How to Hide Cat Litter Box?

When it comes to caring for cats, there are a few situations that you are going to have to deal with that you aren’t really going to enjoy. Just about every pet owner, no matter how unique, exotic, or delightful their pets are, is going to have to deal with unenjoyable aspects of pet care.

One of the most common problem that people have with their cats is their litter boxes. A cat’s litter box is the equivalent of its toilet, and most people don’t want to go around flaunting that in their house by leaving it out in the open. Not only is it completely unsightly, but it is unhygienic and smelly. This may lead some people to want to hide their cats’ litter boxes. There are more than a few ways that you can do this, from having a discreet location where people rarely go to investing in a litter box that doubles as a natural part of the house. Regardless of what type of litter box you get, there are a few things you need to consider.

Making Sure the Cat Knows

If your cat has a litter box that it is fully trained in using, and you remove it and place a brand-new litter box elsewhere, hidden, in the house, then your cat is going to get confused very quickly. To your cat’s point of view, you will have removed it’s only satisfactory place to relieve itself. If you do not help your cat associate with the new litter box, then there’s a chance that you may find droppings elsewhere in the house where they shouldn’t be.

When switching out your cat’s litter box for something new, you have to help your cat learn where the new place is going to be. You may want to put the old litter box (including some droppings) in the new litter box, as your cat will be able to associate the smell of its own droppings and the litter with where it is normally supposed to go. If your new litter box placement is extremely out of the way compared to the rest of the house, you may need to physically show the cat where its new litter box is. Even if you do all of this, there may be some stray droppings around your house as your cat adjusts to the change. This is something you will need to keep in mind when you are considering how and where to hide the litter box.

Hiding the Litter Box in the House

There are many ways that you can hide the litter box in your house, where your cats will still have access to it, but you won’t be able to see it unless you go looking for it. Most of these methods will involve making use out of the lower portion of a cabinet, wardrobe, or basket. What you will want to do is find a place where your cat frequents, preferably near where its current litter box is, and consider cutting a hole into cabinets, drawers, or a wardrobe. For a cabinet, you can consider cutting a cat door into the side of it, emptying the bottom shelf so that there is only the litter box and a scooper to clean with later. This way, you can keep the cabinet doors closed, leave a flap on the cat door, and pretend that the litter box isn’t there. When it comes time to clean it, you can simply open the doors, pull it out, and remove the used litter.

This method can also work if you have drawers in a cabinet as well. There will just be a couple extra steps. Of course, you will want to remove the bottom drawers so that there will be enough room for the litter box. From here, you will want to install a hinged door on the bottom portion of the cabinet. This will allow you to close the cabinet and pretend that the litter box simply isn’t there while your cat does its duties. You can also consider removing one of the doors of your bathroom sink, replacing it with a curtain cut to fit, and leaving the litter box underneath the bathroom sink. Remember to remove any cleaning supplies first so that the cats do not have the chance to get into them.

Hiding the Litter Box in Plain Sight

Sometimes, it might be acceptable just to add a bit of a makeover to the current litter box situation. You may be fine with acknowledging that there is a litter box in the house, as you do have cats. You simply may not want to see the contents of the box. The best way you can hide the box this way is to either purchase or build your own cover for the litter box. Some litter boxes come with top covers that you can use to “hide” the litter box, or obscure the contents of it so that you don’t have to see it. Top-down litter boxes naturally come with a lid as well.

Your other option is to build your own litter box cover. This can turn the cover into a piece of home décor, as you will have complete control over how it looks and how it fits in with the rest of the house. It could be that the litter box cover is in the shape of a house, with a cat-shaped door for the cats to walk through. Or, if you do not want to do as much woodwork, you could consider creating a cube with two of its sides missing (or just one). This cube would theoretically have one side missing so that the cat can enter and use the litter box, and another side missing so that you don’t have to place the box on anything other than your own floor. You can then paint this makeshift cover however you want, allowing it to blend in with the rest of your house and making sure that you don’t ever have to see the contents of your cat’s litter box again, aside from when it is time to clean it.