Hello everyone. Thank you for joining yet another litterbox issue thread. I've read many on these over the last several months. They're all so situational, I'm just hoping I can get a nudge in the right direction here. I'll try to be somewhat brief. But you know how these things go. First a bit on our main characters...
Gryffon is our resident cat. He's 12 years old, neutered, 100% indoors, and has been on insulin for diabetes for the last several years. We adopted him as a kitten, along with his brother, who he was very close with. About 5 years ago his brother escaped through the front door (not for the first time) and did not return home.
Digit is our new addition. We adopted her 5 months ago. She is 15 years old, spayed, and came from our local no kill shelter where she had lived for 11 (yes ELEVEN) years. She has been on prescription food for urinary issues since she came to the shelter, and also takes Cosequin and RenalK once a day. I was told that there were never any litterbox issues with her at the shelter, but that she was once adopted out and was returned with such complaints. They were suspicious that the owners had changed her diet due to the cost of the prescription.
So we spent the first two months integrating Digit slowly and "by the book" from our craft room into the rest of the basement, while carefully introducing her to Gryffon until they both had free, unsupervised reign of the basement. Once full integration was achieved I started noticing daily puddles next to Digit's litterbox, which quickly began to expand to the next room, and became more frequent. I decided to restrict both cats to the south half of the basement where there was no carpet, and was quickly able to discern that Digit was the culprit. Since then I have tried every litter and attractant on the planet, 3 different sizes and shapes of boxes, and every location I can think of. My last effort included a month-long trial of the controversial "cage" method using a 4'x4'x4' dog kennel. I have expanded from 3 boxes to 5, and just added two additional boxes with no litter in them. I have seen her use all of the litter boxes at one point or another. I have also seen her pee in front of a perfectly clean box. Since I have relegated them to the south half of the basement she is only choosing to pee on the floor in one general spot (which I have been cleaning diligently with Nature's Miracle - but have also tried with vinegar and baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide). In front of the box on the east wall seems to be where she wants the bathroom to be. I tried putting two more boxes with litter there, but she still wet the floor (stools have been all in the boxes so far). Then I took out the two new boxes and replaced them with two empty storage totes. Nothing in the bottoms. She opted to pee in both of those while I was at work today. I brought home some puppy pads, and placed one into ONE of the empty containers. She has chosen the pad so far. I think this is progress. But I still can't figure out what she's unhappy about.
I'm torn between two roads for my next step... I have seen the "cage" method work. So maybe she just needs a bit more time behind bars to retrain her? I worry about what that would do to her relationship with Gryffon though. Not to mention her overall mental state. The other idea I had was to try building a kennel of sorts that has a magnet or chip ID entry. Perhaps she would feel better if Gryffon had no access whatsoever to "her" litterbox?
Once again I'm really on the fence with this and could use a hint or opinion. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Gryffon is our resident cat. He's 12 years old, neutered, 100% indoors, and has been on insulin for diabetes for the last several years. We adopted him as a kitten, along with his brother, who he was very close with. About 5 years ago his brother escaped through the front door (not for the first time) and did not return home.
Digit is our new addition. We adopted her 5 months ago. She is 15 years old, spayed, and came from our local no kill shelter where she had lived for 11 (yes ELEVEN) years. She has been on prescription food for urinary issues since she came to the shelter, and also takes Cosequin and RenalK once a day. I was told that there were never any litterbox issues with her at the shelter, but that she was once adopted out and was returned with such complaints. They were suspicious that the owners had changed her diet due to the cost of the prescription.
So we spent the first two months integrating Digit slowly and "by the book" from our craft room into the rest of the basement, while carefully introducing her to Gryffon until they both had free, unsupervised reign of the basement. Once full integration was achieved I started noticing daily puddles next to Digit's litterbox, which quickly began to expand to the next room, and became more frequent. I decided to restrict both cats to the south half of the basement where there was no carpet, and was quickly able to discern that Digit was the culprit. Since then I have tried every litter and attractant on the planet, 3 different sizes and shapes of boxes, and every location I can think of. My last effort included a month-long trial of the controversial "cage" method using a 4'x4'x4' dog kennel. I have expanded from 3 boxes to 5, and just added two additional boxes with no litter in them. I have seen her use all of the litter boxes at one point or another. I have also seen her pee in front of a perfectly clean box. Since I have relegated them to the south half of the basement she is only choosing to pee on the floor in one general spot (which I have been cleaning diligently with Nature's Miracle - but have also tried with vinegar and baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide). In front of the box on the east wall seems to be where she wants the bathroom to be. I tried putting two more boxes with litter there, but she still wet the floor (stools have been all in the boxes so far). Then I took out the two new boxes and replaced them with two empty storage totes. Nothing in the bottoms. She opted to pee in both of those while I was at work today. I brought home some puppy pads, and placed one into ONE of the empty containers. She has chosen the pad so far. I think this is progress. But I still can't figure out what she's unhappy about.
I'm torn between two roads for my next step... I have seen the "cage" method work. So maybe she just needs a bit more time behind bars to retrain her? I worry about what that would do to her relationship with Gryffon though. Not to mention her overall mental state. The other idea I had was to try building a kennel of sorts that has a magnet or chip ID entry. Perhaps she would feel better if Gryffon had no access whatsoever to "her" litterbox?
Once again I'm really on the fence with this and could use a hint or opinion. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks!
I can't imagine a poor cat spending 11 years at a cat shelter. No wonder she has "issues" living in a home. 
. I want to cry. I'm so glad you found her. Please don't lose faith, I'm sure she'll come around.
JK! 
!!
