Pursuing the dream of microliving does not have to mean you give up on your dream of having a feline (or canine, or any other kind of -nine) companion, any more than it means you can’t have children in small environment. And one of the great things about cats is you never need to worry about taking them outside at 3am if you’re 45 floors up.

But that advantage also means that you have to figure out what to do with kitty’s literbox. How large and how messy your cat is will affect your choices, and definitely consider how much they fling litter about when they are digging around or covering up their waste. If you buy a litter pan that looks great but is too short to hold in their flinging of their litter, you’ve just guaranteed more mess and morer work for yourself. Litter boxes can range from narrow flat pans that get stinky and messy pretty quickly, to covered boxes, to fancy self-cleaning litter boxes.

Generally, you want a litter box that doesn’t take up an entire area of space on its own, whether that means you can fit it under a counter or a table, or if you can set something on top of it. Remember that we’re trying to use space as effectively as possible, and the litter box poses a challenge, but not an insurmountable one.

Another option is to find a practical way to conceal the litter box, and be able to set things on top of it and use the whole space above it. There are pieces that are made to look like bedside tables, armoires, and free-standing bathroom cabinets. Many of these products are made of wood so they look more upscale and will blend in better with your existing furniture. You will know you are successful if your friends look around for your cat’s litter box and are unable to find it.

You can also make a litter box cover yourself. One of the submissions on ikeahacker features a wooden hinge-top litter box cover, with hanging storage for the the other litter box accessories, including a scoop and spray deodorizer. If you can find a way to get all the necessary cat items in one place, you can save time going back and forth, and be even more space-efficient. Just remember that if you want a concealed cat bed/feeding station, you’re going to need to buy or make a different piece of furniture and place it a fair distance away from the litterbox. Cats are clean animals, and if you wouldn’t want to eat or sleep near your toilet, they wouldn’t, either.