Hello--
My wife and I have two 11 year old cats who live in our apt (and are not allowed outside). They've been very well-behaved but in the last year (since I've gotten married), they have been acting out. One cat poops right outside the litter box, and the other one has started urinating outside the litter box. In the last three weeks, I've taken them to the vet for a full check up, blood work, etc, and everything is fine-- they're quite healthy.
The veterinarian believes it's a behavioral issue (which is what we thought but we had to rule out something medical), and her recommendation was to keep them in the bathroom w/ food and their litter box for up to four weeks without letting them out. She believes they won't go to the bathroom so close to where they eat and that this will force them to start using the litter box ('cause the bathroom is such a small space). Well, it's not a very practical solution as our bathroom is very, very tiny; it's also too hard for my wife and I to go in and out of it and not have the cats run out. Most importantly, I feel the space is too small to confine two cats. But my wife and I have been thinking of apportioning a part of the apartment, near a window in the living room, where we can confine the cats w/ their food and litter—something a little bigger than the bathroom.
The problem is we don't know how to confine them to a specific area and not let them escape. We can't think of anything to block off the space-- something that's so tall that they can't get around or above or below it. We'd like something for our apartment that is kind of like the fences used to keep babies from going up or down stairs or out of the kitchen…. but for a cat. Our one idea was to use empty refrigerator boxes (which are tall) filled w/ weights (so they won't move). Are there any inexpensive, easy-to-build options you can think of/recommend? Hopefully, we're only going to be using this for a short time, so we don't want to spend too much money.
Any information or suggestion(s) would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Jon
My wife and I have two 11 year old cats who live in our apt (and are not allowed outside). They've been very well-behaved but in the last year (since I've gotten married), they have been acting out. One cat poops right outside the litter box, and the other one has started urinating outside the litter box. In the last three weeks, I've taken them to the vet for a full check up, blood work, etc, and everything is fine-- they're quite healthy.
The veterinarian believes it's a behavioral issue (which is what we thought but we had to rule out something medical), and her recommendation was to keep them in the bathroom w/ food and their litter box for up to four weeks without letting them out. She believes they won't go to the bathroom so close to where they eat and that this will force them to start using the litter box ('cause the bathroom is such a small space). Well, it's not a very practical solution as our bathroom is very, very tiny; it's also too hard for my wife and I to go in and out of it and not have the cats run out. Most importantly, I feel the space is too small to confine two cats. But my wife and I have been thinking of apportioning a part of the apartment, near a window in the living room, where we can confine the cats w/ their food and litter—something a little bigger than the bathroom.
The problem is we don't know how to confine them to a specific area and not let them escape. We can't think of anything to block off the space-- something that's so tall that they can't get around or above or below it. We'd like something for our apartment that is kind of like the fences used to keep babies from going up or down stairs or out of the kitchen…. but for a cat. Our one idea was to use empty refrigerator boxes (which are tall) filled w/ weights (so they won't move). Are there any inexpensive, easy-to-build options you can think of/recommend? Hopefully, we're only going to be using this for a short time, so we don't want to spend too much money.
Any information or suggestion(s) would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Jon