No matter what kind of litter box you end up using it’s still pretty stinky. Even having your cat poop in what is essentially potpourri doesn’t do much to cover up the smell. So what can an inside cat owner do?

Put it in another room?

We finally installed the coolest thing last night. If you’ve seen the simized version of our house you’ll notice we keep our litter boxes in the laundry room and keep the dog out by using a toddler gate in the doorway. So it’s an open door to a room where cats poop right next to where we cook and eat. Not very pleasant. I spotted an interesting pet door on foster and smith called a cathole. It’s about thirty dollars, which is reasonable enough, but the big selling point for me was a brush insert that brushes the cats as they go through! This is basically like a big framed mousehole for your cat so this is for indoor doors only. And you can stain the frame to match your door.

photo from the cathole site

installing the door
The biggest challenge I faced with installing the door was getting Cody to remove the door from the hinges and finding my scroll saw. We ended up borrowing his dad’s reciprocating saw because we seem to have organized my tools in a way where we can’t find anything. We installed it on a very heavy solid core door but I understand that they’re pretty easy to install on hollow doors as well. Installing the frame itself is really easy and that brush really does just click right into place and doesn’t seem to wobble at all.

a few tips

I was worried that the chubbier cat wouldn’t be able to get through or that they would have a problem adjusting but I slid the frame around Kurry to be sure she’d fit and just put a can of wet food in the room, guided each cat’s head through the door enough where they’d smell it and each went right through.

There are some great directions and photos of the product in the ‘more information’ link at the Foster and Smith site and the cathole site has great tips for installation, photos of how people finished them, and cute little personalized plaques for sale.

the verdict

I totally love this thing! The kitties have a good escape hole from the dog, the smell stays in the laundry room, the kitties get brushed several times a day, and I even like how the light comes through the hole from the laundry room.

I’m not entirely sure if something like this would increase or decrease the value of our home but we figure with the customizing we’ve been doing that we’re targetting the geek pet-owner market

Next installment - masking the stink.