Many of us enjoy living in apartments, but the small apartment life can be challenging when it comes to decoration, furniture placement, and anything that takes up even a little bit of space.
Having a feline friend that keeps you company means more things to find a place for like a bed, food and water bowls, and toys. But the one that usually takes up more space and comes with other smelly challenges is the litter box.
If you are looking for inspiration on how and where to place your kitty’s litter box, you’ve come to the right place!
This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I may earn commissions from qualifying purchases.
Why Cat Litter Box Placing is Important
Let’s quickly go over why is it important that you find the right space for your cat’s litter box in your apartment:
- Controlling odors efficiently: Pesky smells will originate from the litter box. This is unavoidable, but you can make it less noticeable and clean the air with an air purifier. Nevertheless, ventilated rooms and areas will always be the best to avoid the concentration of polluting particles, allergens, and dust generated by cat litter.
- Accessibility and comfort: Ensuring easy access is crucial for your cat to regularly use the litter box. This means an entrance if in an enclosed space, or not placing the litter box inside often closed rooms.
- Having more than one if possible: Especially if you have more than one cat, having multiple litter boxes makes your cats feel more comfortable. In case they have to go a couple of times before you scoop THE litter box, they could instead go to a second, clean one.
- Hygiene and Cleanliness: Your cat’s bathroom should be cleaned almost daily for your cat to be comfortable and because of polluting particles that litter eject when disturbed. Place it in an easy-to-clean area so keeping it tidy doesn’t become a headache. If you live in an apartment and space is limited, knowing how to clean a litter box effectively is essential.
Unique Spots to Place Your Cat’s Litter Box
This list was made for inspirational purposes. There’s no “best place” to put a cat litter box as the answer is quite subjective. That being said, we put a list of general guidelines on litter box placement at the end of the list in case you like an idea but you want to know if it would be good in practice.
Closets
1. Small Closet Repurposing Ideas
Sometimes apartments have small closets near the entrance or somewhere else. These small enclosures are perfect opportunities for transformation and re-purposing. If you take advantage of vertical space, you can fit most of your cat’s things there. Perfect for small apartments! Don’t forget to install a cat door and teach your feline friend how to use it before leaving the door closed.
2. Setting up a Cat Closet
Take a look at the process of setting it up! This one looks lovely and can hold all of the kitties’ supplies thanks to the shelves and added hooks.
3. Wardrobe repurposing
Isn’t this an amazing idea? If you already have a big wardrobe and the storage space is expendable, you can transform it into a multi-story cat room/ bathroom.
Bathroom
4. Litter Box Enclosure In The Bathroom
This cat litter box enclosure is perfect for small rooms. As you can see in the image, it fits perfectly in a tight spot in the bathroom. Consider if you want to place the litter box in the bathroom and space is tight. We cover other enclosure alternatives further down this post.
5. Under The Sink
When space is tight, you have to make the most out of it. The bathroom sink cabinet can serve as the spot for your cat to evacuate. However, If space is too tight it can be uncomfortable for your cat which can end up stressing them, be aware!
Cabinets
6. Repurpose Cabinets
Do you have empty or somewhat empty cabinets in place? Are you good for DIY projects? Then you might love this idea. You can even install multiple litter boxes if space allows it.
7. Corner Cabinet With Cat Door
Corner furniture is great for making the most out of those spaces. If you have a space where this seems logical, you can get a corner cabinet and transform it. Getting something like the one below is also a good idea! The one featured is from an Etsy store and it looks great while being functional.
8. Under The Stairs
For those that have stairs, you can take advantage of the space under it. This is often the space for creativity to flourish. For our purposes, it can serve as your cat’s bathroom as you can see. If you have vertical space, you can place shelves and store all of your pet supplies in there as well.
You can install a curtain with a hole for your cat to get in and out to hide the spot if there are no cabinet doors under the stairs.
9. Strange Nooks
Apartments often have these weird nooks. One could make the most out of these spots by putting the cat litter box there.
If it’s not enclosed and you’re not sure what to do, then the answer is curtains! You can hide your cats’ litter box behind a curtain in any spot. You can get curtain rods that fit the space you have to install it. Pro tip: If you have a space under a table, you can use VELCRO to secure the curtains from under the tabletop.
Litter Box Enclosures
These enclosures are furniture exclusively designed to hold a litter box. Being in a small apartment, you can often give the countertop another purpose, or use it to place more of your cat stuff, such as food bowls, brushes, food, or other pet supplies. These enclosures can help you solve 2 problems in one.
10. DIY Wooden Litter Box Enclosure
if you want to put in the work to make an awesome cat enclosure, this one made by MonoLoco Workshop is amazingly inspiring! Not only holds the litter box but many other cat supplies.
11. Quick, Easy and good-looking solution
Here’s a repurposed Ikea chest, transformed into an enclosed cat bathroom just by making a hole for the cat to go in, get the job done, and get out. Plus, it looks pretty!
12. Enclosure With Shelves And Drawers
To optimize space as much as you can, you can get one of these enclosures that comes with drawers and shelves. It can look great while being useful to store bathroom effects. It’s very easy to clean as well, the main door fully opens to almost floor level.
13. Cat Litter Box Enclosure with Cat Tree
Cats need a scratcher, a place to play and of course, a place to rest. With this multi-platform piece of furniture, you can solve all of those while taking little floor space. The cat litter box enclosure can be used comfortably by two cats.
General Guidelines For Litter Box Placement
Make sure to consider the following points when choosing the spot for your cat’s litter box:
- Ensure Easy Access: Place the litter box in a place they can reach every time they need it. Avoid rooms where doors are often closed or with obstructed access. You can always install a cat door to solve any accessibility issues.
- Choose Low-Traffic Areas: Quiet, low-traffic areas are great spots to place your cat litter box. The further away from any regular household activities, the better. As cats get easily disturbed by loud noises, it’s important to ensure them a quiet environment. Cats also enjoy privacy when eliminated, so choosing a secluded spot is the best thing to do.
- Consider Ventilation: This is crucial for odor control. Well-ventilated areas are best as they allow smell dispersion. Air purifiers can do you a huge favor if the room doesn’t have a window or you want to keep the room as clean as possible from allergens, dust, cat hair, and dander.
- Avoid Food and Water Areas: Cats don’t really enjoy eating so close to where they poop. They will naturally avoid eliminating near eating areas, so the problem can become evident very fast. Avoid your and your cat’s unnecessary stress and keep them separated. Apart from being uncomfortable, this can contaminate the food, so it’s also for hygiene reasons.
Conclusion
By this point, you probably thought of at least one place you could use to place your kitty’s litter box. We hope this post unleashed your creativity and imagination.
Maybe you already have your litter box in a perfect place. Which spot did you choose? Let other readers in the same situation know what a fellow cat parent decided!
Unsure which cat litter to use? Check our Tofu Cat Litter Review, we think it can be very helpful!
