Pre warning- Sorry for the long post. I have a wonderful tempered cat that I have had since she was a kitten along with her sister. They are now 2 years old. I got them at 10 weeks old. The one sister does everything normal. The other sister, named Salt, has never lowered her butt to pee and only will poop right outside a litter box or in our shower. We have a 3rd cat we got at the exact same time that was also a baby that is a Maine Coon mix. They all get along. I have 5 litter boxes in the house. We do not have room for more than that and I have been assured that is plenty. I have covered litter boxes of all various sizes, includes 2 of the boxes inside furniture. Salt will not use the boxes that are in cabinets, nor will our Maine Coon as she is too big. The covered ones, she and the Main Coon use. Salt will not go deeper into the box ever. She stands at the entrance point, with her butt facing outward and the pee goes right out on to the flooring. I have tried one w a door but she won’t even go in the one w a door. I even put a bit of old litter on top to try to let her know it was her spot to go in. She will NEVER poop in a box or even try. Only in the shower or on the floor near the litter boxes. Two of our boxes are on hard surfaces, but we have to space the litter boxes out and 3 are on carpet with mats. She still will pee well over the mat and is destroying our flooring. The area smells terrible. I can not have larger mats over a 4 ft area as I live in my home and do have company and my kids have friends over. It would not be reasonable. We have 3 large cat towers, tons of toys and bedding. I am at my wits end. I love this cat. I can’t do 18 more years of this though. Please help!! I have taken her to the vet. There is nothing medical wrong w her. They ran blood and urine tests too. He said she may never change this. I can’t get rid of her, I also can’t do this until I’m 65.
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- Thread starter BBrown74
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Do you have any open boxes, that are not in furniture or covered? Some cats will not go in a covered box, you might try that. She may need a bigger box, or a different type of litter too. What type/kind do you use? If they go near the box it means they want to use it but something is wrong. You may have to replace two of your covered boxes with two uncovered, some cats like a separate box to pee in, and another to poop in. They have large high-sided ones, which are the ones I use. I also have two in furniture. Get some Nature's Miracle, it has removed smells for me that I never thought was possible. Give me a little more info and I will see what we can figure out.
I agree with this, to a point, - she won't change if the situation doesn't change to what she needs.
I completely agree with the above comments - you need to experiment and find out what works for your cat.
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Thank you! I have one box in the laundry room that doesn’t have a lid. We started with uncovered boxes but had to change to covered due to at least hoping to contain some of the pee. I have used Natures Miracle and it doesn’t work for us sadly. I am using Angry Orange right now which doesn’t completely eliminate but best so far!
. I have used different types of clay litter only. I am definitely going to mix up a box (or two?) with something else! Love that idea! Can I just switch it out or will that cause my other two cats to act out? The box in the laundry room appears to be her favorite so I will try that one. Suggestions as to what kind would be very appreciated. Thank you!!
Covered do not trap in the odor, can make it worse, also depends on where the boxes are and size. A small room where the litter can't breath will make the smell worse two of my 3 cats does not like pine. Only clay so my cat peaches will go half way in half way out so her front paws don't touch it. Storage bins are good because of length. One of mine is 18 inch high 23 long. 3 inches of litter. Cats like to move around. Scented litter is worse. I use a&h slide
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I would find a plastic storage bin that's longer than it is wide. Cut an opening on the long side to force the cats to go into the box and turn to one side or the other. You'll want that box big enough so that they can all comfortably turn around in it. You also need to clean it religiously because none of them want to be doing laps in a dirty box. If they go for it, I would simply buy extras to keep clean ones on hot standby, e.g. you can fill and deploy a clean one faster than it would take for you to clean the dirty one. Then you can dump and clean the dirty one on your time without ever taking a bathroom out of service.
Okay, so that should take care of the peeing out the front issue.
To get poop in the box, the box needs to be uncovered and without a door. It needs to be large enough for the cats to turn around and see out the front of the box. Cats are prey animals as much as they are predators and pooping leaves them vulnerable. Nervous cats need to have an eye on their exit while pooping. Otherwise, they are going to go on the floor where they won't be trapped and they will be able to keep an eye out for would-be predators. Yeah, I know. There aren't any predators in your home. But instincts are powerful.
Finally, along the same lines, if your litterbox cabinet has a service door, take the door off. Don't expect them to feel safe in that cabinet with only one cutout for an entrance and exit.
Okay, so that should take care of the peeing out the front issue.
To get poop in the box, the box needs to be uncovered and without a door. It needs to be large enough for the cats to turn around and see out the front of the box. Cats are prey animals as much as they are predators and pooping leaves them vulnerable. Nervous cats need to have an eye on their exit while pooping. Otherwise, they are going to go on the floor where they won't be trapped and they will be able to keep an eye out for would-be predators. Yeah, I know. There aren't any predators in your home. But instincts are powerful.
Finally, along the same lines, if your litterbox cabinet has a service door, take the door off. Don't expect them to feel safe in that cabinet with only one cutout for an entrance and exit.
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This is my setup. It works well for my Betty and worked well for Krista before her.
It is a simple uncovered box large enough for Betty to turn around in. I keep a duplicate of that box directly underneath it so I can replace it with a clean box in the time it takes to fill the bottom one and take away the top. I took the service door off the enclosure when Krista had the wobbles for awhile. I figured it would be easier for her to come through the front door rather than the cutout. She appreciated it and I never put that door back on when her balance recovered. And although I only have one cat (Krista passed a couple years ago), I have a camera attached to the enclosure to answer any questions I might have about her litterbox behaviors. I have watched her many times on the camera. She’ll walk in and squat to pee. But she almost always turns around and faces out to poop.
It is a simple uncovered box large enough for Betty to turn around in. I keep a duplicate of that box directly underneath it so I can replace it with a clean box in the time it takes to fill the bottom one and take away the top. I took the service door off the enclosure when Krista had the wobbles for awhile. I figured it would be easier for her to come through the front door rather than the cutout. She appreciated it and I never put that door back on when her balance recovered. And although I only have one cat (Krista passed a couple years ago), I have a camera attached to the enclosure to answer any questions I might have about her litterbox behaviors. I have watched her many times on the camera. She’ll walk in and squat to pee. But she almost always turns around and faces out to poop.
To contain the pee that is why i use high sided cat litter boxes. My cats pee and poop over the sides of low ones. Clay litter is best. I use Scoop Away scented from Walmart. Sometimes the expensive brands don't seem to control odors!
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Personally, I think the covered litter boxes are a big part of the problem. Covered litter boxes are convenient for the humans, but terribly aggravating for most cats. Do you like going to the bathroom in an outhouse? Neither do your cats. In the same way that an outhouse contains unpleasant odors all the time, a covered litter box forces a cat to be engulfed in foul smells every time he has to do his business, and cats' noses are WAY more sensitive than humans' noses!
In the outdoors, cats don't eliminate in tiny caves or in holes that they have to jump into and out of. An uncovered litter box is the next best thing to the cats going outside to eliminate.
