Chapter 8 Thoughts on cats and cat litter.
“The interesting thing about being a mother is that everyone wants pets, but no one but me cleans the kitty litter.” Meryl Streep
I have had cats as pets since I was a child. I also had the chore of cleaning their litter since I was 10 or 11 years old. Cats are lots of fun, but cleaning their litter is no fun. Plus the smell is always there in homes where cats are present. The owners just get used to it and don’t realize it, but it’s obvious to anyone who visits.
There are lots of unsatisfactory solutions to this situation. Covered litter boxes, scented litter, naturally scented litter, strong sprays and many others. I have tried most, but still have the problems of litter mess and smell. The problem is particularly acute if you happen to own a luxury home where there’s a premium on presentability and overall neatness.
I think there’s a fairly simple solution to this problem, and without too much expense. My idea is to have small Bilko doors attached to the house. These don’t need to be any larger than about 3 feet by 3 feet and should accommodate the litter box comfortably. From the inside of the house, the only means to access the bilk door litter area should be by a cat door. This is just a small rectangular hole where the cat enters the area. The Bilko doors themselves must be insulated and well-built so that you don’t have heat loss during the winter or hot air gain during the summer. There should also be a fan arrangement so that you can blow out air periodically (similar to what is in most bathrooms). You should have the ability to close the cat door, to enable an easy cleanup of the Bilko door area. Otherwise, if you spray down the area with water to clean up from the outside, it might seep into the inside of the house.
Diagram 10- Bilko doors on the outside, cat door from the inside of the house
Diagram 10 shows how the cat litter/Bilko door arrangement should be set up. So now our little feline friend just goes in through the cat door and uses the litter box placed in the Bilko door area. Once in a while you can turn on the fan to exhaust the area. Come time to clean up, you go outside the house into the back yard, open up the Bilko doors and clean up the mess. You could air out the area easily enough during the summer. Plus there’s also scope for just taking a garden hose and spraying and cleaning the area. All this can be done without messing up the inside of your house, or having any unpleasant odors lingering around. The Bilko doors would have to be properly locked so that there are no security concerns.
I’m looking forward to working with the guy who can help me with this and eliminate my litter smell problems once and for all. I think it’s a simple enough plan that should be easily executable. Just as people use the fans to exhaust out the air periodically, you could do the same things for cats, who have much stinkier litter that is not flushed. Discuss and enjoy!