Litter box in my bedroom driving me CRAZY

[northerngirl]

Looking for some advice about my 2 cat's litter box. We have had it in the closet in our bedroom for a couple years now as this is the only place I can think to put it. I hate that they always seem to make a stinky in the middle of the night! Then my whole bedroom smells like crap and I have to get up in the middle of the night and clean it so I can actually fall back asleep.

We have 2 dogs that the 2 cats don't like so they are kept downstairs and the cats are upstairs. Our 2bed house is ~700 sqft., no basement. Before DD1&2 were here we just kept the boxes in the other bedroom (small). Then dd wanted her own room and the litter boxes went into the closet of my small bedroom. The only other places upstairs are the very small hallway (5'x5') and our very small bathroom.

I don't think putting the boxes downstairs will work as the cats don't hardly ever come down and our one dog likes to eat the poop and litter. Need advice PLEASE, stressed out about this. I don't want to think about giving the cats away (13 yrs old), but sometimes I horribly think that.

[accountclosed3]

do you have all of the carbon filters, etc etc etc that you can? 

it's interesting, but when I owned a cat, i never remembered this as being a problem. of course, the litter box was kept in a corner of the laundry area most of the time. so well away from the living/sleeping parts of the house.

we are planning on getting a cat; i'm planning on putting the litter box in the mudroom/laundry room as well. it's a very small house -- about 550 sq ft (i think), and that should work because it's well away from the sleeping area. BUt it would only be one cat.

[mattemma04]

Could be the food they are  eating is making the  poo stench.Try another food.Try litter boxes with a lid,and in those lids are carbon blocks or packets. You could try hanging a mesh bag of carbon from the fish section.

[northerngirl]

Originally Posted by zoebird 

do you have all of the carbon filters, etc etc etc that you can? 

it's interesting, but when I owned a cat, i never remembered this as being a problem. of course, the litter box was kept in a corner of the laundry area most of the time. so well away from the living/sleeping parts of the house.

we are planning on getting a cat; i'm planning on putting the litter box in the mudroom/laundry room as well. it's a very small house -- about 550 sq ft (i think), and that should work because it's well away from the sleeping area. BUt it would only be one cat.

Unfortunately we don't have a basement or a laundry room. Our washer/dryer is in the kitchen, out in the open.

We have 3 litter boxes for the 2 cats. I do have a air purifier running all day, which is about 1.5' away from the litter boxes, in the closet.

They are lined up in a row underneath the clothes bar. Our clothes that we do have hanging are pushed out of the way, but everything hanging has a "dust" on it and smells like cat litter. Lovely, yes.
 

Originally Posted by mattemma04 

Could be the food they are  eating is making the  poo stench.Try another food.Try litter boxes with a lid,and in those lids are carbon blocks or packets. You could try hanging a mesh bag of carbon from the fish section.

We have been using the same food for many years, Nutro brand. We have switched to their indoor senior cat kind, previously just senior cat formula. Not sure what brand to try.

We tried having covers on the boxes and they prefer to have them off. They would avoid the covered box. It did have the filters in the top.

I do try to keep the folding doors to the closet mostly closed with just a crack open so they can get in there, but my one cat always pushes the one side all the way open. She doesn't like closed doors.

I had wanted to move 2 of the boxes into the small hallway which would make a slight obstacle when coming up the stairs, but there is a furnace intake vent right where there would be room. Dh thought that wouldn't be a good spot.

[accountclosed3]

i would likely keep the litter boxes in my bathroom, then, and just accept that this is the choice I made. I would be loathe to give away an older cat. It's very hard to find them homes.

For your closet, I would recommend inexpensive garment bags that you can get at Ikea or Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a good price. It will keep the dust off your clothes, at least. 

[northerngirl]

Originally Posted by zoebird 

i would likely keep the litter boxes in my bathroom, then, and just accept that this is the choice I made. I would be loathe to give away an older cat. It's very hard to find them homes.

For your closet, I would recommend inexpensive garment bags that you can get at Ikea or Bed, Bath, and Beyond for a good price. It will keep the dust off your clothes, at least. 

My bathroom is small and I wouldn't want my 14 month old getting into it. Wishing it was bigger though.

That's a good idea about the garment bags, I will have to check into that.

I could never REALLY let the cats go. I just get so frustrated when the stinkies happen in the middle of the night and I am in the closet with a flashlight scooping poop, while trying to be uber quiet as to not wake dd who wakes at the slightest noise.

Dreaming of a larger house....

[Chamomile Girl]

Do you have any sort of nook or cranny in your house that you can gate off so the dogs can't get into the catboxes?  Closet under the stairs, entryway by the back door, anything like that?  We have a tiny house too but luckily we have a laundry nook and I have the cat box (only one for our three cats lol) under a metro shelf by the back door (an area that is gated off so DS doesn't decide to go for a tasty poopsnack).

Anything?

[philomom]

http://outdoorlitterbox.com/

http://www.litterbox-outside.com/

There are solutions like this that take the smell outside.

[northerngirl]

Originally Posted by Chamomile Girl 

Do you have any sort of nook or cranny in your house that you can gate off so the dogs can't get into the catboxes?  Closet under the stairs, entryway by the back door, anything like that?  We have a tiny house too but luckily we have a laundry nook and I have the cat box (only one for our three cats lol) under a metro shelf by the back door (an area that is gated off so DS doesn't decide to go for a tasty poopsnack).

Anything?

We do have a small under the stairs closet, but it is filled with stuff as we have only one other closet in our house and no basement. The rest of the house is pretty much open with no really nooks. Even if I did find a place out of dog and dd reach, I don't think that they would come downstairs because of the dogs. I don't want to stress them out and have them potty somewhere else, like my bed or something.

This morning dd woke early and was crawling around on the bed and just as I opened my eyes she picked something off the bed. I just thought it was a tuft of fur, but no it was a hunk of cat litter, with a turd? in it. Lovely start to the day. Luckily I opened my eyes when I did or she would have for sure put that in her mouth. Blah.

[lonegirl]

In our old apartment we had our cat box in the bathroom.  The sink was the pedestle type so had it just under it...the bathroom gets stinky anyways

[northerngirl]

Originally Posted by philomom 

http://outdoorlitterbox.com/

http://www.litterbox-outside.com/

There are solutions like this that take the smell outside.

That's neat. But you have to cut a hole in the wall of the house, is that right? I don't think dh will go for that as we will hopefully move in a few years. 
 

Originally Posted by lonegirl 

In our old apartment we had our cat box in the bathroom.  The sink was the pedestle type so had it just under it...the bathroom gets stinky anyways

Our bathroom has a cabinet. Would be nice if there were room though. Then I could just turn on the fan to get the stink out :)
 

[philomom]

Originally Posted by northerngirl 

That's neat. But you have to cut a hole in the wall of the house, is that right? I don't think dh will go for that as we will hopefully move in a few years. 

Any chance somebody might have moved a kitchen or bathroom in your place? My house has a couple of spots that were "patched" because the dryer vent is now in a different location than before my remodel.

[firefrenzy]

My recommendation is to move the stuff from under your bathroom sink and put whatever was there into your closet.  Remove the doors from your cabinet and use tension rods to put little curtains in the doorways.  That way if you move you can easily put the doors back on.

[northerngirl]

Originally Posted by firefrenzy 

My recommendation is to move the stuff from under your bathroom sink and put whatever was there into your closet.  Remove the doors from your cabinet and use tension rods to put little curtains in the doorways.  That way if you move you can easily put the doors back on.

I wish under the sink was big enough. The cabinet is the same size as the sink pretty much, then there's the pipes that would be in the way. My big fluffies couldn't fit in there :}
 

[elsie]

I have found that in all the house we have had, that there is always room for the box between the toilet and wall.

[Chamomile Girl]

Originally Posted by elsie 

I have found that in all the house we have had, that there is always room for the box between the toilet and wall.

Unfortunately that leaves too much opportunity for LO to indulge in Tasty Poop Snacks/Toys.  Especially once potty training starts.

[BunnySlippers]

Put a cat door with a plastic swinging flap on your closet door to contain the smell somewhat, and move your clothes to anywhere but there.

Empty out the small storage closet you mentioned earlier, put that stuff in your bedroom closet and put the litter boxes in there (why do you have three boxes?).

Put the boxes on the stairs? 

Put the boxes downstairs, but gated off with something only the cats can fit through, or have a perch to help them jump over to get in and out.

Put the litter boxes under the bathroom sink?

Put the litter boxes on a shelving unit, upstairs or downstairs (will cats go up things to get to litter?)

Euthenize the cats.

(I hate cat litter)

[northerngirl]

Originally Posted by Chamomile Girl 

Unfortunately that leaves too much opportunity for LO to indulge in Tasty Poop Snacks/Toys.  Especially once potty training starts.

YES. When anyone has to go to the bathroom whether its me or older dd, all 3 of us go into the bathroom. Dd2 ends up getting into anything she can while waiting, which ends up being the bath toys. Once we get a potty chair in there again there will be even less room.
 

Originally Posted by BunnySlippers 

Put a cat door with a plastic swinging flap on your closet door to contain the smell somewhat, and move your clothes to anywhere but there.

Empty out the small storage closet you mentioned earlier, put that stuff in your bedroom closet and put the litter boxes in there (why do you have three boxes?).

Put the boxes on the stairs? 

Put the boxes downstairs, but gated off with something only the cats can fit through, or have a perch to help them jump over to get in and out.

Put the litter boxes under the bathroom sink?

Put the litter boxes on a shelving unit, upstairs or downstairs (will cats go up things to get to litter?)

Euthenize the cats.

(I hate cat litter)

The closet doors are wooden slatted type that fold open. Even though I have a air purifier going in there all the time the smell still permeates the room.

We use to have just one box, then one of the cats would pee next to the box. The vet said to have one box per cat plus one, equals 3 boxes. We have not had the peeing problem since.

I do wish that I could somehow put them somewhere downstairs, but since the boxes have been in our upstairs for over 6 years, I am not sure that they would go downstairs when my bedroom has been their "home".

Also, I am not sure if the cats can jump very high as they sometimes miss jumping onto my platform bed. Which is kind funny to watch.

[firefrenzy]

How about a different litter?  What type of litter are you using?  Maybe a litter that reduces the smell of feces quicker?

[northerngirl]

Originally Posted by firefrenzy 

How about a different litter?  What type of litter are you using?  Maybe a litter that reduces the smell of feces quicker?

For the last several years we've been using a clumping litter that is from Petco. We started using this brand because you can refill the bucket and it is unscented. It was when one of my kitties was peeing outside the litter box that we made the change to unscented. Is there such a litter that reduces smell, but doesn't smell itself. I don't like perfumy smells.