We can't hide our cats' litter boxes, so now we flaunt them.

Since we don’t have a basement any more, I had to give a little thought to where we could put our primary litter boxes. I tried using the utility room, but it didn’t work because the washer and dryer take up most of the floor area. Every time we used the garage door we had to snake our way around the boxes. And, when the cats kicked litter out of the boxes it often landed on the adjacent kitchen floor – which wasn’t very appetizing.

So, with some intrepidation, I moved the boxes to a little room off our main hallway that had served as a chapel to Our Lady of Guadalupe for the previous owner – and still earlier as a Buddhist temple for the original owner. It’s easy to see why it was used as a chapel. It’s an interior room that’s only about 7x10 -- has no windows -- but does have a very bright skylight in the middle that gives it a celestial aura. From the moment I saw a photo of it, I had imagined placing our Isabel Bloom Hilda fountain in the center and then filling the room with low-light plants – creating an indoor courtyard. I planned to add a meditation bench too, but instead put in 4 litter boxes. And, I’m glad I did.

Since the room is virtually in the center of the house, it’s an ideal place for the litter boxes and it gives me easy purview into it from pretty much anywhere in the house. This is important especially with our group of elderly cats – as the litter box is often where you see the first signs of chronic health issues including kidney disease, diabetes and hyperthyroidism. And, being able to figure out who left what in the litter box is important to figure out which cat needs a vet visit.

And, for the cats, the room’s central location is convenient. They’re close to a litter box regardless of what room they’re in when nature calls. Since it’s not at a dead end of the house, no one can block access for others by hanging in a particular area. I still have zone litter boxes at both ends of the house, just in case. For those I’m using the Tidy Cat Breeze boxes so I don’t have to worry about litter tracking. In the main litter box area I keep 2 boxes of Precious Cat Classic scoopable litter and 2 boxes of Precious Cat Senior granulated crystal litter – both marketed by Dr. Elsey. We have only 6 litter boxes for 13 cats, but since I’m a compulsive box scooper, it works.

Feline behaviorists and veterinarians have a lot of rules of thumb for litter boxes. Like – have a litter box for each cat plus one extra – and – don’t put the litter box in the basement – or make sure you scoop the box daily as cats are fastidious and won’t use a dirty box – and have at least one litter box on every floor of your home. Like other cat truisms, these maxims do have some basis in reality, but aren’t hard-and-fast rules of cat management either. I’ve tried them all with mixed success. Now I do what is a mix of what’s easy for me to clean and what’s convenient and easy for the cats to use.

The fact that most cats routinely use litter boxes is pretty amazing – and it’s probably the reason they now surpass dogs as the most common indoor pet. Unfortunately for those that don’t always use their litter box – it becomes one of the most common reason people give them up – even when they know relinquishment most often results in the death of their cat – and even when the misbehavior starts later in life – after they’ve had time to make a lifelong bond.

Never assume that good litter box behavior is totally under your control – that if you had the right boxes and the right contents all would be fine. I’ve learned otherwise. To cats, using or not using a litter box is not pre-ordained. They use a litter box because, indoors, it most resembles where they would go outdoors. If the boxes are reasonably clean and reasonably convenient, they’ll use them– except when they don’t. The all-too-often forgotten element is that unlike people, cats don’t always view urine and feces as waste. They're sometimes a language -- another form of communication. When they have something to say, they’ll say it – even if they leave the message in an inappropriate spot. I guess that’s why pet stores have such a large space allocated to enzymatic cleaners like Simple Solution and Nature’s Miracle.

For more information on litter box behavior , visit our web site and click on our handout: Preventing Cat Litter Box Problems.