LOS ANGELES -- Barbara Ogburn was waiting for guests to arrive for a dinner party when her Siamese cat Toby went to use his litter box. "The guest bathroom smelled horrible and there was litter ...

Wagner is the founder of Portland startup The Cat Throne, which makes a specially widened and textured toilet seat for cats. But the idea came from the product’s intended end user: a housecat.

For generations, the litter box has been an unchallenged part of indoor cat ownership: dusty, necessary, and tolerated. Most owners never questioned it, even as litter took over closets, produced ...