For all you cat lovers out there, do you find kitteh tends to make a bit of a mess in his kitty litter box? Mine does! I’ve got a longer Bengal cat who has a tough time fitting into even jumbo litter boxes which means he relieves himself standing up and you can guess how that can be bad news.
So I looked around online and couldn’t find what I wanted. Then I started to figure out how I could DIY a super jumbo litter pan and voila! I think I found a great and affordable solution. Took me about 15 minutes to put together and I think it will last. Here’s how to do it!
Items Needed for Super Jumbo Litter Box
- 30 gallon storage tote (Smooth interior, I used HDX)
- Edge trim (For autos, I purchased from Amazon)
- Box cutter (To cut hole-opening)
- 9″ paper plate (Measuring tool)
- Marker and Ruler (To outline opening)
So the key to your super jumbo DIY litter box is a storage tote. You need something that’s long enough and tall enough so kitteh has some room to stretch out in! And also a tote that has the smoothest bottom-interior possible so you can scoop the litter out cleanly. Some totes will have ridges and dips on the bottom which is no bueno. Get the simplest and smoothest interior possible. My 30 gallon HDX tote from Home Depot is approximately 40″ long, 17.5″ high and 15″ wide, woo-hoo! I’d also suggest buying some edge trim which is often used to protect car doors. You can find it on Amazon and it should be able to clip onto a 1 mm edge in this use case.
Now that you’ve got your tote and edge trim, it’s time to get to work! I eye-balled most of my work here. About 5.5″ up, I marked off a line across the tote that was the width of my paper plate guide. Then near the top of the tote (about 11″ above horizontal marker line), I outlined a circle around the paper plate. And then drew vertical lines down to the horizontal marker line to complete the hole opening. You basically want to make sure the hole is high enough to keep litter in but big enough so your cat can easily enter-exit. These measurements are not exact and may need to be adjust for your cat size-length!
Using the box cutter, I carefully cut through the wall of the tote, bottom first, top-circle second and then the sides. My tote material was pretty thin so it cuts pretty easily! Then I cut the edge trim and covered each exposed edge as well as possible. I did not follow the little ridges on the front of this tote.
And voila, you’re pretty much done! I filled the super jumbo box with litter and within 30 minutes, my cat was in there and using the box. With the cover on top it should contain any liquids and provides a private spot for your cat. And it’s sturdy enough that I can put items on top of the super jumbo litter box. All the materials cost maybe $15 so it’s even a deal from a money perspective! So there you go, a DIY super jumbo litter box for kitty. I’ll report back after some months of usage to see how it holds up but I can tell you that the Bear seems to like it a LOT.