How To Keep The Litter Box Area Clean

For animals that are supposed to be super clean, our cats make the biggest mess ever in their litter box area!

It’s ridiculous; somehow they manage to track pounds of kitty litter out of the box and into the rest of the house. It’s like magic! Horrible, dirty, mess-making magic.

We got a mat from the pet store and put it underneath their litter box, but it didn’t really help. They still tracked litter everywhere; now there was just a fun looking mat under the worst of it. 🙂

It kept bugging me cuz I’m a bit OCD, so I did something about it!

Use Rubber Garage Tiles To Contain Kitty Litter

I went to Home Depot and bought a few rubber garage tiles with giant holes in them and put them down under the litter box instead. My hope was that the litter would get caught in the holes and not tracked out past the mat, and it totally works!

So even though our cats are exceptionally messy, all the litter they kick out of the box just falls down into the holes in the mat and patiently waits for me to vacuum it up one day. Perfect solution!

And the vacuuming is easy; just remove the litter box, lift up the mat, and vacuum up all the litter. Simple!

Do you have extremely messy animals? Have you used garage floor tiles for some other fun or crafty purpose? They’re so cool and useful; I imagine there are tons of things you can do with them!

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Jessi Wohlwend

I believe that anyone can do crafts and DIY projects, regardless of skill or experience. I love sharing simple craft ideas, step by step DIY project tutorials, cleaning hacks, and other tips and tricks all with one goal in mind: giving you the tools you need to “do it yourself”, complete fun projects, and make awesome things!

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  1. julie marling says

    12 years ago

    I am trying to follow you and I can’t up top. I found you on Take it on Tuesday. Great post about hte litter and ipad cover. Love for you to stop by and follow back. Let me know and I will return the follow.

    http://www.thenaptimereview.com

  2. Katie B. of HousewifeHowTos.com says

    12 years ago

    Oh, I’m definitely going to give this a try! We bought a “Clever Cat Litter Box” from Amazon, which did help reduce the stray litter, but one of my cats likes to LEAP out of the box which kind of defeats the top-entry purpose. This would help, and I love that the litter would sit there waiting for me to clean it. Thanks!

    • Jessi says

      12 years ago

      Haha, that would defeat the purpose! I don’t think our cats leap out of the box, but somehow they still track about half the litter out…it’s confounding how they manage it!

  3. Mary C. says

    12 years ago

    THANK YOU! I have the same problem, I tried the shelf liners that are meshy and it helps but only catches maybe 60% of what my Felis catus tracks out! Gonna try this next payday! Thanks again!

    • Jessi says

      12 years ago

      You’re welcome, I hope it works as well for you as it does for us!

  4. Deborah says

    12 years ago

    Great idea! Our litter box is in the basement on an end we don’t use much. I hate it when I go over there and there is litter crunching under my feet! I’ll have to try this! Thanks for the tip.

    • Jessi says

      12 years ago

      Yeah, stepping on the litter is the worst! Even when I’m wearing my slippers…ick.

  5. Hope says

    12 years ago

    I am doing this! What a fantastic idea!

  6. Jennifer @ Town and Country Living says

    12 years ago

    I have messy kitties too! I bought a litter box with a lid on it thinking that would solve the problem. No such luck! I’m gonna try your idea. Thanks for sharing! Found you via It’s Overflowing.

  7. Chelsea says

    12 years ago

    I love this idea! My cat seems to track about half of the litter throughout the living room… I am going to try this, hoping I need not vacuum every single day! Thanks 🙂

    • Jessi says

      12 years ago

      Ugh yes, that’s what I was doing! (Vacuuming every day) This totally helps and I vacuum about once a week now, but that’s just cuz the rest of the house gets gross and I have allergies. The litter area only needs vacuuming about twice a month now and it’s awesome!

  8. Kendra@ A Proverbs 31 Wife says

    12 years ago

    Oh I hear you on the messy part! Our cat is messy too and we tried the mat thingy also. We bought a litter box that has a top and swinging type door, not only did it help with the mess, it also keeps the smell down. I like your idea too, it looks really nice 🙂

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