apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Is it safe for cats? (To put in or around a litter box?)

I love having bundles of charcoal around the house for this purpose. I have some in the bathroom, bedroom and living room. Even better than sumi charcoal, though, is binchotan. You can get it online, but it's only made in Japan from certain types of oak trees at a hot temperature than sumi.

*edit: "...hotter temperatures than sumi."

Dirty Dog!

just a tip for composters: place your compost bits in an airtight, lidded tupperware container and keep it in the freezer or refrigerator. cuts down the smell and keeps fruit flies away.

Wow. It's like AP heard my prayers. I have a (male) roommate
with a very fragrant bedroom. It's not entirely a bad smell, just very polarizing. He uses a lot of cologne and when he accumulates dirty clothes in his bedroom...cologne dirty clothes=not good. Add natural "man hormone smell" and it's not good at all. The smell seeps out from under his door, and permeates the second floor and sometimes you can smell it going up the third. Like I said, it's polarizing. Think these coals could help? What do I do, just have him keep a bowl in his room and I keep one in the hallway? Please help fellow readers!

That dog is adorable, even covered in mud.


As for putting it around a litter box... We have something similar [volcanic rock of some sort] that we keep in a small mesh bag hanging in the closet the box is in. The cats can't get to it this way, and it does a great job absorbing the odor.

is this the same as activated charcoal?

Anyone know where I can find this in San Francisco?! I am desperate! Like SourApple I have a male (aside from me, I smell delightful thanks!) room mate who also has the "man hormone smell" that's out of control. I can't take it another day! My house always smells so sour since he moved in 4 months ago.

So does that mean that by using Sumi charcoal we are killing more trees? Hmmm.....Really, I don't know. I'll look into it.

In the meantime, as far as cleaning that gets rid of any odor, I always use vinegar and baking soda. Kills everything. Put it down the sink, the toilet, wash the counters - and add scented oil now and then if the vinegar lingers. Excellent for cleaning out a litter pan.

I would be concerned about my cat wanting to eat the charcoal. She eats cardboard....and butter...why not charcoal....:)

Even leaving an open container of baking soda around an odor source helps; just remember to toss the old soda and put out new every so often. Right now I'm using it to deodorize a book (the person who gave it to me lives with chain smokers, and, well, you can't wash smoke odor off a paperback), and it's going well.

I also freeze the rinds from citrus fruit and boil them whenever the house needs major odor control. It sounds odd, but I've had good results with it.

Here's an old hint from Heloise: dampen a towel with vinegar and wave it through the air in a room that needs deodorizing. Repeat until the air is clear.