Litterbox for Two

[losna]

Sinbad hates to pee or poop alone. He will actually hold it in when he has to use the litter box and wait for either me or my husband to go into the basement. If it's been a while since either of us have been there and he has to go, he will stand at the top of the stairs and yowl until one of us accompanies him down to his box. I can always count on furry company while I'm doing the laundry, because he zooms down whenever I'm in there and climbs into his box to use it and then he hangs out with me until I go back upstairs.

Has any one ever seen anything like this before? It makes it really easy to keep their boxes clean as I know every time he uses his, and when I'm doing his I might as well do Tempest's too, but it seems really a bit strange.

 

[Ms. Freya]

That does seem a bit unusual. If you were to move his box upstairs or add another, I wonder if he'd still do it.

If he does, he may just like company.

If you tray a second box and find he uses that one with no problems, though, it may be that something near the downstairs box has him worried or startled, so that he doesn't like to go down without company, if you will.

 

[Columbine]

Asha doesn't quite do that - but she comes running to find me as soon as she's done to make sure the box gets cleaned NOW! :lol3:


On the other hand, I'M not allowed to go to the loo without my little escort...She'll howl if I sneak in without her

 

[MoochNNoodles]

A friend of mine had a cat that would wait for her to come home on her lunch break every day to go.  I've shared the story on TCS before.  The way her apartment building was set up; her cat could see her from the window and she could see the cat waiting for her.  The cat would greet her at the door and then run to the litter box to go.  

 

[losna]

@Columbine Haha, yeah, he comes running the moment either of us step into our bathrooms. The especially funny thing is that he has somehow associated my hubby with the master bath. So whenever I use it Sinbad comes up and starts grouching at me. That throne belongs to daddy! What are you doing?!

@Ms. Freya I doubt there's anything down there that scares him. He loves hanging out down there. He just sprawls out on the flagstone tiles, I often find him napping down there with his cute belly up, legs flopping everywhere. And he loves the washing machine. He can spend hours jumping on it, jumping off. Jumping on it, jumping off. Just back and forth up and down over and over.

@MoochNNoodles That's adorable.

 

[artiemom]

My Artie has suddenly decided to 'tell' me that he needs to use the litter box, for poop!

He will lead me over to it and wait, until I go in that bathroom with him. 

Then he has the 'zoomies" all over the house....

If I forget to clean his litter, an there are 2 pee clumps in there, he leads me to it also....

Artie also 'talks' to me as he is leading me over there.......

 

[ginny]

It sure sounds like he has issues going to the basement alone.  I'd add another litterbox near where he sleeps.  They say 2 litterboxes for every one cat.  Maybe having his only litterbox so far away is a source of constant anxiety for him.  But since it's already there, I'd leave that one there and add another one.  

My sister, who knows nothing about cats and does not like them, had to care for my mom's 2 cats for a time.  She set the one and only litter box for both of them on the opposite side of the house from where they stayed.  And she wondered why they used one of her favorite chairs nearby?  She actually punished them and sent them to live elsewhere where the little girl kitty got attacked and killed by that family's dog the same day they got there. Some people are just incredibly stupid about cats.  

And just so I'm clear, I am ONLY talking about her, not  you, of course.  I can tell you love your cat simply because you came on here asking what to do for him.  My sister never would have done that and still doesn't see how she is to blame for her chair being ruined.  I wouldn't be surprised if she had taken both of them for a ride and dumped them on the side of the road.  

 

[ginny]

 
My Artie has suddenly decided to 'tell' me that he needs to use the litter box, for poop!

He will lead me over to it and wait, until I go in that bathroom with him. 

Then he has the 'zoomies" all over the house....

LMFAO!!!  I thought the "zoomies" were to get away from the smell!  I have one kitty Ned who has a nightly case of the zoomies.  The others just stop and stare at him as he whizzes past them, the wind blowing their fur.  Who knows why they do this, but it's very entertaining.  Lol.

 

[kittens mom]

There is obviously an association between you and the litter box.  Kitten will wait even with food available to follow me into the kitchen to eat. Every now and they we have Timmy's in the Well Follow Me moments. We are led to a window she free access to where she'll wait for us to invite her to go up. We are shown toys. a dingle berry that fell out of the litter box, her water bowl or we'll do a circuit of the house where she will jump up on her perch, groom and curl up while we try to figure out what we missed.

During the two weeks we had to medicate her eyes she became quite adept at running for the water bowl, can't disturb a drinking cat mom, you know how we never drink enough water. Or a dash for the litter box. Can't bother a cat in a litter box. One bad association and the whole house is at risk.

OK so I gave her human thoughts, words for her actions. But clearly they can pick up some association even if we've done it unintentionally. Interesting is when my husband feeds there is no need for him to tell her it's OK to eat. If I fail to complete the time to eat ritual she will follow me out of the room and engage in her waiting behavior. That is sitting facing where she wants you to go with her tail laid out straight behind her.

 

[losna]

@Kittens Mom Tempest loves rituals too, actually... I love her 'time to eat' ritual. When I place her food bowl down, she circles twice around my ankles rubbing against me, then flops on her back. She won't eat until I give her several belly rubs. If I try to leave without waiting for the circle or giving her belly rubs, she'll grab onto my back with full claws extended, doing her best to stop me from moving.

Sinbad just loves company. He won't eat by himself either, he'll just sit by his food bowl and cry until one of us joins him. If he's sick, he won't eat unless I sit down next to his food bowl so he snuggle me while eating. When he's really, really sick I can only get him to eat by putting his food in my hand a little bit at a time and letting him lick it off my fingers. The vet says that's because when he's that ill he can't smell at all, so he can't tell there is edible food on his own.

 

[kittens mom]

 
@Kittens Mom Tempest loves rituals too, actually... I love her 'time to eat' ritual. When I place her food bowl down, she circles twice around my ankles rubbing against me, then flops on her back. She won't eat until I give her several belly rubs. If I try to leave without waiting for the circle or giving her belly rubs, she'll grab onto my back with full claws extended, doing her best to stop me from moving.

Sinbad just loves company. He won't eat by himself either, he'll just sit by his food bowl and cry until one of us joins him. If he's sick, he won't eat unless I sit down next to his food bowl so he snuggle me while eating. When he's really, really sick I can only get him to eat by putting his food in my hand a little bit at a time and letting him lick it off my fingers. The vet says that's because when he's that ill he can't smell at all, so he can't tell there is edible food on his own.

Before it was ruined by people dumping their housecats we had a feral colony. They are indeed social animals. Cats are less domestic in many behaviors. If one brought back a jackrabbit it would eat and then stand back and allow the others to eat. Everyone ate. I watched Toms tending kittens actively. A lot of behaviors I see in my housecats reflect some of that behavior. I watched the follow me behavior in the mother cat when she had a surviving kitten or two.She would take them hunting.  I love that they have included us in their natural behaviors. We're part of the tribe you see.

 

[4evercatluv]

It sounds really cute.  However, I might be a bit concerned.  I know for humans, it's not healthy to "hold it in" so I can't help but wonder if there could be any concern for your little guy.Perhaps putting the box or another box somewhere else in the house may be worth a try?  Just to be safe.  You could always bring it up to your vet on the next visit or call them.

Love how your baby follows and keeps you company when doing the laundry.  I personally can't stand basements so I would welcome the company.

 

[crankydave]

Hah, I just posted on this very subject. My little furball sometimes - seemingly at random - will hold it in until I go first or sit down on the toilet next to his litterbox.

I wonder if it's some kind of lingering trauma from that time when he was an even tinier ball o' fur when he raced into the bathroom early one AM just as I was finishing up and gracefully leaped right into the open toilet bowl. The open toilet bowl that wasn't empty, if you catch my drift. (Oy, the smell...) Maybe he's worried that the toilet is biding its time, waiting to eat him.