Litter box odours

April 29, 2009 10:04 AM

The best digestive enzyme to eliminate litter box odours?
posted by page123 to Pets & Animals (19 answers total)

I've had good luck with Nature's Miracle.
posted by pghjezebel at 10:14 AM on April 29, 2009

Oops, ignore that. I misunderstood/misread the question.
posted by pghjezebel at 10:14 AM on April 29, 2009

I will second this. I switched my cats to EVO as per the great discussion on cat food here some time ago. Since the switch, they take the most stinky deuces you could imagine. I thought EVO was supposed to leave them with smaller, less frequent, and less offensive poops but if my anecdotal experience is anything to judge, that is not at all the case.
posted by alexherder at 10:26 AM on April 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

The aforementioned great thread
posted by alexherder at 10:28 AM on April 29, 2009

It's not an enzyme as such, but we've had some success with Arm & Hammer Litter Box Deodorizer coupled with a battery-powered air freshener. The deodorizer helps cut the smell and the air freshener covers up what remains.

Our cat is also on EVO, and the smell is pretty obnoxious otherwise. We use the Scoop Free litterbox, for what that's worth.
posted by jedicus at 10:46 AM on April 29, 2009

My cats don't like this food, but Wellness had an indoor cat formula that reduces litterbox odors. "Fighting the bacteria that causes odor from the inside, yucca shidigera helps manage fecal odor." It could even be used 1/2 & 1/2 with something like EVO.
posted by scazza at 11:13 AM on April 29, 2009

We do just clean the litterbox every day which makes it odor-free even with 2 cats (on Wellness food using a covered litterbox and World's Best cat litter), and prefer to have some odor to remind us if we forget. However the Gaiam Sani-Mate is AWESOME for eliminating odors.
posted by scazza at 11:17 AM on April 29, 2009

Just adding to the chorus of EVO-eating-soul-destroying-poop-making-cats owners.

The best solution for me is scooping post haste. I haven't had any luck getting rid of the smell otherwise.
posted by zennoshinjou at 11:25 AM on April 29, 2009

We too switched to EVO based on the previous thread, and switched away because of the GAWD FUCKING AWFUL smell that it made them produce. They really seem to like the Wellness indoor cat formula linked to above though, and I can attest that it seems to produce fewer stinky poops with many of the other benefits that EVO seems to claim.
posted by togdon at 1:50 PM on April 29, 2009

We tried Evo, but we had to stop using it since the cats' poop ended up extremely foul-smelling and moist (to the point that they seemed to have issues with fecal evacuation). I'm not happy with the more grain-heavy dry foods, but they seem to give the cats less issues with their bowel movements. (Maybe making our own raw food is the answer; it's something I'll have to look into.)
posted by korpios at 1:59 PM on April 29, 2009

togdon: Wellness, eh? I'll have to give that a try.
posted by korpios at 2:01 PM on April 29, 2009

Eh, on second thought, that formula doesn't look all that different from the one we currently have the little furmonsters on. I hate always seeing "rice" or some other grain as an ingredient.
posted by korpios at 2:12 PM on April 29, 2009

scazza - do you have to refill that plug-in thing? does it really work for a room or just like a small bathroom sized area?
posted by barnone at 2:29 PM on April 29, 2009

Light a match after they poop.
posted by pseudostrabismus at 2:48 PM on April 29, 2009

Cat poop stinks, there is no way around that fact, so it can't be eliminated. But dry food with a similar formula as that Wellness indoor food has worked for me.

And, EVO makes cats crap stink even worse. Bah.
posted by jabberjaw at 4:44 PM on April 29, 2009

Our two cats eat Nature's Variety frozen raw food, and we've found that the amount of solid waste in the litterbox is noticeably less than with our previous beasties, who were eating kibble. (Expensive, vet-recommended kibble, but kibble nonetheless.) There's also much less odor than before.
posted by Lexica at 6:40 PM on April 29, 2009 [1 favorite]

It's an ionizer, so no maintenance required. I live in NYC so all my rooms are small. However it says:

"Using corona-discharge technology to neutralize air pollutants, the Sani-Mate draws air inside at the rate of 70 feet per minute. Then it cleans and refreshes it using bursts of electricity - simulating the air-purifying effects of a lightning storm. Maintenance free with no parts to replace or filters to change."

It really works so well that I've considered getting ionizing air purifiers for the rest of my apartment. We use it in our windowless, unventilated bathroom but if the litterbox ever smells we take it in the same room while we clean it.
posted by scazza at 11:23 AM on April 30, 2009

Ack, I don't think I answered your question. If you need to purify the air of an entire living room I would get a larger air purifier. If you just want to kill the odor of the litterbox and have an outlet nearby, this will absolutely do the trick.
posted by scazza at 11:25 AM on April 30, 2009

This is waaaay past the relevant date, but I'm on Ask hunting for cat advice myself. Anyway, I also feed my cats Nature's Variety frozen raw food (it comes in patties) and their poo is a lot less smelly than ever before.
posted by Ouisch at 4:47 PM on December 13, 2009