When Litterbox Smells Attack!

by Aimee Amodio | More from this Blogger

12 Oct 2009 11:47 AM

It's Halloween season... time for a horror story! And let's face it -- as cute as our pets are (of all species), sometimes they produce some awful smells. In my work at the cats-only boarding facility, I encounter the whole rainbow of litterbox nightmares.

There's the cat who nearly misses the box, so the mess is half in and half out. There's the digger, who likes to pepper the walls and floor with dirty litter bits. There's the one who mistakes bed for box and vice versa. And the odor can range from "barely know it's there" to "I smelled that coming three rooms away".

As a side note: while I'm picking on cats in this one, my own dog Moose has been known to produce smells I refer to as "hot buttered death". Yeah. It's that bad.

If your litterbox is more like a disaster area than you'd like, here are some things to try:

• Clean up as soon as your cat uses the box. This isn't always easy -- especially if you like to leave the house once in a while. But if you can remove the mess as soon as the mess happens, you can contain the stink that comes with it.
• Try a different litter. There are plenty of types of litter out there for you to try. Clumping, deodorizing, all-natural... it may take some experimentation before you find one that you and your cat can agree on. At the boarding facility, we've used pressed newsprint pellets (recycling is awesome!) and pressed cedar pellets (cedar smells pleasant, at least to my nose). My roommates use corn-based litter for their cats. There's something for everyone!
• Try litter accessories. When I think about neutralizing smells, one of the first things I think of is baking soda. Arm & Hammer (one of the big names in baking soda) has a line of pet products designed to help manage odors. There's a powder you can mix in with the litter and a spray you can use to help contain smells after your cat has used the box.
• Improve ventilation. An open window near the litterbox may help improve air flow, giving bad smells a chance to escape. Or, keep the litterbox in a room that has a working vent -- like the bathroom or laundry room.

I got a chance to try the spray version of the Arm & Hammer litter deodorizer -- the kind folks at Arm & Hammer sent me a sample bottle a few months ago. It combines baking soda with fragrance to neutralize odors and give your nose a pleasant distraction from the pain.

My roommates gave it a try on the cats' litterbox, both alone and in combination with the deodorizing powder. Next, I'll be bringing it to work to try against some of the guests' worst messes and strongest smells. Stay tuned!

Learn more about Aimee Amodio

Aimee is a fiction writer... dog lover... music lover...

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