Cats sharing litterboxes

IisDino

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We recently adopted a kitten that's 6 months old, and already have an almost 4 year old cat.

While normally I wouldn't have an issue with cats sharing litter boxes, I'm questioning whether I should allow it due to my older male cat's previous health issues. He's had issues in the past with FLUTD and when it happened, he continuously tried to use the litterbox, to minimal success and lots of cries of pain. His pees were about the size of golf balls or smaller, as we caught it quite early. Since then I've been very diligent with cleaning his litterbox, checking the size of his pees, how often he urinated, checking his stomach for tenderness, checking for any leakage... There haven't been any reoccurances of the issue, but my vet has made it very clear it may happen again.

Due to his health issues, I've taken to becoming very aware of my kitten's urination habits as well (and where my adult cat seems to only pee 2-4 times a day depending on time of year, water intake, etc.) Our kitten pees almost every time she drinks water, at least 4 times a day, and each pee is only about the size of a golf ball. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, and she is quite small, so I'm fairly certain it's normal for her.

All of that being said, because her pees average around the size of his pees when he was having issues with FLUTD, I worry about them sharing litterboxes because it would make it almost impossible to know if his health problems are acting up (in my mind at least). I'm just wondering if I should discourage them from sharing litterboxes, and how I would even go about that, or if I should just let them do as they desire in regards to them?

Any insights or advice would be appreciated, as googling only offers ways to make sharing them easier.
 

Mamanyt1953

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Ideally, for two cats, you would have three boxes, anyway. The rule of thumb is, one per cat, and one extra. Generally, cats sharing a household with adequate numbers of boxes will have their favorites that they consistently use. This might help you with that issue.
 

Beholder

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Sorry I don't know much about FLUTD, but could Pretty Litter possibly help you there? Maybe not the best solution for early or preventive treatment, but it can at least pick up any blood or changes in acidity.
 

fionasmom

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Your idea is a good one and I certainly see your point about isolating the pee so you know what is going on with your boy. I agree that trying to use more litter boxes, not that you want them all over the house, will help. I have 6 indoor only cats and, within reason, they all have a favorite location to pee. It may sort itself out.
 

Tobermory

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I also like to know who’s doing what in the boxes (the cats have two) so I have a webcam trained on the boxes which are in the same room. It sends an alert when it “sees” movement so I can go online and spy on the culprit!
 
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