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So my cat is refusing to use the litter box again, but this time it seems to be a more consistent problem. She'll use it to urinate, but refuses to go #2 in there. In fairness, I've put her through a lot of change in the past 2 months, but the situation seems to be worsening, if anything, and I need to get things back on track before it ruins my relationship with my girlfriend.
The changes started about 2 months ago when my girlfriend and I moved in together into a new, smaller apartment. We made the mistake of changing apartments and litter boxes (but not litter) at the same time. The cat defecated on the floor at this time but by moving the litter box to that location and then slowly back to where we wanted it, the problem was eventually resolved. Honestly, I think the box is a little too small for her, but I really don't have space for a larger box, and I can't really put it anywhere else in the apartment without having it be right in the middle of our living area.
In general, we've been keeping the box very clean, scooping and sweeping around the litter box after every usage as best as we can, twice a day at minimum. With non-flushable litter, this became quite the hassle and irked the environmentalist in me as it led to a lot of plastic bag use. So, we switched to flushable litter (World's Best), which is when the current problems started happening.
Though I'm really happy with the odor control, clumping and low tracking of this litter, the cat apparently doesn't like it much. She has generally had no problem using it to urinate, but soon after the switch she pooped on top of the lid of the box (it's a top entry Modkat box). So, we just went ahead and took the lid off. This led to her pooping in the box again but failing to bury her feces on every use. This really isn't great as, again, we're in a small apartment and the smell wafts throughout the place, even waking me in the middle of the night on a few occasions. It was bearable and not getting worse, though, so I decided to just wait and see how things progressed.
So, then we went on vacation for five days over the Thanksgiving weekend. We'd hired a catsitter and things were going fine until yesterday, when the catsitter reported that she'd pooped on the floor outside the box. He cleaned it up. We returned late last night to find more feces on the floor. I cleaned that up. I awoke this morning to find feces on the floor both in the bathroom and outside the bathroom. Urination continues to not be a problem at all.
So I need to get this ship righted. The cat is obviously not happy. My girlfriend is not used to living with pets and is at her wit's end with the situation. Any recommendations on next steps? I really can't keep things any cleaner than I do. Do I...
Revert to the old non-flushable litter?
Try a new litter which is easier for her to dig in (the World's Best takes a lot of effort to move / dig through, the trade off for the low tracking, I guess)?
Move or add an additional box as a temporary measure?
Thank you for reading my lengthy post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure there are a lot of tactics I could take, so would love to hear what's worked best for you.
The changes started about 2 months ago when my girlfriend and I moved in together into a new, smaller apartment. We made the mistake of changing apartments and litter boxes (but not litter) at the same time. The cat defecated on the floor at this time but by moving the litter box to that location and then slowly back to where we wanted it, the problem was eventually resolved. Honestly, I think the box is a little too small for her, but I really don't have space for a larger box, and I can't really put it anywhere else in the apartment without having it be right in the middle of our living area.
In general, we've been keeping the box very clean, scooping and sweeping around the litter box after every usage as best as we can, twice a day at minimum. With non-flushable litter, this became quite the hassle and irked the environmentalist in me as it led to a lot of plastic bag use. So, we switched to flushable litter (World's Best), which is when the current problems started happening.
Though I'm really happy with the odor control, clumping and low tracking of this litter, the cat apparently doesn't like it much. She has generally had no problem using it to urinate, but soon after the switch she pooped on top of the lid of the box (it's a top entry Modkat box). So, we just went ahead and took the lid off. This led to her pooping in the box again but failing to bury her feces on every use. This really isn't great as, again, we're in a small apartment and the smell wafts throughout the place, even waking me in the middle of the night on a few occasions. It was bearable and not getting worse, though, so I decided to just wait and see how things progressed.
So, then we went on vacation for five days over the Thanksgiving weekend. We'd hired a catsitter and things were going fine until yesterday, when the catsitter reported that she'd pooped on the floor outside the box. He cleaned it up. We returned late last night to find more feces on the floor. I cleaned that up. I awoke this morning to find feces on the floor both in the bathroom and outside the bathroom. Urination continues to not be a problem at all.
So I need to get this ship righted. The cat is obviously not happy. My girlfriend is not used to living with pets and is at her wit's end with the situation. Any recommendations on next steps? I really can't keep things any cleaner than I do. Do I...
Revert to the old non-flushable litter?
Try a new litter which is easier for her to dig in (the World's Best takes a lot of effort to move / dig through, the trade off for the low tracking, I guess)?
Move or add an additional box as a temporary measure?
Thank you for reading my lengthy post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure there are a lot of tactics I could take, so would love to hear what's worked best for you.