hey everyone, we purchased a litter robot and for a little while our cat was using it but now he is peeing on the floor and not pooping could this be because of the new litterbox or do you think the peeing and not pooping have something in common?
Hello!
Sorry to hear about your cat's litterbox issues. The good news is, it's absolutely fixable! We will need a bit more information to see if we can narrow down the reason for his behavior, and I note a brief reason for each question.
1) How old is he? Older cats may have joint problems. If he has, say, arthritis, he may have difficulty getting into or out of the box sometimes. i am unsure of his exact age but if i had to guess 12 or 13 years old.
2) What was his previous litterbox? Has he had litterbox avoidance before this new one? That helps us see if we can eliminate the litter box change as a reason. he has had a open litter box and a box with a hood and had no issues with them.
3) How long has he had the new box before the issue first started? You said "a little while". If it was recent, it may indicate the box being the issue. we have had the new box for about a month or so now
4) How did you introduce the new box to him? Some cats are pretty easygoing, and some cats will be stressed with a sudden change in their litter box, either the box itself, or the placement of the box. we put the new box beside the new one and tried to ween him off the old one and use the new one by not cleaning the old one and moving it away from the new one
5) Are you using the same litter in the old vs the new? If it's the same, then we can assume the litter is not the issue (provided he has not eliminated outside the box before). we have been trying different litters and he does not really care at all, when it comes to the type he is not picky
6) How often did you clean his old box? How often does the new box clean itself? How often is the bin emptied? Some, if not most, cats are very meticulous about clean boxes, and a solution could be as simple as cleaning it more often. the new box auto cleans itself as soon as he finishes using it, it has a sensor that whens when he is in there and as soon as he hops out a timer of about 7-20 minutes starts counting down and then it cleans it self, here is a video on their youtube channel of how it works 7) When he pees on "random places" on the floor, can you be more specific? Is it hard floor? Carpet? Have he peed elsewhere, such as clothes, couch or the bed? Is the affected part of the floor near the box? The position of the pee can tell us a little bit about his preferred eliminating spot. its a concrete floor that looks like fake wood flooring and he just goes in a random spot while we are sleeping.
There are 3 possible reasons I can think of based just on general observations of cats' behavior -- again, these may or may not apply to you depending on your answers to the above:
1) Kitty prefers an open box. Enclosed box can trap unpleasant odor, and a cat's sense of smell is so strong that if *we* humans can smell it, they are drowning in it.
2) The self-cleaning box may have a motor that startles kitty, and kitty avoids the box.
3) Kitty is super meticulous about having a clean box, and prefers a "clean" floor after having used the box.
Just a few more questions...
When was the last time your cat was seen by a vet?
its been a month or so and thats when we found out he has diabetes which we are treating with vetsulin
Has any blood work or a urinalysis ever been done?
yes and he has diabetes if you want i can scan the results and post them here
How is your cat's mobility?
he moves around find has no issues
Have you tried offering his old litter box to see if this fixes the problem?
we keep an eye on his blood surgar and it stays pretty normal now that he is on the vetsulin and the special kitty diabetes pet food, i cannot remember the last reading off the top of my headI agree with @talkingpeanut that it's likely that his diabetes is not under control. It's also possible that stress from everything has lead to a UTI or cystitis.
Has he been seen by the vet to have his sugar check recently?
Can you add additional litter boxes? I really think this is an issue of restabilizing him and helping to get him more comfortable again. Rehoming him will be very difficult. I'm very concerned that it will end with him being put to sleep.we keep an eye on his blood surgar and it stays pretty normal now that he is on the vetsulin and the special kitty diabetes pet food, i cannot remember the last reading off the top of my head
It sounds like he needs another vet check.also he does pee in the little box but only a little bit and once i saw foam after he peed in the box, but when he pees on the floor its a puddle
I wish we could but we just can't afford itIt sounds like he needs another vet check.
Have you looked into care credit?I wish we could but we just can't afford it
If that's like a credit card we can't get those due to bad credit (student loansHave you looked into care credit?