Does anyone have their litter box in the garage?

[RexManningDay]

Ours have always been in the basement with a cat door in the main basement door, but in this new house, the basement door is paned with glass and directly between the fridge and a bathroom. I don't want to have the basement door open all the time (just out of convenience in the space and with a baby/toddler and a dog who likes to eat cat poop) and am struggling with what else to do with the litter.

Does anyone have theirs in the garage, or any other creative suggestions?

[winecat]

A friend's mom built a little exterior addition for their litter boxes. It kind of looks like a little shed and isn't much taller than cat height. The roof is on hinges so you can scoop. The cats access it via a cat door installed in the wall. They used it here so cold winters weren't a problem.

[TR]

My mom has her litter boxes in her garage. There's cat door in the wall in a little hallway with a half bath and laundry room. It works well for her. Every once in a blue moon one of the cats will get a wild hair and run out when the garage door opens, but mostly the sound of the door scares them inside if they're in the garage. She does have a little chicken wire fence type thing around the boxes so the dog can't get to them if he ever goes into the garage.

[jinkies]

We did in our old house. We did not keep a car in the garage, so we weren't concerned about the cat escaping or crawling into the car.

We cut a cat door into the door to the garage so that he could get out there whenever he wanted. It didn't take him long to figure it out. It worked great.

If our current home had a direct entry between the house/garage, we would have done the same thing. Our litter is in the mudroom now, and I hate having it be the first thing we see/smell when we walk in the door. (Also, the mudroom is adjacent to the living room, so we basically need to scoop immediately after a poop or the smell is awful).

[Deleted]

Jan 8, 2017 12:06:00 GMT -5 @mcmel said:

On top of the cats running outside when you open the door, I would be worried about them crawling up inside the car and being killed when I start the engine.

This, exactly. I would be worried about the cats getting out, running over my own cats, and the cats crawling up in the engines to get warm.

When I was a kid a cat crawled up in the engine of one of our cars, and his tail got cut off when we started the car.

[jena]

We had it in the garage at our old house, but we didn't park in it. I could see putting a cage/shed around it within the garage of the cat door is in the wall instead of a door.

[mich1]

I used the double cabinet under my sink in the bathroom. I taught my cats how to open the cabinet door to get n there, but they usually didn't close it themselves.

At the time, I lived in an apartment, so didn't have a lot of choices.

[Deleted]

We have it in the garage. The people before us had 6 cats so they built a "kitty room"
They screened in a 6x4 area of the garage with a screen door going out to the rest of the garage and there is a kitty door in the main house door

It works so well! We also lock them out there at night and we used to when we were away for long periods of time because we had one naughty cat. (We haven't been at night lately because it's "cold" but still find them sleeping out there anyway -- there are beds and a cat tree)

[Deleted]

I can try to post pictures lately but they can't get into the main garage at all so no escaping or car issues

[YahYahs]

We have ours out on a screened-in porch right now. But in our old house, it was in the basement and we kept the door just barely cracked and had a baby gate w/ a cat door in it to keep the kids and (large) dog from going down there. Like this one (sorry so huge):

[btay]

I keep mine in the half bath on my main level. It's now the cats' bathroom

[moolarkey]

My laundry room has a huge sink in there that is on 4 legs, not built into a cabinet. We placed our litter pan under it. If we put it in the garage, we'd have to do a kitty door in the door between the laundry room and the garage. Then we'd risk it running out when a garage door was opened. I would additionally worry about all the crap it would get into in the workroom area of our garage cause H has so much crap there.

After our cat died, we cat-sat our son's cat for about 5 months while their house was on the market and their new house, here, was being built. They had one of the machines that hooks to a toilet and automatically empties. That was ok because we had a bathroom we really don't use. It died while we had it and they replaced it with a new machine that simply cleans itself, it's big too. We put it in that same bathroom, it just didn't hook into our toilet. I had to change the bag out but I will say it was a much cleaner process, I just removed the bag and put a new one in.

[jezebel]

Jan 8, 2017 15:07:55 GMT -5 YahYahs said:

We have ours out on a screened-in porch right now. But in our old house, it was in the basement and we kept the door just barely cracked and had a baby gate w/ a cat door in it to keep the kids and (large) dog from going down there. Like this one (sorry so huge):

We had one of these and my damn dog (a large lab) somehow squeezed his ass through the cat door. I came home and he was stuck on the other side.

[jezebel]

Look at this smug asshole:

[nextbigthing]

Jan 8, 2017 16:14:47 GMT -5 jezebel said:

Look at this smug asshole:

HOW did he get through there!! He is smug (but awfully cute)

[jezebel]

Jan 8, 2017 16:24:35 GMT -5 nextbigthing said:

Jan 8, 2017 16:14:47 GMT -5 jezebel said:

Look at this smug asshole:

HOW did he get through there!! He is smug (but awfully cute)

When I got home, I assumed he must have jumped. I held a treat on the other side and he crawled his ass right back through the cat door. Unbelievable.

[shananagins]

Jan 8, 2017 16:10:59 GMT -5 jezebel said:

Jan 8, 2017 15:07:55 GMT -5 YahYahs said:

We have ours out on a screened-in porch right now. But in our old house, it was in the basement and we kept the door just barely cracked and had a baby gate w/ a cat door in it to keep the kids and (large) dog from going down there. Like this one (sorry so huge):

We had one of these and my damn dog (a large lab) somehow squeezed his ass through the cat door. I came home and he was stuck on the other side.

We had this same gate and I thought h was leaving it open because the dog kept getting into the litter then I caught my 60 pound standard poodle mix sliding through the cat door on her belly. Asshole.

OP, I would probably replace the basement door so you can put in a cat door. Or if you have a closet you can use we have a litter box in a coat closet with a cat door and it works well. I found a cute mouse hole shaped cat door that I like better than the normal ones with the flap. I've also put a cat door in free standing cabinet and put the litter box inside.

ETA this is the one we have in the closet door. Cat Door - Cathole Interior Pet Door With Cleaning Brush www.amazon.com/dp/B000AU64PK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_gtRCybGB8RB2T

[livinitup]

We had pee/poo accidents when the basement door got locked, so we moved it to a non-conspicuous space in the corner of the play room, under a table with a table cloth draped over it (to the floor). That kept it hidden but accessible to the cat.

In my old apartment, I used the bottom of the pantry for the covered litter box and used cedar chips. No smell/problem. But it was an outdoor cat who didn't use the litter much.