- Joined
- Jun 17, 2018
- Messages
- 6
- Purraise
- 6
Hi all! New to the forums, thanks in advance for the help.
I've been fostering two cats since December - both female, littermates, approximately 8 years old, had been with a woman since kitten-hood until she passed away. I didn't really expect to still have them 6 months later, but they haven't had any adoption interest, and truth be told I've fallen in love them with a bit, so I'm considering just adopting them myself.
Except for one problem (and it's really the only problem that's keeping me from adopting them!): elimination outside of the litterbox.
I live in a small, one bedroom apartment. Here's the history of the litterbox woes:
-I started with an "open top" box in the bathroom, which has just enough room for a litter box between the bathtub and the door, since that it was the foster agency gave me.
-I then moved on to a extra large closed top box (there is a swinging door, which I removed so it's just an open hole to move in and out). I much preferred the closed top, since it was less smelly, more private, and seemed more hygienic.
-This worked fine for a bit, until one of them (or both, maybe - impossible to know since I never caught them in the act) began urinating and defecating on the bathmat - happened maybe once, then a week later, then a couple days later.
-I then moved the litter box to the kitchen, which I really didn't want to do but I thought maybe it was less tempting to be away from the bathmat.
-This worked for a while, but I really hated having the litter box in the kitchen (seemed unhygenic, didn't look great when I had friends over - my kitchen/living room are basically one medium sized open room). So, I tried moving the litterbox into the closet (slowly, a little bit day by day over the course of maybe 4 days!) and kept the doors open. The cats refused to go into the closet and began eliminated on the bathmat again eliminated on the bathmat again (the doors in my apartment can all be pushed open pretty easily, so there's no real way to keep the cats from access to the bathroom)!
-So I moved it back to the kitchen, same spot. That worked for a while (at least a month), until... eliminated on the bathmat again!
-I then got rid of the bathmat, which worked for a while, until... eliminated on the doormat next to my front door!
-I then read about the "+1" rule for litterboxes (the foster agency never told me!). I bought a second litter box (really don't have room for two, much less three, but I figured I could try). Wound up with an open top box in the bathroom, and the closed top one in the kitchen. The cats began using only the one in the bathroom, and never using the one in the kitchen (which was fine!). This worked for probably a full month, until tonight.
-One of them peed on the bathmat (which was a new, replacement bathmat from the previous ones - I normally put it over the curtain rod after showering, but forgot) when I was out of town for the night. The litterbox had been cleaned when I left yesterday morning, so at most it had not been cleaned for 36 hours - I usually try to clean it daily, but I do weekend travel somewhat frequently and don't have anybody I can ask to come by to clean it for me on the days I am gone.
Any advice? My apartment really does not have room for a third litter box - I really don't even know where I'd put it. To be quite frank, I really do not want to have the litter box in the kitchen either - it seems unhygienic to me. I've been using the same litter the whole time - Tidy Cats unscented - and am willing to try something else, but don't know what to try. Since the cats go for a month or so without problems in between bouts of litterbox problems, it also doesn't seem like a litter-type problem.
My apartment just might not be the right set up for two cats, but these cats really have nowhere else to go (yet). I can't move to a bigger apartment with a big enough bathroom to put multiple boxes in, so short of that... any advice? Any idea why they might be doing fine for weeks/months at a time, then do not so well?
I've been fostering two cats since December - both female, littermates, approximately 8 years old, had been with a woman since kitten-hood until she passed away. I didn't really expect to still have them 6 months later, but they haven't had any adoption interest, and truth be told I've fallen in love them with a bit, so I'm considering just adopting them myself.
Except for one problem (and it's really the only problem that's keeping me from adopting them!): elimination outside of the litterbox.
I live in a small, one bedroom apartment. Here's the history of the litterbox woes:
-I started with an "open top" box in the bathroom, which has just enough room for a litter box between the bathtub and the door, since that it was the foster agency gave me.
-I then moved on to a extra large closed top box (there is a swinging door, which I removed so it's just an open hole to move in and out). I much preferred the closed top, since it was less smelly, more private, and seemed more hygienic.
-This worked fine for a bit, until one of them (or both, maybe - impossible to know since I never caught them in the act) began urinating and defecating on the bathmat - happened maybe once, then a week later, then a couple days later.
-I then moved the litter box to the kitchen, which I really didn't want to do but I thought maybe it was less tempting to be away from the bathmat.
-This worked for a while, but I really hated having the litter box in the kitchen (seemed unhygenic, didn't look great when I had friends over - my kitchen/living room are basically one medium sized open room). So, I tried moving the litterbox into the closet (slowly, a little bit day by day over the course of maybe 4 days!) and kept the doors open. The cats refused to go into the closet and began eliminated on the bathmat again eliminated on the bathmat again (the doors in my apartment can all be pushed open pretty easily, so there's no real way to keep the cats from access to the bathroom)!
-So I moved it back to the kitchen, same spot. That worked for a while (at least a month), until... eliminated on the bathmat again!
-I then got rid of the bathmat, which worked for a while, until... eliminated on the doormat next to my front door!
-I then read about the "+1" rule for litterboxes (the foster agency never told me!). I bought a second litter box (really don't have room for two, much less three, but I figured I could try). Wound up with an open top box in the bathroom, and the closed top one in the kitchen. The cats began using only the one in the bathroom, and never using the one in the kitchen (which was fine!). This worked for probably a full month, until tonight.
-One of them peed on the bathmat (which was a new, replacement bathmat from the previous ones - I normally put it over the curtain rod after showering, but forgot) when I was out of town for the night. The litterbox had been cleaned when I left yesterday morning, so at most it had not been cleaned for 36 hours - I usually try to clean it daily, but I do weekend travel somewhat frequently and don't have anybody I can ask to come by to clean it for me on the days I am gone.
Any advice? My apartment really does not have room for a third litter box - I really don't even know where I'd put it. To be quite frank, I really do not want to have the litter box in the kitchen either - it seems unhygienic to me. I've been using the same litter the whole time - Tidy Cats unscented - and am willing to try something else, but don't know what to try. Since the cats go for a month or so without problems in between bouts of litterbox problems, it also doesn't seem like a litter-type problem.
My apartment just might not be the right set up for two cats, but these cats really have nowhere else to go (yet). I can't move to a bigger apartment with a big enough bathroom to put multiple boxes in, so short of that... any advice? Any idea why they might be doing fine for weeks/months at a time, then do not so well?
Thanks for fostering these 2 sisters, and considering keeping them. Hopefully you can solve the litter box issue.
If it does, try to make note of anything that might have triggered it. But hopefully that won't be necessary.
