1.5 baths

Some of the newer RVs have a bath and a half - usually a full bath across the back of the rig and a half bath somewhere in the middle. When we were looking at RVs in the summer of 2015, I thought it would be awfully nice to have a second bathroom, but it really has not ended up being an issue. One of my priorities was that the toilet should be in its own room, and that definitely is good (otherwise, it is in the hallway and access forward or aft is constrained if anyone is using the toilet). We have two sinks - one in the hallway and one in the toilet room, so Dwayne and I both have a place for our tooth brushes, hair brushes, etc., and it works out well.

But... we do have a "second" bathroom... under my sink... for the kitties! We established the "kitty privy" in that spot and it has worked out well. When I thought we would eliminate the washer/dryer machine, I had thought that we might move the privy to that space, but it works okay under my sink.

We've found a couple of things that make the kitty box work a little better, so I took pictures when I changed it today in case these ideas might be helpful to someone else. I know that I have some kitty lovers as readers, and even if you aren't in an RV, some of these items may be helpful!

We have a nice large plastic pan. Originally, we had used cardboard type litter pans and plastic liners, but eventually the plastic liners would get torn, and the cardboard pan would get messy and then we'd need to replace it. So... I went with a plastic pan, and... because I had some "pee pads" left over from Aunt Libby, I decided to try using one of them (actually 1/2 of one of them) in the bottom of the plastic pan. That way, when one of the cats tears the plastic liner, instead of the plastic pan getting messy, the pee pad absorbs it and can easily be lifted out and discarded when I change the litter. I've used up all the ones that Aunt Libby had, and got a package at Walmart - they are pretty cheap when you just use 1/2 of one per litter change.

I still use a plastic bag-type liner - even though eventually it gets torn during the kitties' use of it. I got Nature's Magic brand ones, which are supposed to reduce odor. I previously used Jonny Cat, and I can't say that I really see much difference. I do some additional work to make them fit the pan better - I take the two "bottom corners" of the liner and tape them to the side of the pan so the plastic doesn't bunch up at the ends. I then smooth the liner so it is very square in the pan. I pull the loops that are intended to pick it up for disposal, to cinch it tight around the pan. If I don't do this, the cats will eventually get the top of the liner scraped over into the pan... yuck messy!

This is the underside of the plastic pan - I've got the pull straps pulled tight around the pan, and then I tape them underneath the pan. You may also be able to see that I have two other plastic pans of about the same size that I have the litter pan balanced on...

I put the prepared pan into those extra pans - this helps to keep the plastic bag liner in place, and... gives me a place to put the side shields... coming up in the next picture. I put the kitty litter in outside - if there is a bit of a breeze it helps to disperse any dust that might be in the litter.

This is the litter pan under the sink - with the side shields installed. We found that the kitties would either spray the litter all over the cabinet when digging, or sometimes they would do their business just over the side of the pan. We had these inexpensive red plastic placemats that we had purchased for another use on the bus and Dwayne suggested using them for side-shields. I put the multi-pan contraption into the under-sink area, and then work the placemats in between the edge of the top pan and the pan underneath it. They provide a barrier almost all the way around the pan - just leaving an opening in the front where the cats go in and out from the door of the cabinet that I leave open. This has worked great to avoid issues of kitty litter or poop being distributed around the cabinet! They still sometimes spread sand out the front but... cleaning that up is part of the "joy" of being cat owners.

We use a "clumping" lightweight litter. The lightweight makes it easier to get the pan in/out of the area under the cabinet (the cabinet doors don't make it really simple so it is a bit of a balance to get it in without dumping sand myself!). The clumping means that I clean it about once a day and most of the time I don't think the smell gets too bad (people on RVing fora say that they always know when people have cats even though the owners don't think there is any smell, so I can't say for sure).

One of our RVing friends set up their litter pan cabinet with an automatic exhaust fan that, I think, is motion activated - so it comes on when it detects motion and stays on for a little while after - theoretically taking unpleasant odors away and exhausting them outside the rig. Other folks have access to the litter pan from outside the rig - the cats have a small door inside, but the cleaning activities take place outside. That would be nice for the major litter exchange, but would be inconvenient for daily scooping, I think.

One additional thing which would be nice is if we had the "foot cleaning" hallway that Dwayne had created for our kitty privy at the house - where the cats walked over a screen wire path for about 4 feet before re-entering the house. That really kept the amount of sand tracked into the house down... we might eventually figure out a way to accomplish that, but for now, the solution works okay for us.

So, now you know about our "half bath" addition to our rig!