apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Cristy,
My memory is that there were long discussions about litter boxes in the last Pet Month - these would be in the archives (click on Maxwell's Pet Links) rather than shops. it really isn't about what you buy so much as how you live.

My litter box is in the bathtub hidden behind the shower curtain - I resisted this solution for a while, but eventually found it to work the best for my 550 sf apartment. The tub contains the tracking of litter all over my apartment - which is brilliant.

these are my two cathouse faves from AT:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/pet-decor-2006-entries/my-designs-dreamy-willy-and-mcs-kittyloft-011029

&

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/pet-decor-2006-entries/my-designs-dreamy-cat-stairs-3-010732

any chance of convincing you to toilet train the cat? I have two tomcats and not having to deal with a litter tray is the BEST THING!

I got the training kit at citykitty.com

Can a dog owner crash this thread?

I've been meaning to ask where people keep large quantities of dog food. I buy it in big ol 30 or 40 lb bags and keep it in a slim, tall, tupperware type container. In my current kitchen it's stuck in between cabinets and microwave cart, not very visible, but in my new kitchen there's just nowhere to put it where it won't stick out and yell HEY! I'M A GARBAGE CAN FULL OF DOG FOOD! Ideas?

mjoe, what i do w/ my big (20lb) bags of cat food....i put a bunch in a slim tupperware-style container that fits in the cabinet under the kitchen sink...and store the big bag in a closet elsewhere in the apartment. it's worked for me for awhile now...i don't have kitchen space to store the big bag, but i do have random hall closet space (though i'd rather store other stuff there...whatev!)

good luck!

Caring for my cats, one of whom is on a diet, is an absurdly Byzantine affair. I converted my half-bathroom into a storage room, and the cat litter boxes are in there; the small cat uses what I think is the single greatest invention ever, better than aspirin, better than antibiotics - maybe not better than air conditioning, but possibly - the LitterRobot, an enormous self-sieving cat litter box that ACTUALLY WORKS! It is a sphere where the cat slips in and does his business, and after he's left, the sphere rotates and presto! Clean litter, happy cat.

Alas, the stout cat is too stout for the LitterRobot, so he has his own litter box (actually one of those large plastic office storage containers).

The stout cat also has a mechanized feedbowl (another really fantastic thing) which stores about 13 pounds of catfood; it's large, but tucked away in a corner, and the reservoir is barely visible. The other cat's bowl is on a windowsill that is too high for the stout cat to loft himself up to, poor bastard. I keep additional food there in a cylindrical stainless steel 15 gallon wastepaper basket.

Other than concealing the food for that cat, I have no great suggestions for making the cat accouterments purty, but I just want to rave about the LitterRobot! I sometimes wish I could fuse the two cats into one medium-sized cat, who could use the LitterRobot and the RobotFeeder, or whatever the latter thing is called.

Geraldine: at what age did you toilet train your cats?

(the cats, not you)

Geraldine, I have a question too. I am ready to go buy this City Kitty thingee. But I am wondering what the litter does that falls into the toilet and if there are any problems one might encounter from litter going into the pipes.

About the dog food:
I bought one of those hinged plastic recycling containers. They have them at Container Store, but they are only 8.99 at Ikea. I keep it in a hall closet, and because of the large flat lid, I can also store stuff on top of it. I prefer it to the trash can style containers because it's shallower--I don't have to get in up to my elbows. The short one holds a 30 lb. bag perfectly.

Here's the link (it's called the Sortera)
http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?topcategoryId=15561&catalogId=10103&storeId=12&productId=40801&langId=-1&categoryId=15776&chosenPartNumber=90076364

This may not work for everyone..

Howards Storage World (theyre in Australia, however if we have it, you will definitely have the product, if not the store) sell under bed storage containers.

Theyre smokey plastic containers, probably 1m long, 40cms wide and they slide under the bed. Great for items you want to keep but dont quite fit in cupboards or on display. I have 5 under my bed. 1 is used for dirty laundry.

Anyway point is, 1 is used to store my dogs Eukanuba. They have wheels underneath to make it easy to slide out, and if you leave a plastic cup in there it makes it easy to dispense.

Hope that helps.

When we had a dog, I found a fun way to store the tons of dogfood. Rather than trying to hide the big sacks of it, I made covers for them and we used 2 of them as cushions on the old seaman's chest in the kitchen. (Could be on a bench in another room, or whatever.) I bought sacking material (rough, soft cotton, like old flour sacks, but in great pattern/colors). Stitched them up a la pillow cases, but with the flaps underneath, and slipped the dog food bags into them! The pillow seats were crunchy and oddly comfortable. They would get thinner and thinner as I moved smaller amounts to a canister on the counter for serving up. But so what? Looked best about half full, but always looked pretty cool, if I say so myself!

For our cats we have water and food containers that do double duty... They store and serve. With multiple cats that want access to their food at all times, they work well. They look like this: http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441775507&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302025790&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023689&bmUID=1175084919128&itemNo=0&In=Dog&N=2025790&Ne=2

Our dog has her own small bowls and her food is stored in a pretty container on the container. We just buy in smaller quantities....

http://www.culturalrevolutionary.com/

I second Alex from DC's comment about having the litter box in the tub behind the shower curtain. You don't have to have a fancy box and all you have to do is take it out when you shower or bathe - the water rinses away the tracked litter (if you have eco-friendly litter, of course. I like Feline Pine). It has definitely eased my small apt living!

I also trained my cat with the citykitty, we're on the very last step, has a few minor setbacks but all is well.

Use flushable litter, it won't hurt the pipes.

My cat is 2 and she caught on right away.

Wow, I am so glad someone asked this question because it led me to all these great links!

About 4 months ago I adopted a 10-year-old cat (I think too settled in his ways to go the toilet-training route), and his only flaw is that after using the litter box he kicks his litter literally everywhere! He's getting good distance too, about 6 feet across the room. I have switched to a covered litter box, and now have the entrance facing the wall but it still manages to get everywhere... well, I can't believe it never occured to me to put the litter box in the tub and just move it when I shower. Also offers the bonus of not smelling his poop in the living room! Thank you AT-ers!

Regarding the litterbox question: In college I was friends with a guy whose mother kept the litterbox behind a Japanese screen. Now that I have a cat, I bought a screen for my place and stood it in the corner of my home office. My cat's automatic box is behind it. You can't see it, and since the box rakes itself ten minutes after the cat uses it, the smell is reduced considerably.

I have two littermaid litterboxes , and three cats. I keep the litterboxes under the stairwell of my bi-level unit. Each box facing opposite the other, so that no matter which side a cat enters, he/she has access to a box. On the side to the living room there is a large armoire that hides it and on the dining room side is a Japanese screen. I move the screen and clean the boxes. Although one of the boxes came with a privacy tent (you can purchase this at PetSmart), I no longer use it because it was too much 'work' to pull the box in and out when changing the litter. However, if I had to keep the box out in the open, I would definately use the tent.

So, I have both dog and cat answers!
My absolute favorite storage solution for cats and dogs (plus you can use these as free feeders) is the new Wall-Tainer by GammaPlastics (they make Vittles Vaults and are airtight and bug-proof, etc.) http://www.gammaplastics.com/new/wall-t.html
You can buy the small size here:
http://www.carealotpets.com/item-detail/?ItemID=000000000004819
and the large size here:
http://www.shopgetorganized.com/prodetail~itemNo~25534.asp
Litter boxes:
If you want to not see or smell the litter, it is best to get a covered/enclosed litter box. They have really nice cabinets these days, that you can use as real furniture in your home.
Concealing litter furniture many options:
http://catsplay.com/kitty_condos.php3#litter
This is the rustic look I like if you have the $$:
small: http://catsplay.com/saug1.php3 large:http://catsplay.com/cacbox.php3
My litter box is this one (it's really eliminates litter mess on the floor and is virtually dog-proof) - I love it! http://www.clevercatinnovations.com/(S(4q2dpi4541gde345jpctot2y))/top_entry_litterbox_order.aspx
But this is the most stylish covered litter box I've ever seen:
http://kittyagogo.com/
I've also been very happy with my older covered box:
http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_detail.jsp?cm_ven=SortPrice&cm_cat=mercent&cm_pla=datafeed&cm_ite=51137&ASSORTMENT%3C%3East_id=2534374302023690&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302033556&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524441775962&bmUID=1175103302890

My cats' litter is kept at the top of the stairs - we live in a three-floor townhouse. We tried to keep the litter in the basement, for a while, but we have a very timid elderly cat who spends all his time upstairs and didn't like having to get past the dog (who lives only on the main floor of the house) to use the litter: he merely started peeing on the floor at the top of the stairs where the litter box had been.

We tried using a covered, igloo-shaped litter box for a while, but he eventually refused to go in it, probably because he was afraid the other cat would be waiting to attack him when he came out. So the box has remained at the top of the stairs. (We don't want to have it on the main floor A) because of the dog, and B) because there isn't anywhere to "hide" it.)

This was fine until the toilet in our downstairs bathroom broke, and for arcane reasons, we haven't had it fixed yet (the repair will be on the floor below it, in an area that's used for storage, and we don't have renter's insurance at the moment, so we're not keen to have someone tear out the walls and mess with pipes down there until all the stored stuff is moved and insured). Now, everyone must use the toilet that's just at the top of the stairs, across the hall from the litter box, and that is not working out well for us at all: sometimes they miss, sometimes they kick litter everywhere, etc. It's probably something that will be addressed in a different apartment.

LOL! People using the toilet at the top of the stairs don't miss or kick litter everywhere! I mean the cats, of course.