Here’s an interesting idea for keeping cats indoors, while moving the litter box outside. It’s from Happy Cat Cottage, a company that makes little additions to your home where you can put kitty’s litter. It’s like a mini catio just for the litter box. Your cat enters the cottage through a pet door installed in the wall and does her business in a private area that can be cleaned from the outside. You can even customize the Happy Cat Cottage to match the architecture of your home.
Since there is only one entrance/exit, you’d have to be careful with something like this in a multi-cat home where litter box ambushes could occur. Has anyone else create something like this for their litter box? Please send us your photos, we’d love to see!
I wonder what they do in the winter? I mean once it gets cold they’re not going to want to go outside! I know here it get VERY cold in the winter and they’re not interested in the outdoors.
My then-husband and I made a “cat waystation/recuperation cabin” a few years back which had something just like this, so that the cat didn’t have to be disturbed but cleaning the box would still be possible. We had the same scheme for accessing the food and water dishes, for the same reason. It was wonderful and really benefitted the neighborhood cats we were able to help (spay/neuter, medical needs including enucleation in one case).
Have you done any multi cat litter houses?
I’ve seen the same sort of thing with a pet door going thru your house, leading to the litter box in the garage. It’s enclosed, of course. Probably not as good an idea having an opening from your garage, where carbon monoxide could come into the house. I like the idea of this litter box being outside, but driving rain will surely ruin the litter, as well as it will be darn cold going out in the snow to clean the box.
My preferred setup that I want to do someday when I buy a house, is to cut a cat door going into a spare bedroom closet. The cats can then do their business in there. Another one is to cut a hole into the door going into the basement. I would buy the more expensive doors that seal so no heat or cold air exchanges.
I would expect any sensible cat to avoid using this litter box as intended because it is too valuable as a hunting spot.
It might work for some cats but even putting the litter box in a cold garage or if it is out of the way can make some cats start going elsewhere. It would take just one time of a cat seeing a raccoon or some other critter outside at the box to make it not want to use it anymore and who would blame it. I think rain would get in it and you’ve got a water soaked box that the kitty won’t use. We should make the cat’s litter box location as inviting as possible in my opinion.
My main concern would be them sitting in the litter box all day watching everything. That seems like the most likely scenario. I like the idea as a way for the cats to safely experience the “outdoors”. As a place to put the litter, just seems like a way to easily forget you need to clean it.
Creative idea with continuous ventilation!. Although, I also agree with other comments such as forgetting to clean, people not wanting to go outside in bad weather to clean, cats not wanting to go out during bad weather, rain/snow getting in. Needs a few changes.
Seems like a lot of trouble. I’d never get it cleaned. Looks nice, though.
I built a catio to house the litter boxes outside. It is escape proof and my cats love to hang out there. It is their version of outside. In the winter I put up coroplast panels to keep the rain out so it gets used year round. Here are some kind of crummy pics of it. if you click on the first pic, you will be able to see from where the view is taken in the comments. http://public.fotki.com/tutti/8-24-2010/
While my cats would love the idea of going outside for any reason, I am not sure I love the idea of hacking a hole in the side of my house. The energy drain would be significant I would think. I have seen outdoor cat-runs that allow the cats to have access to the grass and other outdoor fun, not just the litter box. I would think that would be a better solution, if a hole is to be made in the house. What are the ways this system – or the outdoor cat run – for keeping the inside air inside, while still allowing kitties outside for a romp? Also, what are the mechanisms for keeping kitty out of the box during cleaning time? I have a couple of escape artists who would just lie in wait for cleaning time and then be gone!
I agree with those who said their kitties might spend more time lollygagging in the box to get a glimpse of the outdoors rather than do their business. I know mine would! It would be even more important to keep it extra-clean. Not to mention if heavy wind/rain got into the area and messed up the litter? So, I’m not sure how practical this design would be overall, which is too bad because it would be GREAT to keep the smell out of the house, especially for my non-cat-loving friends who come to visit
In our last house, we used a double door sink base cabinet in the laundry room. One door had a large rectangular opening cut into it, and the other door had a diamond pattern of one inch holes drilled into it (for ventilation). By leaving the doors on, instead of just removing one of them, it created a lip which helped keep the litter in the cabinet.
In our current house, when we added an interior stairway, there was a small area under the landing that the contractor was going to open to the garage, but we had him instead enclosed the garage side and open in on the interior side (in our laundry/mud room), and we use that 3′x3′ space for litter boxes. Not quite as easy to clean, as it’s a couple of inches below floor level inside the cat “bathroom”, but not too bad. And out of the way, which is key.
I have a catio that is acessed thru a window in my laundry room. I slide the window open…put a piece of plywood fit to cut in the opening. Put a bought “cat door” in it and presto…acess to the outside without the cold (or hot) coming in. The door came with a way to lock it …which happens when we weed eat the inside of the catio and the cats have to stay inside.