Those Of You Who Have Adopted A Cat A Year Old Or Older...

Has anyone had litterbox issues, like peeing or pooping on the floor instead?
Our previous cat started pooping and sometimes peeing on the basement carpet. I tried everything I could think of to help him. We had two boxes for one cat.
Anyway, I’m trying to convince my husband to be fine with me adopting a 1 1/2 year old male tabby. I don’t know his history or why he’s in the shelter, but I read one of the number one reasons cats end up in shelters is due to inappropriate elimination. So I’m a bit paranoid. It makes my heart happy to rescue a kitty but it makes me nervous too.

When I adopted Ruby she was estimated to be 2 or 3 years old, and she took to the litter box immediately. She's never peed outside the box. She does now occasionally have poopy "accidents" but I think it's due to her sensitive digestive system, and sometimes she can't make it to the box in time, or something like that.

Do you know if the cat you're considering adopting was neutered before he arrived at the shelter? I ask, because when I was looking to adopt a cat, there was a male cat I liked, and I asked if they knew his history. They didn't, but he hadn't been neutered, so they said it was possible he'd started spraying, and that could be why he, literally, was left on their doorstep.

Did the 2 boxes help with your previous cat? Some cats are quirky and like to pee in one box, and poop in another.

He is neutered but I don’t know if that was before or after he arrived at the shelter. I know where he came from is confidential, but I did email them tonight with some questions about him.

No, no matter how many boxes I had with our previous cat, he preferred to poop on carpet. I had him thoroughly vet checked and did literally everything else...nothing worked.

Litter box issues can certainly be frustrating, and sometimes seem to pop up with no warning or explanation.

We adopted Olive when she was about 2 or 3 years old. The renters before us got her as a kitten from a shelter, and she started peeing on shoes or something so they “made her an outdoor cat”. And then moved away, having the neighbor/ex-gf feed her. Then the neighbor moved away and passed her off to the next tennent. That’s when we adopted her and made her an indoor-only kitty.

Even coming straight from outside, we have never had an issue with her using the litter box. We suspect she may have had about two accidental poops, but this was while exploring a new area and possibly being startled and chased by our other cats. Since she’s been comfortable she has never gone anywhere but one of the boxes.

I think it depends much on the cat and the environment. Obviously Olive was not in the right environment if she was peeing outside the box previously. I wouldn’t be too worried, let your heart be happy with a shelter kitty.

Anakin was 3 when we adopted him last year and we have had zero issues with him using the litter box. The few times he's thrown up, he's even done it right beside his litter instead of elsewhere in the house. Anakin was also only neutered the week before we adopted him.

Willow was a year old semi feral. She has had perfect litterbox habits from the beginning. My only struggle was to convince her that she could use two boxes rather than just one. She never agreed, so she has only one box and is not the least bit fussy about me keeping it clean.

When Sir moved inside, he was semi-feral. He was 2 or 3 years old and had never been indoors before. He had a very difficult time adjusting. He would poop in his bed and sleep in his litter box. For a few months we didn't think that he was going to adjust at all. The poor guy couldn't live outdoors with three paws, but he wasn't doing well inside either. And then gradually, slowly he began to get it on his own. He is an absolute gentleman now and it's completely unheard of for him to go outside of his box.

I got my cat Josie at 1 1/2 yrs. Wonderful cat. No issues. Almost made it to 17 yrs o.d. Very playful. I would wait til this other problem is solved. It might be a simple solution. If you get a kitten, 3 litter boxes. Mine are not covered. If yours is get a litter box that is not. 2 of mine are made from storage bins. Be sure they are roomy

Erin80 said:

Has anyone had litterbox issues, like peeing or pooping on the floor instead?
Our previous cat started pooping and sometimes peeing on the basement carpet. I tried everything I could think of to help him. We had two boxes for one cat.
Anyway, I’m trying to convince my husband to be fine with me adopting a 1 1/2 year old male tabby. I don’t know his history or why he’s in the shelter, but I read one of the number one reasons cats end up in shelters is due to inappropriate elimination. So I’m a bit paranoid. It makes my heart happy to rescue a kitty but it makes me nervous too.

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At my local shelter, each animal has a profile sheet on their cage that includes the general reason for surrender, and the staff can give more details if asked. A lot of potential adopters are probably turned away when the profile says a cat has litter box issues, but it saves the poor cat the trauma of bouncing back and forth between the shelter and multiple adopters who don't have the time and patience to deal with it. All good shelters should have the same transparency, so maybe you could ask them?

Are you sure the cat is an owner surrender? I recently befriended someone who works at the SPCA where I adopted Jem, and she told me most of the cats they intake are cats who were found running stray. Obviously this would vary by area and by shelter but I had never really considered that more strays would be taken in than owner surrenders so I thought I'd put it out there.

Jem was found as a stray so I have no idea about his history. He's approximately four years old and has been with me for about a month. I was nervous about potential litter box issues too, as I live in an apartment and didn't want to lose the damage deposit. So far so good however! I was a little worried at first because it took him a while to use the litterbox at all but he has never gone outside of the box.

I hope the shelter staff will be able to answer your email with more information!

Erin80 said:

Has anyone had litterbox issues, like peeing or pooping on the floor instead?
Our previous cat started pooping and sometimes peeing on the basement carpet. I tried everything I could think of to help him. We had two boxes for one cat.
Anyway, I’m trying to convince my husband to be fine with me adopting a 1 1/2 year old male tabby. I don’t know his history or why he’s in the shelter, but I read one of the number one reasons cats end up in shelters is due to inappropriate elimination. So I’m a bit paranoid. It makes my heart happy to rescue a kitty but it makes me nervous too.

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We adopted greg and arnold when they were 1 1/2 years old. They immediately took to the litter boxes. We have had no trouble with them at all....except the cats grew too big to fit in a standar sized litter box.

All 3 of my cats so far have been strays. Two of them were likely around 6 mos. old. The one I have now was somewhere around 2 years old. In each case, I showed them where the litter box was, and that was that. Maybe I was just lucky!

I hope you are able to get some additional information about this new guy from the shelter - and that it will alleviate your husband's concerns!