# moving the litter box?



## ThreeCatzGirl (Jan 16, 2009)

I have a litter box in my bathroom and I am really thinking of moving it out of there!

I am so tired of cleaning up the litter that gets on the floor. I am sweeping it up every day. I keep a litter garbage bin under the sink. So I am always throwing it away(the litter. not the bin) whenever it gets full. The smell from under the sink is not that great..making the bathroom smell like a littler box. 

Sooo...I really want to get rid of the litter box and move it downstairs to the back room. 

That will leave us with 3 litter boxes total for my 8 cats. 1 in the laundry room. 1 in the back room. 1 in the basement. <that one is pretty big.


My only problem is ms.panda lives upstairs most of the time. I haven't seen her come downstairs ...so I wonder if she will know to come down stairs for the litter box. I used to feed her dinner in the back room where the litter box is,so I wonder if she will remember to go back there..

so should I move the litter box out of the bathroom or leave it?

thanks


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

Hi ThreeCatz, 
First... (((HUGS))) I hope your heart is slowly healing...♡♡♡♡

How old is Ms. Panda? If she's not going downstairs, she might have arthritis...or another cat bothers her, and she just doesn't want to deal with it.

One solution to a smelly garbage can, is to get a small plastic pet food container, Walmart sells them, they have a tight fitting lid, so the smell isn't leaking out constantly!
I also stuck one of those peel and stick air freshners on the inside of the lid!

For the litter tracking problem, again Walmart has cheap little, short napped throw rugs/door mat type rugs, these work very well at catching litter from paws, and you can pick it up, and funnel litter back I to the litter box!

Is this box a covered one, or not?
If covered, face the opening towards the wall, this will slow her exits down, from the litter box!
I think I'd leave her box in the bathroom, where she's used to it being...
Just my two cents worth...
Sharon


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## Cheddar (Jul 11, 2014)

Very good advice from 10cats2dogs. I use the mat from Walmart and it works great and it's not expensive. I also have one of the litter boxes turned towards the wall and that also helps a lot with tracking litter everywhere.

Is there anywhere else you can put the litter box upstairs?


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## TabbCatt (Mar 26, 2014)

Wowwee, 8 cats! Omg, I can hardly handle my two, lol.

I would also keep the litter box in place, especially if that's the only one upstairs. If you remove it suddenly, you may be facing a worse problem altogether!


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## Azerane (Feb 26, 2015)

I agree that it's probably best to leave it, however if you do move it, I would suggest doing it a little bit at a time. For example, if it's in the far corner of the bathroom, move it to just inside the bathroom door for a few days, then just outside the door, then a little bit down the passage etc, although obviously you'll need to go the whole way down the stairs in one hit  There's no guarantee it will work though, especially if Ms Panda isn't inclined to go downstairs at all.


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## librarychick (May 25, 2008)

ThreeCatzGirl said:


> That will leave us with 3 litter boxes total for my 8 cats. 1 in the laundry room. 1 in the back room. 1 in the basement. <that one is pretty big.


3 litter boxes for 8 cats is just not enough. Even if all of them are gigantic and you scoop every day...3 isn't enough.



ThreeCatzGirl said:


> My only problem is ms.panda lives upstairs most of the time. I haven't seen her come downstairs ...so I wonder if she will know to come down stairs for the litter box. I used to feed her dinner in the back room where the litter box is,so I wonder if she will remember to go back there..


That right there is one reason not to mess with things. If you move the box and Panda decides she's not going downstairs to use the box then she could start going outside of a box.

Having extra boxes can be a pain, I get that. We have 6 boxes for our 4 cats...but it's WAY better to scoop one extra box and have a bit of extra odor than to have cats peeing all over your home. Trust me.

Especially since once one cat starts going outside of the box the other cats tend to follow suit...with 8 cats that's a very slippery slope. You're basically one UTI away from a BIG problem as it is.

Personally, I'd find another place to hide a box upstairs, and add another big one downstairs. They don't need to be obvious, and there's lots you can do to minimize the odor issue outside of moving/getting rid of boxes. 

TBH...part of living with cats is providing enough places for them to go. If you lived in a home with 8 people would 3 bathrooms be enough? My bet is nope.


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

I have one litter box for 3 cats. There are no rules, some places just don't have enough practical places to put extra ones.

And until I was 15, I lived in military housing with 9 people and ONE bathroom.


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## ThreeCatzGirl (Jan 16, 2009)

10Cats....

Thank you. I am doing fine. ((hugs back to you))

Theres nothing physicaly wrong with Panda. Shes just a shy kitty. She'll come down stairs from time to time. but she wont spend the entire day down there like my other cats do. that's all. 

I can not put another litter box upstairs. There are 4 bedrooms up here. No way am I going to put a litter box in a bedroom. 

I have an open litter box in the bathroom btw. Its a high sided one too. 

I have one of those cheap rugs under the litter box. The kitties still get the litter on the floor and they spread it to the bathroom rugs. So im always shaking them off and then sweaping it up. 

Oh and I hate those smellys that you stick on to the wall The sticky part doesn't stay on the wall that well. I bought a few of them and used 2 so far. Its not working so great.  

I have to keep the window open most of the time. haha


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## ThreeCatzGirl (Jan 16, 2009)

Why is this in the Behavior section btw?


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## marie73 (Jul 12, 2006)

Because this subject has to do with whether your cat will come downstairs, use the litter box, etc. That's _behavior_.


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## TranquilityBlue (Nov 13, 2014)

ThreeCatzGirl said:


> No way am I going to put a litter box in a bedroom.


For the record, it's completely possible to keep a box in a bedroom without odors. Granted, it's not ideal I suppose, but Jasper's box is in mine, and with diligent scooping and the right brand of litter ... well, let's just say I get a lot of compliments when people discover the box in my room :thumb you really can't tell it's there at all.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

TranquilityBlue,
I also have a large covered box in our bedroom! And you are very correct, with proper scooping and a good litter, it's almost undetectable! The one dog...ummm...can peel the paint on the walls, a lot more!


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## TranquilityBlue (Nov 13, 2014)

Mine isn't even covered and I swear the only time you'd notice any odor coming from it is if you were standing right over it!  

Granted, I am a very scent-ual person, and I love to stimulate my nose so I burn a lot of candles and incense (all safely out of the fluffs reach) but even when I haven't been burning either regularly it's almost impossible to notice.


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## ThreeCatzGirl (Jan 16, 2009)

I wont move the litter box out of the bathroom. I'll just keep sweepting up loose litter i guess.


My dad buys the litter. so we dont get the fancy stuff. he gets the store brand litter. it works out fine for us. 

Btw...i clean all 4 boxes every day.


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## ThreeCatzGirl (Jan 16, 2009)

Thank you for your replies everyone.


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## 10cats2dogs (Jun 16, 2013)

ThreeCatz, 
Don't worry! We weren't saying you weren't scooping enough!!
There's always so many people that cruise through different threads, it's just good to keep the information out there!!
(((HUGS)))
Sharon


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

I had to break down and put a litter box in the half bath (which is in the laundry room, near but not near enough to the main litter boxes) because my Lacey would not use a box if Coco was on the prowl (Coco will attack her unprovoked on occasion). Lacey would go in the half bath and pee on the throw rug. I tried using regular litter but it tracked everywhere and I hated it. Now I use a sifting litter box with pine pellets in it like I normally use in my foster kitten room. I had to put a large spoonful of used clumping litter on top of it for the attraction smell for the cat, but other than that I have had NO issues with smell OR tracking - and my throw rug remains dry. Try the pine litter in your bathroom - you might be pleasantly surprised, as I was. If it works out get a pine pellet sifting litter box from Feline Pine website. Worth the $$$.


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