inside, so the cat is
indoor/outdoor.

Jenrose