Another Kitty/Litter Box Woe Thread

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Also go buy a BIG plastic storage box (not too tall, just big). Our cats like their big roomy litter boxes with no cover.

[Aggie_Ama]

Thanks for all the suggestions! I didn't declaw her, she ended up at the shelter that way but I do think that might be why she prefers the carpet to her box. It is so terrible to watch our poor little clawless baby try to sharpen her claws. But now at least I have some ideas to help her and us out.

[Veronica]

I think declawing should be outlawed. Poor babies. Yes my kitties occasionally claw at my leather couch and they are slowly destroying the woven seats on our dining room chairs, which we wove ourselves. The kitties respond appropriately when yelled at for clawing at the couch. The chairs are a lost cause. But those can be replaced. My kitties are priceless.

Good luck on finding litter that works.


Veronica

[Eden]

I think declawing should be outlawed. Poor babies. Yes my kitties occasionally claw at my leather couch and they are slowly destroying the woven seats on our dining room chairs, which we wove ourselves. The kitties respond appropriately when yelled at for clawing at the couch. The chairs are a lost cause. But those can be replaced. My kitties are priceless.

Good luck on finding litter that works.


Veronica

interesting.... my two little darlings followed the same pattern. When we first got it they showed some interest in the leather couch, but responded quite appropriately and leave it alone now. The dining room chairs otoh (woven, but not by me) are irresistible...

Fortunately they also like cardboard flat scratchers and my girl likes tearing up a cat tree. (oh and they are diligently attempting to knock down the house by using a support post in the basement as a scratching post, but I think the post will win)

[Melalvai]

Aggie, I just wanted to let you know that we did have success by isolating a cat. In our case the problem was the "new" kitten (a year later). It sounds like you only have the one cat, so it's unlikely to be issues with other pets.

I found a lot of good advice on http://www.catforum.com. I didn't log on or sign up, I just read some of the relevant threads. They also said that a LOT of cats end up at pounds because of litter box problems. I easily found our cat's story over and over.

Good luck, hope your kitty's behavior improves. It can be so frustrating.

[NadiaMac]

hi there-
litter box issues suck, but can often be worked out with some patience as you sort through the possible factors that are making kitty go outside the box. Good luck sorting out the problem!!

this handout is really useful (warning, it took a LONGGGGG time to load):
http://www.humanesociety.org/animals..._problems.html

It explores a variety of factors (size/configuration of box, location, litter type, cleanliness, multipet situations, etc.) that can impact kitty behavior and has a series of suggestions based on common possibilities.

My co-worker recently troubleshot a kitty peeing problem using the suggestions in this handout (her kitty was going on her bed, so she switched to softer finer claylitter litter from pine pellets and the problem was solved!)

I also echo the suggestions above to experiments with litter and box location/size by getting an extra box where you can field test different litters. I did this last year (after a pooping problem developed w/ one of my cats) and we tried all sorts of litters, box positions, open/covered, etc. and let the animals vote with their paws. We ended up switching litter types as a result of the experiments, and for quite a while had an extra box in operation in a different room.

One further comment- it sounds like you've addressed possibly health problems, but I wanted to mention that my mom's kitty started peeing in the sink and was found to have crystals in her ureters. The crystals caused straining while urinating and apparently it's pretty common for girl kitties in this situation to try and pee somewhere smooth and cooler, like the sink (or maybe the floor).

[Aggie_Ama]

My husband thinks Heidi (our miniature schnauzer) is the reason Tortilla started. A year ago Heidi had bladder stones, the vet removed them but said that most dogs end up with some permanent scarring and bad potty habits. If we are not very attentive with Heidi she sneaks into the same room and potties. I clean it to where we no longer smell it but the animals surely can. We are thinking of just pulling up the carpet but right now that is not feasible. I think I will try Nature's Miracle, maybe diapers for Heidi and new litter for Tortilla. Ugh, I love my pets but right now I want to scream at them!

Veronica- I could rant forever about how cruel declawing is. I threw a fit when my aunt wanted to declaw my Mammaw's kitten instead of teaching him good manners. Of course I wouldn't pass Tortilla at the kill shelter because she was declawed. I wanted her because she was sweet and a manx, I wish she wasn't declawed.