Q. Some other related questions. Our dogs share a large litter box with our cat. The box is usually cleaned four times a week and is placed in a corner of our family room, and does not usually have a bad smell. Can one say brochos or daven in that room? Does one have to cover the box every time? What happens bedieved if one already davened?
A. Shulchan Aruch (O.H. 79: 4-5), rules that one may daven next to the waste matter produced by animals, if it does not produce a distressing or bothersome smell.
Some Poskim are stringent even when there is no smell, as long as the refuse is still fresh. However, Eishel Avrohom , Avnei Choshen (p.. 410) and others (See Piskei Teshuvos ibid.) maintain that the tradition is to be lenient.
Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is to be lenient when there is no smell. Cats usually cover their wate.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a