As you know the cats they are animals that they value cleanliness a lot, surely more than any other species; but living in a house that does not guarantee that it will be easy avoid the smell of litter.

Just like many friends come home and are surprised to see that my cats don’t scratch the furniture (because I have a house full of scratching posts) have I ever been asked How do I get my house to have no bad smells? from the sandbox.

I tell you some tricks/secrets I use to make my house “smell like roses” with four cats currently living in it. Surely one of them can be very useful for you.

My tips and tricks to avoid the smell of your cat’s litter box

For a cat it is super important that its litter box is always clean and be comfortable. The sandbox is part of his daily routine and he uses it many times throughout the day.

You will have noticed that if it is not clean (or does not like the type of litter) the cat may complain by doing its business outside. That is why cleaning it should also be important to you. For that and for the hygiene of your home, of course.

Nobody likes it come home and find a strong smell or unpleasant as the one given off by cat pee. I’m talking about that smell of ammonia that gets in your nose and is so so unpleasant.

Use a quality clumping litter

let’s start with the most important: the sand.

We have all started buying the cheapest litter when we adopted our first kitten… After all, “it’s just litter”, right? Well no. Evidently. The cheaper the litter, the less it will absorb odors. This is true 90% of the time. Checked.

In the supermarket you can find various types of sands , since one or two dollars a bag (about $0.40/kg), something very tempting if we think about the budget of something we’re going to throw away. After all, it is like toilet paper: if you buy a very cheap one, it will be thin, uncomfortable, it will not clean well and you will also spend more. It doesn’t count.

I am to buy the sand online, the truth. It comes straight home and even paying 3 or 4 times more than a good arena costs, I yields more than twice the time. You will say “it gives you twice as much, but it still costs you twice as much”. Effectively, it costs me twice as much but my house doesn’t smell like pee, which is what we are looking for.

What I use is the Classic sand from the Professional brand ($0.87/kg), comes with some odor neutralizing balls. Is a clumping litter When the cat pees or poops, a hard ball is created covering the excrement. This not only neutralizes the odor, but makes it MUCH easier to remove all the pee with the shovel without leaving residues that can create odors at home.

you have it too with the smell of talc, I have tried it but personally I do not like the smell of talc. It doesn’t smell bad (of talc in fact), it’s a personal matter.

clumping sands

Undoubtedly I recommend the clumping sands, are the most comfortable, the cleanest and the ones that best absorb odors. And they also last much longer than the rest of the arenas. By making balls You remove them without wasting sand and it allows you to rush it more. In fact, I fill in and almost never remove all the sand, because it doesn’t smell.

Other clumping litters that work well are talc-scented tigerine (0.71 $/kg) or that of Cat’s Best Original (100% natural clumping vegetable litter) ($0.80/kg).

absorbent sands

The absorbing sands they do not agglomerate but they absorb cat urine inside them. This will also neutralize the odor by absorbing it (as the name suggests).

With the absorbent ones they will not become little balls, you will have to remove droppings less often but the sand will be dirtier. My experience is that one of my cats shits outside on the second day, so this type of litter doesn’t work for me.

If you are going to try you have bentonite sands, a fine-grained clay (1.33 $/kg) that It does not have any dust, so it stains much less than clumping litter.

silica sands

Silica sands are those completely white sands They look like crystals, you’ve ever seen them. They are beautiful and also silica is a material with very, very small holes where the urine gets, so it absorbs a lot.

It is the sand that smells the least of all, but it is more difficult to clean, because you will have to collect the parts where there is urine, which normally change color or change it every x days

The best known of those made of silica are tigerino sand Crystals (1.07 $/l) and the one of TK-Pet ($1.16/l). You just have to see the opinions of those who buy it, a 5 kilo bag lasts more than a month (having only one cat), much more than usual.

odor neutralizer

Now you know that using quality sand is essential so that your cat’s litter box does not smell. If you still want more, you need a litter deodorizer or odor neutralizer.

This product neutralizes the odor as soon as your cat’s urine comes into contact with the litter. to your cat it won’t be a problem for you because it has a neutral pH, preventing skin irritation or any other complication.

Just use a small amount in the sandbox to make it effective. It has lasted up to six months for me. the standard bag of 500g. Best of all, by keeping your litter cleaner, you’ll change less litter in the long run, saving you time and money.

Clean your cat’s litter box more often

If your cat’s litter box is generating a lot of odor in your house, you probably aren’t cleaning it often enough. Some people clean it every few days and even every week, and this is a mistake that directly affects your health and that of your cat.

The ideal both for your cat and for home hygiene is clean the sandbox every day. Keep in mind that the total work will be the same as if you do it every several days, since you are going to withdraw the same amount, but in this way you ensure a greater cleaning daily.

I also recommend that you buy a metal blade and as rigid as possible for facilitate the task of sanitation from your cat’s litter box. How much bigger and stiffer the more amount of droppings you can pick up at once. The process will be much faster, I assure you.

In case you leave trip My advice is that you talk to a friend or relative who can drop by, at most, every two days by your house. So you can clean the litter box, change the water and add feed to our cats’ bowls.

Another of my truisms: the more cats you have, the more times you will have to clean the litter. If you have more than two cats, I recommend having more than one litter box.

Take the litter box outside

If you have a balcony, terrace or patio, I advise you to place another sandbox outside the house. There is no better way to avoid the smell of cat pee.

Cats often like to use a litter box as private as possible and in a place where it smells the least. That is why they are attracted to the idea of ​​relieving themselves outside, where the smell will be less noticeable.

Remember that they think they can be hunted, that’s why they bury their droppings!

If you terrace or balcony is covered you can use a regular sandbox, ideally it should be of which are covered with a little door, you can find a lot of different models and all prices in specialty cat stores and also in Amazon .

If your patio or garden does not have a covered part where it does not rain Zooplus sells a covered sandbox with a small eave at the entrance, which will protect the sand from rain even in the worst conditions. This is the one I use on my terrace and it is my favorite. You do not know the odors that I have removed since I put it on.

In addition, you will need to meet some conditions:

1. Your cat must be able to get in and out whenever you want to the outdoor area where the sandbox is located. An excellent idea is to install a door or cat flap on a wall or window at home.
2. It is not recommended in very cold climates, since the winter months your cat could refuse to leave and protest in their own way doing their things inside the house.
3. If other cats can enter street or neighbors it would not be unusual for them to use the box. This could cause stress and some territorial fight. keep an eye on it
4. If you place a sandbox outside the house must be a second sandbox. Your cat will not like having to go out if it rains, it is very cold, it is sunny, etc.

If the conditions are given to try it, Do not think about it and try it. You will be able to avoid the smell of your cat’s litter box with a 100% effectiveness.

Use Baking Soda to Sanitize the Litter Box

The bicarbonate that is used both in cooking and for household chores, also has its place among the councils to avoid odors in your cat’s litter box.

Of course, first of all it should be noted that in certain quantities it is a toxic product for your cat, especially if it is ingested. It is improbable, but I prefer to warn it.

you can cast a very thin layer of baking soda at the bottom of the litter box and then top with 8-10 centimeters of litter. You shouldn’t remove it the bicarbonate will do its disinfectant function from the bottom, eliminating bad odors.

As I told you, it is a product that can harm the health of your cat if it eats the sand, so be careful with it. If you use a clumping litter like the one I use, you will not need this advice, the pee will not reach the bottom of the sandbox.

Top Entry Litter Box: More Litter Less Odors

As with the sand quality, something similar happens with the amount: the more sand fits in the sandbox more odors it will absorb.

Where more sand fits is in the top entry sandboxes. I have one from Modkat (because of its design), but there are models with entry from above from 19 dollars. (also available on Amazon in its normal version and in one XL version for large cats or houses with several animals).

I usually throw a whole 15 kilo bag. With that amount of sand, cats they bury their needs much deeper, so there is much less smell. Also, with this amount, complete sand changes are less frequent. It will last you more than a month if you have only one cat.

Another quality to choose one of these boxes is that when leaving they step on the lid and leave most of the sand there. So it won’t spread around the drawer, which is very common.

Replaces the entirety of the arena more frequently

When you clean the litter box, it may give you the impression that your cat is going to find his bathroom like gold jets, but it is not. With each cleaning we remove the stool, but the fine sand that falls back into the sandbox it is also dirty and many times is to blame for the bad smell that gives off the litter box.

This occurs with all sands, but especially with those of silica. In my opinion, they are the ones that endure the passing of days the worst.

As the days go by, there comes a point where, despite adding clean sand from time to time, the smell of the old one is strong and makes itself felt. To solve it, the best thing is that every month and a half or two months replace all of the sand.

This advice applies, as always, if you have only one kitten; if you have more you will have to do it more often.

Also, if your litter box has replacement inner bags, take advantage and put a new one every 6-8 months for a better result and greater hygiene.

Where to throw the cat litter?

We usually dispose of our cat litter in the trash, like any other waste. Is there another way to do it?

If you use normal or clumping sand, it is normal throw it in the trash bag What do you throw in the gray container, the general one, since it cannot be recycled.

In some communities there are special containers for organic waste, they are usually brown, but cat litter should not be thrown into that container. Yes you can throw the feces into the organic container, but you must separate them from the sand with urine that will go to the normal container.

Always remember Do not mix the animal’s droppings with the rest of the waste from your home because the bacteria in the poop can spread parasites to the rest of the waste and this can generate odors or even diseases to the waste management workers in your city.

The biodegradable ecological sand Yes, it can be flushed down the toilet, although it is not advisable for your pipes.

Change the location of the sandbox to a more ventilated place

If the advice to add an outdoor sandbox is not compatible with your home, then it is time to think about move the sandbox to a new location from your house.

As a priority you should seek that the place is the most ventilated in the house, because that will help bad odors leave the home as soon as possible.

Each house is different, if your bathroom has windows, the bathroom is the best place. But if it doesn’t have windows, I invite you to look for a more suitable place. You don’t have to put it in the living room in front of the TV, but making it as ventilated as possible will help.

Place an air freshener and air purifying plants near the sandbox

The ideal solution can never be to camouflage odors, but once the above advice is followed, this will be an extra anti-odour option. if your house is small or you can’t generate good ventilation, it attacks the smell directly.

You can use air fresheners absorb odors (there is one in Mercadona that works very well) or floors clean the air

If you decide for the vegetation remember to check that the plant is not poisonous or dangerous for your cat Many of the typical species of the interiors, such as the poto, are.

Of all the plants suitable for cats to bite from time to time, without a doubt I recommend the fern. It purifies the air, it does not present problems for your cat and aesthetically it will look great in your house. Yes indeed, avoid putting it too close to the sofa as it can cause them to accidentally bite or scratch it.

Change the feed, change the smell

It is possible that you follow all the advice that I have given you (or none of them) and still you cannot reduce the smell that the litter box generates inside your house. In that case you have the last bullet in the bedroom: change the feed you give your cat.

If you change the diet, the smell of the stool will change. Many times feeds with less cereal and more products derived from fish and meat make urine and poop smell less. Or at least… different.

But beware: the cats They are very sensitive to changes in diet.. Keep in mind that the change to the new feed must ALWAYS be gradual. Little by little you should put a little new feed mixed with the old and increase the proportion until you end up changing it.

Check the stool, if you notice that it causes gastric problems, do not force it. Go back to the old one and try another brand or mix.

Finally, if you have been able to observe that the odor problems in your cat’s litter box are urinary, you should choose a feed specifically formulated to take care of that aspect. Veterinarians recommend in that case it is the Royal Canin Urinary Care, that reduces the PH and improves the urinary tract in a few days.

And as always, follow as many tips as possible for you and you will see how you reduce odors at home. The more of these steps you can follow, the better environment you will get.