Built in, self venting Cat Box

Step 7:

When the drawer is shut, it works like a charm.  I can open it to scoop into the toilet or replace the litter.  I put the plastic liter box in a 3mm plastic contractor garbage bag and them fill the box over the bag.  Just pick up the sides of the bag and turn it inside out.  No mess!

Hope you enjoy

Fred

Comments

[account3r2]

"I can open it to scoop into the toilet or replace the litter." Dont do that. it can kill seals.

[jimr77777]

I thought that the cat litter (combined with the smelly stuff) would clog up sewer pipes, and that was why not to flush it... do any plumbers know the answer to this?

BTW - great inst-able!

[veeguy]

If you are on a city or town sewer system, you don't need to worry about "killing seals". The biological process used to clean the sewerage (activated sludge or oxidation ditch) will kill off the toxins. If that doesn't do it, the chlorine or ozone disinfectant will do the trick. If you think about it, hospitals flush hepititus or other contageous tainted fluids down the toilets all the time.

[Denver_80211]

I actually don't do this very often. While I do care for all animals I hope that Denver's septic system does a good job cleaning waste before it could impact any wildlife (or non-wild life!). I would add that flushing cat waste is a BAD idea if you use clumping cat litter. We're using recycled newspaper pellets which dry things out and don't adhere to waste.

[Spokehedz]

It depends on where the water is sent to first... If your community dumps your sewage into the ocean, then yeah it would be bad. But if they are like most normal communities then they are sending it to a water treatment plant where all toxins are removed before the water is put back into the environment.

[thebriguy]

I think your community has problems if they are dumping raw waste into the waterways. Scooping cat poop into the toilet is pretty efficient. If you really oppose, scoop it into a bag and put in the garbage. Or, better yet get a diaper disposal (ie:Diaper Genie). Or you could put it in the garden or compost.

[Todd2255]

you should never but cat dog or any type of waste in your garden or compost

[thebriguy]

But it works so good. Fertilizes the trees and flowers, and keeps the deer away! Doesn't seem to be a problem.

[Todd2255]

I should have givin a better comment- trees,flowers and the such is fine ones it is composted - but to use in the garden for human food not good . look up on the net under dog waste for fertilizer, you can get a better answer then i can give you. Have a great day.

[thebriguy]

Agreed! Never for a food garden. Thanks for clarifying.

[Spokehedz]

I said ocean, and yes there are some communities that do that around the world. Instructables is not a USA-only website, please be a little more global in your thinking.

The proper way to dispose of poo is to bury it in the yard. That's where it wants to go, and that's where I put it. I just dig a hole a couple of feet deep with a post digger, and drop the poo in it. Takes a second, and the garden never has any rabbit problems because they stay away from where there is a lot of cats.

[xdomhnallx]

I think it would be a safe bet that any place that dumps raw sewage into the ocean, probably doesn't put cat waste up high on their list of things to worry about. Assuming that there is a water treatment plant downstream from your toilet isn't an American viewpoint. It's a modern world viewpoint. Sure there are still plenty of areas on this planet that are not so blessed with modern conveniences, but again, they are not likely to be on this website looking for green solutions to cat poo. It's a bit condescending to ask someone to be more global in their thinking because they didn't address the specific needs of every community on earth.

[Aswa]

Composting yes, and I agree, I would also put it into the toilet if you use environmentally friendly litter.

But Diaper Genies are incredibly and unnecessarily wasteful things IMHO. There already is enough plastic in conventional diapers, and those machines add an extra layer of scented(!) plastic to the trash.

If one is worried about the well-being of ocean creatures, the first thing to do would be minimizing the use of disposable plastic products.

Just my few cents.

[thebriguy]

Actually the Diaper Genies are not the problem - it's the diapers that go in them. Therefore, it wouldn't be a bad use for cat poops (unless you train your cat to wear diapers).

[Aswa]

Well yeah I fully agree the diapers are the BIGGER problem, but I don’t think it’s a particularly good solution to wrap them in yet more plastic.

Basically what I meant to say is, when one is concerned with the health of seals and marine life, then kitty-litter going into the toilet is definitely one of the smaller problems they have to worry about, while disposable plastics are most definitely among the bigger ones – as a lot of plastic ends up in the oceans, even if it has been put into a garbage bin at one point.
So I wanted to underline and agree with your initial statement: "I think your community has problems if they are dumping raw waste into the waterways."
I don’t know what kind of kitty litter you would have to use for this form of disposal to be problematic.

It is actually not a huge issue getting rid of cat poo without any use of plastic really, especially if you put it into the toilet or compost it. So that is why I think a diaper genie for that purpose is wasteful and unnecessary.

[thebriguy]

I'd love to sail out into the ocean and make a giant plastic island from all that floating recycleable. From the pictures I've seen it's an absolutely lovely climate there (and worlds better than Wisconsin this time of year)!

[vgreen89]

Actually, one reason California Sea Otters are so endangered is because of a disease caused toxoplasmosis. Cats are the main carriers of this disease (cats have few or no symptoms, and up to 50% of cats--and people have it), and people spread it to the otters by flushing the cat poo down the toilet. More wastewater than you'd think goes into our surface waters which is why it is no longer safe to drink any surface waters in the continental U.S. Moral of the story-- Don't flush your cat crap down the toilet!!!

[winterwindarts]

The main source of toxoplasmosis is NOT cats but contamination from raw or improperly handled meat or seafood...or gardening. Please check your facts to make sure that they are up to date-VERY few cases can truthfully be linked to them anymore (less than a dozen in the many thousands of cases every year). House-only cats that are not fed raw meat and do not eat mice or other rodent pests are not carriers as the disease can't last more than a couple of months in their bodies.

When I first got my cats my husband (then fiancee) started in on hinting that I would have to get rid of my cats when I get pregnant so I started looking up RECENT data on it to show him. Almost no one practices pristine enough sanitation in the kitchen to keep toxoplasmosis out of their finished food much less out of their drains from just washing up and thus causing it to enter the watershed (overuse of antibacterials/microbials causing resistance is another rant). As long as there are humans and prepackaged raw meat, toxoplasmosis will be pretty widespread. Just washing hands is enough to get it to enter the watershed. There are no easy solutions.

Just the risk of damage to plumbing is reason enough not to flush clumping litter and I'd be pretty leery of flushing other types of litter.

Pregnancy/human health specific: many people are already immune to toxoplasmosis due to prior exposure-eating dirt as kids being the main reason. Grilling meat and not being careful to use a fresh plate for the cooked meat is another very common source. Prior exposure/immunity can also be tested for in both humans and cats and apparently there are vaccines for both species.

[theawesomeninja]

I'm pretty sure all our sewage is treated in a manner that does not harm the seals. They first take out the solids, process it and dry it and sterilize it and use it as fertilizer or bury it. Liquids are also cleansed and sterilized and is labeled as "reclaimed water" used for watering parks and other non-food related plants.

[thebriguy]

My poop goes down, so so does my cat's poop. If my cat has toxoplasmosis, I probably do to - so it's really indifferent who's toxoplasmosis does down the shitter. Also, if 50% of people have toxoplasmosis then we're a little beyond anything we can do about it. I'm in Wisconsin, with my own septic out in the country, so it's very unlikely to affect the California Sea Otter. Regulations are rarely one size fits all - I shouldn't be held to the same regulations that a city has...

[Spokehedz]

Yes, toxoplasmosis is an issue with the otters... But, he is in Denver which is pretty dang far away from the ocean. And the main issue is that the water treatment plants are NOT doing their job if this stuff is getting out into the waterways... The main issue is more than likely people dumping kitty litter into the trash, which gets dumped into big piles and then the water table gets polluted that way.

And if sewage is getting into your surface water, your water treatment plants in your area are SERIOUSLY out of code, and the EPA should be called out. Yes, 'wastewater' goes out into streams and things, but it is not sewage--which is what you are inferring.

[zuruiboy]

Great post - very well done. And don't stress killing seals....the sewer in Denver is not very likely to make it to an ocean, lol!!

[vgreen89]

No, but it probably goes into at least one river, where I'm willing to bet other animals (beavers, muskrats, etc.) live that could be also contract toxoplasmosis and be affected by other harmful substances that may be in your cat's litter. However, these animals are not currently being pushed into an extinction vortex like the sea otters.

[redneckuprising]

This is just awesome. But there's no way in hell MY cat would be able to fit through that hole...

[mommydono]

Awesome project! Your workmanship is beautiful and your overall design is highly functional - a great small spaces project. Thank you for posting it.

This project is a great one even if you don't have a cat, making the litterbox space a pullout storage drawer instead.

[NightGod]

Be careful with using plastic to line your litter box. I had one cat that started using any plastic lying around the house as a litter box because she got used to it. Took a couple of months to un-train her from it =x