UPDATE 11-20-11
Here's a link to where we got the idea from in the first place. We added our own touches (carpet squares on the door fronts, computer fans for airflow), but this is the source of our inspiration (in fact, we copy-catted most of the foundational design!): [..]
ORIGINAL REVIEW
I'm sure the manufacturer never DREAMED of this use, but I'm really hoping our solution can help others in our position, as this solution is the best we've found yet in over twenty plus years of being cat guardians!
So, we have multiple cats, and that means multiple litter boxes. As always, the trick is where to put them without them being ugly or stinky. This is particularly tricky in a one bedroom of under 800 square feet.
We solved the "ugly" problem by using Ikea kitchen cabinets along a wall, spaced apart, topped with countertop. By spacing the cabinets apart, it creates a sort of tunnel for the cats to walk down (it's only 24" deep) to where the cabinets meet the wall. We cut holes in the sides of the cabinets so the cats can enter into the actual cabinet. Metal mesh grating on little "blocking" strips attached to all the cabinet sides makes a sort of "raised floor" above the actual bottom floor of the cabinets this helps to control litter tracking from paws. We are able to fit two large size litter boxes in each cabinet (in an "L" configuration) remember, the mantra is one box for each cat PLUS one more!
For the doors, we just stuck carpet tiles onto the Ikea cabinet door fronts voila, an added bonus of kitty scratching posts! When the cats get the carpet tiles sufficiently shredded that they start to look grungy, it's easy to pull off the "dead" tile and stick a new one on.
And since the doors open in front, cleaning the boxes is very easy, too (we did have to add velcro strips along the edges of the doors to keep the cat from popping them open while trying to cover their "output" for some reason, our cats seem to believe that they can pull the sides of the cabinets down to bury their "treasure" :-)
All of this has led to people entering our home and NOT EVEN BEING ABLE TO FIGURE OUT WHERE OUR LITTER BOXES ARE until we tell them how sweet is that?!
However, there are still the times when high humidity (esp. in summer) causes our clumping litter to overclump....or the times when a cat will just really "light up" the boxes with some of the most incredibly-smelling "outputs" one could imagine. This would send us running for the room scent sprays, but that stuff isn't cheap, and there were days when we were going through a LOT of it pretty quickly.
We realized that the true problem was there was NO air circulation inside the cabinets. So we bought this fan (and another one by a different company), cut holes in the sides of the Ikea cabinets, and installed these (higher up, right under the level of the countertop). We were lucky that we put the cabinets against the wall, so we had an outlet to plug this (and the other one) into.
IT"S WORKING GREAT!
The clumping litter doesn't clump nearly as much as it used to (when it does, it's more because it's doing what it's supposed to, and not in reaction to high humidity so much), so we're spending less on litter. And the air circulation makes opening the cabinet doors to do the (multiple) daily litter sifting a FAR less offensive olfactory experience (and yes, while the fans do circulate the air from the inside of the litter cabinets out into the room, NO, the smell is NOT really noticeable in the room...but we also have bamboo charcoal AND stick-on air freshener discs inside the cabinets as well).
These little fans work so well that we just ordered another one, to increase the air circulation even more.
BTW, the fans are VERY quiet our cat water fountain is louder than these fans (our fountain is actually the size sold for ultra large dogs, so we only have to refill once a day, and that's mostly to ensure our kitties always have super-fresh water).
Right after we installed the fans, we were concerned that our cats might not like the low hum (we have two real prima donnas who object to nearly ANYTHING that isn't already part of their normal routine or world-view). Pfft....they all acted as usual, not a single problem or objection of any kind. We suspect that all of our furry family members are rather more pleased, too, given that it's FAR less stinky now in their toilet area.
So this is a super little fan, and again, while I'm sure the maker never thought in their wildest imaginings that it would be put to THIS use, it's a GREAT solution for those of us facing the ages-old conundrum of how to deal with the litterbox issue.
I hope this review (and description of how we solved that ages-old conundrum) can help others looking for a reasonably cheap solution the Ikea cabinets with metal mesh squares to make the raised flooring AND the carpet tiles (bought on closeout sale) cost us less than $200 total.
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