Too Afraid to Leave My Room

[jsimt]

Just a little back story: I have a 6.5 year old male cat. He was adopted as a kitten, and my other cat, Yoshi, who was a year older than him raised him and Simba, the youngest, as his own. Yoshi has since passed from cancer.

Simba and Baby (the one this post is about) get along wonderfully, they love each other, clean each other, play, fight, the whole sibling relationship. Simba is a "people cat" he loves to wander around the house, lay on the couch with anyone who is there, etc. Baby USED to be like this, he used to walk around the house and everything but that has since changed. My sister adopted a dog who is not vicious or anything, just simply curious about cats, he likes to watch them, sniff them, he's perfectly fine sharing a bed with them and everything, but Baby has some sort of fear of him. Baby is fine with him laying in the bed, or on the floor or being in the same vicinity, but refuses to leave my room if Teddy, the dog is home. Keep in mind we have 2 other dogs as well and Baby doesn't care about them at all, specifically Teddy. It's not even like Baby doesn't defend himself or anything because he smacks my other dogs if they annoy him.

I got a new litter box for Christmas and set it up so that it doesn't flush or clean out unless I specifically press the button. The only problem is that it's hooked in the laundry room, down the hallway. Simba took to it just fine but baby started to poop on my bathroom floor next to my toilet , and urinate in the sink. He REFUSES to leave the room. I have tried getting some of his stool and placing it in the new litter box so he can smell it, I've tried staying in the laundry room with him so he can get used to it, I played with toys that made him touch the litter box and climb on it, but even with all of that, the cat will NOT leave my room at all. I don't know what else to do. If I put a litter box in my bathroom, Simba won't use the electric one, and they both make a mess in the bathroom. I need help on how to acclimate my cat to the dog he is terrified of for some reason so that he will leave my room. Not to mention it cannot be healthy for a cat to live his entire life inside of a bedroom. He needs to voyage out but refuses to. Help?

(also I cannot move the electric litter box to my room or bathroom because it is connected to directly flush out through the disposal plumbing in the laundry room)

 

[moorspede]

He won't use the litter box because he's afraid of going out of the room. Place a litter box in the bathroom where the cat is currently going to the toilet. 

I assume that since you have a multi pet household you live in a house with a yard (?) so it would be a fairly simple thing to separate your cat and dog for awhile? You need to make your cat feel confident to leave the room. When I was introducing my cats I placed tunnels in corridors and doorways so that the cat can feel safe (less likely to be ambushed) moving from one room to the other. It's also important to have lots of places up high where it can watch the comings and goings of the household where the dog can't reach it. 

Article] How to Safely Introduce  a Cat  and a Dog

[Article] Introducing  Cats  to Dogs

 

[jsimt]

Moorspede, once I realized that only Simba was using the new litter box and baby, the problem child , was using the bathroom floor, I placed a litter box in the bathroom. Now that there is a litter box in the bathroom, Simba stopped using the new one.

I'm probably going to have to do what you suggested which is build a catwalk of sorts in the hallway so he can get to the laundry without worrying about the dog he's afraid of. I just don't understand why he's specifically afraid of the one dog when he was raised with dogs since a kitten. He even sleeps on the same bed as the dog he's afraid of, sniffs him, everything, but won't leave the room in fear of him. It's so odd.

 

[moorspede]

The dog has frightened him at one point, it doesn't matter what it's intentions were, it's happened and you either need to put it out in the yard (or another room) for a few hours a day so that the cat can get some exercise and feel part of the family. It's not good for your cat to be forced to live in one room and be too scared to go to the toilet. Please consider making allowances for him or try to slowly and safely introduce him to the dog.