Litterbox odor seems to be a concern with many cat owners. It also seems to be a big part of a decision in whether or not to get a cat. In addition, many who proclaim to not like cats say the smell is a part of the problem. Our family includes five cats and we have never had a problem with this. The advice in this article is from personal experience, not medical or professional advice and should only be treated as personal advice.
Litter Training:
First off, you need to make sure your kitty is litter trained. We have not seen an untrainable kitty as of yet. To train your kitty to use the litterbox, show your kitty how to scratch their paws in the litterbox by helping them do it. I personally isolate new kitties for at least 2 weeks in a single room with food, water and litterbox.
Spaying or neutering your cat is likely to help with training. Sometimes, even a litter trained cat will “mark” outside the litterbox if he is she is unaltered. Spaying or neutering at 5-6 months may help you avoid this phase altogether.
If your kitty does not use the litterbox, you might want to have them checked out for any medical problems they may have. Urinary tract infection and feline urinary syndrome are common causes of eliminating outside of the litterbox.
As a final note to training, declawing your cat greatly increases the risk that your cat will not use a litterbox. I’ve seen statistics as high as 50% of declawed cats with litterbox problems. In trying to save your furniture, etc. you may be trading rips for urine smell (and the rips are preventable, try a scratching post or worst case, claw covers). I have 5 cats with claws and none have destroyed anything other than toys I bought for them.
Once your kitty is trained….
You need to clean the litterbox properly. Sometimes people who have a problem with “cat smell” just don’t bother to clean their litterbox as they should. To put out a litterbox, forget about it and expect it to never smell, quite honestly is like giving your dog a newspaper, letting them poop and pee on it for several days and then wondering why your house smells.
Have an adequate number of litterboxes for the number of kitties you have. One box per kitty. They may not each use the litterbox you designate to them and you will see more than one kitty using a box, still, if the correct amount of litterboxes is available, you’ll probably find that they each use multiple litterboxes.
Use an adequate amount of litter, at least 2-3 inches in each box.
Scoop the litter box every single day without fail. This is very important. Some otherwise litter trained cats will go outside of the litterbox if its saturated. Can you blame them? Would you use a toilet that was never flushed?
Change the litter at least once a week, more if a box is more frequently used than others. COMPLETELY wash out the litterbox and let it dry before putting in the new litter. We’ve found plain bleach and water to be a good cleaning solution. Of course, you sho9uld nevr mix blach with ammonia, so clean the urine out of he litterbox before you bleach it. Then use a bleach and water solution and let it dry completely, preferably in direct sunligh before adding new litter. Some cleaners, especially orange scented, repel cats from urinating so be careful what you use.
Types of Litter: This is not a product endorsement, just is what our family chooses. We use plain Clay litter with litter box deodorizer. Tidy Cats blue Crystals litter worked well for us, it was really the best we’ve tried but our dogs did what dogs do to litterboxes and got sick. Our vet could not say whether or not ingesting it was safe for dogs so we switched back to clay litter with tidy cat deodorizer. We use only non clumping litter to eliminate health risks. Plain baking soda also worked well for us as a litterbox deodorizer, so if you don’t like fragrances, etc. it might be a good option. As to the litter, we use unscented as sometimes scented litter can throw a kitty “off” and make them not want to use it.
As stated above, many declawed cats do not want to use their litterbox. Some think the texture of the litter may contribute. If you have already declawed your cat or have adopted a declawed rescue, try different textured litters, some do work better than others.
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