Automatic Litterbox Central

I'm a CatGenie user and happy with it. My cats are mostly indoor.

I am going to be building an enclosure (huge cage) so they can be "outside", and I'm not sure how to deal with the situation out there. I haven't completely decided how the enclosure will be yet.

Probably the enclosure will have an open bottom, and I'll place it in the yard on the grass.

I know my cats (at least one of them) will want to use the bathroom while outside.

Most likely this outdoor LB will be rained on. Unless I specifically cover it myself every time, which i'd rather not do, but that would be okay.

I have an OmegaPaw box, so perhaps I could use that. It has a hood, but rain could still get in. Rain would be a big issue I figure, then the cat wouldn't use the LB and would just go in the grass.

I want to be able to get inside the enclosure (or up next to it) and hang out with the cat, so that's why I don't want the cats just using any spot as a toilet.

Also would the box attract other animals? Normally animals don't come around much.

Of course I prefer something lower maintenance but I prefer something that works!

I was thinking about installing a cat door to an outdoor screened in area (with concrete floor) for the cats mainly to put the litterbox out there to keep any possible litterbox smell out of the house. I was thinking of a litterbox with a hood on it to keep out the rain or a big rubbermade type of box to put the litterbox in with a hole cut in it for the kitty to come and go (and some air vents too), maybe even one of those igloo dog houses, or something. I was thinking about using the crystals for litter. Do you think the dew would effect the crystals?

was running the idea past my husband last night when he asked me what material I planned on using that the cats wouldn't tare up. I was thinking a chicken wire or other "cage" making material would work, but I'd really prefer a screen like on windows. Anyone know of a cat-proof screen?

Google gives these results and more...
http://www.qualitywindowscreen.com/stor ... p-555.html
petscreendirect.com
http://www.metroscreenworks.com/pet-screen.php

Thanks kittymom!

I had a 6 ft square (covered) outdoor cat enclosure attached to our house with a kitty door installed so the cats could go out and in at will. We constructed it just like a dog run - with chain link fence and poles set in concrete.

Before we built it, we dug a very large rectangular hole about 4' x 2' and two feet deep. We filled it with pea sized pea gravel and then we poured a concrete floor around it. When we were finished, the pea gravel pit was the litter box and the cats took to it right away. For five years, we never had a litter box in our house and life was bliss. Maintenance was incredibly easy since all we had to do was rake the poop out of the gravel every month or two then rinse the whole thing down with a high pressure garden hose.

We moved to our new house and there wasn't really any easy location for us to reconstruct this type of outdoor retreat and we've all missed it -- especially our kitties!

If you decide to do something like this, be very picky about the quality of pea gravel you use. Make sure it's uniformly pea sized and as smooth and non-porous as possible since you don't want it to soak up the urine.

donnat wrote:incredibly easy since all we had to do was rake

Cool. How many kitties were using this? Wondering how many sq feet works for how many cats.

Was the kitty door just your typical doggy in-out door they sell?

Any more tips on what kind of gravel, or an alternative to gravel? I would think acrylic beads would work great -- if they have some weight to not blow around from any thru winds. And not too soft, but that is probably more expensive than gravel.

Two kitties were using it and our teenage son built some ramps and platforms out of carpet covered lumber and attached them to the inside of the enclosure so the kitties could use more than just the floor for their explorations and catnaps.

The door was a small doggy door and the enclosure also had a full sized gate so humans could easily get in to clean, etc. We also thought that future owners of our home might use the enclosure to store garden equipment or bikes since it's covered. As it turned out, the new owners have a cat and were excited about having this.

The pea gravel worked great but I wish we knew about the issues with absorption since it took a very long time for the gravel to dry after being rinsed. We got the cheapest gravel since we didn't know there would be a difference and we won't make that mistake again. Plastic craft pellets won't work and I know this for a fact because I've attempted to use them indoors. The best thing would be smooth aquarium pebbles (pea sized) and they're probably not prohibitively expensive when you compare them to the price of premium cat litter but you'd need a HUGE amount of them. You could fill the pit 2/3 of the way with good quality gravel and use the aquarium pebbles for the top 1/3. That's probably what we'll do next time. A wonderful added benefit of using rocks for litter is they never ever stick to paws and get tracked into the house.

Since the litter pit is outdoors and the gravel is well ventilated, the poo dries out completely in a very short time and the urine also evaporates so there is virtually zero odor. Spritzing with a weak bleach solution and thoroughly rinsing with a high pressure hose every few months keeps the area in good shape.

Donna

Oh, and here's a tip to teach kitties to pee and poo in gravel -- put their regular litter box in the middle of the pit and add a handful of gravel. Add another handful of gravel every day until their litter is mostly gravel then remove their box and lock them in the enclosure until you observe that they're using the pit.

We let the pit "go" for several months at a time and never experienced any problems with stinky cat paws. When it's time to clean the pit, a rake with small gaps between teeth worked well and then we used rubber gloves to pick up stray poo. Sounds gross but they were totally dehydrated and we were wearing gloves so it wasn't a big deal and it was pretty fast work. And the cats were very amused while watching us do this three times per year.

That's awesome.

And then I might not need the expensive CGs I do love my CGs, I would probably keep one as a backup, or keep both.

I might have more than 2 cats, but from the sound of it, I would only have to clean it 4, 5, or 6 times a year if there were more cats.

But the rest of your enclosure (besides the huge gravel litterbox) was a concrete floor? I was wanting grass for part of the enclosure, my cat looks so cute in the grass and enjoys real dirt under her feet And maybe some wood? Variety and I worry a little about a harder surface.

Even though it was covered, could rain and snow get in front the sides and get the gravel wet? Or no, because the box was in the middle?

I recommend concrete for the floor since you'll need that to properly set the posts. I put a bathroom rug on the floor but you could use AstroTurf if you like that grassy look. The problem with real grass is that you'd have to mow it and trim it around the edges (where it comes in contact with the sides of the enclosure. I don't recommend wood as a building tool for this because I don't think it would be sturdy enough to support the weight of frollicking cats on the ramps. Also, the roof is somewhat heavy.

We attached roll down shades (the ones that look like they're made out of fake bamboo) to each exposed side of the enclosure and rolled them down when it rained. This kept the inside of the enclosure dry. You have to bungee them down at the bottom so they don't blow around in a storm.