For all of us with cats.... Presenting... Litter Box Furnitu

[Maelstrom]

This is incredible. I mean, it's so simple on the face of it, but I never considered the idea of "hiding" a litter box in some sort of furniture. You can hide that thing in a "potted plant", a cabinet, a chest, a "wicker box"....

And I took a look at these $300 wooden wonders someone is selling, and thought to myself "I could do that with a $10 flea market cabinet, stain and sealant, scrap lumber, some drawer hardware, and a jigsaw."

Hardwood Cabinets

Wicker Wonder

One plant the cat *can* use as its personal litter box

How to combine a scratching post, a cat box cover, and a bench seat

[HoodedMan]

Heh. My cat would be too dumb to figure out any of those. Either that, or he'd turn his nose up disdainfully at it and use the old-fashioned box.

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Yes, its amazing what is out there - there is a brand that you can buy that has it's own fan system (you have to drill a hole through your wall) to pump the smelly air outside. Saw it at the animals care expo couple years back - can't believe what these things can cost!
My three cat household is serviced by a rubbermaid "chest" that has a hole cut in it to allow entry. It is secreted in the downstairs closet.
We did have to put a kitty door in the door leading to the basement to keep our dog from going downstairs to feast on the "kitty roca".

[Bamfette]

that's actually a pretty good idea... i've seen the covered boxes that look like a pet carrier, basically, but not one that looked like a piece of furniture. that's good for peopel who live in apartments where places to put the litter is somewhat limited.

me, i plan on training my new cat to use the toilet. oh yes, i will do it. my parents got an older Siamese one time from friends that could no longer care for it, and it came toilet trained. for some reason, even though i think Tipsy especially was certainly smart enough to use the toilet, especially since he was immaculately clean and insisted on the cleanest litterbox you could imagine, or he'd go on the floor if it wasn't clean enough, we never tried training him. and he had the flushing bit down all on his own, too. Shadow tho, she loves to dig too much and she's.... well.... dumb. i don't think she would have taken to it. but the new cat's breeder informs me he's very smart and likes to please, so...

but if that does not work out, this is a good solution, tho i'd probably end up cobbling togehter something myself.

[DeeJay]

I wish I had a kitty. Everytime I work in the pet food aisle I lone for cats.

[BamfChyck]

DJ, are you allergic to cats?

I've seen these before, becasue I actually buy things from Foster and Smith catalog. I liked the idea of the benches but didn't think they would fit in with my house decor.

But I am truly lucky, because my partner made me a hall bench to keep our litter box in. It is strong enough for people to sit on, matches the wood of our other furniture, and has a kitty door on one side. I think materials probably cost about $50 (American.) We put a regular litter box in it and one of those litter catching mats in between the box and the kitty door, so there is no tracking. The entire lid lifts off for cleaning.
I made a cushion for the top, so it even looks like a bench. Most people don't realize what it is, until I show it off because I am so proud of it. It was the best Valentine's day gift ever.
My ultra-smart cat had no problem with it, and my kitten (who is not the brightest) seemed fine with it after a week. We started out by leaving the lid off, but they didn't seem to care when we put it on.
We don't have any trouble with odor.

My mother purchased a slightly smaller bench for about $150, and it is not strong enough to sit on. It works in about the same way.

That one with the plant looks a little unstable. My kitten is 15 pounds, and I'm not even sure she'd fit in there. She could certainly push the lid off if she had a mind to.

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Any of the ones with carpeting make me wince...can you imagine how icky it would get with any spillage? And I hope that the insides of these things are well painted or varnished so nothing soaks into the wood.
The wicker ones made me laugh. Anyone with cats knows what they will do with wicker. Cat box would look good for all of 5 minutes, and would be completely shredded in a month.
Yes, I am all too practical I am afraid...

[Bamfette]

well, the carpeting is on the OUTSIDE.... i'm sure on the inside it's not, and since the liter box is on the inside, any spillage would never reach the carpet. dunno about varnished or not, but unless your cat is senile or otherwise has poor bladder control, (or not fixed and spraying, but it should be fixed) the odds of it ending up anywhere but the litter is miniscule... most cats are festidiously clean and are instinctually driven to cover the smell which is the whole reason for the litter. it makes them unlikely to go anywhere they can't cover their business. (and is the whole reason my cat sometimes opted to not use the box, he decided it was cleaner to do it outside if there was more than a couple messes in the box already) the litter itself, on the other hand can end up everywhere if you have a cat like my family's Shadow who will dig straight to the bottom before doing her thing, spraying litter. another reason the box is good :p

the combo clawing post/cat tree/litter cover was my favorite of the bunch, actually.

[fourpawsonthefloor]

Originally posted by Bamfette
the odds of it ending up anywhere but the litter is miniscule... most cats are festidiously clean and are instinctually driven to cover the smell which is the whole reason for the litter. it makes them unlikely to go anywhere they can't cover their business.

Most the time Jill, you are right. Some of us shelter suckers have ended up with less "behaved" cats that despite my best litter knowledge (keeping it clean, trying different textures/brands of littler ect) do have the odd departure from appropriate litter use.

Also I have a big boy who sometimes thinks that he is "in" the litterbox, but his butt hangs over the edge just a smidge and - whoops. Actually quite common error that some cats make. Even with the covered litter boxes still is occasionally a problem.

[HoodedMan]

Originally posted by fourpawsonthefloor
Also I have a big boy who sometimes thinks that he is "in" the litterbox, but his butt hangs over the edge just a smidge and - whoops. Actually quite common error that some cats make. Even with the covered litter boxes still is occasionally a problem.

*WINCE* My cat does that. It's a joy to clean up, isn't it?

[kladyelf]

*sigh*
My cat would probably scratch them to bits, and the dogs would probably chew on the pot plant or wicker box ones... nevertheless a good idea for ppl - especially the bench/box one, it looks like it has a liftable lid for easy removal of litter

[Maelstrom]

From what I can tell, most of these things open up on one side, and the whole box can slide out some of those "drawer slides". It looks more difficult to do than it really is.

In the apartment, I tried several different ways of doing the cat box thing. Tried a Litter Maid, and was sorely disappointed. Expensive, only worked so well (our kitties made it so that it couldn't "scrape up" the litter and deposit it in the bag), and it was noisy as all hell besides! (Maybe the newer ones are quiet, but they still couldn't scrape hard enough for my cat's "habits"....)

Did the enclosed cat box thing with "Litter Pearls" for the longest time, and was really happy with the odor control.... until we started getting the little plastic "pearls" under foot. Ouch. Tried putting one of the "litter tracker" rugs in front of the box to keep the stuff from being tracked all over, and dear kitty hated the rug so much he'd leap *over* it, making a bigger mess.....

*sigh* I had a damn stupid cat. May you have far more luck with your kitty, Jill.

Personally, my favorite idea is that the "doggie-proof" hole in the lid. While our kitty goes outside all the time (love living in a temperate zone! ), it means that sometimes the dog tries his paw at "kitty roca". We go through a lot of "doggie breath mints" sometimes. Having a "doggie confounding" hole in the lid would eliminate that problem entirely.

BamfChyck. do you have pics of your masterpiece? It sounds fantastic!

[HoodedMan]

Originally posted by Maelstrom
Tried putting one of the "litter tracker" rugs in front of the box to keep the stuff from being tracked all over, and dear kitty hated the rug so much he'd leap *over* it, making a bigger mess.....

I learned long ago never to do that to my cat. My cat apparently hates my rug so much he'll only poop on it if he sees it.

[The Drastic Spastic]

I've toyed with the idea of litter training a cat ever since I first heard of it. Maybe I'll try with my next one.

All this cat talk on the board lately has made me so excited about being able to have one again soon. God I love cats!