We live in a condo and have 2 cats. We put a cat door in a closet door and put the litter box in the closet that is under our staircase. It helps to contain the smell. Good luck!

OR you could disguise it as real furniture (or buy it readymade). There are some really terrific 'fakes' out there, complete with pull-out trays or (vented) tops as many cats don't like tops otherwise - I bet if you Googled 'creative cat boxes' or something you'd get tons of inspired hits.

Under a sink in one of the bathrooms? Either a cat door within the cabinet door or perhaps remove one door and put up a "curtain".

Ours is in our utility room. We use a long latch and hook on the door, which holds it wide enough so the cats can get through, but the dog won't go mining for 'tootsie rolls'.

Now, we have a really small basement "room" where we put the cat box and just leave the door ajar... but when we lived in a condo (like sunshine) we put it in the closet under the stairs. Something like that (closets, cabinets) works well too. Good luck.

I have a large built-in cupboard in the bathroom, and I cut out the bottom shelf, so I can set the litter box into it. The door has a magnetic closure on it, and my Siamese has become adept at pressing on the door in order to make it spring open.

Fortunately I have a small laundry room that it can go in now. When I was living in a very small apartment I had a small rolling cart and put the litter box on the bottom tray and put the cart in the farthest unused corner of the room. I put a nice tablecloth over the cart to disguise the cat box. Maybe not the best solution, but the bathroom only had a pedestal sink and not enough room for the box and the closet wasn't really an option either.

Seems putting one in a closet would make the closet pretty unusuable for a lot of other things. I for one would not want my clothes in a closet with a litter box. I guess if the closet only stored stored the iron, vacuum cleaner etc. it would be ok

Where does the catbox go? Er.....out in the street?

I put mine in the garage next to the door from the kitchen and installed a cat door from the house into the garage.

In small apartments, I always removed one of the cabinet doors on the bathroom cabinet, and then put the litterbox on the side where the door is remaining. Most people can't see the box then. Cat goes in the opening, and most tracked out litter stays in the cupboard area, rather than on the floor.

I've never liked the solution of having it out in the bathroom (either in a specially made box, or just openly out). It just takes up too much space.

I hid one in the bottom of a bathroom closet (removed the door and put up some colorful fabric). For the second one I bought a Booda litter box which is nicely shaped and aesthetically pleasing. I keep that one in the bathroom that doesn't have a closet.

One of my favorite gadgets is a diaper-genie thing for litter boxes so it's easy to scoop them once or more a day (keeping the smell down), without the hassle of taking the waste outside.

I put mine in the office, under a litter box cover. It seriously reduces the amount of litter on the floor!

Use cat psychology,they want a quiet private place. If the box is too dirty or smelly,they will go elsewhere.

We have 4 inside cats and 3 litter boxes and if you'd come to the house, you'd never know we had a cat....2 of the boxes are in the spare bedroom/craft room and we also have a box in the basement...The trick is to keep them clean, emptied twice a day if needed and sprinkle a little litter deodorant on top every once in awhile...Jannie is right, keep it clean and private and you'll have no problem, no matter where you keep it....

"er.. out in the street." insulting and not helpful!!

We don't have a cat now - our little lady went to the Bridge in June - but we do plan on bringing another into the family soon, and this is one of the major stumbling blocks. Our previous house was 1/3 larger, with 2 1/2 baths, so we were able to just devote the half bath to the cat's litter box, food, water, etc. We got spoiled!

I would really prefer to switch out the pedestal sink in our half bath for a wall-hung one, ideally a salvaged one that suits our old house better, so that there is room beneath it for a covered litter box. (We have to have a covered one because the dog considers litter boxes to be his own personal snack platters, YUCK! Plus, at least with our late kitty, if he got anywhere near the litterbox while the cat was "visiting" it it would upset the cat quite a lot which led to litterbox avoidance.) An old-fashioned fabric skirt on the wall-hung sink would hide the box from view. The room is really too small for a vanity that would be big enough to hold a litter box, even if an entry hole were cut in the side. But, cashflow is a bit of an issue and there are other things that are higher priority.

Probably the litter box would end up in a corner of the kitchen until we can afford to mess around with the half bath. Not ideal IMO, I hate having the litter box in the kitchen, but there isn't anywhere else available. Were we to do that we would cough up for one of those litter box enclosures to keep the dog out of it, maybe one of those "rhino-wicker" ones. I really like the wood cabinet ones but whoo-ee, they are very pricey!

I did find an interesting litter box on Petco.com that has the entry hole at the top rather than on the side: Clevercat Top-Entry Litterbox They claim it is dog-proof and minimizes litter tracking. I suppose one could just get one of those big Rubbermaid bins with the lid and cut a hole in the lid, as a bargain version. Still ugly though.

Our cellar is dirt-floored with 3-4" of loose, fluffy silt on top of the hard-packed earth - to a cat that would be one big 500sf litterbox!

Finding space in my 840 sq foot house was a challenge. Currently, the litter box is in a corner of my spare bedroom/computer room/ironing space/music room. I tried placing it in the closet in that room, but I'm not home to clean the box multiple times during the day and didn't like certain foul smells wafting up and attaching themselves to whatever else was in there. My cat is 15 yrs old with some health issue. When she passes (hopefully not for a while yet)I'd like to get two cats, but worry about where I'm going to put TWO litter boxes in this house!

I keep mine in my basement.

Hello again and thanks everyone. Some of your responses were pretty funny! I've put myself on the waiting list of the top entry Clevercat litterbox that is currently out of stock at petco.com. I also have ordered a wall hung sink for the 1/2 bath that should be delivered this coming Weds or so; when it's installed I'll see if a litterbox with cover will fit underneath (and I like that idea of hiding it behind a skirt!)

Thanks again!/Carol

I've tried the kitchen, but mine is small and I found it pretty gross having it around my food. I currently have mine in our dining room seeing that it doesn't get much use, but when we have guests I am very embarrased.

I liked a lot of the suggestions here.

Has anyone tried toilette training their cat(s)? I have seen kits in PetSmart but I am unable to try seeing as I only have 1 bathroom and the husband would kill me...

This seems to have gone full circle - a covered box (unless you know your cat will tolerate it) could be asking for trouble as many cats don't like them, and toilet training can be done but requires a lot of patience, preferably a more amenable younger cat, and probably a cooperative husband. But it can be done... look for info. at www.thecatsite.com/forums.

Johnmarie...I have two dogs and use a catbox that comes with a lid, opening faces the wall. Cats easily skinny in, dogs can't get there.

Have always placed the catbox in the garage with a kitty flap installed on the door going into it. Am now in a small home with a garage but no door entry from house. I hate cat boxes anywhere in the house, short of a basement corner. Actually I just hate cat boxes, but they go with the cats so will live with the pain to pleasure ratio.

Am not a fan of the bathroom idea. Cat sand is a pain and requires constant attention along with cleaning. Really don't want the box around an area I spend bath time.

A closet is fine if nothing else is in it, but tight enclosures seem to make the situation worse.

My catbox is now in the spare bedroom. I looked at all of the "decorative" enclosures, but felt they were a tad expensive for what they are. For a couple of months I had the box in a large plastic tub with lid, cut a hole to let them get in through the side. It looked stupid.

Then perused around the house for possibile furniture items. Thought about using a small trunk, put an opening in it for the cats and use lid to open for cleaning. That idea went by the wayside (didn't have the nerve to cut the trunk) and ended up using a large end table with a cabinet door...which had to be left ajar slightly. I thought this idea was so smart.

The problem with using an enclosure around the cat box is it has more odor hanging around without air circulation. The end table idea just made the cat box situation worse. So the box is now just a cat box in the open (one with a top cover), on a fluffy bath rug to catch tracking, secreted in a corner, opening facing wall. Can't be seen, easy to keep clean and odor hasn't been an issue. If the spare room needs to be used for a length of time, will move the box into my office temporarily. My cats love their catbox time and will find it anywhere if moved.

We had a toilet trained cat years ago. She was a couple of years old when it began. Originally belonged to the kids grandma who would sit and do her hair/makeup at a little desk in the bathroom. The cat was always in there with her watching all. One day, out of the blue, she just sat sprawled across the toilet and never used a box again. The cat was given to us when ML could no longer take care of her. The toilet deal was such a big deal that monster meows would evolve if anyone had closed the toilet seat. As great as this cat ability was we always thought it would be an added perk if she could have figured out how to flush.

I'm not sure a cat can be actually trained to do the above. The right cat perhaps, but I'd probably try it with the very one that hated the whole idea. They are each so unique and whatever goes on in their heads is beyond all of us.

Still thankful for all of the cat lovers here. Anyone reading this thread with less than a small interest in cats might consider...

emagineer, LOL, your cat sounds like the perfect pet, toilet trained and all that! But let me ask you, did the cat prefer the toilet paper roll with edge of the roll facing away
or edge of roll facing wall? ;-)

Carol,

Cat people...aren't we wonderful? I can answer your question too. No toilet trained cats now. But the paper deal.... the two would rather have it facing out. Much easier to play with and unroll as far away as possible.

And I solved this problem. My roll is in a brass ship's wine bottle holder which mounts to the wall. Came up with this when seeing it at an antique store. The idea wasn't for the cats though. My kids could never come up with a good reason to replace the roll on a standard holder. I thought the find was great so they could just drop a new roll in it. Of course this never worked either, but I like the oddity of the wine holder....so I give up on the paper deal.

My mother put the cat box in the corner of a room, then surrounded it with a mass of potted plants, plants hanging off a hook on the wall, etc. You couldn't see the box at all, and the cat seemed content with prowling through the jungle to get to it.

Has anyone checked the plant pots lately for sand? The kind that will clog up the soil and kill the plants? Not to mention whether or not the cat uses them as 'salad' on occasion?

My mother no longer has a cat, but she did the potted plants thing around the litter box for over a decade without any trouble. Several of the plants were large Christmas cacti.

My sister has the ideal place for a cat box. In her basement, and at the top of the basement stairs there's a large closed door with one of those hinged cat doors built into it. Her cat has complete privacy. And No smells.

Ours are right out in the open, one in a corner of the kitchen, one in the half bath downstairs. We can't use covered boxes, or the cats who sometimes won't use the litter boxes won't use them at all. Basement is out - there's a packed dirt floor, and they go wherever they like.

I hate where the boxes are now, but would hate it even more if they were in a closet that I had to use for anything else (especially food or clothes) or in a bedroom. I thought about putting at least one on our third floor, but I know it wouldn't get cleaned often enough.

We have a laundry "closet" off the kitchen. We bought a stackable washer and dryer, which reside on one side, and the 2 litter boxes are on the other side. The closet doors stay slightly ajar for the most part, so the cats can get in and out. We use the "feline pine" litter--no sand gets tracked through the house.

I have 3 cats and 2 boxes-- both in the basement. The basement has a cat door on it.

I bought a Clever Cat box a year ago to see if it would help with the litter. It definitely HELPS, but the litter still gets out. Check your local craigslist for these as I sometimes see them for sale (new).

When we lived in apartments (we only had 2 cats then) we'd keep in the box in the pantry. Thankfully, we always had big pantries even though the kitchens were tiny.

Know this is an old post, but found a website with the most interesting cat boxes. Now to afford one. And would the cat or I appreciate it. Check out the robot litter box.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cat litter boxes/enclosures