Here’s an interesting idea for keeping cats indoors, while moving the litter box outside. It’s from Happy Cat Cottage, a company that makes little additions to your home where you can put kitty’s litter. It’s like a mini catio just for the litter box. Your cat enters the cottage through a pet door installed in the wall and does her business in a private area that can be cleaned from the outside. You can even customize the Happy Cat Cottage to match the architecture of your home.
Since there is only one entrance/exit, you’d have to be careful with something like this in a multi-cat home where litter box ambushes could occur. Has anyone else create something like this for their litter box? Please send us your photos, we’d love to see!
I wonder what they do in the winter? I mean once it gets cold they’re not going to want to go outside! I know here it get VERY cold in the winter and they’re not interested in the outdoors.
Good, no great question. I live in the desert where it stays frozen for months, and triple digits during summer months.
I kept a litter box on my patio through bad Connecticut winters and they loved it. They didnt mind going out at all. They are not as tender as humans. 🙂
I live in the UK and cats here go to the toilet outside all year round – through choice. I think unless it is seriously sub-zero (our winters tend to be mild) the cat will be happy to use something like this. they are very clean and like to toilet away from their living area.
My then-husband and I made a “cat waystation/recuperation cabin” a few years back which had something just like this, so that the cat didn’t have to be disturbed but cleaning the box would still be possible. We had the same scheme for accessing the food and water dishes, for the same reason. It was wonderful and really benefitted the neighborhood cats we were able to help (spay/neuter, medical needs including enucleation in one case).
Oh, gosh. This is exactly what I am trying to find – a way to make the litter and food easily accessible from outside of a feral cat relocation cage. Do you have the plans or a photo? That would help me so much!!!
Linda Adams
Have you done any multi cat litter houses?
I’ve seen the same sort of thing with a pet door going thru your house, leading to the litter box in the garage. It’s enclosed, of course. Probably not as good an idea having an opening from your garage, where carbon monoxide could come into the house. I like the idea of this litter box being outside, but driving rain will surely ruin the litter, as well as it will be darn cold going out in the snow to clean the box.
My preferred setup that I want to do someday when I buy a house, is to cut a cat door going into a spare bedroom closet. The cats can then do their business in there. Another one is to cut a hole into the door going into the basement. I would buy the more expensive doors that seal so no heat or cold air exchanges.
I would expect any sensible cat to avoid using this litter box as intended because it is too valuable as a hunting spot.
It might work for some cats but even putting the litter box in a cold garage or if it is out of the way can make some cats start going elsewhere. It would take just one time of a cat seeing a raccoon or some other critter outside at the box to make it not want to use it anymore and who would blame it. I think rain would get in it and you’ve got a water soaked box that the kitty won’t use. We should make the cat’s litter box location as inviting as possible in my opinion.
My main concern would be them sitting in the litter box all day watching everything. That seems like the most likely scenario. I like the idea as a way for the cats to safely experience the “outdoors”. As a place to put the litter, just seems like a way to easily forget you need to clean it.
Creative idea with continuous ventilation!. Although, I also agree with other comments such as forgetting to clean, people not wanting to go outside in bad weather to clean, cats not wanting to go out during bad weather, rain/snow getting in. Needs a few changes.
Seems like a lot of trouble. I’d never get it cleaned. Looks nice, though.
Probably not worth the trouble for a single or two cats, but if you have more than two , it would be
worth the trouble.
I built a catio to house the litter boxes outside. It is escape proof and my cats love to hang out there. It is their version of outside. In the winter I put up coroplast panels to keep the rain out so it gets used year round. Here are some kind of crummy pics of it. if you click on the first pic, you will be able to see from where the view is taken in the comments. http://public.fotki.com/tutti/8-24-2010/
While my cats would love the idea of going outside for any reason, I am not sure I love the idea of hacking a hole in the side of my house. The energy drain would be significant I would think. I have seen outdoor cat-runs that allow the cats to have access to the grass and other outdoor fun, not just the litter box. I would think that would be a better solution, if a hole is to be made in the house. What are the ways this system – or the outdoor cat run – for keeping the inside air inside, while still allowing kitties outside for a romp? Also, what are the mechanisms for keeping kitty out of the box during cleaning time? I have a couple of escape artists who would just lie in wait for cleaning time and then be gone!
I agree with those who said their kitties might spend more time lollygagging in the box to get a glimpse of the outdoors rather than do their business. I know mine would! It would be even more important to keep it extra-clean. Not to mention if heavy wind/rain got into the area and messed up the litter? So, I’m not sure how practical this design would be overall, which is too bad because it would be GREAT to keep the smell out of the house, especially for my non-cat-loving friends who come to visit
In our last house, we used a double door sink base cabinet in the laundry room. One door had a large rectangular opening cut into it, and the other door had a diamond pattern of one inch holes drilled into it (for ventilation). By leaving the doors on, instead of just removing one of them, it created a lip which helped keep the litter in the cabinet.
In our current house, when we added an interior stairway, there was a small area under the landing that the contractor was going to open to the garage, but we had him instead enclosed the garage side and open in on the interior side (in our laundry/mud room), and we use that 3’x3′ space for litter boxes. Not quite as easy to clean, as it’s a couple of inches below floor level inside the cat “bathroom”, but not too bad. And out of the way, which is key.
I have a catio that is acessed thru a window in my laundry room. I slide the window open…put a piece of plywood fit to cut in the opening. Put a bought “cat door” in it and presto…acess to the outside without the cold (or hot) coming in. The door came with a way to lock it …which happens when we weed eat the inside of the catio and the cats have to stay inside.
I built an outhouse for the kittens that was connected to the pet door. However, I was concerned that pests such as flies or mosquitoes or scorpions (IT’S PHOENIX, ARIZONA) or other critters could get to the litter boxes or inside the house. So I built the outhouse so that it was precisely sealed to the contours of the house wall and the patio floor. The drawers that held the litter boxes also had cowlings over the edges to prevent pest entry. But most important–I put a computer fan powered by a 12 volt AC adapter on the outhouse wall so that it drew out air, dust, and smells from the outhouse and also pulled cool air from the house through the pet door into the outhouse in the summer or warm air in the winter. The fan was strong enough to keep the air pressure neutral even with the AC running. If anyone would like to see pictures, email me. Kitty and human approved!
Hi Larry – I would love to see what you did with your outdoor enclosure, as we are thinking about doing this ourselves. We have an attached shed that would be perfect for this idea. How can I reach you?
Hi, Jennifer. Sorry for the late reply. Send me an email at overwhelmed@cox.net
I too would love to c the outdoor litter box set-up!!
Hi, Rene. The picture and design files I have sent to others have been pretty large, so it may be better if I can send them to you directly rather than posting them here. I’m not sure how constrained this web server is. Just email me. Thanks.
As for overcoming -40 degrees in Marty’s situation, it may depend on how well one builds and seals/insulates the structure, as well as how big the fan is. It does pretty good in 117 degrees!
And occasionally it does drop into the 20s during the winter….. 🙂
Yes Larry that would b great! Bluidbadkittie@gmail.com
Thank u
I’d love to see….my email is dyancheskey@gmail.com. I’m not much if a builder or electrician just own a small house with zero areas that are good for a litter box….right now its in my kitchen. Yuck!! Maybe your idea can solve my issues too….if.only i knew what ceilings were and how to install fans lol. But still would love to see. Sounds super
Larry, I’ll be emailing you too. I have 12 cats (rescues). Most of my litter boxes are on the basement. I clean them a few times a day when I’m home.
The prob with outside litter boxes, is the urine freezes in litter balls, sometimes to the bottom of a box. I live in Interior AK where it can get to -40 in the winter. I’m tying a new litter, The Worlds Best Cat Litter, perhaps that won’t freeze so bad. I have two large converted dog kennels for the stray in my neighborhood, as well as use these for outdoor respites for my crew from the confines of the house (since they were all strays to begin with).
Hello, I have had this outdoor litter box that I’ve been cleaning about every day/every other day. Recently it has begun to attract flies. Are there any outdoor cat litters that are pest repellent? Any particular ones you use or recommend? Thank you.
Clean it more often – we do ours several times each day and chuck the whole lot out every week.Cats are fastidious animals and if you keep them inside you must give them a consistently clean and dry toilet area.
I’ve been thinking through this whole process.
First of all for Karla – flies. WE are planning to place wire screen all around our outdoor attached litter box.
We are also going to make sheets that can slide in each side and prevent snow or rain from getting in.
The kitty door that will be attached to the house has an attached door that slides down and can lock.
My Q. is will the cold weather really prevent the cats from using the litter? A lot of cats are indoor outdoor cats and
go out to do their job. ?
We built one these almost 15 years ago and attached it to the side of the house. It was for multiple cats (reason for it) and put a pet door access with a clean out door outside very similar to the picture, however, we extended it into a litter box area and cat run (8 ft long). The cats loved it and during nice weather they would loaf out there, as well as do their business. We sold the house and bought a new one. We gave the 3 cats along with the cat run to a good friend and they are still using it. We now have multiple cats again and need to repeat the construction, but have a large deck with a roof that will make it easier to construct. It is an excellent way to control odors, allow inside cats to get some fresh air and sunshine. We never had any problems in the winter. They were just a little quicker doing their business and didn’t loaf in the runway as much, although, on a sunny day, they would sometimes nap in the run even in cold temps. I know we pamper our cats, but God actually equipped them with pretty good coats. It was nice if we left for few days knowing if the litter boxes went too long, we wouldn’t come home to house odor. We didn’t leave food outside to keep from attracting unwanted animals like coons, etc,, which can be a problem here (Kansas).
Thanks for great idea. It gets very cold here, 30-40 below, and a covered outdoor cat box is a must. I just removed the pool and pool deck, they used to slip under the deck as the year round outdoor litter box.
how do you manage the frozen urine – I find it destroys the liter within a day or two