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How To Keep Your Home From Smelling Like Cats

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #MyCatMyMuse #CollectiveBias

I remember when we adopted our cat, Totes McGotes. He let us hold him and snuggle on him so much. He was just so loving. I was holding him as he got a shot and felt his whole body shake in my arms. And that was it. We decided he was ours and brought this sweet furball home to be loved.

He didn’t stay that quiet kitten for very long. He’s not the kind of cat that snuggles (it was like false advertisement!). He just loves to play. Seriously, he used to play catch, loves to play hide and seek, and don’t even get him started with that light-up mouse. Our apartment is filled with cat toys all over and, sadly to say, the air was sometimes filled with cat smells. Disgusting, I know. There wasn’t much worse  than sitting at my work desk, right outside the bathroom where Totes’ litter box is, and having his scent travel into my nose.

Gross, just gross. But I figured that’s how it was with a cat in an apartment. I figured it would go away when we bought a house. My mom was here in September, though, and told me she had a way to rid our apartment of cat smells. I’m old enough to know you should always listen to your mother, but I was still skeptical of her idea. Turns out … you should always listen to your mother. Our apartment hasn’t smelled like a cat in weeks. If you want your apartment to smell cat-free, listen to your (well, my) mother.

How To Keep Your Home From Smelling Like Cats

purina-muse-7


What You’ll Need:

  • Plastic shopping bag
  • Reclosable storage bag
  • Garbage pail (we use a 9-inch high pail)
  • Cat litter (you can use any brand, but I prefer clumping. So does Totes)
  • A litter scoop

What You’ll Do:

Put the plastic grocery bag in the garbage pail. Put a reclosable storage bag in the plastic shopping bag. Set it behind your litter box.

Then, sit in your bathroom and wait for your cat to come in and use the litter box.

Or don’t, honestly, because that’s weird. Instead, take a walk, watch TV, or serve dinner to your cat.

I actually went to PetSmart (hence the plastic bag) to pick up Muse by Purina wet food for Totes. He has been eating Purina wet food in recent months and just loves it. Muse is sold exclusively at PetSmart. With Muse you don’t have to choose between natural nutrition and food that tastes great. Your cat can have both when you choose Muse.

I walked in the store and was really excited to see a Buy 2 Get 2 free coupon right as I entered. The coupon says you are able to use one per item specified (which means one coupon for every four you purchase) and four like coupons per household per day (meaning you can buy eight and get eight free).

Finding these in the store was super easy. They were located at the end of an aisle — and there were a ton to choose from. Actually, there are 30 recipes, including 24 grain-free varieties. Choosing to feed Totes Muse was an easy decision; the hard part was deciding on which he’d like best. Really, though, you can’t go wrong. All recipes made with real fish or poultry. There are no artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. Muse is100% complete and balanced for adult cats. Thank goodness for the coupon, so I was able to really mix and match. These come Wet recipes are available in Chowder, in Broth, with Toppers, in Gravy and Paté. I picked up a variety of them, including one that was turkey and spinach. I figured that I would hold it for Totes’ Thanksgiving dinner.

I brought these home and Totes went nuts. He knows exactly what his food looks like and where it’s stored in the kitchen. So when I walked to the counter to set these out for a photo, he ran up to me and started meowing … and almost pantsed me. Yes, you read that right. When he knows he’s getting wet food, he will stand up and reach up as high as he can to get your attention. And that often ends up with him grabbing my booty with his paws. Sometimes, he will grab so tight and then start going back down and takes our pants with him. He’s done it to both me and Pete.

I set this food out and let him choose. He loves tuna, so it was no shock (to me at least) that he actually picked one of the natural tuna recipes. Once he picked, he was ready to eat it. If you look closely at the photo, Totes is blurry because he is in motion. He is standing on his back legs with his front paws pushing into my thighs — and he is rubbing his head on the package because he is ready to chow down.

When I got it in a bowl, he dove right in and didn’t look up until he licked his plate clean. Muse actually says, “Natural has never been so delicious. Put Muse to the test with our clean plate guarantee.”

Totes has cleared his plate every time, even with the Natural Mackerel Recipe. I was surprised, actually, because that one had a shrimp topper. A full shrimp right on top of the rest of the food. Totes had never seen a shrimp before but he’s more of an adventurous eater than me because he gobbled that one right up.

And, getting back to it … he did, eventually, use the litter box. So, back to keeping your home smell-free.

Once your cat uses the bathroom, open the reclosable storage bag and put the clumps inside it.

Then, close the bag. Every time you clean the box, just open the bag, put the clumps in, then close the bag again. All the smells will be contained in the bag and will stay out of your home. And yes, this actually works. I was so skeptical at first because I was just getting used to Totes’ smells being in our apartment. But ever since then, they have been completely eliminated. It’s amazing, really, because this is just so simple — and you probably have everything you need in your home right now.

When the storage bag is full, just tie the handles of the shopping bag and throw it out. Then, start again.

This usually lasts about six to seven days before I take it out to the dumpster. Before this, I was just tossing the clumps in an open plastic bag and would be taking it our every other day because the smell was just, well, smelly. So this not only eliminates smells, it reduces the number of plastic bags we throw out so I feel better about that.

Which of the Muse variants do you think your cat would call purr-fect?