Cat litter tray

[G0ldenbrown]

Not sure if this is the right place for this but I'm after an opinion. We have an open plan living room with a cupboard under the stairs. Until now our lidded cat litter tray has always just lived at the bottom of the stairs. But now I'm ttc and a couple of friends who visit have children who are becoming mobile and I have visions of little hands in litter tray!!

So, I'm wondering about making the clipboard under the stairs pet zone with litter tray, food storage etc. however, I'm unsure how it would look as it would mean putting a cat flap into the door of the cupboard. Will that just look poo? Thoughts please

Sounds like a good idea to me!

soundslike a fine idea but ive had babies/toddlers and cats and have never moved the litter tray just taught the children to stay away from it, and the cat may not like getting its tray moved and just do the toilet where the tray once sat [bitter experience]

Its an idea I've thought of too but we are too lazy to get round to doing it!

Only thing is that make sure there is a good distance between the litter tray and the food, cats are very clean animals and don't like to eat too near the toilet apparently althought this does not appear to be a problem in catteries etc

My DD loves the litter tray and I have failed to train her to leave it alone so it gets put outside through the day, (and some nights when I remember to bring the cat in but not his tray)

It depends how much room you have, but you could use one of thosebaby dan play-pen / fireguard things to create a secure area for the cat, its litter tray and food. The bars are about 10cm apart, so the cat can easily get through, but little people can't. The cat will also probably appreciate a safe zone from marauding children.

They come in 5 sections, (one of which is a gate for easy access) and you can configure them in loads of different ways - we used ours as a fireguard, attached to the wall with special brackets (it can be easily removed from the brackets if needed).

I'm not so sure about cutting a hole for a cat-flap under the stairs - it may look a bit strange and if you want to move the litter tray in the future you will have a big bloody hole in your door! - if you really want to put the litter tray in there, why don't you take the door off the hinges and put a stair gate in front of it instead? It means in about 3 years time, when any DC are old enough to know better, you can put the door back on (minus hole).

We gave this a bit of thought. What we ended up doing was using one of those litter trays with a lid/box on top, and placing it in a gap between a cupboard and wall, with the "door" facing the wall and about a foot away. To get in the cat has to climb over the top of the box, jump down into the gap and then enter the tray from the far side - not a problem unless your cat is completely geriatric. To the toddlers there is nothing to see except a box - temptation removed.

I think the home for it in a cupboard is not a bad idea, but do think how it could be made good afterward. My nan used to have her cats' litter tray in a space at the end of the bath, with a " porthole" in the bath panel!