Cat litter boxes stink to high heaven. Worse, many cat owners gradually acclimate to the odor, creating an awkward situation for house guests. If you are a cat owner, this DIY catbox ventilation system will dramatically improve the quality of your life, restore your fraying friendships, and amuse guests with your ingenuity. Your cats will probably even forgive you for not scooping as often.
This design is intended for those who are willing to keep the litter box near a single-hung window with outer screening and no burglary concerns (i.e. probably not on the ground floor in a neighborhood like mine!). I will be following up this post with another version that couples to a bathroom exhaust vent.
This project is designed to cost less than $35 to make, and uses mostly common, recycled and/or re-purposed and cheap materials. It is also quite doable for someone with limited tools. Perfect for apartment dwellers!
Required Tools
* Hot glue gun and roughly 10 hot glue sticks
* Heavy duty poultry shears or tin snips
* Serrated bread knife
* Serrated tomato knife
* Electric drill
* Standard drill bit index (up to 1/2")
* Permanent marker
Required Materials
* Hooded plastic cat litter box with at least 7"x7" of flat surface on the back end
* 12V 120mm CPU fan (smaller sizes may also work...try recycling one from an old desktop computer). I used this one.
* 12V DC power adapter (500ma). I used this one.
* 2 x plastic food storage containers (25oz, 740ml - 6-3/4" x 6-3/4" x 2-1/4") with lids
* 2 x empty, de-labeled 28oz food cans (I used cans from crushed tomatoes) with both ends removed.
* approx. 10 hot glue sticks
* 5-25' (location dependent) of 4" dryer duct, aluminum or plastic
* electrical tape
* 2 x 16" long zip ties
* 2 small zip ties
* 8" x 36" rectangle of Owens-Corning Foamular(R) 250 or comparable (pink foundation insulation) or 3/4" plywood (if you have a jigsaw or sawzall).
This design is intended for those who are willing to keep the litter box near a single-hung window with outer screening and no burglary concerns (i.e. probably not on the ground floor in a neighborhood like mine!). I will be following up this post with another version that couples to a bathroom exhaust vent.
This project is designed to cost less than $35 to make, and uses mostly common, recycled and/or re-purposed and cheap materials. It is also quite doable for someone with limited tools. Perfect for apartment dwellers!
Required Tools
* Hot glue gun and roughly 10 hot glue sticks
* Heavy duty poultry shears or tin snips
* Serrated bread knife
* Serrated tomato knife
* Electric drill
* Standard drill bit index (up to 1/2")
* Permanent marker
Required Materials
* Hooded plastic cat litter box with at least 7"x7" of flat surface on the back end
* 12V 120mm CPU fan (smaller sizes may also work...try recycling one from an old desktop computer). I used this one.
* 12V DC power adapter (500ma). I used this one.
* 2 x plastic food storage containers (25oz, 740ml - 6-3/4" x 6-3/4" x 2-1/4") with lids
* 2 x empty, de-labeled 28oz food cans (I used cans from crushed tomatoes) with both ends removed.
* approx. 10 hot glue sticks
* 5-25' (location dependent) of 4" dryer duct, aluminum or plastic
* electrical tape
* 2 x 16" long zip ties
* 2 small zip ties
* 8" x 36" rectangle of Owens-Corning Foamular(R) 250 or comparable (pink foundation insulation) or 3/4" plywood (if you have a jigsaw or sawzall).
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Signing UpStep 1: Replace Catbox Air Filters With Cardboard
Most hooded litter boxes have these silly "air filters" that slide into openings on the top-back of the hood and look like grey pot-scrubbing pads. They do nothing to remove any of the smells...pure gimmick. With our new fan-exhaust system, we will want air to draw in from the front opening of the hood, across the litter, and out the back. Because the vents that come with the catbox are positioned at the top back of the cat-box, we will want to cover them to improve airflow from front to back. Trace their exact shape on some corrugated cardboard twice, so you can have a double thickness to match the thickness of the filter slot. Insert and trim.
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Thanks very much for the great design. I followed it closely and am very pleased with the outcome. The project also introduced me to hot glue, which is fantastic. Our litter box is in the basement and the odor was coming up the stairs into our living space, in addition to the unpleasantness of going into the basement. I had to modify the window attachment scheme because of my particular circumstances but I stuck to your general principles. My only comment is that, due to the airflow in our house we might need more fan power to overcome the expected draft when we run our wood stove upstairs in the winter. If necessary I will install a second fan at the window side. What do you think? Again, many thanks for posting. I'm so much happier with the fresh air!
Tiny idea / improvement: When drilling the holes in the back of litter box, take lid off and drill from inside the lid. That way, most rough edges will be outside the box and you won't have to worry as much about tail or body getting injured by jagged edges. Also, could probably just use a power sander to lightly smooth over holes all at once.
For really long-haired kitties, glue a piece of window screen over the area where holes are! Or, if you've got really curious cats, do this to keep their noses and whiskers from intruding through holes, along with any stray bits of litter that get kicked up.
Thanks for posting the code below. I have started writing up code for both 2 and 4 wire fans. (2 or 3 wire fans take V+ Ground, 3 wire also out puts speed of fan. 4 wire fans also have PWM input for speed.)
One of my cats has a problem with trying to attack the fan when its spinning at high speeds so I had to come up with a way to have it spin at around 30% of top speed. the newest fan in question is off of a nvida 8800 video card thats long been dead. The 4 wire fan from it has really saved me on speed control but I still made it for both types of fans just in case.
Along with the solar idea My code would most likely be easy on the power consumption as its not running all the time but starts slow when the cat enters the box waits till it leaves then turns it on full to make sure no air born smells get back in to the room.
I will try to get pics of the box and fan setup soon to show how I made it. Who knows you might even change yours to run like this if the cats dont mind.
The cat entered the catbox and proceeded to commence it's business, the fan turned on, literally scaring the poop out of the cat and caused the cat to go ballistic! The cover was thrown off the catbox, cat litter and poop spread all over and the cat departed at high speed for the closest convenient hiding place.
We nearly died laughing!
So this ought to be good for a laugh anyway... but beware, you may permanently traumatize your cat!
/*
* //////////////////////////////////////////////////
* //making sense of the Parallax PIR sensor's output
* //////////////////////////////////////////////////
*
* Switches a LED according to the state of the sensors output pin.
* Determines the beginning and end of continuous motion sequences.
*
* @author: Kristian Gohlke / krigoo (_) gmail (_) com / http://krx.at
* @date: 3. September 2006
*
* kr1 (cleft) 2006
* released under a creative commons "Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0" license
* http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/de/
*
*
* The Parallax PIR Sensor is an easy to use digital infrared motion sensor module.
* (http://www.parallax.com/detail.asp?product_id=555-28027)
*
* The sensor's output pin goes to HIGH if motion is present.
* However, even if motion is present it goes to LOW from time to time,
* which might give the impression no motion is present.
* This program deals with this issue by ignoring LOW-phases shorter than a given time,
* assuming continuous motion is present during these phases.
*
*/
/////////////////////////////
//VARS
//the time we give the sensor to calibrate (10-60 secs according to the datasheet)
int calibrationTime = 10;
//the time when the sensor outputs a low impulse
long unsigned int lowIn;
//the amount of milliseconds the sensor has to be low
//before we assume all motion has stopped
long unsigned int pause = 25000;
boolean lockLow = true;
boolean takeLowTime;
int pirPin = 3; //the digital pin connected to the PIR sensor's output
int ledPin = 13;
int outPin = 12;
/////////////////////////////
//SETUP
void setup(){
Serial.begin(9600);
pinMode(pirPin, INPUT);
pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
pinMode(outPin, OUTPUT);
digitalWrite(pirPin, LOW);
digitalWrite(outPin, LOW);
//give the sensor some time to calibrate
Serial.print("calibrating sensor ");
for(int i = 0; i < calibrationTime; i++){
Serial.print(".");
delay(1000);
}
Serial.println(" done");
Serial.println("SENSOR ACTIVE");
delay(50);
}
////////////////////////////
//LOOP
void loop(){
if(digitalRead(pirPin) == HIGH){
digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH); //the led visualizes the sensors output pin state
if(lockLow){
//makes sure we wait for a transition to LOW before any further output is made:
lockLow = false;
Serial.println("---");
Serial.print("motion detected at ");
Serial.print(millis()/1000);
Serial.println(" sec");
digitalWrite(outPin, HIGH);
delay(50);
}
takeLowTime = true;
}
if(digitalRead(pirPin) == LOW){
digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW); //the led visualizes the sensors output pin state
if(takeLowTime){
lowIn = millis(); //save the time of the transition from high to LOW
takeLowTime = false; //make sure this is only done at the start of a LOW phase
}
//if the sensor is low for more than the given pause,
//we assume that no more motion is going to happen
if(!lockLow && millis() - lowIn > pause){
//makes sure this block of code is only executed again after
//a new motion sequence has been detected
lockLow = true;
Serial.print("motion ended at "); //output
Serial.print((millis() - pause)/1000);
Serial.println(" sec");
digitalWrite(outPin, LOW);
delay(50);
}
}
}
;-)
Awesome Idea I think!
Or you could just toilet train like I have! :)
We have friends who had success with it, so perhaps we just didn't have the right touch. Nevertheless, the potty training device blocks the toilet from normal human use for months on end, which is no fun for small apartment dwellers.
Age is irrelevant unless it's a cat too old to balance on the seat. Pregnant cats shouldn't be toilet trained either (nursing either - just in case on of the kittens is attached to a nipple!) obviously kittens shouldn't be toilet trained for obvious reasons.
I used the Litter Quitter. But I guess you could try and make something similar.
Tips: move their litter tray into the bathroom - make sure they see it and the door is always open.
When they've gone a few times (all cats have to have reached this stage - as with each stage) you can exchange their tray for the quitter (red stage) on the floor. Then when they've successfully gone in the put it on the loo. Sookie got this first time, lady took a little longer - we had to go back a stage with her.
Then change to Amber (see the pattern emerging): which still has room for litter but has a small hole in the middle - encouraging them to aim for the hole and sit more on the seat and not in the litter.
The green stage is similar to Amber except the hole is bigger.
It can take a few weeks if you have a lot if cats or some stooooopid ones. If we just had sookie it would have taken a few days to go though the stages.
Great thing about this is they love it - their poo disappears ANC they don't have to bury it, you don't gave to empty a tray - just flush, don't have to buy litter any more snd when I have a baby I don't need to worry about handling litter.
The litter quitter fits over the loo, but it's best to
For the most part I clean it every single day and use a scented clay-based littler, for multiple cats, that I change every 2 weeks. I have 2 cats who use it a LOT and both are fed a natural diet.
I've NEVER had a problem with smelly littler boxes, and it's not because I'm "used to the smell" since I frequently am not home and have visiters over as well. My mother-in-law is a real clean freak and even she never smells it when she visits. She'd tell me too, trust me...
The only time I do smell it is when I forget to clean it for a day or 2.
So yeah. Maybe it depends on the cat, but it's certainly not all litter boxes since mine and PinUpRetro haven't had that problem.
I'm out all day at work and would have noticed a smell when I came through the door (I'm like a bloodhound for smell).
We have three cats so emptied poo out twice a day and changed the (clumping smell absorbing) litter every 5-7days depending on usage (in the summer they tended to addnutrients to the flowers).
My mum has all the subtley of a sledgehammer to the face and would say if it smelt too.
Diet isimportant too (just like with humans) - eat a bad fatty diet and your/their poo will smell.
A while back I actually tried a different litter called "World's Best Cat Litter", hoping to move from the clay based brand I had. Turns out I got rid of the stuff the very next day because I came home from being out for just half a day and was able to smell the stench. The litter did nothing to mask the smell.
After going back to the clay based stuff I again don't smell anything when I come home. So I definitely know the difference which would mean my nose didn't get used to anything. I bet the type of litter has a lot more to do with masking the smell than people realize.
Why don't you try switching out and see if that makes a difference? I use Fresh Step, if you were wondering. :)
Consider how you'd feel if you started Hearing the Whirl of a fan or feel your Hair move in a wind where none existed before, Each time you used the Potty, Now Amplify that a hundred times, That's what your Cat is going through. You might try Switching the Fan from the Box to the Window, To Quiet things down a bit, As well as making a Diffuser at the Box-End to tone-down the Suction under the Hose outlet.
As for cat sensitivity to noise, my two tomcats are completely fine with sharing the same box on my first prototype and don't mind the fan noise a bit. On my 2nd build, my mom's older, female Calico started crapping all over the apartment, which is what pushed me to use the Arduino / PIR sensor solution (see last step) to shut off the fan whenever she approached the box. An LED on the top of the box turns off to provide her a visual to confirm the fan is off as she approaches.
This will help If & When you ever move to another house.
dang my list is really long
I no longer keep cats like I used to when I was a kid (they have the nasty habit to die after a while) but one of the things i remember is the litter-box smell, huh!
Alessandro