I’m reporting from the powder room for today’s blog post! A lot of you humans will be entertaining friends and family during the holiday season, and you are probably a little worried about your cat’s litter box. In an ideal world, all your guests would be passionate cat lovers who don’t care about scattered kitty litter, unattractive litter boxes and, um, the occasional smell. But the reality is that you would rather have the whole cat litter thing sort of “disappear” while you have company so that the visiting humans think your cats are so fabulous, they don’t even need a litter box. Well, fabulous we are, but we are not quite that magical. But don’t worry, I have some tips for you to keep litter boxes under cover for the holiday season.
- Hide both cats and litter boxes in another part of the house.
If you are having big get-togethers, with lots of people coming and going, loud noises and active children, your best solution would be to sequester the cats and their litter boxes away from all the madness. You may like large gatherings, but they stress out most cats, and cats would be happier if you put them in a quiet room where they won’t be disturbed (except maybe by a feline loving friend or relative who wants to visit with them privately). And of course, you’d put the litter box there too so they have somewhere to relieve themselves. - Put up a decorative screen.
If the litter box is in the corner of a room, it’s easy to hide with an accordion-style screen. Just find one that matches the decor of your home and stretch it in front of the litter box, leaving enough space for your cat to enter and exit. - Hide the litter box with an end table and some curtains.
A good-sized end table, especially one with a drawer or a lip, can hide a litter box. Use one that the litter box fits under, and then tack curtains or fabric all around the inside of the lip so that it encloses the litter box. Leave a space open, or tie a space open for your cat to come and go. - Use a large wicker basket to disguise the litter box.
Cut a hole for your cat to get in and it’s an inexpensive, DIY version of litter box furniture. - If you have the budget, go ahead and buy litter box furniture.
There are different styles to fit every home, although they are a bit of an investment. If you are good with carpentry, you can also make your own, or modify a cabinet to enclose a litter box. Just make sure your cat is okay using this new house for his restroom.
Are you just worried about the litter box smell? There are a number of ways to keep that in check.
- Baking soda is great for absorbing odor. Add a box when you change the litter and it really helps. If you’d prefer to try a litter deodorizer, use one that relies on eliminating scent rather than merely masking it with perfume. Perfume alone fools nobody, and we cats find it offensive.
- Try carbon or charcoal. These are another way to absorb litter box smells. There are carbon litter box filters — or you can make little, odor-eating activated charcoal sachets to put in your cat’s litter box.
- Scoop frequently! If you get rid of your cat’s litter box deposits promptly, their odors have less of a chance to permeate the house. Make sure somebody keeps an eye on the litter box and is ready to get rid of anything left in it.
- Use enzymatic cleaners on any accidents. These are the most effective to get rid of odors… but you must follow the directions on the label.
- Use the right kind of litter. The best litter for your cat is one that she likes, of course — but if it is also a type of litter that absorbs odor well, so much the better! Do a little research and see what works for your cat, and for you.
I hope you got something useful from my tips! Now, if you will excuse me, I’ve got some business to take care of.
My New 2023 Calendar is out!
Get it here
Check out the rest of Summer’s merch at her her Zazzle Designercat Shop
Those are some very good suggestions!
Yes we know about the room clearing stinks, MOL! Pipo refuses t cover his jobs and Minko…well,um..he just has the P-U factor!
Great tips!
Great tips ! Every cat or human enjoys a quiet powder room. Purrs
Great tips, Summer! Especially if the humans live in a small place.
Great advice as always Summer! Our boxes are downstairs so that we aren’t bothered by company or the pups. Mom has the office upstairs planned for when we get older and need a second site 🙂
Those are GREAT tips! My only problem is that Hobbes is very lazy and does not bury his poop…and it is STINKY! Ugh.
Great tips. I wonder if it helps to practice some of these techniquest before guests come over so it’s not a new experience for kitty during an already stressful time. When we have an overnight guest, Raven is used to her litterbox being moved from the main bathroom into the hallway. The guest gets the bathroom to themselves and Raven can’t get locked out when she needs to go.
Great tips. TW likes the unscented A&H litter too. TW would be afraid to hide the litter box because The Cat wouldn’t be able to find it behide/beneath the furniture.
Good tips! Humans need to realize they can’t just hide litter boxes in behind decorative tacked-up curtains or whatever just when company comes to town. Changes like that need to be long-term so that you aren’t hiding your litter box from your cat when they’re the most stressed out with strangers in the house… that’s a recipe for something unpleasant to happen!
Those are great tips Summer. I always lock my kitties with litter boxes in the bedrooms for their safety.
These ideas are Great! Our mom loves these. Thanks so much for sharing these helpful hints and ideas with us Summer. You’re the best! Purrs
Johnny REALLY likes the idea of hiding in the bedroom with a box!
Oh wait, he already does that…
Some bloody great tips and nothing to do with stealing a litter box, yes I read steal not stealth
Excellent tips, Summer! We hope you have a nice, quiet, Thanksgiving.
XOXO
Those are all great tips Summer! We have quite a few litter boxes here (seven for four cats) and we like your idea of adding baking soda to them. Also, LP never invites guests who might have issues with animal ablutions or anything to do with animals on account those type of guests would be too much work for her! 🙂
the critters in the cottage xo
Good advice Summer! Our boxes are in a walk in closet in our mommy’s home office so the only one who takes offense to the occasional, uh, odor is her. We use Dr. Elsey’s and that hides most of it though!
I must try your baking soda advice! I use a type of litter that absorbs odors well and thankfully both my indoor cats like it! You’re looking very cute, Summer ♥
We just hope that lots of people will read your post – we will share it heaps. Some people have really dumb relatives who are not cat savvy (they need a human Jackson Galaxy) and, much as they love their family, the need to keep an eye on how their fur family is coping is really important.
Great tips! We use a lot of these ideas and swear by them, especially scooping often (twice a day) and using just a sprinkle of baking soda on those “heavier” days. You know the ones we’re talking about. Thanks, Summer!
We love the special furniture idea, that will be way easier than peep said converting one part of the palace solely for ablutions. purrs Erin
Great tips, Summer! I love the idea of the curtain around the end table. Thankfully anyone who comes over here to visit doesn’t mind the litter box. 🙂
Thanks for all the good tips. You are quite brave to show yourself using your box, Summer. We like the box within a box. Does it help with the tracking problem? XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo
It does help with scatter – also some kitty sometimes misses the litter box, so the big bin is extra added insurance.
Great advice!
Purrs xx
Athena and Marie
Super tips. Our litter boxes are in the laundry room and are vented outside.
The Florida Furkids
Hey pretty Summer, thanks for the scoop!
These are great tips! Our litter boxes are kept out of sigh in rooms that guests won’t go in, and the mom and dad scoop it multiple times a day so it doesn’t stink much. Thank goodness!
A nice post, and a nice idea but we do challenge anything to remove the odours from a few of perheeni’s deposits, hehehehehe. This is why we need a human servant there all the time (as well as one that cooks the turkey!.
Anyone who has any issue with us or anything that pertains to us is not welcome to this house…!
Purrs,
The Chans
I like the way #1 thinks!
good advice (as always)
Great tips, Summer!
my solution is to just not invite any guests over :-).
As always, great advice, Summer!
Excellent advice, Summer. ‘Specially the tips about how to keep the litter box from smelling too much.
Hannah will not go anywhere except in the bathroom where there are two litter boxes. Lucy on the other paw likes to go outside and Mum has had someone to build her a brick latrene which she (Lucy) always uses. The weather has to be extremely dreadful before she will go inside in the litter boxes.
Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx
Great advice Summer. I am as is Mom, very much disliking litter dust, So I look for no dust or low dust features. xoxox
Summer great tips on powder room manners! I love the last photo!!
Hugs madi your bff
Because of a behavioral issue (we were frightened and are fighting) we are separates in separate rooms. Our litter box is not as fresh behind closed doors, our lady added baking soda to the litter after we showed her this. We are hoping to be inter grated by Thanksgiving. Paws crossed! No more closed doors!
The end table and wicker box ideas are really good! Luckily our litter boxes are downstairs in the basement, upstairs in a spare room, and outside on the back step, so the biped doesn’t have to juggle anything. Also luckily, she’s high-scale introverted and doesn’t like a large number of people around any more than we do! 🙂
Thanks for the timely report but I’m curious:why do you have one box within another. It looks hard to clean. Why not have a box with higher sides?
Miss Layla, I thought about that, especially as we have Dusty now who is crazy nuts about kicking his litter to the moon and back (so he has an hooded tray all his own ;-). Nesting litter boxes would give our mum a bit more flixib… * checks dictionary * flexibility about litter, and about the trays, well I think that’s what she said. We never thought of doing that but it would make sense, I think.
Good advice as usual.
Company or not, when a kitty has to go a kitty has to go!
Purrs Georgia and Julie,
Treasure and JJ