Most cat owners will agree, cleaning out the litterbox is their least favourite part about caring for the furry felines. Now, a Maritime man says he has revolutionized the way cats go to the bathroom.

After adopting four cats, Mark Fenwick and his wife soon discovered being pet owners wasn’t always the cat’s meow.

“We ended up with four cats and two very large litterboxes and a very big garbage problem,” says Fenwick. “It was not fun, it was disgusting.”

The couple went on the hunt for a solution to their kitty litter problem.

“There certainly are a lot of cat products out there. It’s hard to find something that really makes your life easier,” says Fenwick.

The pair decided to they would tackle the task themselves and created a new litterbox named The Cat’s Ask.

The idea is simple. The liquid waste funnels into a container stored below. A quick spray of water, mixed with vinegar, eliminates any potential smell.

Solid waste stays above, but it easily separated from the birdseed.

“Traditional litter is clumping, so it absorbs moisture,” says Fenwick. “The problem with absorbing moisture is that it doesn’t stop the odor.”

Traditional litter was also clumping up his garbage bags. With The Cat’s Ask, all the waste is flushed down the toilet.

Fenwick estimates he was sending about 50 pounds of kitty litter to the dump every month. Now, he’s composting four pounds of bird seed a month.

“Not one thing that we’ve done goes to the landfill, everything is flushed or composted,” says Fenwick.

Not only is using birdseed a more eco-friendly option than kitty litter, all of the materials the Cat’s Ask are made of are locally sourced recyclable materials.

“I also spray the seed with vinegar every day, so there’s no smell at all,” says cat owner Pierre Filiatreault.

Filiatreault owns three cats and has been testing The Cat’s Ask for four months.

“There’s a lot less dust in my basement because the old litterbox, it was full of dust and also my own health. My nose was always irritated because of the dust.”

Fenwick has been crowdfunding for almost a week in order to be able to launch his product. So far, Fenwick has raised $12,000.

“We’re targeting $65,000, which would allow us to get the molds made and do a minimum production run of all the different parts,” says Fenwick.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Matt Woodman