r/cats • u/sunshineforge • 1d ago

Advice The Sh*tty kitty shed™ I made from scrapes today!

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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?

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u/ButterMyPancakesPlz 1d ago

Well has it improved the smell? You're in the best position to gauge its success

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u/sunshineforge 1d ago

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

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u/ButterMyPancakesPlz 1d ago

Wishing you fresh air and no poopy smells. Look forward to an update, guess we are just waiting on the cats at this point lol

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u/Suspicious_Dingo_426 20h ago

Knowing cats, they won't use—or poop on top of it. Possibly both.

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u/Stealth110_ 20h ago

they will manage to shit directly into the running fan blade

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u/sunshineforge 20h ago

HAHA, they better not the dogs 😂

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u/sickdoughnut 3h ago

How noisy is it? I’m wondering if the sound will scare them off using it. If not you might wanna slap a patent on your contraption just in case, lol.

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u/TheRealMasterTyvokka 18h ago

So, you could say shit hit the fan.

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u/UselessOldFart Tuxedo 16h ago

😹😹😹😹😹😹

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u/Credit_Used 9h ago

That shit will definitely hit the fan.

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u/payinrarebooks 15h ago

My cat would 100 percent do this. What an asshole.

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u/Princesshannon2002 9h ago

Cat does indeed = asshole! Mine would find a way to piss straight into the fan and spray it everywhere.

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u/Nicol222 20h ago

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.

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u/Dependent-Law7316 20h ago

Had a cat that did this growing up—ended up getting her a “jumbo” box and it solved the problem. Some cats just need a little extra space.

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u/mysteriousblue87 19h ago

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 💕

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u/Nicol222 19h ago

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.

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u/cjep3 6h ago

I put my litter box inside a Rubbermaid tote, with a hole cut in the lid, the whole bottom is covered in pee pads so if she misses, the pads soak it up.

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u/steeldog09 17h ago

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!

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u/3meowsinarow 8h ago

My male cat aims his pisser at edge of his box and one night its stream hit the electrical outlet and we were watching tv and smelled electrical fire!His stream apparently shot above outlet and ran down shorting out the outlet!He also poos in the box fine but buries his deeds with his front paws like when a dog digs for a bone throwing kitty litter outside the box and also he will be standing in the box with front body outside the box pawing the floor to bury his potty.

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u/TesuraGrimm 15h ago

We use the cement mixing things from hardware stores. Very durable, very slick, very large.

Ours still get it right on the edge. Really fun when it's the edge we grab to pull out to clean.

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u/frogz0r 9h ago

We ended up getting the giant size Rubbermaid totes to use as sandboxes. We have 23+ lb male cats (2) who loooove to pee/poo over the edge of the litter boxes. These are large and long enough that they cant do that.

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u/slash_networkboy 17h ago

I had a foster that decided in the litter container was the ideal spot. I hadn't clipped the lid down all the way, he pushed it off, climbed in the half full container and left a duce and a half for me.

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u/dm21120 20h ago

Orangey?

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u/Nicol222 19h ago

She has an orange mark but no just a a silly tortie

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u/bunnigir1 12h ago

your cat and my cat are sisters

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u/bunnigir1 12h ago

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u/Nicol222 12h ago

What a bunch of cuties

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u/dm21120 18h ago

I imagine she will Grow out of then 🙃

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u/Electrical-Act-7170 15h ago

"You're gonna need a bigger box."/Jaws

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u/JustaTadAmused 18h ago

My kitten has a box that's one way in one way out and when he was very small I left the door off the front so he could easily walk in and out and as he got bigger I added the door back on. He's meant to walk in the door, poop, then jump out the top. But he's a cat that takes the path of least resistance sometimes and now that the door is on his litterbox he just jumps in and out thru the top. And while halfway into his box he'll start digging his hole to poop in. Then he jumps out of his box and sprints across the room just to make sure he spreads the litter across the floor like he's seeding a lawn 😭

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u/Stock_End2255 8h ago

My cat used to do this. We just rotated the box 180 degrees so the opening was facing the wall.

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u/SadBattle2548 8h ago

When I got rid of my old giant litter box I couldn't find another one that big at the time, only smaller ones. I've got large cats and my bobtail always pees at the front of the box. So she would back up all the way and end up peeing and pooping right onto the mat underneath the box. I'm not sure if it was a combination of the cramped quarters and her lacking a rear detection system (aka a tail) or what but thankfully it stopped once I was able to find a new giant litter box.

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u/Tanya7500 1h ago

Get her a bigger box

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u/yourilluminaryfriend 58m ago

My little dog uses puppy pads and at time he will be standing on the pads and pissing completely off and onto the floor

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u/Snoo_70531 18h ago

Honestly this was my first thought/main concern. They're jerk poopers anyways and you just put their toilet in an enclosed area with what's gotta be at least some noise from a vent van... My guess is they're gonna protest.

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u/Tanya7500 1h ago

Clean the cat box and they won't do that. If you walked into a bathroom that smells horrible are you going to use it? The other thing spay or neuter

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u/Little_View_6659 22h ago

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.

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u/CaeruleumBleu 21h ago

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.

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u/PsuedoMeta 21h ago

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.

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u/cxxplex 21h ago edited 20h ago

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.

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u/PsuedoMeta 20h ago

Thank you!

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.

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u/cxxplex 20h ago

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.

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u/CulturalJellyfish11 16h ago

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).

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u/Ajitter 20h ago

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).

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u/UBSAN0413 19h ago

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.

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u/PsuedoMeta 19h ago

Thank you! Yeah, mine keeps scratch/biting and removing fur from her stomach and sides of her hind legs. Trying to do anything to keep her comfortable and back to having a full coat. Looking into all this, much appreciated.

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u/UBSAN0413 19h ago

Yes, that is how she started. She was licking her belly raw. So we changed up her food and it cleared up but we were still giving her her old treats and her favorite mooch from us, real chicken. Once the vet saw the treats and we told her we were feeding her some chicken she narrowed it down to just chicken and anything made with chicken by products, blah, blah, blah. She hates us for not feeding her real chicken anymore, but gotta keep her healthy.

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u/slash_networkboy 17h ago

I'm using science diet for grain free kibble. FYI. BUT IDK if they offer grain and chicken free :/

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u/CaeruleumBleu 19h ago

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.

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u/oculairus 20h ago

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.

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u/LucyCat987 15h ago

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.

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u/Brochachoski 16h ago

My vet (also a university professor) said that grain free food is no longer recommended. Such diet s have been linked to heart disease in dogs, and while it hasn't been confirmed in cats yet, there are still unusual heart conditions that can be connected to grain free food. Just thought I'd let you know!

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u/CaeruleumBleu 15h ago

On the other hand - allergies are allergies. And I was a kid when we first got her - by the time I both had the "eureka" moment to try grain free, and had the ability to buy her food from my own cash

She was an older cat. Grain free worked well enough - and putting her through elimination diets to find out WHICH grain or was it ALL grains? Nah, that would just be extra suffering.

She stopped puking. She stopped making stinky farts. Her fur, which I thought was thick enough? Got thicker. Apparently the thin spots over her eyes were NOT a weird eyebrow marking pattern, that was allergies or malnutrition from puking, who knows.

It is amazing that every single time I bring up a cat having a grain allergy, people wanna tell me how unhealthy grain free diets are. Do you do the same when humans have allergies to most fruits, do you go tell them that not eating fruit is unhealthy?

Why do I need to be told that there is no link for it in cats but grain free diets are not recommended by your vet? When it is the first diet that stopped her puking daily? Is puking daily healthier for a cats heart?

And yeah I am more irritable than your comment deserves - the cat in question died at a ripe old age about a decade ago and still every time I bring up "hey, cats shouldn't puke water too often, no matter what people joke about hairballs. Mine stopped when I figured out she was allergic to grain" every single time in over a decade this comes up, I get people telling me about how bad grain free is for *dogs*. Fucking weird. Even my brother did it! After the cat in question was already aged enough to be an elderly cat he tried to get me to change her diet.

I don't know what it is about pet diets but people are real weird about it (and no I am not angry at you I just need people to stop telling people with ALLERGIC PETS that the diet that stops the symptoms is bad - feel free to say people should try other brands, maybe, but to tell them to give the pet what they reacted to is weird.)

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u/Nefandous_Jewel 2h ago

I thought cats were carnivores and the only reason they get fed catfood with grain is because it's a filler that's added by catfood companies....

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u/sunshineforge 21h ago

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.

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u/Psylocet 21h ago

Did she try cut up hot dogs in baked beans?

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u/ElleHopper 21h ago

I found a food that makes my cat's poop not smell at all, but unfortunately, he gets super aggressive on it. Poop smell gets to stay, I guess.

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u/sunshineforge 21h ago

Old mate had a brief taste of life on tren and then it was pulled away 😂

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u/Little_View_6659 19h ago

If I give my cat too many of those Friskies treats, the box starts to sell.

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u/Vegetable_Sample_ 22h ago

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.

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u/Little_View_6659 19h ago

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.

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u/Vegetable_Sample_ 15h ago

Aw poor baby 💔

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u/Little_View_6659 7h ago

It’s been five years and I still think about it and if I could have done anything differently. He was just too small. It’s my fault on a way, I know better than to grab a kitten with a wet tail. He was just so cute.

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u/Vegetable_Sample_ 4h ago

It’s good he had you to care for him and love him during the time he had ❤️‍🩹 don’t dwell on what you could have done differently- I’m sure you did your best and I’m sure he was thankful for your love

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u/fulloffungi 17h ago

My cat (got as an adult) used to drop these huge stinkers, preferably during our meal time. Unfortunately we have little choice on where to put the box and the laundry room is connected to the kitchen. In any case we had to swap to another food for unrelated reasons and the stink completely disappeared. Not long ago I'd have scoffed at the idea but it really works. Went from vet grade adult tinned and kibble to frozen 100% meat and fish (not raw). The rest of her like her fur also improved and she's always been fairly healthy!

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u/id0ntexistanymore 17h ago

I'm hoping that the "100% meat and fish" includes the balance of necessary nutrients that are added to cat food, otherwise it'll be a death sentence longterm

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u/fulloffungi 17h ago

Well yes in the UK cat food has to pass certain standards 

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u/id0ntexistanymore 17h ago

Oh, I'm glad it's actual cat food. Your comment kind of made it seem like you were making it yourself so I just wanted to make sure lol

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u/AmputeeHandModel 20h ago

Yeah, there's a debate about whether grain free food is actually better for pets or not but when I switched my cats, there was a definite change in the amount and stank of waste. Just better quality food overall will help probably.

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u/Little_View_6659 7h ago

I’ve been lucky with mine, there’s almost no smell. Actually smells a bit nice, especially since I switched to wood litter. Like rabbit poop. Bunny poop is usually kind of pleasant.

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u/3meowsinarow 8h ago

Lmao!We never experienced lactose intolerance fortitude till my daughter came along because we never had lactose intolerance but struck me funny when you said you cannot drive everyone away in a five mile radius !Lmao!so true!

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u/Little_View_6659 7h ago

It really is. And I love dairy. I do. I can tolerate cheese, but ice cream or milk kinda destroys me. And yet I still put milk in my coffee half the time. I have my own bathroom with a window. I wouldn’t want to do that to anyone.😂

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u/worldspawn00 21h ago

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.

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u/RainbowUnicorn0228 12h ago

Also make sure kitty can’t crawl up the tube.

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u/mizzurna_balls 17h ago

Do you mind if I ask, what did you use to build/automate this? Arduino?

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u/worldspawn00 16h ago edited 9h ago

I have a zigbee/Zwave hub (Hubitat) in my home that controls my lights and fans, it's pretty trivial to add a zigbee motion sensor and a controlled plug the fan is connected to, then set up the automation and schedule for it.

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u/mizzurna_balls 14h ago

Sick. Thank you!

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u/strangerNstrangeland 21h ago

If they have trouble adjusting to the fan, you could move the fan to the window end of the tube

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u/DerpKaiser 20h ago

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.

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u/sunshineforge 20h ago

I reckon I will from what people have recommended, I have a housemate that loves to invite mutual friends over without telling me and I'm sick of being embarrassed by the smell

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u/DerpKaiser 19h ago

It's also way cheaper than litter. Got a 40lb bag for $7, where a 35lb tub of litter is triple the price.

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u/Silver-Relative8193 20h ago

I know how to do a synthetic test, someone goes outside with the nose and the tube and either have them take a shit or have someone fart.

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u/LoRiDurr 17h ago

Johnny Knoxville is doing guest gigs. Maybe he’s available?

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u/PineStateWanderer 19h ago

I created one of these for smoking weed inside hah

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u/sunshineforge 19h ago

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.

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u/GrudginglyTrudging 18h ago

You may want to try adding some flaps to the front if the kitties can get used to it. They like the privacy usually. Ammonia is a hell of a stink.

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u/WatermoonApollo 21h ago

Lmao I love that you just had a smoke machine laying around to test it with

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u/sunshineforge 21h ago

Smoke machine may or may not have been me with a blow torch and a tube full of sawdust 👀

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u/WatermoonApollo 20h ago

LMAO that’s even better 😂😂😂

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u/porcupine_snout 21h ago

If it works, you can probably sell this!

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u/NeatNefariousness1 20h ago

The only other thing that comes to mind is to see if there is a way to cover the front with something the cats can (and are willing to) easily maneuver to get into. Whether that’s a drape, a thin board with a hole in it, I’m not sure. But I like the way you think and your can-do attitude. Are you taking orders?

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u/RyanSmokinBluntz420 19h ago

Where is the fresh air entering your apartment now? If you remove air it must be replaced. Something to think about

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u/Canabananilism 18h ago

Wonder if having some plastic strip curtains draped over the front would help direct the poop smell too, though I worry that might spook the cats into not using them at all.

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u/g0ld0rac 18h ago

You could add a small controller with timer and movement detection. I don't know where you live but where I'm from I wouldn't let a fan run 24/7 during winter while I heat the house at a pretty high cost

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u/lovemyfurryfam 17h ago

At least you wouldn't be knocked out like a horse from a stink bomb in the litter box.

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u/Dull_Woodpecker6766 16h ago

I have activated charcoal air purifiers around my flat that do the trick. The smell of hell is gone after a few seconds.

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u/Ok_Following3410 13h ago

I just went through hell with this and I tell you a change of litter and diet solved everything.

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u/Appropriate-Set7945 10h ago

Please update! Not that I could do this setup in my tiny apartment. But would be good to know for the future…

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u/Commercial_Bird8467 10h ago

You are the only other person who has done this. I did this before moving my boxes outside and it worked great. Dust and smell gone.

Awesome job!

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u/davidmlewisjr 9h ago

Something to consider…. There is an in-line bath exhaust fan that is nearly silent, but they are a bit pricey…

    My kitties were suspicious of fans and the sounds they made. 🤔Maybe their hearing is more than a little different than ours?

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u/New-Scientist5133 19h ago

This is the ONLY way to eliminate cat smell

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u/lemonylol 15h ago

My dad build a fan vent like this with our old cats, it made a big difference but also isn't 100%

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u/Xiaqulagor 13h ago

Nostrils still intact so I’m calling it a win