Cat Litter Hacks to Combat Litter Box Odor
Many joys come along with being a cat owner. Nothing compares to hearing the purring of a contented cat as you enjoy a great novel cuddled next to your furry friend. And don’t get us started on the fun that could be had with a mere piece of string or laser pointer. However, while the kitties are cute, not every part of them is all sunshine and roses. This is especially true when it comes to kitty clean-up. The bane of every cat owner’s existence is the litter box. It’s not just that you have to clean it — it’s that no matter what you do, it seems like it always smells. There’s nothing worse than having a smelly litter box putting a damper on your relationship with your furbaby (or hindering your other relationships when friends and family suddenly decide they never want to step inside your home again due to the stink). Here are five cat litter hacks that work for the smelliest litter boxes — from where you should put the litter box to the best all natural cat litter on the market. Here’s how to combat litter box odor so you can spend less time worrying about unpleasant smells and more time enjoying life with your cat.
Clean the Box More Often
Of all the potential cat litter hacks, this one is pretty simple. It also makes a lot of sense — the more often you clean out your cat’s litter box, the better it should smell. If you scoop the litter box every day, you can prevent the smell from growing throughout the week. Daily cleanings keep the odor at a more manageable level. If you have more than one cat, or if the litter box seems to be particularly smelly, you might even consider scooping twice a day to keep odor levels down.
Set Up Enough Litter Boxes
This is one of the most helpful cat litter hacks to keep in mind. When you have more than one cat in your home, you need to have enough litter boxes to keep all of your fur babies happy. A general guideline for deciding how many litter boxes is enough is that you need one litter box per cat, plus one additional box. Even if you have only one cat, you should have two litter boxes. And if you have four cats, you need a total of five litter boxes. This cat litter hack has another caveat — you also need to spread the litter boxes throughout the house. Let’s say that you have a two-story house and keep your cat’s two litter boxes in the basement. If Mr. Whiskers is two stories away from his litter box in the middle of the night, he might decide that it’s not worth the trip down to the basement. This could lead to unpleasant (and smelly) accidents. Keeping a litter box on each floor helps prevent these kinds of situations and is especially important for older cats who often need to be near their litter boxes.
Consider Litter Box Additions
When you’re looking for cat litter hacks to cut down on litter smells, you might be wondering if there’s anything you can add to the litter. Here are some of the easiest cat litter hacks that involve putting some extra ingredients in the litter box or in the cleaning process:
- Baking Soda— Baking soda is a classic household cleaning remedy, but did you know it can also be used in the litter box? Baking soda is known for its odor-absorbing properties, so it should help cut litter box smell. Before putting a fresh layer of litter in the box, lightly sprinkle some baking soda on the bottom.
- Green Tea— It turns out that green tea isn’t just for drinking. This all natural cat litter box solution involves taking a small amount of loose green leaf tea leaves, letting them dry out and then mixing them into your cat’s litter before you refill the box. This should help with the absorption of odors and doesn’t require adding any unnatural chemicals to the litter box.
- Litter Box Liners— Using a litter box liner is a cat litter hack that can help cut down on the amount of time you have to scrub the litter box when you clean it. It can help prevent long-lasting litter box odors that linger after cleaning. Traditional litter box liners are made of plastic and aren’t great for the environment, but there are some eco-friendly options available now that are biodegradable and more earth-friendly.
- Vinegar— This cat litter hack involves adding something to your litter box cleaning routine rather than to the litter itself. You can use regular white vinegar or apple cider vinegar when you clean out the litter box. It should help neutralize odors and can kill leftover bacteria in the box, making it a good choice for decreasing odor and promoting cat health.
- Litter Mat— A cat litter mat is made to be placed under your cat’s litter box. These kinds of mats can be easily vacuumed to eliminate litter that has strayed from within the box. Another common problem with litter boxes is that litter can stick to your cat’s paws and track around the house, spreading litter box odor into rooms far away from the box. However, when your cat steps onto a litter mat, some of the stray litter will be trapped by the mat, keeping it from tracking.
Pick the Right Location
“Location, location, location!” This phrase doesn’t just apply to real estate — it also applies to your cat’s litter box! The right place to put a litter box is in a larger space that is also well-ventilated to keep air circulating throughout the room, preventing odors from settling and building up. If the litter box is in a small and closed-in space, the smell can easily become concentrated and make for a very unpleasant experience for both you and your cat.
Choose the Right Litter with Skoon
While all of the cat litter hacks listed above can be somewhat helpful in reducing litter box smells, most of them also require some amount of work. If you’d rather not have to worry about cleaning out the litter box twice a day, scrubbing it with vinegar and giving up your afternoon green tea for odor control, we have a much better solution: Skoon cat litter. Skoon cat litter is an all natural litter that makes other cat litter hacks for litter box odor unnecessary.With Skoon, you’ll never have to think about a smelly litter box again. That’s because the all natural cat litter from Skoon is made up of diatom pebbles. Diatom pebbles are experts at trapping odors due to their high absorbency levels, and Skoon even has a 100 percent odor-free guarantee. Skoon’s all natural cat litter is also hypoallergenic, toxin-free and non-tracking — so you don’t have to worry about what’s going into (or coming out of) your cat’s litter box. A subscription to Skoon also delivers a disposable cardboard litter box along with your all natural cat litter to your door each month. That means you won’t ever have to clean out a litter box again — and that’s every cat owner’s dream! You can simply throw Skoon’s litter box out at the end of every month.For the best cat litter hack of all, choose Skoon’s all natural cat litter today and never worry about litter box odor again!
