Roughly around 3 weeks ago I adopted my first cat, Norman (10 months)! He lives with me and my boyfriend and my boyfriend’s 3 other cats (4 months, 10 months, and 12 months, all as sweet as can be!). I should mention there is also a very large dog living here too! We all fell in love with him within minutes of taking him into our shelter’s acquaintance room. He was social, playful, and very friendly with each of us. When we took him home, the other cats immediately came up to his crate to meet him and he was very curious to meet them as well. All seemed well until the eldest cat (freshly neutered) started quietly howling and fuzzing up his tail. He was a little stand-offish for a few days but now they cuddle together and seem to get along very well. The other two cats have loved Norman from day 1 and I find them all cuddling together quite often. Norman has even become fascinated with the dog and I’ve found them cuddling together as well.
The real issue with Norman has been the litter boxes. The first night staying here, Norman peed in a corner on our living room floor. I knew he was probably just anxious with meeting all of these new animals so I just shrugged it off. We tried keeping him in a room by himself with two fresh litter boxes and his food nowhere near them but he kept meowing to get out to play with the other animals, so secluding him never really stuck.
Over the next couple of days he started using the bathtub for both poo and pee. Worried a habit would form, I bought more litter boxes (total of 4) and filled them with different types of litter for little Norman to try. I even used cat attract in all of the litter boxes. Alas he would still only use the tub. I took him to the vet to see if he had any health issues, as I’d heard that UTI’s can make cats pee everywhere. The vet wasn’t able to test for UTIs but gave me what I need to collect a sample myself. The vet did however test and confirm that Norman is actually deaf! After the vet visit, I started to see less and less pee in the tub (Making it impossible to get a urine sample). After several days my boyfriend finally saw Norman get into one litter box, walk out, walk into another one, and take a small pee. Since then we have mysteriously seen even less and less messes in the bathtub. I never found any messes around the house so it seemed he was started to use the litter boxes!
Sadly I wasn’t out of the woods yet though. Unfortunately we still get messes in the tub but, but more annoyingly, Norman periodically pees and poops right next to one of his two favorite litter boxes (usually poop). I try to keep the litter boxes as clean as I can but it doesn’t always seem to be enough. I’ve never even seen him poop in the litter box but have cleaned up several turds that look just like his so I assume he does use them (unless he has some secret hiding spot). What more can I do to make litterboxes a no-hassle habit for my baby?
The real issue with Norman has been the litter boxes. The first night staying here, Norman peed in a corner on our living room floor. I knew he was probably just anxious with meeting all of these new animals so I just shrugged it off. We tried keeping him in a room by himself with two fresh litter boxes and his food nowhere near them but he kept meowing to get out to play with the other animals, so secluding him never really stuck.
Over the next couple of days he started using the bathtub for both poo and pee. Worried a habit would form, I bought more litter boxes (total of 4) and filled them with different types of litter for little Norman to try. I even used cat attract in all of the litter boxes. Alas he would still only use the tub. I took him to the vet to see if he had any health issues, as I’d heard that UTI’s can make cats pee everywhere. The vet wasn’t able to test for UTIs but gave me what I need to collect a sample myself. The vet did however test and confirm that Norman is actually deaf! After the vet visit, I started to see less and less pee in the tub (Making it impossible to get a urine sample). After several days my boyfriend finally saw Norman get into one litter box, walk out, walk into another one, and take a small pee. Since then we have mysteriously seen even less and less messes in the bathtub. I never found any messes around the house so it seemed he was started to use the litter boxes!
Sadly I wasn’t out of the woods yet though. Unfortunately we still get messes in the tub but, but more annoyingly, Norman periodically pees and poops right next to one of his two favorite litter boxes (usually poop). I try to keep the litter boxes as clean as I can but it doesn’t always seem to be enough. I’ve never even seen him poop in the litter box but have cleaned up several turds that look just like his so I assume he does use them (unless he has some secret hiding spot). What more can I do to make litterboxes a no-hassle habit for my baby?