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What kind of litter box and where do you keep it?

6.4K views 26 replies 21 participants last post by  puckih  
#1 ·
Do you use a covered one? One with sides to keep the litter from getting kicked out, or just a basic box? Or something more complex? I'm trying to figure out what cat gear I need to buy and where I'm going to put everything. We have a smallish house and I'm thinking the litter box will probably have to go in the little tiled area by the back door, that would be the easiest access spot. Or it could go in the little half bath that we rarely use, except for my oldest daughter getting ready for school in the mornings. Or one in each spot.

What about scratching posts and stuff? I know one cat I had used the wall between the tub and the toilet as his own personal scratching post. We rent now and I would say that's a concern but it looks like some of the doors in this old house have already been used as such. They just varnished over it. :cat
 
#2 ·
I have 4 litter boxes and 4 cats. We have 3 with the high sides. The sides are as tall as the enclosed boxes, but the box is entirely open at the top and a regular one in the bathroom. 1 box is kept in the kitchen, the others 1 in each bedroom. With this many boxes, none gets so much usage that it stinks badly so having it in the bedroom is no big deal and we scoop 2x/day.

I have a cat tree they love to scratch (they don't like sisal and cardboard too much) and cat shelves along the wall I installed. The floors of these shelves are lined with carpeting. They still do on occasion try the furniture, but I can always get covers to hide that. They don't destroy it just use the couch arms as a springboard to jump onto something else.

I also trim their nails about 1x/month and with this routine damage is kept to a minimum.
 
#3 ·
I have one large litter box for my two cats. The box has very high sides, which is quite useful, because my Meatball likes to do her business around the edge. I don't believe in closed box. It's not good for cats. And my litterbox doesn't smell at all, so really no need for a closed one. Besides, sometimes it's fun to watch them using it :lol:

Image
 
#5 ·
Yes, I was wondering if a lot of cats didn't like the enclosed ones because I had a cat that didn' t so I had to take the top off. I was just looking at cat trees online. I don't really have the wall space for shelves because there are so many doors and windows on every wall in this house, so I thought the cat trees might be a good option. Plus my son's bunk bed, it' s metal so a cat couldn' t hurt it and no one sleeps on the top bunk. Would make a good high perch.
 
#7 · (Edited)
I have three. Blaze is kept in one room and has two litter boxes.
and
. Litter still gets kicked out of both. The second one we just found sitting outside and figured it looked great if possibly never used, and took it home. Turns out Blaze likes it more than his old one, which he hardly ever uses anymore. The first one we long ago removed the side parts for tipping the box; it didn't work well and didn't give him enough room inside. We use covered boxes with him because on the odd chance that he pees in one you can see pee along the walls, he doesn't squat.

The third is a simple small plain litter box with no cover (Blacky doesn't like entering enclosed spaces) sitting by the cat flap door... it's never used. We put it there in case Blacky ever thinks "hey I don't wanna go outside" ... she never does. A few times we've kept her in at night for various reasons but I don't think she's ever used the box even then. She does know how to use a litter box though, when at our summer cabin and locked in my room at night she will eventually give up on trying to escape my closed window and use the litter box in my room.
 
#9 ·
We use a jumbo 'underbed storage box' without a lid for Gracie, which is in the bathroom on its own matching bathmat. She has plenty of room to turn around etc.

Guests are told that they can only shut the door for short spans of time, and leave the door open after. Side benefit - we always keep the bathroom tidy and presentable since it is 'open to public view' all the time... :)

Fran
 
#10 ·
kty,after trying other makes,I stick with a PLAIN,uncovered,non-electronic BOX. A litterbox,that is. No motors,no sensors,you just scoop and change. I'm not saying this is what you should get for your kitty. But I've had no luck with the fancy litterboxes. I keep in my kitchen,inthe back,near the stove. Really the only place to keep it.
 
#11 ·
I have one cat, two uncovered litter boxes. Nothing fancy just the largest I could find. One in the master bath and one in the second full bath. When he was a kitten he had three litter boxes, one was covered. He would use the other two and take his naps in the covered one. We took it as a hint to get him a two story condo. :) Which he loved and then he just ignored the covered box so we gave it away to a friend. She had to remove the covered because her kitty wouldn't use it if it was covered. Some cats seem ok with it and some don't.
Lucy :blackcat
 
#13 ·
I have three cats and two litter boxes. One is a washroom that is now between the living room /study area:

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And the other one is a regular litter box in their bedroom.
 
#17 ·
Ruby has a hooded box but nothing electronic. I decided I wanted one with a cover to save me from looking at all the poos every morning:-? She had an ordinary open one at the animal sanctuary but seemed quite happy to use this one - I took the cat flap off it though as that seemed to fox her.

These self cleaning ones are a new one on me - not sure how they work

Not had so much luck with a scratching post - she ignores it or knocks it over and has all but wrecked one armchair - good job it only cost me a fiver in a second-hand shop.
 
#18 ·
I gave up using anything that was designed to be a litter box years ago. But Magneto was pooping over the edge of the box, and I couldn't find a single type of box to prevent it. Not even covered!

Now I use these

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only without a lid. Got a line of them in the laundry room. Built a custom ramp that leads into one of them so that Winry (my somewhat handicapped kitty) would have an easier time getting into the boxes.

Of course, she's never used it, not even once. :lol:
 
#19 ·
I wish I had room in my bathroom for a big under the bed storage box. This house was built pre bathroom so I think sometime later they carved a closet sized corner out of a couple of rooms, added water and voila, bathrooms. When we moved in the main bathroom didn't even have a door, just a curtain. We took an old solid wood door and cut it to fit.... I can do the large commercial litterbox in the back hall though.
 
#21 ·
Oh and I keep it in our oddly shaped hallway. We close a lot of doors so it's the most discrete spot for him! It's well hidden.

On scratching posts, we got Hanx one from Walmart when we first adopted him but it was too short and he would use it and our couch. Then I got him a really tall one, so now he loves and frequently uses both posts! He likes to sit on topof the tall one :)
 
#23 ·
We have 3 cats. 3 of theses Amazon.com: Suncast Litter Pan: Pet Supplies that I buy from farm & fleet whenever they go on sale and one covered litter pan in the my room plus one basic open box in the basement. Each of my sons has one of the suncast pans in his bedroom & the third is in the Laaundry room.. I like the suncase best tall sides and reasonably tall front. The covered pan is a nod the the hubby's sensabilities but the cats all prefer open. I insist on a litter pan in any room that a cat can be closed in - no fair getting on an animal for an accident if you lock them in a room without a potty - LOL
 
#24 ·
i have two cats, two litter trays currently. Very basic, uncovered, lowish sides, you know the ones. I keep the trays side by side in the kitchen. My place is very small...when my roomie moves out i'll transfer them both to the spare room, and add another, larger box. I'm experimenting with liners...but i feel i'll just go back to scooping twice a day without liners but with an extra box..not sure...I'm trying for the miminum cleaning effort factor lol! This is mine:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=li...1477689734033199032&page=1&tbnh=123&tbnw=121&start=0&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0
 
#25 ·
I will probably end up getting a basic one to start out with and if we don't like it we can go from there. I'm thinking easy access for scooping, which I normally did as soon as I got home from work and first thing in the morning if there was poop, and any other time I noticed (smelled) poop. Only thing is if I clean it so much, kitty might be spoiled and not want to use it if it's dirty and we're away for a weekend. I don't remember if I had an issue with that or not before. I would have my neighbor and/or a family member come by to feed kitty, surely they wouldn't mind a little scooping. They all have pets. I know if I was feeding someone's cat I wouldn't just leave its litter box nasty.

I used clumping litter and liked it. Walmart brand if I remember right. It has been at least 10 yrs since I've had a cat but I used to buy almost everything at walmart.
 
#26 ·
We have one cat and one regular sized covered litterbox box that we keep in the laundry room. Our cat somehow manages to get litter everywhere, she really goes nuts in there sometimes, I don't know what she is doing! We are going to adopt another cat soon and have purchased a second box similar to the one we have now. We plan on keeping it in the spare bedroom, which we basically use as storage now.

We use the Fresh Step litter and scoop everyday.