So, since the forum crash there is so much to tell you all...
If you recall, Comere was peeing outside the litterbox. We were pretty sure it was behavioral (and I won't rehash the whole story) -- a bad habit he'd fallen into. We ended up having to rip up the carpet and scrape and clean the floors in the room where he was going (his litterbox is in a closet in my stepsons room and he was peeing on the floor right outside the closet).
After a weekend of ripping up the carpet and cleaning the floor multiple times (to get rid of the smell) we bought and laid Legato carpet tiles in the room (which I love!) figuring that if he were to keep peeing in there we could at least replace only the tiles he peed on, not the whole carpet. In front of the closet door we also put a bathroom-style rug. This was the weekend before thanksgiving.
For almost fives days he went in the litter only. Good job big guy!
Then suddenly, the friday after turkey day, he peed on the bathroom-style rug. So I cleaned it. But over the next few days he kept going there.
Sunday, after learning that the bathroom-style rug might actually be encouraging him to pee there (with the rubber back smell) I got rid of it and replaced it with one of those hard clear plastic mats you can buy to put under computer chairs. Knowing he wouldn't pee on a hard surface like that, I hoped it would help break the habit. I also bought "Cat Attract" kitty litter (it's supposed to draw them back to the box with it's smell). I bought it online and didn't get it right away so I didn't start using it until mid week. That same sunday night, I also bought Feliway and sprayed it on the carpet tiles opposite the plastic mat (the other side from the closet door where he needs to get into his litterbox). I've been sprayed it twice a day there.
Mid week, I started using the Cat Attract litter.
Since that Sunday, he has not peed on the floor (knock on wood! quick!)!! It's now day 10!
My review on the Cat Attract Litter
I didn't use it very long. I got it last Wednesday and put it in his box. He was sniffing around in there right away and he DID use it.
It has an interesting consistency -- like typical large grain clay litter. But it IS a clumping litter, regardless of how it looks. No dust. I'm sure it would work well with a lot of cats, especially kittys with litter box rejection problems -- but we had to stop using it.
For some reason, because it has such strong clumping quality to it it wasn't good for our kitty. He's a toilet drinker, and he would drink in the toilet, go in hit litterbox with a wet paw (he dips one paw into the toilet when he drinks) and get litter clumped all over his paw. We haven't had this problem with other clumping litters, but with the Cat Attract it was terrible -- and it started to hurt his little feet after a few days. I had to wash his feet several times by soaking them, and he was not a happy kitty
So we got rid of the Cat Attract and went back to our regular clumping litter (multicat odor control clumping). He's still going in the box, and has much happier paws
So that's the update thus far. I think the combination of putting the hard plastic mat down and spraying the Feliway made a big difference. Time will tell. I'll keep you posted.
If you recall, Comere was peeing outside the litterbox. We were pretty sure it was behavioral (and I won't rehash the whole story) -- a bad habit he'd fallen into. We ended up having to rip up the carpet and scrape and clean the floors in the room where he was going (his litterbox is in a closet in my stepsons room and he was peeing on the floor right outside the closet).
After a weekend of ripping up the carpet and cleaning the floor multiple times (to get rid of the smell) we bought and laid Legato carpet tiles in the room (which I love!) figuring that if he were to keep peeing in there we could at least replace only the tiles he peed on, not the whole carpet. In front of the closet door we also put a bathroom-style rug. This was the weekend before thanksgiving.
For almost fives days he went in the litter only. Good job big guy!
Then suddenly, the friday after turkey day, he peed on the bathroom-style rug. So I cleaned it. But over the next few days he kept going there.
Sunday, after learning that the bathroom-style rug might actually be encouraging him to pee there (with the rubber back smell) I got rid of it and replaced it with one of those hard clear plastic mats you can buy to put under computer chairs. Knowing he wouldn't pee on a hard surface like that, I hoped it would help break the habit. I also bought "Cat Attract" kitty litter (it's supposed to draw them back to the box with it's smell). I bought it online and didn't get it right away so I didn't start using it until mid week. That same sunday night, I also bought Feliway and sprayed it on the carpet tiles opposite the plastic mat (the other side from the closet door where he needs to get into his litterbox). I've been sprayed it twice a day there.
Mid week, I started using the Cat Attract litter.
Since that Sunday, he has not peed on the floor (knock on wood! quick!)!! It's now day 10!
My review on the Cat Attract Litter
I didn't use it very long. I got it last Wednesday and put it in his box. He was sniffing around in there right away and he DID use it.
It has an interesting consistency -- like typical large grain clay litter. But it IS a clumping litter, regardless of how it looks. No dust. I'm sure it would work well with a lot of cats, especially kittys with litter box rejection problems -- but we had to stop using it.
For some reason, because it has such strong clumping quality to it it wasn't good for our kitty. He's a toilet drinker, and he would drink in the toilet, go in hit litterbox with a wet paw (he dips one paw into the toilet when he drinks) and get litter clumped all over his paw. We haven't had this problem with other clumping litters, but with the Cat Attract it was terrible -- and it started to hurt his little feet after a few days. I had to wash his feet several times by soaking them, and he was not a happy kitty
So we got rid of the Cat Attract and went back to our regular clumping litter (multicat odor control clumping). He's still going in the box, and has much happier paws
So that's the update thus far. I think the combination of putting the hard plastic mat down and spraying the Feliway made a big difference. Time will tell. I'll keep you posted.