Hidden Litter cloisters the catbox

The Cat Genie we featured in a recent gallery of odd, irresistible pet products goes a long way toward solving the problem of the litter box.

It's more sanitary, but you still have a big, bulky toilet taking up floor space in one of your rooms. It ain't cheap, either.

The Hidden Litter Planter Box offers a pretty brilliant solution to this problem, as described on the product's website by someone clearly fed up with the situation:

"Some cat-owners hide their litter boxes in a shameful, dark corner of the home, while others with smaller apartments have nowhere to hide it and leave it in plain view where unexpected visitors embarrassingly pretend not to notice it."

It's promotional writing, I admit, but it's really not that much of an exaggeration.

Not only are cat boxes unsightly space-wasters, their contents just might make you crazy. I doubt this planter would prevent the spread of toxoplasma gondii, but hey, at least the parasite wouldn't be waiting to fly up in your face from an open sewer. 

The $80 Hidden Litter's closed container traps most of the sand and debris that tends to scatter from the sides of the catbox, yet the planter's top lifts off so you can easily change out the litter (unfortunately, still necessary).

And you might not be too thrilled about having a plastic plant as part of your interior aesthetic, but taken as a trade-off, it's a definite improvement.

In fact, you might forget this plastic pot contains a litter box at all—as the website puts it, "Only kitty and its owner will ever know where the litter box is."

For all their stinkin' ways, I will say this for cats: They can sure keep a secret.