Cat will only use litter box when I am with him

[brads]

Hello. I apologize if this question has been asked before. I searched around the message boards, but could not find any similar posts.

My cat is almost 8 years old and we've had him since he was a baby. Around 4 years ago we got him a little brother who was kind of aggressive towards him and followed him around and batted at him and stuff (basically, he was a kitten trying to play with his older brother who just wasn't having it).

We're past that stage now and they can coexist, but we have a couple of lingering issues that originally started when #2 came home. The biggest issue is the bathroom situation. The cat will seemingly only go to the bathroom while I'm around. When I walk into the door from work every night he darts directly into the bathroom ad does his business (even though my wife has been home for hours). When he has to go at other times, he announces it until I get up and supervise him. 

Now my wife and I are trying to plan a short little vacation later this year and we're concerned that he is going to hold it for a week and injure himself. We're going to get a catsitter, but since he won't go with my wife there's no reason to believe he'd go with the catsitter. We're trying to figure out if we can start doing something right now so that when it's time to go away he's going to be able to do his business.

Can anyone offer any suggestions? We don't even know where to begin.

Thank you.

Brad

 

[wafflesnomnom]

I read that cats feel vulnerable when they are using the litter box (a possible reason they want to watch you doing your business - to guard you!). Maybe this is a factor? Your cat may feel unsafe or not as secure in the house with his little brother around and wants you to guard him or ensure that he can eliminate safely without interruption. How may litter boxes do you have? Where are they? Perhaps you can buy a couple more boxes and put them in some quiet, secluded areas and see if that helps, and perhaps you can get the cat attract litter and put that in a new box for when you are away too? I know my kitten meows and whines before he has to poop and he's often much happier if I'm there watching him but he goes when I'm not there anyways, but he does prefer going at night when the house is quiet and calm. 

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I had a friend whose cat would wait for her to come home to go.  There was no other cat or animal in the home; it was just a quirk she had from kitten hood.

That being said; I am also wondering how many boxes you have, what styles they are and where they are placed?  

 

[cocobutterfly]

I can't offer any advice because every cat is different but maybe my story can help bring some resolution to your cat's worries.

We only have one cat, but she's very picky about her litter box. If she thought it was dirty or we didn't scoop her poop right away, she wouldn't go back in to pee in it. When she was not happy with it, she peed on our leather sofa. It came to the point where we had to walk her to the bathroom every morning and evening and sit with her for a minute so that she'd pee in it.

We started to worry that she was holding it in and only peeing when we're with her so we took Jackson Galaxy's advise and got her two more litter boxes with different types of litter spread around the house so that she could choose which she liked. We started her off on the Breeze Litter system, but she wasn't covering her poop and the pee pad (although didn't smell to us) must have smelled to her after about 4-5 days because she'd run out of her box as soon as she eliminated.

We really wanted to stay away from clumping clay litter, but I realized that's what she's been used to at the shelter where she came from. So we broke down and got one additional box with Dr. Elsey's Cat Attract, one box with feline pine and kept her original Breeze litter system. 

She stayed far away from Feline Pine. I think the smell of pine was too much for her. The Cat Attract she went straight for. It was amazing. She goes in and spends time scratching the walls and marking herself before and after she eliminates. She goes by frequently on her own. She loves it. Cat attract has some kind of pheromone sprinkled in that apparently calms cats. It's working. She's just much calmer in general and less needy. I now believe that she was meowing at us often because she was unhappy with her litter box. She pretty much stopped going into her Breeze box. I think the pellets were too lumpy for her to walk on, and they were way too heavy for her to kick around. Poor thing. 

 

[cocobutterfly]

Follow up to my previous comment...

Here's the litter box I got from Amazon. They're so cheap (less than $7 for the ball color) that I now have them for my one cat at each end of the house. No more litter box issues!
 

 

[brads]

Hi Everyone. Thank you very very much for taking the time to respond. I agree with WafflesNomNom's response that the cat feels vulnerable while he is doing his business. To answer the question, we have 2 litter boxes. They aren't regular litter boxes. They are 29 gallon rubbermaid containers that I cut up into "box form". It's bigger than most litter boxes I can find in stores (and definitely cheaper). It gives the cats have plenty of room to dig around them and both seem comfortable with them. We change up the type of litter every few weeks (it's usually tidy cat, arm and hammer, or costco's brand), but they don't seem to have a preference of one over the other. Both boxes are in opposite corners of our laundry room. It's not a huge room, but they seem to be far enough apart.

I'm going to get a 3rd box and place it somewhere else and try the Attract Cat litter. I'd like to put it in a room that has multiple entry points, but we really don't have that. I'll post an update in a few weeks with how it goes.

Thank you very very much again.

Brad

 

[wafflesnomnom]

 
Hi Everyone. Thank you very very much for taking the time to respond. I agree with WafflesNomNom's response that the cat feels vulnerable while he is doing his business. To answer the question, we have 2 litter boxes. They aren't regular litter boxes. They are 29 gallon rubbermaid containers that I cut up into "box form". It's bigger than most litter boxes I can find in stores (and definitely cheaper). It gives the cats have plenty of room to dig around them and both seem comfortable with them. We change up the type of litter every few weeks (it's usually tidy cat, arm and hammer, or costco's brand), but they don't seem to have a preference of one over the other. Both boxes are in opposite corners of our laundry room. It's not a huge room, but they seem to be far enough apart.

I'm going to get a 3rd box and place it somewhere else and try the Attract Cat litter. I'd like to put it in a room that has multiple entry points, but we really don't have that. I'll post an update in a few weeks with how it goes.

Thank you very very much again.

Brad

Haha it's so weird seeing my user name being used. The other things I've heard is that the laundry room isn't the best place because the machine noises scare them. Also, perhaps stop changing the litter so much? Cats don't like change, and that may be stressing them out even if they are still using it fine. Another option is to try making one of those storage bins with the hole cut out on the top of the lit so the cat has to jump into it. Covered boxes are not ideal, but it might make it harder for his brother to jump in there and bother him while he's doing his business? Just a thought!

 

[crankydave]

Mine went through a bout of litterbox phobia for a while, too. In his case, it could be traced to The Toilet Incident, where he tried to jump onto the seat the instant I stood up after finishing my business... only to find that a) the lid was up, and b) the contents hadn't been flushed yet. Let's just say that a lot of sloshing and flailing ensued, and I was up very late cleaning. Anyway, for quite a while after, he wouldn't use the litterbox in the bathroom unless I was sitting on the toilet, presumably to keep it from trying to eat him again. He's grown out of it, thankfully. He's never really used the other boxes that are set out, so I don't know if time did the trick, or using the other boxes without incident. I'd definitely recommend setting up at least one more elsewhere in case there's something near the current location that he's scared of.

 

[akitty47]

My cat does seem to like to use her litterbox while I am in the bathroom. I let her in if I am showering or brushing teeth or shaving, and if she is not laying down on the toilet seat lid or cover, usually when she comes in it is to do her business. While I am at home she will use the litterbox whenever she wants, but  I too noticed if I am out for up to a day she will hold until I am back.