Stinky litter tray

[failedatlifee]

How do you cope with having litters trays, literally hate how stinky they are, they stink the house out. I remove poo as soon as it’s done but it still lingers for ages even with the windows open and spraying air freshener. Any other ideas? I don’t want a hooded litter tray as heard cats don’t like them and I’m not convinced it would make much of a difference.

What litter?
Some is worse than others for smells

Does your cat go outside? If so, move the litter tray out there or remove it altogether.

Doesn’t go outside. Using bio-catolet

Do you have an indoor cat through choice or necessity?

We have several hooded litter trays, the cats use them no problem. We also have larger, top entry ones which they also use

You can get litter deodoriser, which you mix with the litter, and also the small wall mounted air freshener canisters, which we have stuck above the litter trays

Do the hooded ones make a difference to the smell then? I will try one if it covers some of it

I think so but don’t have any open ones to compare with

Some of the hooded ones have a charcoal filter in the hood

Our litter tray is in our kitchen and doesn’t smell. Hooded tray inside a cupboard my husband built especially for the tray (away from food cupboards, next to tumble drier)

We use catsan and change the litter every two days. We only have one cat and the only time I’ve noticed a smell is when when we’ve had a very busy week and gone “whoops we forgot to change it tonight” and then we just change it right away.

It definitely doesn’t smell as we’ve had guests who didn’t even realise we had a cat. She’s a quiet little thing. Like people though, I assume some cats have an ability to stink a house out more than others. My friend’s little cat will take a shit and it’s honest to god diabolical. I was shocked such a small creature could create such a stench.

Bad luck or maybe it’s what they’re feeding the cat? Ours eats mainly chicken, prawns, and dry cat biscuits. She has Sheba cat food maybe 3 days out of 7. Could be what your cats are eating doesn’t agree and might improve with different food.

We use Catsan - remove poo straight away then sprinkle over a little fresh litter on top. Definitely doesn’t stink the house out although the immediate five minutes or so after can be a bit ripe. Deep clean once a week. Our cat sometimes comes in just to use the tray 🤷🏻‍♀️

Possibly totally unconnected, but our previous cat stopped using the tray completely after we used the deodourising powder stuff, it was like a switch flicked and she just thought, nope. Even in deep snow she would go out (although we had to dig a “toilet” for her).

I remove straight away and only changed the litter yesterday but changed it again as I just could still smell it even after I removed it.

Have you tried with alternative litter? I have always used just wood pellet type basic stuff nothing fancy (not the clumping type stuff) and to me no issues with smells. Don’t use any kind of deodoriser / liners etc. and is an open tray although with high edges. Clean regularly, remove any poo as soon as possible and clean thoroughly with kitchen towel and antibacterial spray.

Well if it’s a poo then, yes it might still smell for a bit. When someone does a 💩 in the toilet the smell can linger after flushing.

It will cost you a fortune changing the litter entirely every single time the cat takes a shit!

I’d put a cover on the litter, switch to catsan as I find it best for pee, and just accept that your cat has a smelly bum.

I find if they can properly bury it the smell is less. We have ours in the bathroom upstairs. It's a hooded one. The downside of filling it very deeply though is theyare constantly flicking it out the entrance all over the floor. I change it every 3 days for 2 cats who have access to outside during the day.

I get short term poo smells but mine both bury very well. It's the wee stink since Tobias arrived that's really bad! Many male cats in general have stinky wee, and un-neutered or (as in Tobias's case) late neutered it will smell even more.

I use wood pellet litter and pre Tobias of the infamous stinks, with Girlcat & the dear departed Boycat, I got very little smell apart from the usual 5 minutes post poo. The downside of wood pellet litter is that it breaks down to sawdust when it's wet, which is great for absorbing smells & damp but Gods does it track round the house!

There's also the question of food, certain cats are smellier on certain foods. Girlcat has much less smelly poo since I changed them onto grain free wet.

We have a litter robot which I love as it deals with it straight away. If you’re doing that manually and still getting smells then I’d look
at what you’re feeding the cat. Some have more sensitive stomachs than others. We’ve tried other much better foods but keep coming back to Whiskas for that reason, there was a poster on another thread saying the same so maybe there’s something in that or it may be trial and error to find what suits yours best. But definitely change the food!

We have a litter robot which I love as it deals with it straight away. tell me mooooooore!!

OP where is your litter tray? Ours is tucked away in the kitchen and doesn’t smell all year round apart from summer when the room fills up with heat as the sun sets that side. The hot weather cooks up whatever is in that tray and we end up changing the whole thing every other day.

What cat food are you using? As PP, at home DCat eats grain free and his poop doesn't smell. When he comes home from the cattery where they feed Whiskers, it absolutely stinks.

We swapped Bio Catolet for KatKin pea husk and millet litter. The smell is much better and we change it maybe twice a month (we have two cats though).

The best thing that I ever bought was an automatic cat litter tray.Clears itself minutes after the cat has exited. Stores the waste in a bag that just needs to be picked up and tied. Also has a deodoriser. It was pricey but if it breaks I will go out and buy a new one straight away!