Incredible Bladder Control Or Something Wrong?

[Gladden]

I brought Zoe home yesterday, and she hasn't used the litterbox yet. It's been about 20 hours. She has eaten a little and has drank some of her water.

Is this normal for a new cat? I moved the litterbox to the upstairs landing where she's been hanging out, and have a vet checkup scheduled since she has a little bit of eye discharge, and is almost due for a booster shot anyway.

I know very little about cats, so clueless here.

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. How old is Zoe? She may not be drinking much and may be scared, and may be peeing elsewhere...

Are you feeding her some wet food? More moisture for her and will hopefully help her pee.

You could also 'introduce' her to the litter box, just so you know she knows where it is at?

Here are some articles that might help you - being a new cat owner!! Welcome to the world of the cat lovers! If you aren't already, you will be soon!

First-time Cat Owner's Guide

Why Do Cats...? The Ultimate Guide To Feline Behavior

How To Help A New Cat Adjust To Your Home

 

[daftcat75]

Welcome to the world of cats! They can be particular about their toilets.

Pick up a blacklight/UV light. They sell these at pet supply stores usually near the pet mess cleaners, pee pads, enzyme cleaners, etc. She could be going somewhere else. You want to find and fix that sooner than later. Clean with an enzyme cleaner. If you have a covered box, leave the cover off until you're sure she's using it.

 

[She's a witch]

This isn’t uncommon for a new cat to be stressed in the new territory, and not to eat and not use the litter box. I’d suggest confining her to one closed room so that she can make herself feel safe, and have everything she needs there with her. Is she otherwise fine with you?

 

[Gladden]

She's been hanging out upstairs on the 2nd floor landing. I've checked around for wet spots/odors, but nothing smells like pee. Her food and water are there at one end, with the litterbox at the other end. She hasn't drunk much water.

She purrs if I pet her or even come close, so she seems to like me, also gives lots of head bops and rubs against me if I'm nearby. I picked up some calming drops and put them in her water.

She's 3 yrs old, up to date on shots, and about 10.6 lbs.

 

[white shadow]

.
Hi Gladden and a (little) belated welcome to the forum !

One of the usual 'tips' for new cat folks is, when bringing a new cat home, to give them their own, 'private' safe space at first. Once they've 'acclimatized' (because, remember, their whole world has been turned upside down with the move) then they should be allowed to explore the rest of their new surroundings...when they choose to.

It isn't too late to back things up......select one room, put all the accoutrements in there, move her there and leave her be. The litterbox should be far away from her food/water area. I would have her carrier in the room with a comfy towel on its floor. There should be an obvious bed/bedding. A 'safe' spot within the room (even a cardboard box) will complete her suite.

At this point I think I'd close the door.....I'd be tempted as well to ignore any protestations for 'a while', perhaps a couple of hours. You can visit, respecting her personal space. Sit on the floor, allowing her to come to you or not. You could read softly. Don't stare/look at her directly. Having some soft music at very low volume can really help - if you want some from online, look for "Music for Cats" on YouTube.

After a couple of days, leave the door open, just enough for her to peek and exit should she choose. When she does come out to explore, ignore her and allow for solo exploration. Meantime, you can softly talk to yourself.

The landing really is not a 'safe space'......using that will, IMO, really slow down this process which she must go through.
.

 

[Gladden]

Drat, found a damp spot on the floor. Cleaned with enzymatic cleaner, aired the 2nd floor out. Hopefully she'll use the litterbox now that it's up there. The vet is closed till Monday, but I'll keep a close eye meanwhile.

She is now getting up on her hind legs to head bop me higher up.

 

[Gladden]

.
Hi Gladden and a (little) belated welcome to the forum !

One of the usual 'tips' for new cat folks is, when bringing a new cat home, to give them their own, 'private' safe space at first. Once they've 'acclimatized' (because, remember, their whole world has been turned upside down with the move) then they should be allowed to explore the rest of their new surroundings...when they choose to.

It isn't too late to back things up......select one room, put all the accoutrements in there, move her there and leave her be. The litterbox should be far away from her food/water area. I would have her carrier in the room with a comfy towel on its floor. There should be an obvious bed/bedding. A 'safe' spot within the room (even a cardboard box) will complete her suite.

At this point I think I'd close the door.....I'd be tempted as well to ignore any protestations for 'a while', perhaps a couple of hours. You can visit, respecting her personal space. Sit on the floor, allowing her to come to you or not. You could read softly. Don't stare/look at her directly. Having some soft music at very low volume can really help - if you want some from online, look for "Music for Cats" on YouTube.

After a couple of days, leave the door open, just enough for her to peek and exit should she choose. When she does come out to explore, ignore her and allow for solo exploration. Meantime, you can softly talk to yourself.

The landing really is not a 'safe space'......using that will, IMO, really slow down this process which she must go through.
.

I have no empty rooms, but I can close the upstairs hallway off to give the feeling of a closed space. I don't use the upstairs. 2 rooms up there, one of which is off limits because my wife's stuff is in there (she's working out west), and the other is my art studio. Too many ways for her to hurt herself in there.

Will move the carrier up there, and then close it off.

 

[1 bruce 1]

Hi there
Make sure the box is fairly large (enough space for her to comfortably stand, squat, and turn around in), and the litter is unscented (some cats don't mind, but some cats really hate scented litters.)
There's a litter called "cat attract" training litter that was a lifesaver for us when one of our girls stopped using the box after a nasty UTI. We used regular litter and dusted the top with about 1 inch of additional cat attract and in a day or so she was peeing like champion
Congratulations on the new addition!

 

[Margret]

I'm betting that the wet spot was as far away from her food and water as she could get on the landing. Try moving the litter box so it's right on top of the spot where you found the pee.

Welcome to TCS! You've found the largest and most supportive community of cat lovers on the internet, and we very much hope that you and your new family member will be part of our community for a very long time.

Margret

 

[Gladden]

Good idea, will put the litter box right on top of it. My goodness, she's a cuddler.

 

[Margret]

I assume you got some sort of slotted spoon or something to go with the litter box, since that's how we clean clumping litter (which most litter is nowadays)? Try using that spoon to dig around in the litter a little bit, the way a cat would dig with her paws, while she's watching. It should give her ideas. Also, make sure you have enough litter in the box; it really ought to be at least two inches deep (I know, that's not what it says on the side of the container the litter came in, but it's still true). This isn't as expensive as it sounds since with clumping litter we don't normally totally change the litter every day, or even every week. We just sift through it and add new litter when it starts running low. We only change it when it begins to reek.

You may also find that she wants two litter boxes - one for pee and one for poop. This isn't universal by any means, but some cats seem to think that they shouldn't poop where they pee and vice versa. I know - strange, huh? (says the person who uses a toilet and not a litter box ).

Speaking of poop, has she been pooping okay?

Margret

 

[Gladden]

I got a sifting litterbox. Haven't seen any poop, so she may have buried it well, I put about 3 inches of litter in the box.

 

[Margret]

Have you heard her digging in the box?

Margret

 

[She's a witch]

Few more tips not mentioned already I think: you can ask whoever you got her from what kind of litter was she using before, it’s possible that it was a totally different type and she doesn’t like the one you got her.

If she ends up using litter box after all and other medical issues are not really urgent, I’d actually postpone vet visit. It will stress her out even more, I’d take her when she settles in your place. Too much stress can really mess with her health and cats really don’t like vet’s visit, so I’d do this only if necessary at this point.

 

[Gladden]

Ok will monitor and reschedule vet visit. She's definitely using the litterbox now, and eating more. She even explored the whole house this morning, so she's starting to get comfortable... and oh boy is she affectionate. A real cuddlebug already

 

[Margret]

oh boy is she affectionate. A real cuddlebug already

This is an excellent start!

You may want to get one of those slotted spoons so you can do an easy spot-check of what and how much she's depositing in the box.

Regarding posting pictures: This is a partial screen shot of my display while editing a message:

And here's the same screen shot, with a red oval around the icon that I use to insert pictures:

When I select the picture icon, I get a menu that looks like this:

If I want to insert an image that's somewhere on the internet I'll enter the address of the image in the box marked "Image URL:," but if I want to upload the image from my computer I select "Choose File." At that point what you see will depend on what kind of computer you have, and/or whether you're posting and uploading directly from your phone.

Now, this only works because I have my preferences set for, um, RTF in the editor? Something like that. I remember having to specifically set it that way, a very long time ago, but I don't currently see any option for changing those preferences so I don't know what your editor looks like. If these pictures don't look right to you, say so and we'll get someone more knowledgeable to weigh in.

Margret

 

[Gladden]

Thanks, everyone! Zoe is nowntrotting confidently through the whole house and using the litterbox normally. I gave her some tuna and wet cat food to help her along. Also got her a catnip stuffed banana which she gleefully murders often, lol. She came to my bedroom several times during the night to sit on the window bench and look out the window, and then hopped up on my nightstand this morning meowing to let me know she wanted to be fed.

So this situation seems to have resolved itself.