The best and worst part about being a cat owner is feline independence.
Cat lovers praise the fact that their pets don’t require an outdoor toilet escort, yet often lament the fact that a lack of opposable thumbs means that kittens can’t exactly flush the chain.
Using a litter box is all very civilised until the time comes to empty it. From choosing between an abundance of cat litter types to ensuring that your feline friend feels comfortable using an enclosed litter box, curating the perfect bathroom environment for choosy cats is no simple task, meaning odour control is rather difficult.
Rather than confining the litter box to the furthest reaches of your home, there are far more efficient ways to ensure that ghastly smells don’t permeate into the household.
First and foremost, odour control can be achieved with odour-capturing cat litter. If this is your primary objective, the best cat litter for you is likely silica. Otherwise known as crystal litter, it doesn’t require daily scooping, and works as a powerful odour absorber. It also makes monitoring your cat’s health a breeze.
On the other hand, if you’re the owner of a messy cat we’d recommend going with a classic clumping clay litter. Bentonite clay is a relatively dust-free litter which prevents your cat from trailing their mucky paws all over your freshly vacuumed floor.
Go a step further with your investment into an odour-free, cat-loving household by investing in a fully enclosed option, or better yet, self-cleaning litter boxes.
We’ve rounded up a selection of the best litter boxes for a perfectly odour-controlled environment, so long as you’re pairing your posh new loo with the right litter. Keep scrolling to elevate the daily life of your pampered pet.
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PawHut Cat Litter Box
A futuristic-looking litter box fit for a modern kitty, PawHut’s seamless design is opaque for the utmost privacy. The litter box also features a ventilation chimney to help control odour by facilitating air flow.
One of the best ways to ensure an odour-free litter box is to clean the litter tray regularly, which is made simple here with an easily removable tray. If both you and your cat prefer clay litter to silica, this litter box has a handy filtering step and a mat for trapping any leftover dust before your pet can track mucky pawprints throughout the house.
Suitable for cats up to 5kg, the front door to this litter box measures 18 x 22.5cm.
Buy now £33.41, Amazon
Vealind Covered Cat Litter Box with Lid
Complete with an adorable cat-shaped door and an easily removable litter tray, this tidy litter box is enclosed enough to prevent odour from escaping into your home yet ventilated enough for a comfortable loo trip for your cat.
Equipped with cleaning brushes for scooping up loose litter, this box is leak-proof which means no accidents. It features easy-capture ventilation holes useful if your pet decides to hop out of the top door instead of the front, taking stray pieces of litter with them. This guard prevents them from tracking litter around the house, and appeals to their natural feline instincts. Control the doors through a simple three-way lock mechanism, a useful training tool for younger kittens and fosters.
Suitable for small to medium cats weighing up to 5kg.
Buy now £35.99, Amazon
Cat Washroom & Litter Tray by Lords & Labradors
Though this enclosed litter box isn’t equipped with any particularly high-tech odour-control features, it’s certainly an attractive piece of kit for the design-conscious household. The sleek, strong, and discreet loo comes with a complimentary litter tray and features a sophisticated shelf for household decorations or pet care tools.
Invest in an odour-control litter and simply pop your favourite diffuser atop the box. Just make sure that it’s tacked down with tape, blue tack or museum putty to prevent it getting knocked over.
Buy now £69.99, Amazon
Savic Mira De Luxe Cat Toilet Home Botanical Green
Crafted with a fun 1950s-inspired design, this luxurious cat litter box looks like a vintage television, making your pet the star of the show. It comes with a high-sided litter tray to prevent spillage and is fitted with a high-performance carbon filter which the brand claims works five times more effectively than traditional filters.
Replacements can be easily re-purchased via Savic when you notice that litter smell in other parts of the house. Savic recommends replacing filters every month for the best, scent-free results.
Suitable for all cats.
Buy now £75.00, Pets at Home
Self-cleaning litter boxes
The Japanese toilet of the pet world, these high-tech devices offer odourless automation to do the unpleasant clean-up for you.
Litter-Robot 4 Beginner Bundle
The ultimate luxury for any cat owner, the Litter-Robot 4 is a viral sensation that is set to make your cat feel like royalty. Though rather strange looking, this automatic litter box’s motto is ‘never scoop again’ - an appealing thought, no matter how much you love your pet.
Its patented sifting process is designed to quietly separate waste from clean litter while delivering maximum odour control thanks to a specially designed system, which neutralises foul smells thanks to its sealed waste drawer and carbon filter. This bundle also comes with OdourTrap packs to further smells, and a litter trap mat to prevent your cat from tracking dust in and out of the Litter-Robot.
Not only is the Litter-Robot 4 suitable for cats of all shapes and sizes, but it can accommodate up to four cats, removing the need for multiple, clutter-making litter boxes. Our favourite innovative feature is the pet monitoring system, which tracks your cat’s weight and bathroom usage, dispatching alerts for anomalies.
The Litter-Robot 4 is additionally equipped with a handy built-in step drawer which does so much more than help your kitty get into the device. The grated design ensures that any litter dust falls into the easily removable drawer to further ensure that your home remains paw print-free.
Available in black and white hues, you can’t go wrong with this brilliant piece of pet tech.
Buy now £849.00, Amazon
Charmkit Self Cleaning Cat Litter Tray
Charmkit’s self-cleaning litter box scores highly on safety features. Self-cleaning only occurs after the door has closed, and the door remains closed during the cycle. Like the Petkit option, this machine also has weight sensors that will prevent any self-cleaning movement from occurring while your pet is inside.
Additionally, Charmkit’s automatic tray has a camera installed inside to track movement and regularity om the companion app – a particularly useful feature if you’re concerned about an unwell kitty. What’s more, you can remotely control important features such as cleaning, litter levelling, litter replacing and air refreshing.
Multi-cat recognition means this machine can recognise up to ten different cats based on their weight. You can also edit each feline’s information including their name, gender, birthday and even input a little picture of them, making this a brilliant option for those who foster cats.
Buy now £399.99, Amazon
Petkit Self Cleaning Cat Litter Tray
Designed for use with any traditional clumping cat litter, trade in your old lidless option for this high-tech pro without wasting bulk-bought litter. This brilliant value option comes with a roll of litter liners, a cat litter catcher pad, a power adapter and purifying liquid, which helps to reduce any lingering odour.
This litter tray from Petkit is also for cats weighing up to 8kg, with a maximum cat litter capacity of 5 litres – enough to hold up to 15 days of waste in the enclosed, odour-trapping bin. Inside the machine, 12 inbuilt sensors prevent the auto-clean cycle from occurring before your cat has finished their business, even if you opt for the scheduled self-cleaning option.
The companion app uploads important statistics regarding your cat’s welfare in real-time, allowing you to check in on your feline’s weight, movements, duration of use and the litter capacity of the machine.
Depending on how many cats you own, you could opt for the equally as futuristic, extra-large self-cleaning litter box from Petkit for just £40 more.
Buy now £439.99, Amazon
PetSafe ScoopFree Covered Self-Cleaning Litter Box
A slightly different silhouette to competitors, the PetSafe ScoopFree works best with its compatible low-tracking crystal litter – which is 99 per cent dust-free and doesn’t stick to your cat’s paws. This device features an automatic rake action, dehydrates the waste and offers five times better odour control than a standard litter box. Ideal for smaller homes, this box measures just 20.4 x 11.7 x 28 cm and stores waste without the smell for up to 30 days.
Buy now £241.59, Amazon
PetSnowy Self Cleaning Cat Litter Tray
Perhaps the best-looking, futuristic self-cleaning litter box we’ve found, the PetSnowy tray promises to handle the dirty work for you.
The design features an anti-tracking walkway and a patented packing design which keeps waste easy to dispose of. What’s more, this stylish option won’t become an eyesore.
While self-cleaning litter boxes are brilliant, owners will need to give them a deep clean every once in a while. This option, however, is equipped with a magnetic assembly design – making it easier than ever to deep clean and re-assemble in no time.
Buy now £699.99, Amazon
Pullnscoop Cat Litter Box
Value-for-money and suitable for big and multi-cat families, this litter box offers a ‘Pullnscoop’ function which takes the labour out of daily scooping. All that is required of cat parents is a simple pulling of the lever, and the box will do the rest of the work for you by separating waste into the odour-busting receptacles below. The first purchase includes four disposable waste receptacles and the box works with the majority of cat litter options.
Buy now £169.00, Pullnscoop
