Younger cat haunting older cat at litter box

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

I say younger and older, but they're 7 (Prim) and 4 (Graycie). I've had them both since kittens. For most of Graycie's first few years they were confined to a bedroom because of the place I lived. I moved about 6 months ago and they have the whole apartment to roam now. They've always shared a litter box just fine, and when I moved the litter box went in a closet with the sliding doors open about 6 inches. All had been fine mostly, but lately Graycie has started standing in the opening while Prim is using the box, just standing there blocking Prim in the closet. Prim won't stand up for herself or just push past Graycie. Even when they're out in the open Prim walks a wide path around her like she's scared Graycie will jump her, which she might. I'm completely at a loss for what to do, I don't think getting another box will fix it because Graycie will just do it at the other one too, and I don't have anywhere to put another box that wouldn't be right out in the open. I'm trying to avoid that. Basically it seems the only way to fix it is to scare Graycie off myself, at which Prim quickly bolts out of the closet looking at me like "thank you." It makes me sad and annoyed, idk how to fix it. Any advice?

 

[FeebysOwner]

Hi. Any reason why the closet door has to kept nearly shut? I would try opening it up farther to see if that makes a difference. Especially, if in their old home the litter box wasn't hidden away like this one is. You can live with the door being open if it stops the stalking behavior, right? If that doesn't stop the behavior, I would then absolutely try a second litter box.

Has Graycie always scared Prim like this, or is this all more recent?

 

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

Prim has always been standoffish towards Graycie, but to be fair Graycie seems to seriously lack cat social etiquette. She stares at Prim, or jumps at her while she's sleeping, always has to eat from the same food bowl as Prim, but only when Prim is eating, even though there are 2 bowls. Prim is a pretty calm cat and Graycie is not and it seems to freak Prim out.

The closet is one of those with 2 sliding doors, I tried leaving a 6" opening on both sides but Graycie still haunts one of them and Prim doesn't realize there's another exit. If Graycie is sitting in the middle of a room and Prim needs to walk across the room, she'll walk all the way around the edge to stay as far as possible from Graycie and often Graycie will still randomly just bolt at Prim, like she wants to play but Prim doesn't want to. Honestly, Prim is purrfect. She doesn't jump on counters or tear things up, she's just calm daddy's girl. Graycie tears up paper, even the silicone mat on my desk, she tore a huge chunk out of it and shredded it. They have scratching posts and platforms.

I'm thinking of looking into a training collar, like something that vibrates and makes a loud sound. I do not want to shock her, obviously, but there are a lot of behaviors that she's learning not to do when I'm around, because I'm the one stopping her, but I can't do anything about when I'm at work. I'm wondering if such a collar would allow me to redirect the behavior from across the room so she's not associating it with me?

I will try opening the door further if I can't show Prim that there's another exit, I would like to keep it as closed as possible because it's right next to my front door and litter boxes don't smell nice even with daily scooping.

 

[Mamanyt1953]

You really need three boxes...one for each cat, and one more. However, that doesn't seem to be possible. A dear friend who has multiple cats and limited space recently invested in these:

They come in various sizes and colors. They have replaced bedside tables and end tables in her living room. Since they are enclosed, with a good litter, odor is almost non-existent. That may be a solution for you.

 

[HaLo2FrEeEk]

That isn't really my style, but it does give me the idea of building my own. Some people buy cat trees, other people make them.

At any rate, that's an idea I will take into consideration but I don't think it will solve the problem. The issue isn't (doesn't seem to be) that Graycie is waiting in line, it's (seems) that she's just stalking or being annoying. She does the same thing on the food bowls no matter which one Prim is eating out of, almost like an annoying little sister. Graycie isn't being mean, Prim just won't stand up for herself...

I opened both sides of the closet and I'm going to put the scoop bucket in front of the original opening so if Prim can figure it out to jump over Graycie, maybe that will help. I doubt it.