Forgive me if this is not appropriate discussion here, but the description says discussion is allowed so here goes:
After some research and online discussion we decided to upgrade our cat’s bathroom equipment from a regular litter box to a fancy expensive FurryTail automatic litter box. I am happy to report that generally we are very happy with it, the cats seem to love it, and overall it works great.
The only problem we’re trying to figure out, is that it stinks worse than the regular cat box we used to have. I’m talking about right after use, not really “ambient” odor, but when the one cat uses it, the entire first floor of our home is eye-wateringly stinky. We never noticed this happen before. With the old analog cat box we almost never had odor problems. I suspect it has something to do with the cats burrying it before and now the machine “unburies” it while it’s “fresh” and puts it in a bag that does not contain the evil… that’s the only thing I can think of. The situation also puzzles us. This is a tiny monster, pooing in a nearly completely enclosed barrel, that is closed INSIDE an unused shower, in a tiny side bathroom. There are multiple layers of containment and it still manages to permeate the whole house. On top of that, while it seems like it’s really just right after they use it, we’re assuming we’re getting nose blind and probably the whole house stinks more than we think, all the time.
I’ve been using activated charcoal in the receptacle and shower area. We also use the Arm and Hammer deodorizing powder in the litter itself. I’m wondering what else I can do? (besides go back to the old cat box.)
here’s a cat tax photo of the poo poo monster just because:
Is your cat wearing a body cam?
I’m about to pull the trigger on one of the electric litter boxes and this is something I haven’t really though about. But I should, 'cause I swear my big boy is rotten inside. At one place I lived, there was an unused water heater closet with a vent running out the roof. I attached a PC case fan to the vent and put the litter box in there. Zero smell. Trying to figure out something similar at my current place.
We looked at the fancy expensive one that everyone uses (litter robot I think?) but a friend said it’s not great. We got a popur and it’s pretty great. It dumps into a container with a lid so there’s no smell after it runs and mechanically it’s impossible for it to harm a cat because it just tilts. It’s a decent price too. Wifi enabled for some fucking reason, and a downside is it’s pretty large, but other than that we love it.
Yeah I was recently cat sitting for friends who have two normal litter boxes and two Litter Robots. The Litter Robots weren’t functioning correctly and they didn’t know why yet so they were basically just normal litter boxes at the time, but gigantic lol.
Anyway I wasn’t very impressed if both their very expensive automated litter boxes weren’t working.
So I haven’t been left with a great impression of Litter Robot’s reliability.
From our condo days (really nowhere to put it that wasn’t out in the open) I modified a cabinet with a partition in the middle. Cut holes in the outside and the partition for the cat to pass through. In the first chamber open to the outside, I placed a small HEPA/charcoal filter, then placed the litter box in the next chamber.