by Erin Waters

Created on: June 10, 2009   Last Updated: June 13, 2009

So I've got two cats that my boyfriend and I first got them from a shelter a year ago. We knew that we would adopt Zelda right away. She was really cute and responded to our fingers sticking into her cage with purrs and meows. We wanted someone really mellow and Zelda seemed to fit the bill. While looking for a companion, we spotted a boy-kitten pawing out to me from his cage. We fell in love with him right away and decided to bring him home.

So my home is about 900 sq. feet and I didn't really think cats would be a problem. I thought, "Hey, they're young...we'll train them to do whatever we want!" But yeah, I was pretty wrong about that. With a 2 bedroom/1 bath deal, the bathroom had to be shared with the cats and it was a bit obvious to our guests that there was a litter box by the toilet. I began to get really concerned about the smell, so I had this genius idea that we should potty train them.

At first I thought..."Yes! They're using it right!" but you really had to be vigilant. Link seemed to respond really well to the training and had no problem doing his business but it was hard to go to the next level with Zelda messing up.

We caught her peeing on the couch a few times - and cat urine is arguably one of the most foul smells on the earth. After two to three months of constantly washing cushions and going through gallons of Febreeze, we converted back to the traditional kitty litter but didn't solve the odor problem one bit.

Most would think, "Oh, just get an air freshener," and I had one plugged in for a weeks straight. The bathroom isn't exactly roomy and the odor would even seep into the towels; all the plug-ins did was cover the underlying smell.

So what next? Now that my couch smells like cat piss and the bathroom problem hasn't been solved, what other options did I have? I started researching information on air purifiers and found that carbon filterswere pretty efficient at trapping odors. I also had the problem of having guests over due to allergies, which carbon filtered air purifiers would be able to tackle effectively. I thought, "Hmm...maybe an air purifier would be a good investment..."

Trying to save a buck, at first I borrowed my mom's ionized filter for awhile thinking that it'd do the job, but it didn't do anything for the smell. Then I found out that ionized products can harm the environment on top of not helping me with my pet odor problem.

Now, most people would go out to Wal-Mart or something to find an air purifier, but their products

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