Apartment living has its up’s and its downs, as anyone will know that has gone through this type of living environment. The ease and convenience of having a place to call home, without the repercussions of maintenance and repair fee’s is among one of the main benefits that people experience when living in an apartment. However, when it comes to space and storage, an apartment will usually fall short, leaving you with a minimal living area that will make for accommodating pets and their supplies a potential challenge, especially when it comes to housing a litter box. Cats are self-sufficient animals that will clean themselves and go to the bathroom without the supervision or aid of their owner(s). The list of supplies that a cat needs inside of a home/apartment is fairly minimal, which makes them a favored pet for those in short-term housing options like apartments. Generally, all a cat will need is a few toys, food and water bowls, and a litter box for them to easily and freely go to the bathroom whenever they choose to throughout the day. Unfortunately, when a cat litter box is placed within the small confinement of an apartment, the odors and clean-up process for the litter box will be more difficult and lead to many issues for the owner. In this article we are going to learn more about how to clean a litter box in an apartment, the best type of cat litter to use for odor control, and how best to get rid of cat litter smell in an apartment.

What is Cat Litter

A cat litter box is the housing that is used as your household cat’s bathroom, and usually these boxes will contain cat litter that is used to control, clump, and deodorize the urine/feces produced from a cat onto this litter material. Typically, to entice a cat’s use of this litter box, the litter will be filled to approximately 2 inches of cat litter within this area, depending on the type of litter that is used in this litter box. Litter box filler, also known as litter, is a loose, granular material that is capable of effectively absorbing moisture and odors that are produced from cats and deposited into this material, such as ammonia. Many litter brands have started to adopt and utilize other additional materials within their litter to help with odors such as baking soda that is known to absorb odors and help to mitigate urine and feces odors from this litter box in your apartment/home. There are several different types of cat litter that are used in cat litter boxes today, and these will include the following; non-clumping conventional litter, clumping litter, biodegradable litter, and silica gel litter. Each of these various cat litter materials will work in different ways to provide your cat litter box with odor control, mess control, and longevity. Below we are going to discuss these different types of cat litter material and understand the benefits of using each of these litter types.

• Non-Clumping Conventional Litter: The traditional form of cat litter, non-clumping conventional litter was the first commercially available form of cat litter in the U.S. and was originally formed from clay. Clay is a fairly absorbent litter material that makes it less likely for the urine/feces to be tracked from the litter box. Today, however, most non-clumping cat litter is formed using zeolite, diatomite, and sepiolite.
• Clumping Litter: Clumping cat litter was first developed with the use of calcium bentonite clay and was manufactured in the UK. This clumping litter is an easily cleaned out litter material, that will clump together when wet and form a solid mass separate from the other litter in the cat litter box. The solid clump of urine and feces can be scooped with ease of the box.
• Biodegradable Litter: Biodegradable litter is made from various plant resources that will include pine wood pellets, recycled newspaper, clumping sawdust, and other various materials. Many homeowners will use this cat litter material due to its friendliness in the environment. However, this form of cat litter is generally more expensive than traditional clay litters, which can make this type of litter less desirable.
• Silica Gel Litter: Often referred to as “crystal litter”, silica gel litter is a porous granular form of silicon dioxide that has a higher absorbency than traditional litter. This type of litter has excellent moisture control and complete odor elimination when used in a cat litter box.

How Often to Change Litter

If you have a cat in your apartment, then you may frequently be questioning how often you should change the litter in your cat’s litter box, so that your cat doesn’t rebel and start peeing around your apartment on the floors or other surfaces. When it comes to cleaning out and changing the litter in your cat’s litter box, there will be several factors that will alter the time span in between litter change outs, such as how many cats use the litter box, the frequency of use during the day, and the type of litter that you use in your cat’s litter box. Generally, it is recommended to change out the litter in a litter box about every three to four weeks. We know that life is busy and finding the time to do this full change out of the litter may be difficult, however, it is important as issues can start to arise if your cat’s litter box accumulates too much urine and feces in the litter. Sometimes your cat will pee or poop on the outside of their cat litter box or on the side, other times they can completely avoid their litter box and go to the bathroom throughout different areas of your home, which can be a bad thing when you live in an apartment.

Where to Put Litter Box in Small Apartment

The designated area or spot for your cat’s litter box within your small apartment needs to be strategically placed, especially when it comes to privacy for your cat as well as concealment from visitors that will come and visit your apartment. Nothing is worse than having a cat litter box out in the main area of your living space, where litter can be freely thrown on the ground from the paws of your cat that can leave traces of this material on the flooring. Thus, it is important to not only find a spot in your apartment that is out of the way from the main living space but that is easily accessible to your cat, such as a laundry room or guest bedroom in your apartment.

How to Clean a Litter Box in an Apartment

Living in an apartment will come with certain limitations such as the inability to clean and wash a cat litter box outside with a hose, since most apartments do not come with a backyard or accessible hose. The reality is that you don’t want to clean your cat’s litter box in your kitchen sink or your shower/bathtub for that matter, thus your options for cleaning the litter from this cat box are numbered. There are some solutions around cleaning your cat’s litter box inside of an apartment such as using Clorox or Lysol wipes, using natural pet-specific wipes, cleaning with a soapy disposable sponge, using a cat litter box liner, or even purchasing a self-cleaning litter box. Each of these methods to cleaning a litter box will work and thus it is based on ease of deploying and personal preference which one you use to clean your litter box in your apartment. However, you can also use a variety of these methods together to accomplish a cleaning that will help to sanitize plus deodorize the cat litter box.

Baking Soda in Cat Litter

Have you recently begun to notice that many cat litter brands at your local grocery store are starting to turn to odor neutralizing solutions in their litter such as baking soda? Baking soda is a natural deodorizer that works specifically to counteract odors that come into contact with this material, whether that be in your laundry load, on counters, or even in the litter that you use in your cat’s litter box. Often times these litter brands will be marked up by higher prices, due to the convenience of the baking soda already being part of the construction of the litter, however, you can work out ways around this higher price tag. Many people will simply by a thing of baking soda and each time they change the litter within the litter box they will sprinkle some baking soda to help work against those harsh odors created by your cat’s waste.

What is the Best Cat Litter for Odor Control?

When it comes to controlling those odors that can form and permeate throughout the cat litter used in the litter box there are many products that have been developed specifically for this odor control problem. As we discussed previously, when you are living in a small environment such as in an apartment, the odors will be stronger and more difficult to deal with and/or manage. Therefore, having yourself armed with the proper deodorization products for various items around your home like a cat litter box will be crucial to controlling odors. The OdorKlenz Pet Litter Additive is a great resource to use inside your apartment to remove odors from inside your cat’s litter box. This product was designed with a choice selection of natural ingredients to eliminate that foul stench inside of the litter box. The OdorKlenz proprietary technology consists of safe earth mineral technology that was designed to capture, contain, and neutralize a broad spectrum of noxious odors. The simple application of the OdorKlenz Pet Litter Additive consists of sprinkling one scoop of the litter additive over the cat litter box and mix thoroughly with the litter to gain an odor neutralization.

How to Get Rid of Cat Litter Smell in Apartment

The smell of cat litter and the urine/feces that are collected within this litter inside your cat’s litter box can permeate throughout the environment and into the air space of the enclosed area. Cat urine consists of various components that include urea, creatinine, uric acid, sodium, and other electrolytes which can give the urine its recognizable odors. In addition to these various chemical components of cat urine, the soiled cat urine will degrade the urea-positive bacteria that will lead to the smell of ammonia produced from the cat pee in the air. When cat urine floods the air from the dirty litter box it will swirl within the air space of your apartment and taint the indoor air quality. What can be used in an apartment to get rid of cat litter smell in an apartment and will an air purifier be the perfect addition to your apartment to help combat all cat odors including litter box odors, urine/feces odors, and even pet dander problems that are produced from indoor cats within your home?

Air Purifier Cat Litter

One of the best ways on how to get rid of cat litter smell in the air is through the use of air purifiers. An air purifier is one of the most effective additions to any indoor environment including a home, an apartment, or even an office building to protect and combat airborne pollutants from tainting the indoor air quality. Most air purifiers will utilize specific technologies that will work to mitigate certain airborne pollutants from the air such as noxious odors, toxic chemicals, and even particulate matter like allergens from the air space. When it comes to finding an air purification device that can effectively combat all of these airborne pollutants from your air, look no further than the OdorKlenz Mobile Air System. The OdorKlenz Mobile Air System is a revolutionary air purifier that consists of a proprietary technology that uses safe earth minerals for capturing, containing, and neutralizing a broad spectrum of noxious and toxic chemicals and odors from the air space. The OdorKlenz earth mineral technology is contained in the first stage of filtration that will provide the noxious and toxic chemical and odor neutralization such as from pets like cat litter and cat urine. The second stage of filtration in the OdorKlenz Mobile Air System is a hospital-grade HEPA filter for fine particulate matter removal that is larger than 0.3 microns in size such as allergens created from pet dander, dust, and other fine matter in the air.

Pet Litter Additive

$19.99

✓ Made of Safe, Natural earth minerals that provide a complete odor elimination in litter boxes

✓ Fast acting, without the use of masking agents or fragrances

✓ Eliminates the odors and keeps the box clean and odor-free

✓ Can reduce the need for litter replenishment as frequently