DIY Travel Litter Box

Last week, we talked about traveling with pets in this blog post here. I mentioned that I created a DIY litter box out of a cardboard box with an entryway. Today, I will be sharing the process so you can make one yourself! Keep in mind that these DIY litter boxes are only meant to be used for short trips (a few days at most)!

Materials

• Medium-sized cardboard box (a box big enough for your cat to fit inside)

• Scissors or knife/blade

• Ruler

• Pencil

• Wooden dowel

• Plastic bag

• Tape

• Litter

Methods

Step 1:

Measure out how big you want the entryway to be. I made the doorway approximately 8x10 inches or 20.32x25.4 cm (wxh) and ensured that it was at least a few inches (3 inches or 7.62 cm) from the bottom of the box (very important!). This prevents the litter from falling out of the box as easily. You may need to adjust these numbers to fit your cat.

Step 2:

Mark the cut lines with a pencil and ruler. Then, cut along the lines. You should now have a box with a rectangle cut out of it, and a rectangle.

Step 3:

Tape shut the bottom of the box. Make sure that this is secure – you don’t want it to open when you pick the box up!

Line the bottom of the inside of the box with a plastic bag. Tape along the edges to seal it in. it is best if the plastic bag extends up the sides of the box a bit.

Step 4:

Now, we will work on the swinging door. Bend the top of the rectangular piece you cut out earlier to wrap around the wooden dowel. Tape the rectangular piece to itself, forming a tunnel.

Step 5:

Line up the door so that it is centered to the entryway. From the inside of the box, tape the dowel into place. Test that the door swings both ways with little resistance.

Step 6:

Finally, fill the box with litter - and you’re done.

Closing Notes

I would make the litter box the day before the trip and have it accessible to Zeus for an afternoon/ evening. This way, he was already familiar with the box. Prior to leaving, I would top off the DIY litter box with some of the litter that was already in his litter box at home. If you are worried that your cat will not use the DIY litter box, I suggest including a tiny amount of soiled litter. This is commonly used when litter box training a kitten, and I found that this worked well with the DIY box as well. During the trip, I would routinely clean out the litter box with poop bags.

Hopefully this is of help to you if you are planning to travel with your cat. With this DIY litter box, we have never had any accidents in the car and the cleanup was minimal. Happy traveling!