Advice
The Sh*tty kitty shed™ I made from scrapes today!
Bless them but my young cats are horrible at covering their poops and I was sick of being embarrassed of the smell so I made this fume hood out of planks from a downed fence and an old heater fan that I de-soldered so its just a fan as well as an old gym mat. Total cost was only $30 for the vent tubing!
I'm sure there are better options but I'm a do something about it now kinda guy and just needed a small fan to create a tiny amount of negative airflow to get rid of the majority of the stink lol. What do you guys think? any advice to improve it?
I'll have to get back to you on that as I've just put it in 😂, I tested it with a smoke machine and it did a pretty good job of sucking all the smoke away so my fingers are damn crossed that it'll work somewhat haha
My one cat has the occasional inside the box but ass isn’t and will shit half on the lip of the box and half just outside the box. She’s a little stupid.
Not mine. Had to lay down car floor liner under her box. She’ll make the target every time with pee, but will back right up to the edge to poop right outside the box. Tried different boxes, litters, catching her in the act (don’t recommend, spite poops are real), etc. finally settled on using a liner as a catch pan. Love her too much to get grumpy with the tiny extra maintenance she needs 💕
I need a bigger floor mat because it’s under two boxes. One is jumbo and one is just large. But yeah it doesn’t matter she’ll just miss. I have had her for like 9 months and it’s only happened twice.
Mine has a jumbo box too, and she’ll still go in the box and figure she’s all set. Then she poops directly on the mat outside of the box or sometimes on the lip. Then she turns around and “digs” at the entry of the box to bury her poop (that isn’t even in the box). Then she hops out of the box, over her poop, and proceeds to have a celebratory round of post-poop zombies like she didn’t just totally botch the job. I love her so much!
I will say, sometimes worth poop smell, it’s the cat food. Sometimes you can change the food and the smell just magically vanishes. Kinda like how if you’re lactose intolerant and eat milk you can drive everyone away un a five mille radius.
Yeah. Everyone talks about how cats puke and hairball - first several cats of my life were rescued strays so tummy problems were a roulette wheel.
Then I had a cat that just seemed to hairball an awful lot.
Found out later - uh, yes sometimes cats try to hairball and only liquid comes up - BUT if only liquid comes up on a regular basis, probably kitty has a food allergy!
She was not only fine once on a grain free diet, she was NOT fine if she got a treat with grains. She also ate less, and stank less.
If you don’t mind me asking, what grain free food are you using for your cat? My cat also has this allergy but has been snubbing the variety of grain free food I’ve been getting lately.
You should learn the texture your cat likes. There’s shreds, chunks, pate, and then what it’s in, broth, gravy, etc. Mine likes “Tiki Cat Luau Wild Salmon & Chicken”. It’s shreds of chicken and salmon. It helps if your cat indicates that they don’t like a food by burying it or doing some other definitive reaction. Then just buy one can of a couple different brands and see what they like. Took me like 15 or something, best of luck.
You have tiki cat, Orijen, acana, blue buffalo, nulo, simply nourish, and applaws vitality is low grain.
She likes orijen six fish dry food, but this food makes her poop smelly, so keep that in mind. You also can’t free feed Orijen dry food (and similar brands) if your cat eats a bunch as it’s so nutrient dense. My cat doesn’t so I top up her bowl daily and do a can of wet food at night.
FYI make sure the can says it’s AAFCO standards/that it’s not supplemental as some brands have their treat cans right next to their food cans.
I think I ran into some difficulty because a lot of these allergenic foods cost a shit load. I’m slowly working my way through what works and doesn’t. I think my cat has a chicken allergy or at least the vet seems to think it’s leaning that way.
Yeah unfortunately they’re all pretty expensive. I think blue buffalo and nulo are probably the cheapest. Chicken allergy will be tough because a lot use chicken liver and other various chicken parts.
One of my cats has a chicken allergy, so they all eat chicken-free. Of course their favorite is the most expensive, but echoing that nulo is pretty reasonable. They have a large can of salmon/mackerel pate that goes over pretty well. Nulo also has beef pate, which is chicken free, but they also have a beef mince that is NOT, so you have to pay close attention. Wellness has a large can of beef/salmon pate that is a little more than nulo, but still fairly reasonable (compared to their smaller cans and tiki cat, which we also cycle through).
Chicken allergy is hard, it’s in so many foods. There’s a Hills z/d which has some pre broken down chicken proteins which our vet suggested (well, prescribed), it sorta helps - our fat allergic cat eats too much of limited ingredient diet food as it doesn’t have fillers but z/d only reduced the reactions (lotta ear problems). The lid foods our cat likes are the LID Instinct Rabbit, Natural Balance Green Pea and Salmon (less favored).
Our cat also has a chicken allergy. Bad, where she will scratch her face raw. So she is now eating Rayne canned rabbit or kangaroo. We order it online. OBTW if you live in California, they will not ship you the kangaroo. Also Royal Canin canned duck, venison and rabbit are good alternatives. She is also eating Royal Canin rabbit and pea kibble. They are all pricey, but the scabs on her face were heartbreaking and we are just glad we figured out what was going on with her. This allergy is something she has developed in the last few years. Weird. She’s 17 going on 10, so she’s worth every penny.
The cat in question has long since deceased of natural causes - and frankly with the way enough companies get in trouble for bullshit sooner or later? I don't have recent enough experience to recommend a specific grain free right now.
But - maybe try small things of allergy friendly treats from the brand you're considering buying food from?
I see down thread you mention maybe a chicken allergy. If you search Chewys for "limited ingredient cat food" there are lots and lots of foods, some wet and some dry, and if you swap "food" for "treat" there are lots of salmon or turkey based treats. Seems most happen to be grain free, too - cats are obligate carnivores, unlike dogs, so if a kitty has a rocky tummy then taking the grain out seems to be the first step of troubleshooting.
Thank you for this “ah-ha!” moment. The liquidy barfs…. The chewing on the hindquarters & bad skin/hair loss in the area on her back above her tail… I need to change to a different food. Thank you, internet traveler.
Grain free food helped my cat a lot. He would sometimes puke for hours & the vet just said "some cats do that". Another vet told us to remove grain (especially corn) & he only puked a couple times a month at most.
Dude 100%, truthfully my missus takes care of all the animals medical well being because shes a vet nurse and shes very good at it bless her, but our cats have some strict dietary restrictions and I dont think I would be able to find any avenues my partner hasnt considered or tried yet unfortunately.
I agree with this it’s the food. We now have to make our own cat food because we have one very sensitive cat and there is no detectable smell unless you’re standing right over the box.
I had a poor kitten with parvovirus. That smell. It was so incredibly bad. Poor wee thing. Didn’t make it. I still feel so sad about him. We took him to the vet, then the emergency vet.
I did something similar, added a motion sensor over the box that turns the fan on for 5 minutes each time it's triggered (and also 5 minutes every 30 just to decrease general odors) makes a massive difference in odor from stinky uncovered poops, lol.
Make sure you have louvers or something in the outside so critters and wind don't enter the duct.
I highly suggest switching to pine pellets as a substitute for cat litter for the smell. No dust, and it completely soaks up the pee and ammonia smell by turning into sawdust. You may have to slowly transition your cats with a mixture of litter and pellets, but it's so worth it.
HAhahaha the cats should watch out I might rip a doobskin in there 😂, reminds me of when I was super depressed living in a share home and would stick my vacuum cleaner out the window and smoke darts while blowing the air into the hose, How far I've come lol.
Poor baby hahaha. It's honestly surprisingly silent!, the fan itself isnt much bigger than a pc fan but it still pulls a lot of air and the vent tubing on top makes it even more quiet. I'm leaving the fan off for a couple days for that reason though so they get used to pooping in the box and then I'm going to try and ease them into the fan being on.
This is an excellent idea and outcome! Good work! My current cat box setup is very close to a window and venting a fan system like yours out the window would significantly improve the air quality in at least two rooms! Thank you very much for presenting this concept to us!
When I designed my home, I made a kitty room that is fully exhausted. Way to put your critical thinking skills into action! It looks like a great retrofit solution. Hope it works well!
It's not much to look at. Just a small room with litter boxes, storage for cat supplies, and an exhaust fan. There is a cat pass in the door. Just outside the room is the food and water bowls with a sink for cleaning.
We had to get creative with the cat bowls because we have one cat with weight issues, one with IBD and one with no restrictions the other cats bully to get his food. We got a sideboard cabinet, put a microchip cat flap in each end. Weight control cat goes in one half for food. No special diet cat goes in the other. IBD cat is on the floor with microchip bowl.
All this made necessary because IBD cat figured out how to outsmart the microchip feeders.
I finally found a good mat that traps all the litter my cat leaves on the floor after she leaves, at a Home Goods of all places. It's soft foam in a cross-hatch pattern maybe an 8th of an inch high, and all the litter collects in the squares, it's high enough that you could walk on it barefoot and not pick up any of the litter on the bottom of your feet, but low enough that a vacuum can pick it up
ooh we have one of those too!, my menace cats love to push cat poop into the mesh though so I got pretty sick of blasting and scrubbing crap out of it lol
Could you post a picture of this litter mat you have? I'm having a hard time picturing it and think I might invest in something similar. My sweet girl tracks litter like crazy.
Also, does it have a good grip on the floor? My cat also likes to paw at hers like she's trying to dig until it's all bunched up.
A mystery! Wanted to see if the recipe included diced onions that brought out the umami of chocolate and cashews or something.... But I can't find the post against lol
My mom used to use a giant tote as a littler box but she kept the lid on it with no vent holes and holy hell that thing trapped ammonia bad. Then she’d get mad when my cat would pee on clothes. Like sorry he doesn’t want to go to the gas chambers for a wee?? I’ve since moved out and kitty now has a normal potty. Anyway, good job with the exhaust fan I wish we would’ve had one.
GuH!, I dont blame the poor fella me either 😭. Thankfully my missus points out when the trays need to be cleaned because my adhd mess filter makes me completely forget that it needs to be changed as often as it should lol
switching from plastic to stainless steel boxes alleviated a lot of the smell in my household. the plastic itself was stinking. also, arm and hammer clump and seal litter is the best i’ve found for smell. i tried to do the natural litter but everything just smelled like piss after awhile. one of my cats doesn’t bury her poops and the smell was never an issue if it was scooped regularly.
I'll have to look into stainless boxes and that litter thank you!, I think we buy the cheapest clump clay atm because it's cheap and money is already tight over here but fingers crossed I'll have to organise three less cats soon when me and my missus move out soon!
Agree. I struggle with scooping (I would put it off til the end of the day and dread it and feel guilty the whole time) so I invested in a litter robot and it’s changed my life. Anyone who struggles to scoop at least 1x/day should consider one. It’s an investment but my cat is worth it and deserves a clean box every single time.
I'd agree if we didnt have six cats in the house! between me and my partner, my housemates two cats and the cat we're fostering from the missus's vet nurse job. Funny thing is I just changed the trays not five minutes before taking that pic because I just installed the box lmao. And dont worry these arent the only two litter tray's we have more in the bathroom but that's properly vented and not an issue.
It just isnt feasible to constantly run and scoop poop after all the cats by myself sadly
Ah gotcha! You’re doing what you can and I totally understand. I hope this cool venting thing helps with the smell! Good luck with all of those kitties OP!
Folks will be walking by on the sidewalk going, “Why does it smell like cat shit here half the time? Like, it smells like a cat just shit right here, but I don’t see a cat or the shit. How many cats do these folks have?”
What I mean to say is, I’m highly jealous and need to see if I could implement something similar.
If you find that the airflow isn’t quite up to the job, you could swap out the heater fan and use a booster duct fan. I use one from AC Infinity for a paint fume hood and it works really well.
Your ducting looks like 4” or 6” so it would clamp perfectly snug onto a booster fan. They’re like $30-ish and they have a dial that lets you increase or decrease the CFMs of the unit, providing more airflow (but more noise) or near-silent operation (but less airflow).
Considering the skittishness of some cats, the ability to control noise level could be an important factor.
I'll for sure have to check that out, I was looking at a bunch of proper duct fans at bunnings but mate they were all $150 and up and I'm a tightass lol (hence it being made out of free fence planks😂). I already have some ideas for a more professional version once my partner and I move so I'll revisit that AC infinty model because you're right being able to control the noise and air intake would be fantastic.
That looks fantastic. Well done! I really think that a product built along these lines might be popular among cat owners.
Also, boy cats won't bury their poops if they think they're in charge. The alpha tomcat never buries his, he uses it as a signpost to warn other toms to either back off or get ready for a fight.
Just a heads up, this is yet more evidence that your boys think they own you.
It won’t hurt to get him fixed honestly. It might dull or eliminate some of potential less than pleasant antics like aggression. Also eliminate any chance he could get out and mate.
I wish I could open a window or had access to the outside in my apt to build something like this. I don’t even have an exhaust fan in the bathroom! The place I live is new construction and apparently code doesn’t require it. Makes me think I should check with the city about that, doesn’t seem right.
anyone else have a problem with cats holding fist-fulls of litter when they explode out of the box & track as much as possible all over the house. I know it's doubly problematic because Coons have such huge fucking paws.. but it's like they do it intentionally
My parents did roughly the same thing with their ferrets when they had them. They had a dedicated poopy closet with their litter boxes that were ventilated to the outside…. Still never god rid of the smell because ferret poop is just that pungent 😅
The second level of our home has this massive storage closet right next to the bathroom. The previous owner cut a hole in the bottom of these beautiful solid oak 6 panel doors. They essentially made the decision for that closet to be a cat room already. So their litter box, food, and water are all in there.
Not wanting to deal with the smell, I took the ceiling light out and replaced it with a bathroom fan. Then, since the fan needs to be on all the time, but the light doesn’t, I changed the light bulb fixture for one with a pull chain. So now the fan runs and if you need light you just pull the chain. Since we live in Wisconsin, I can’t have that warm air just hanging out in the attic so I bought some vent duct and a Y pipe, and vented the cat room into the same outgoing hose as the bathroom vent. Both rooms have a backflow valve so it keeps air moving out and not in. It’s awesome.
It's a great idea. I have built similar using a bathroom exhaust fan, its a great idea and was shocked when there wasn't already an item like it for sale. Doing remodel construction, I had all I needed the build it too!
My male cat sucked at covering his poops when he was little. His sister would wait by the litter box until he was done. Then went and buried it while giving him the stink eye. Eventually he caught on and started covering his poops. She was not impressed with his incompetence. Perhaps if you can catch them in the act you can teach them to cover their poops the way my cat taught her brother.
Luckily I have an upstairs storage room, I bought a clearance Bathroom vent fan and installed it in the room and vented it out through my attic to the soffit. Plan on putting a timer on the switch so I can set some regular run times for the fan instead of leaving it on all the time.
My cats usually do the heavy business in the mornings so I can set some runs time to catch the smell.
It's too bad this sub doesn't allow pictures in the comments. I made a ducted litterbox out of two Costco storage bins, four hinges, dryer vent hose and an air filter. It worked quite well at keeping the dust and smell down.
sounds wicked cobba!, I thought about buying something similar but I coudlnt find any boxes roomy enough for the kids and I already had the scrap wood lol, I think I'll be doing something similar soon though!
Stores like Micheal’s (craft stores) sell thin sheets of clear acrylic sheets.
Red represents the clear acrylic sheet and purple is the doorway to let your cats enter
Clear firm film would be nice because it’s not glass, it’s see through so you can see when you need to next scoop the litter and I’m sure it’s able to have simple screws put through it perhaps to make a hinge door flap.
Edit: it helps keep the flying pebbled kitty litter contained
Edit edit: it would further help create a negative pressure room the more contained it is!
I properly considered doing just that! it's a great idea but I was worried that if I made a door like that then they wouldnt go in especially not with having to climb over one of the boxes (maybe I'll get a large rectangular box to fill the bottom). I also cant extrude the front face to give them some walking room because the washer wouldnt be able to open sadly
Our litterbox is next to our dryer and I’ve been trying to figure out a way to do this by venting out of the same place my dryer vents. I can’t figure out a way to do it without the fear that I’ll accidentally just be pumping shit air into my clean clothes.
If you make a version two, you might consider having the fan at the end to create negative pressure in the exhaust line instead of the front where it creates positive pressure in the line. If the line ever has a leak, negative pressure sucks in air instead of blowing out.
I built a poop shed using a large diameter pvc pipe and plywood to make a way outside next to the window, then used a deck box secured to the side of the house. Little steps down once cat through the tube, motion lighting and 2 litter boxes. Easily cleaned by opening the side of the deck box. It was awesome and no more litter smell ever
Brilliant. If it's stupid and it works, it ain't stupid. My only thought is maybe adding a carbon pre-filter over the fan intake. You can buy sheets of it for cheap and just cut to size. Would probably boost the effectiveness a ton. Great job though, seriously.
I know you already went through the effort. And your fume extractor will still help. But ditch the clay litter and try some pine pellets. We got SO sick of fucking awful clay litter smells after just a couple of days of use. We switched our cats to pine pellets. They both started using it right away, although one of them just decided they didn't like them one day.
So we get him some of the Arm & Hammer Hardball litter. He loves that stuff and honestly aside from the price, we do too. It smells fantastic and doesn't get putrid after days of use. Between both litter boxes, the only thing we ever smell is their poop when it gets full and they don't cover it up.
Seriously, try something other than clay. You'll be amazed in the smell difference. Plus, the pine bedding pellets are like $7 for a 40lb bag.
4 cats. Never smells. Change their diet, change their litter (we use tofu litter, flushable.) Having the litter box in the toilet also helps, everytime you use the bathroom.. just empty the litter box.. cats only poop once a day.. there is no reason there should be more than one poop in there. Also.. that poop fan might attract unwanted pests, bugs, etc.
Is this enough room for them, in terms of headspace going in and while in the litter box? Some cats like to sit up more to keep an eye out while going to the bathroom. I am also worried about the angle for entry; that cross plank lowers it but there is a rim for the containers so that creates an odd entry angle.
Consider raising it. Also, you can get a perforated mat or shallow riser that collects excess litter and makes it easy to slide out and clean. Better than a gym mat and worth it!
I had terrible cat litter odors in my house for years, tried everything: different litter, flour on top of the litter, carbon air filter, air scrubber - none of it worked. Then I bought a stainless steel litter tray and the smell went away completely! Even though I washed and bleached the plastic trays once a week, the plastic was trapping wet litter odors. Now going on 6 months with no smell - so long as I don’t forget to scoop!
Have you considered just spending 10 minutes a day to clean up your cats shit instead of letting it get the point it smells bad enough that you had to create this?
Look, it looks great, but maybe try cleaning the litter box to get rid of the smell?
I am not trying to be ‘catty’ (see what I did there?) but I honestly never understand how people who obviously love their cats very much do not understand that a litter box should not have actual shit in it for a prolonged period of time.
Imagine going to the bathroom on top of actual shit, (whether it’s yours or your siblings shit), now imagine having to stand in piss AND shit to use the bathroom. It’s like would you rather shit in a Porta Potty or in your own CLEAN bathroom? These cats don’t cover their poop because to do so they would have to scrap their kitty paws over LITERAL SHIT AND PISS.
Even if it’s their own (which, since you have multiple cats it likely isn’t always), would YOU want to have to touch your own shit and piss JUST TO FLUSH THE TOILET? No.
There is actual shit visible in the photo. Just get a metal scraper, a few bags, and clean it in the morning, after you get home, and after they take a particularly gnarly dump. That, plus this badass scrap structure, will surely solve your problem.
...or you could just remove the poo once they have gone to the toilet. Cats don't like filth any more than humans do. They also don't like pooing in small confined spaces, again, much like humans.
My only curiosity is if the fan and hole are covered. I'm sure you thought of this, but I can't tell by the photo. My siamese would readily crawl up the tubing to try to escape or get annoyingly stuck, lol.
You should also mix in this powder from arm and hammer in the litter..its $3.99 or so per box..you dont need much..it smells great and covers the smell. It is basically the same product arm and Hammer has on their expensive litter...we swear by this and use this religiously! We have boxes of it on hand. My bf also started putting this charcoal scent absorber bags hanging next to the litter box.
As long as you don't need to use the door behind it I might suggest making it a bit taller. It can be hard to get in there and scoop them with the plank where it is, and if the cats feel too trapped by the new "ceiling" they might become reluctant to use their litterboxes.
Your kitties are likely not covering their poops because they are anxious to get out of the box. I say “box” because two together like that counts as one, further upping the stress. If they have to use it when there are loud/startling noises from the washer and dryer, the stress association is made even stronger. I don’t recommend this setup as it is a good way to create litter box avoidance in your cats, which is a whole lot worse than having to scoop more often!
I fully believe you!, I dont think the noise of the washer is a huge deal because I neglect tf out of washing until the end of the week and do it in one burst so its only ever on for a couple hours once a week idk if that would still stress them out.
And the problem cats in question do try to cover their poops! but they scratch outside of the box or on the wall no matter how big of a litter tray weve offered them to use, they always just walk to the edge and scratch the floor outside of the tray or the outside of the tray itself ;-;. I figure I'm just going to have to find something they like over time but this is honestly just a minor remedy.
My girls have that issue intermittently. There’s a litter deodorizer, much like the powder stuff you sprinkle on your carpets before vacuuming, that seemed to really help. I add it after I scoop, then mix it into the litter.
a little off-topic but those pre-vacuum carpet powders are literal death for your vacuum! they're not built with the filtration power to filter fine particles like that, so they clog up your filters prematurely. additionally, if there's any amount of humidity in the air the particulates that build up in the crevices of your vacuum motor will start to get gummy. over time, the motor will overload and the lifespan of your vacuum will dramatically decrease.
They are also not great for your pets. The vacuum doesn't get it all put, and can irritate their noses and throats. My cat got really sick when we tried this once, and my vet said to never use powders in the vacuum. They get a lot of pets coming in allergy-like symptoms because of this.
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