A little domestic industrial engineering - in support of cats

[Tom Bender]

I may have posted this before but it may be inspiring to post it again.

To keep the mess contained and convenient and to control the odor I built this room under the basement stairs. It required installing risers, a wall and a door, plus some accessories. Here's what's in the room; (dratted sideways pictures)

In the Room.jpg

Raised platform because we are not getting any younger (and it saves the cats a few steps)

24 x 36 mortar pan is big and has a smooth bottom for easy excavation

Bucket with lid and liner for weekly disposal

Overhead light plus a night light

Glade plug in

Also there is a small exhaust fan that runs 24/7 to keep the odor contained. It's a computer fan connected to a dryer vent. It's good to move a little air thru the house and this is the perfect place to pull it from. (view from inside the room)

Fan and Grill.jpg

The door

Cat Room Door.jpg

And the cat's entrance

Cat Room Passage.jpg

This seemed like a lot of work when I did it 10 years ago but it's been great since and we expect another decade of use.

[Thomas Wilson]

That is a lovely cat space. Don’t expect to be thanked by the cat.

[Frank Pratt]

Nice solution Tom. I did a similar thing to a small closet beside the exterior basement door. But it worked a little too well because certain kids of mine (read: all of them) would neglect to clean the litter box & nobody couldn't smell it. Yuck!

Now we use wood pellets for litter. No smell. No mess, No dust. It gets cleaned every day mostly, never more than 2. Oh, and $7 worth lasts about 3 months for 2 cats. The litter box sits in the corner of the kitchen.