The litter box is a never ending source for ideas on how to improve on it. It makes sense really. If you have an animal pooping and peeing inside your house, you want to figure out a way to make those friendly deposits a little less apparent. Kim Johnson of Desire to Inspire dealt with the issue by placing her cat’s litter box in her basement, while other kitty owners have figured out how to use modern bathroom amenities to help air out their kitty’s business.

As I reported in the New York Times, Sue and Joe Golmanavich built a feline-friendly outhouse within their own master bathroom that not only features a backsplash made out of galvanized sheet metal to make cleanups easier and to ensure accidents have nowhere to go, but a ventilation system that connects with the main bathroom’s own exhaust vent as well. Unplggd reader Fred Black recently finished up a similar project, though on a much smaller scale and budget.

Fred built a large box that sits within the bottom half of his bathroom closet. It consists of a larger section that holds the litter box, and a small entryway on the left that serves two purposes — an entrance to the litter box and a place where loose litter can be deposited before Fred’s kitty exists. “It also prevents my dogs from stealing ‘treats’,” Fred tells Unplggd.

The box itself rests on four 100 pound rails that allow it to be pulled out when litter needs to be cleaned. A small bathroom fan was installed in the cabinet, which connects to the bathtub vent pipe. This allows stinks to be sucked in and through the pipe that exits out of the roof. The vent is on a timer.

We’re mighty impressed Fred!

Images: Kate Tomlinson and Fred Black