Litter box smell: room with no ventilation

[terestrife]

My sister asked me to move the litter box into the guest bathroom. There's no ventilation so the box smells vile. I've never had smell issues. There's an air purifier next to it and it makes no difference.

 

[Furballsmom]

Hi! How often is the box cleaned? I'm not familiar, is there more than one cat using the box?

Try cleaning the box more frequently - a couple times daily, and if there's more than one cat try and get a second box for them.

 

[jefferd18]

Are there any windows in the bathroom that could be opened?

There is no doubt about it, litter boxes are the nastiest thing ever invented. The only way that I have not had guests knocked out by using certain rooms in my house was to use self-cleaning litter boxes, and a lot of baking soda.

 

[Jemima Lucca]

Interestingly enough, my cats are mainly eating raw, and their poo isn’t as smelly as my former other cats. They only ate dry and/or canned food. But I have 2 liter boxes that I clean 2-3 times a day. I use Purina tidy cats unscented free and clean...

 

[jefferd18]

While we're all on the subject- does anyone know of a brand that doesn't cost a small fortune?

 

[Furballsmom]

A brand of raw? You've looked at Primal? - when my boy was eating a combination of commercial canned and a couple of nuggets of primal daily, his poo was less in size and in odor, most definitely. I might have to pick up another bag

 

[DreamerRose]

Fresh Step has Febreeze in it and doesn't smell. It is dusty, though, so you have to be careful when pouring it. I use the lightweight version and it works really well. One of my litter pans is in the kitchen, so you know it has to be good.

 

[Jcatbird]

I hate to say it but I have lots of litter box experience. Lol With rescues it’s become very important here. I clean boxes a lot! I am currently using Fresh Step lightweight low dust with bacterial control. It says it it charcoal as well. It’s good and I have been really happy with it. I clean the boxes at least twice a day but I have multiple cats and a sensitive nose. I find some brands of litter are awful! They seem to combine with the urine and poo to make it far worse to me. I even have an allergic reaction to one brand. You might try testing other litter brands.

 

[Meg142!]

I hate to say it but I have lots of litter box experience. Lol With rescues it’s become very important here. I clean boxes a lot! I am currently using Fresh Step lightweight low dust with bacterial control. It says it it charcoal as well. It’s good and I have been really happy with it. I clean the boxes at least twice a day but I have multiple cats and a sensitive nose. I find some brands of litter are awful! They seem to combine with the urine and poo to make it far worse to me. I even have an allergic reaction to one brand. You might try testing other litter brands.

I've had the same problem with litter adding to the smell! I actually thought my cat had some how peed in the container of litter it smelt so bad. My cat is just a really stinky cat and I have yet to find a litter I absolutely love

 

[Jcatbird]

M Meg142! I know what you mean. Something that I noticed here with the ferals might help if you like pine scent. When I was getting the ferals adapted to using a litter box after first coming inside, I would put some pine straw in the top of the litter box. The cats used the pine straw outside so they saw it as a familiar thing to use and went into the litter boxes. I found that when they scratched the pine straw, it released a pleasant scent. It stayed nice too! Cats are so smart. I noticed a pine cat litter recently and may try it. I don’t know if it will be something I find to be effective but if it works like the pine straw, it might be great! I saw it in clumping form and pellet.

 

[Maria Bayote]

My sister asked me to move the litter box into the guest bathroom. There's no ventilation so the box smells vile. I've never had smell issues. There's an air purifier next to it and it makes no difference.

How many times is it being scooped? I have 3 cats here with me and 3 litter boxes (as I have no more room for a 4th one), but I scoop the boxes 2-3 times a day. And I believe the litter level should be at least half of the box so the cats can cover their poop well.

 

[LTS3]

My sister asked me to move the litter box into the guest bathroom. There's no ventilation so the box smells vile.

Are there any windows in the bathroom that could be opened?

OP said the guest bathroom has no ventilation so it's likely an interior room with no windows and probably not even a bathroom fan either.

Leaving the door open will allow ventilation but the litter box smell may be noticeable in other rooms of the home and it sounds like litter box smells in general is why the OP is being asked to put the litter box in the guest bathroom.

Try non scented odor absorbers around the litter box. There are charcoal type ones you can buy. Baking soda in the litter box may help some.

I don't know if an automatic litter box would be helpful. Waste gets scooped out within minutes and put into a waste container which might contain smells a little better.

 

[WillowMarie]

I use Tidy cats clumping free and clean, which is unscented and uses charcoal in it. Petsmart and Pet Supplies Plus have great deals on these for Black Friday (Petsmart last year allowed you to order online and pick up in store). I have 3 boxes for 3 cats, and they get cleaned morning and night, with a full clean out every 2 weeks the litter box not smelling. I've went 3 weeks, and it would start to smell slightly. This is the litter I've used when in a small dorm room for a few months and an even smaller bedroom for my summer job housing this past year when only my cat Isabelle was with me. I did not notice any smells.

My roommate at my summer work housing said there was a smell, but she only brought it up after I asked her to be more careful about leaving hair ties out because my cat might eat it. After saying when she moved in she was worried about if the litter boxes would smell, I told her my cleaning routine for the litter box and to let me know if it ever starts to smell for her. She never did, until I brought the hair tie thing up after she was there for over a month, so I can't really say if it did smell or if she was trying to deflect the situation back onto me because she didn't like the boundaries I was setting...

Also for food, if you were looking for other brands to try, Chewy seems to have different deals on cat food daily (under the deals tab). Sometimes there are very good brands that I've seen for 60% off, which has sometimes dropped the price to about 40 cents/3 oz. (Have to remember to post them next time! Usually get so excited and forget we have an awesome thread here to post deals!) This thread has deals posted on food and has helped me out with affording food, especially higher quality: Cat Food Deals Forum?

 

[terestrife]

I use a litter robot and they eat home cooked food. Never had a smell issue like this. At all. The room doesn't have windows or any air flow.

 

[Furballsmom]

You may need to clean the robot, all of it inside and out, more frequently. At least try it and see if that helps and if you haven't already, double-check to see whether there is pee that is on the bathroom walls or floor. A blacklight can help with that.

 

[Lari]

I also use the Tidy Cats free and clean with the charcoal. I can't stand scented litter, and it usually keeps the smell down unless.

 

[raina21]

I used to have a litter robot and did not have a positive experience with it. It was also in a room with no ventilation and the smell became absolutely ghastly after a while. My suggestion would be to clean the litter robot thoroughly with an enzyme based cleaner and possibly move it to another room.

Eventually my litter robot stopped working entirely and I got so frustrated with it that I threw it out. I ended up switching my cats to pine pellet litter. I use a sifting litterbox (tidy cats breeze system). When they pee, the pellets break down into sawdust, which falls through the slats in the sifting litterbox as I scoop the poo out daily. I just kinda stir the pellets until I don't see any more sawdust and replace the pad underneath about once every 3 weeks to a month. And the best part about it is that there is NO smell. I repeat, NO smell other than the smell of pine/wood. No cat pee smell, no poo smell, nothing other than pine, and I have a sensitive nose!