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I have three cats: one that stays in my room to sleep, eat dry food, drink water, but does all her "business" outside, and the other two are indoors only and use a single litterbox.
My family insists that the box be kept out in the open in our kitchen. I've struggled with this for years but they don't have the same standards of cleanliness as me and don't seem to care that the cats stink up the house several times per day, that it's near our food, that it's near our dog's water bowl, etc.
The problem is: I'm getting seriously sick of this stink box stinking up our entire house (smell going through air vents, permeating through open doors to other rooms, etc) several times per day and having to enter this toxic cloud of cat shit to scoop it up several times per day. It's overwhelming me, I'm tired of my life feeling like it centers around picking up cat turds!
We use Arm & Hammer double duty cat litter and can only afford about two boxes of it per week, sometimes just one. One box of it basically fills about one (cleaned and emptied) litter box and then has enough left for a small refill later. It's supposed to mask the smell or whatever but it doesn't at all. I'm so sick of taking a shower, feeling clean and great, only to find the cats have shit and I have to scoop it and get that smell clinging to my hair and clothes. If I don't immediately scoop it up, it just sits there stinking.
So, cat people... what can be done? Have any of you figured out a way to keep two cats - that have no discipline and shit seemingly whenever they get the urge - while also keeping your house and your own body clean and free of toxic turd dust clouds of litter?
My indoor/outdoor cat regularly stays in my room for 18+ hours without pissing, shitting, or vomiting, while my other cats can't go a few hours without ejecting a tiny but toxic smelling turd.
Ideas on litter alternatives? Or affordable boxes that somehow keep the smell in? Anything I can make myself?
PLEASE.
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One more thing: this problem is honestly making me get irritable with my cats and I'm starting to resent them for shitting all the time. I know it's not their fault at all but my stupid family's for refusing sensible suggestions about placement of the box. I need a solution so I can forget about the constant threat of cat turds and just clean it out once a day without having to worry about the house stinking all the time. I want to enjoy and appreciate their companionship again but when it starts to feel like my life just revolves around their shit, it makes me hate them. No one else scoops the box.
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First, get the litter box the FUCK out of the kitchen. It should be in a utility room or laundry room or somewhere you don't spend a lot of time in or go into frequently.
Second, given you do the first step, your other mistake is scooping immediately. It smells god awful that's why you wait for the turds to get dried up and scoop them later in the day. Since it's confined in a room you're not going into anyway, the stench is confined in there and doesn't bother you much.
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>>17698587
I've got an idea to make your family change their stupid fucking opinions about the litter box placement too, people so crazy as to keep a literal box of shit in the place where they prepare food can't be reasoned with so I suggest doing something like, just plopping one of the turds on the kitchen floor and hopefully letting one of them step in it. Cats do sometimes flick the turds out by accident so they'd probably buy that that's what happened. It's drastic and gross but I mean, this is kind of calls for drastic measures.
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>>17698590
That's the problem though... it's basically my controlling grandma who refuses to have the box anywhere else. You just can't do something she doesn't agree with, it's like starting WWIII. We do have rooms where it could be kept and the smell contained but she refuses to see the logic of it. Don't ask me why, I've given up on moving the box into such a room, you would think I was suggesting we just kill the cats by the way she reacts to it.
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>>17698597
Ok so you'll just have to deal with the stench wafting through the air...in my experience, nothing really helps mitigate it, cat piss and shit is just too foul. But if you let it dissipate before scooping, it won't be as bad for you I think. Dry turds aren't nearly as gross as fresh ones, and they don't stink.
Also for the dust, they definitely make litter that doesn't form plumes when you mess with it, just look for ones that say "no dust" etc. on it
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>>17698596
Good idea... for a sane family. Mine wouldn't care at all. I'm the only one who seems to realize that being able to smell the shit at all means literally millions of shit particles are in the air and landing on everything in sight. I'm glad you all can see my point and see why I'm so exasperated about this issue.
It could all be solved so easily... my original idea was to put it in a closet area we have with folding doors, that has no air vent, and we could either leave one of the doors cracked open or cut a cat door into it. Smell contained. Problem solved. But no... it has to be in the kitchen, connected to the rest of the house (they get mad if the doors are closed, too). Right now it's literally two feet from the dog's water bowl, a microwave, and toaster.
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>>17698583
http://www.citikitty.com/
Or, ya know, you could accept the fact that cats are shite animals
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