When we decide to welcome a pet into our home, we know that its presence will fill our daily lives with joy and curiosity. And if we prefer to adopt a cat as our most faithful companion, it is because we admire his strong and independent character which, at the same time, reveals all the sincerity of his affection. But felines also require certain care regarding their he alth and the hygiene of their environmentYour litter box, for example, needs to be maintained daily so it doesn't become a source of disease or unpleasant odors. What to do when daily cleaning with the shovel is not enough to dispense the penetrating aromas of your box? We invite you to continue reading this article on our site to find out our advice on how to eliminate the smell of your cat's urine and feces
Be careful with cleaning products…
Many people often turn to cleaning products with a strong scent to eliminate unpleasant odors in the home. But their formulas are dominated by corrosive chemical substances, such as chlorine or ammonia, whose effects can be irritating to the senses and mucous membranes of our pets.
In addition to the solutions mentioned below, there are also “pet friendly” cleaning products available on the market, that is, specially formulated so as not to harm the he alth of our pets. They may be a little more expensive than the traditional ones, but they mean an investment in the well-being of those we love so much.
5 tips to avoid the smell of urine and feces in your cat's litter box
Before listing our tips for how to eliminate the smell of your cat's urine and feces, it is important to clarify that it is really difficult to achieve a totally odorless litter box. The point is to accept that our beloved felines have their own scents, and this is part of their nature. What we intend is to propose some practical solutions and tricks to prevent these aromas from concentrating and "dominating" our home. Shall we start?
1. Reinforces litter box hygiene
The shovel is a very practical tool for superficial cleaning of our felines' litter box. But you must have already noticed that it is not as efficient to avoid the pungent smell of urine that the sand emanates with the passing of days. To do this, we must adopt certain habits to reinforce hygiene, such as washing the box, changing the sand and cleaning the environment where it is located every week.
Again, we recommend avoiding the use of corrosive chemical products in the hygiene of your feline. To provide optimal cleaning of your litter box, you can use enzymatic detergents (which do not have perfume or ammonia in their formula) or simply wash it well with warm water and neutral soap.
To complement these practices, we recommend that you change your cat's litter box at least once a year and prefer those made of more resistant materials. With daily use, your feline can cause small cracks in the wall and scratch the bottom of its box. Even we can also favor its wear by cleaning it periodically. All this tends to encourage feces and urine odors to become more difficult to eliminate.
two. Deodorant products and scented litters
In pet stores you can find specific deodorant products to be added to the litter boxes of our felines. And you can also opt for more natural “tricks”, like baking soda or activated charcoal, which act very effectively to prevent the formation of strong odors in your cat's litter box.
Likewise, some brands of scented litters are available on the market, although many cats reject them and end up relieving themselves outside box.
It is worth remembering that before exposing your cat to any new product, whether natural or industrialized, it is important to consult your trusted veterinarian.
3. Box Location
If we place our cat's box in a small and poorly ventilated environment, we favor the concentration of odors that are already naturally penetrating, and the result will probably be a home that is not exactly scented… If we want to avoid this happens, we must locate the sandbox in a region of our home that is well ventilated and where there is not much incidence of sunlight
4. Have you tried clumping litters?
You can also find some clumping litters for your cat's litter in many stores. These products react immediately with the urine and faeces of the animal, forming small agglomerates (which explains their name). In this way, we can carry out a much more efficient daily cleaning with the shovel and avoid the impregnation of aromas in the box, this being one of the most effective tricks to eliminate the smell of cat urine and feces.
5. Do you know the self-cleaning sandboxes?
A self-cleaning litter box is a device that combines clumping litter and a discharge system that deposits our cats' waste in a biodegradable bag by actuating a simple lever. To clean them daily, just pick up the bag with the waste and change it.
This is a modern and practical solution to optimize daily hygiene in homes where 2 or more felines live or when we are away for many hours each day. Logically, they have a higher value than traditional litter boxes, but they are a good investment in the hygiene of our home and our feline. How about trying them?
Does your cat's urine or feces smell too strong?
If you have noticed that your feline's stools emit a much more unpleasant odor than usual, don't hesitate to go to the vet to rule out any he alth problem. Likewise, it observes its behavior and analyzes each movement to determine if it presents other symptoms, such as blood in the urine, blood in the stool, loss of appetite, abnormal hair loss, etc.
