Cat litter stinks!

[Mango7100]

I am a vet with 3 indoor cats. The clumping litters I think do the best with odor control. I use Tidy Cats clumping (whichever variety is in stock in the 35 lb pail)—it does a good job with odor except for when one of the cats poops. We have 3 boxes (the rule of thumb is one box per cat plus one so I’m breaking the rule), 2 on the 2nd floor, 1 on the 1st. I scoop morning and night, but once a day is sufficient. If you don’t use clumping litter you should change all of it weekly beside scooping. Clean boxes with soap and water only, don’t use cleaners with a strong smell since that can act as a litter box deterrent.

 

[luv2cheer92]

Did your cat have any trouble adapting to it? I have looked at these, but worry that our cat would not use it.

Not at all. I did leave the old litter box out for a few days, but tucked away in the corner and put the litter robot where his old one was. He never used the old one.

 

[Pucks104]

One of the best things you can do to greatly reduce/eliminate litter box odors is to change the way you feed your cat. We have 2 neutered boy cats and virtually no litter odor. I feed them and exclusively raw diet. Answers cat detail, Stella and Chewy’s frozen raw and Answers raw fermented goats milk. They thrive on this diet and neither their urine or their poo has any noticeable odor. Folks that visit have asked where I keep the litter box as they don’t smell them. Our house isn’t large and we just don’t get the stinky litter smell.

 

[unrequited23]

Does it just smell or does the smell make your eyes feel raw, your throat tighten and it hard to breathe? People can be allergic to cat urine as well as dander.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

Following because we cannot find great litter that doesn't smell. We use arm and hammer clumping which we like much more than tidy cats. But still looking for something better.

 

[kymom99]

Litter Robot. Best thing I've ever purchased.

Did you really pay $500 for a litter box?

 

[PollyannaMom]

Another Tidy Cats family here.

 

[SteveH]

Best thing I ever did was put in a motion sensor to trigger the fan in the laundry room where our litter box was. But they all smell, hence why we won't have any more cats. Roaming neighborhood cats are my nemesis, my yard is not a litter box

 

[BrianL]

I use fresh step - works best for us for reducing orders. I have five cats.

I use Fresh Step Multi-Cat, even though I just have one cat. It works extremely well!

 

[kymom99]

I use Fresh Step Multi-Cat, even though I just have one cat. It works extremely well!

That’s what I use. But we keep the litter box in the basement where we only go to do laundry

 

[luv2cheer92]

Did you really pay $500 for a litter box?

Absolutely. More than worth it.

 

[AgentMama]

Absolutely. More than worth it.

We have a litter robot too. I would buy it again in a heartbeat.

 

[apirateslifeforme]

We usually use Tidy Cats (when it's on sale) or Cat's Pride from Stop and Shop. Right now, however, we're using World's Best that can be flushed because he had radiation treatment for his thyroid last month, and there is even less smell with that one. We also keep his box in the basement; we cut a hole in the door so he can come and go as he pleases (he also likes to sit down there and "hunt" ). We also clean it completely every week and scoop it daily.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Have you tried changing its food? Digested wet food really pongs, but dry food seems fairly innocuous.

 

[WebmasterMaryJo]

I can't stand walking into the house and smelling cat urine or poo. I use any of the ones below, and they work pretty well at hiding the smell. I like the natural clumping and the pine. I prefer the small grains rather than the cobble, though our cat will use either. We also have three cat boxes in the house, so she doesn't have accidents when locked out of a room. I order them off of Amazon, and haven't decided which one will be our final go-to litter.




I really liked this one as it clumps quickly:

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

We use Tidy Cats and get the 35 lb pail.

We've used the Glade scented, 24/7 Performance, Instant Action, 4& 1 strength and Unscented. Our cat seems to prefer Unscented (which is common for cats) but that is harder to find in stock so we've done the Glade or the 4&1 Strength versions when that happens. I think these days the 4&1 Strength is what has been in stock more. Glade version is the strongest smell in terms of scents (good scent just strong).

The only version of Tidy Cats we found did NOT perform well in the smell department was the 24/7 Performance (the smell stuck around) so we do not buy that version.

We do not buy Lightweight versions as they tend to have more dust and even though they are now making them with less dust we just don't want to chance that (I also have allergies and don't need more debris than is already around). In that area I find normal Tidy (non-Lightweight) to be fine in the debris meaning it doesn't seem to kick up too much debris.

We have ended up with 3 litter boxes for 1 cat. For several years our cat was fine with 1 litterbox but over time wanted more. Ideally you're supposed to have +1 litter box per cat meaning 1 cat=2 litter boxes.

We use a covered litter box that you roll (it has an internal grate that catches it):
View attachment 602407

Our brand is Omega Paw. We started out with the smaller version based on the weight of our cat but he's a big boy in height so eventually we got the larger version and he does prefer that over the smaller. We then ended up with an open tray box. Our cat has gone into habits of using the open tray for peeing and the 2 covered ones for pooping. He almost 100% of the time follows this.

Covered will probably help dampen the smell though I don't know for sure since we started on that and our cat has his own habits but covered is not always preferred by cats.

Every so often we will completely clean out all the litter boxes and hose them down, wash them with soap and water and get them dry then replace with fresh litter.

Does this cat cover his business? Sometimes that's a sign they don't like the litter (smell or feel or both) you're using or the litter box itself. Sometimes they are just lazy lol or something else is going on.

Now that you mention it, he is awful at covering his poo. He scratches the plastic sides of the box, but not the litter itself. Lol, my daughter just sighs and goes over and uses the scoop to cover it when she notices him doing it.

I'm a little worried about him because he seems to lack spatial awareness--with the scratching of the sides of the litter box but not the litter inside, and he falls off of stuff easily. He just rolls off of the top of the bookshelf, like he forgot he was up high? I didn't know cats did that, I thought they were more graceful. The only animal I had that did stuff like that was our beagle and he had some brain damage from his epilepsy.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Does it just smell or does the smell make your eyes feel raw, your throat tighten and it hard to breathe? People can be allergic to cat urine as well as dander.

I don't think it's allergies, it's just gross smelling but doesn't affect me otherwise. I didn't know you could be allergic to cat urine!

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

That’s what I use. But we keep the litter box in the basement where we only go to do laundry

I don't have a basement

I live in a 3 bedroom townhouse, 2 stories, no basement, and only 4 closets--a small closet in each bedroom and then a small linen closet in the upstairs hallway outside the bathroom. The upstairs bathroom is barely big enough to put a hamper in, let alone a litter box, and the downstairs powder room is way too small. The utility room won't work because you have to disconnect the stacked washer and dryer to get through the door and I don't want to do that every day because inevitably I will forget to put the drain hose back into the drain and then I will flood my kitchen!

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

Have you tried changing its food? Digested wet food really pongs, but dry food seems fairly innocuous.

Right now he is only eating dry food, we still have the bag that the animal shelter gave us when we adopted him. It is Nutrish Peak.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

And yeah… we’re all probably nose blind to it.. you’ll be there soon

great! Something to look forward to