Odorless Cat Box: Smell of Success?

Call inventor Robert Walton the Archimedes of the cat box. Both Walton and the Greek scientist came up with great ideas while floating in the tub.

Walton was enjoying a hot bath when the steam wafted back the stench from the litter box he and his wife kept in the bathroom for their two cats.

“It was just the most foul-smelling, ammoniated thing,” Walton said. “I was crying, it brought tears from my eyes.”

Walton set out to build a better cat box. The result was Sweet P Corp., which is marketing Walton’s cat box as an alternative to the $500-million-a-year cat litter market.

Walton said his system costs less than cat litter, creates less pollution and reduces cat box maintenance.

Walton’s cat box uses gravel waterproofed with epoxy. The cat box has slits in the bottom which let cat urine drain through the gravel onto a pad that resembles a disposable diaper.

The recyclable pad is replaced once a week, and the gravel can be washed every few months and reused. The cost--including box, gravel, a package of pads and a few other accessories--is $40 to $50. Replacement pads cost about 50 cents each.

Sweet P Corp., which set up shop in a renovated mansion in Niagara Falls, has 15 employees, including four office cats that test the products.