Kitty Kwestion

[badseed1980]

This is a question for all you fellow cat-owners out there. I'm putting it under a cut because I know not everyone likes to read details about litter box issues. Don't blame you.
So. My Lucy is mostly a pretty good cat. She consistently uses her litter box when she has to pee. Scratches to cover it, all that. Fine. But when she poops, she's been getting into the habit of doing it IN FRONT OF the litter box. Like, RIGHT in front of it. Then she'll scratch at the litter box itself, on the outside, as though she's going through the motions of covering it. This is NOT an issue of "can't make it" because I've seen her go into her litter box, pee, come out, and poop in front of the litter box. This isn't something that started in the new apartment. She was doing it at Highland Road too. She didn't do it at Comm Ave, though. There, we had an uncovered litter box, and she tended to fling litter everywhere when she scratched. Since then, having had the room for it, I've had a covered litter box for her to prevent that.

What I've been doing when she does this (lately) is picking her up, bringing her over to the box, pointing her face at (not IN) her mess, and telling her NO, in a loud, firm voice. She tends to react to that when I'm telling her to stop doing something like, say, scratching my luggage. Then I scoop up the mess, put it into her litter box (so she knows damn well that's where it's supposed to go), and clean up in front of the box with a citrus-based cleaner.

It's not working. Last night, in frustration, I took the top off her litter box and put it on its side right in front of the litter box. I'm hoping she will get the message. She didn't use the litter box to poop during the night, but didn't use the floor either...don't know if this has been successful yet or not. If it works, I'm hoping it will ALSO work with the cover of the litter box stashed away somewhere and the area in front of the box clear. If this all fails to work, does anyone have any suggestions? I'm getting sick to death of this.

Comments

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

Couple of things...
Does she need a bigger box? Is she digging around then dropping outside while she is making a hole?

Is the litter too big or heavy? Since she digging more when she poops, it could be she just doesn't like the litter you are using. The more sand like the better.

Have you cleaned the spot with enzyme cleaner? She will continue to mark there if it smells right. Clean and then put a mat there...


Tough problem. Sorry to hear you having it. Don't you wish they could talk?

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

No, the box is plenty big. She's quite happy to use it to pee. And she doesn't dig while she's pooping. The litter isn't very big or heavy, and she's actually digging more when she pees. She scratches to cover that in the box. The floor is tile, and doesn't hold on to smells much, especially with the citrus cleaner. I used to clean in front of her box at the old place with enzyme cleaner, and that made no difference. I used to put a mat in front of the box, but moved it because she kept pooping on it. Then she just started getting the floor.

[mizdarkgirl.livejournal.com]

DAMN! How frustrating!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it really is! I'm just crossing my fingers and hoping that uncovering the box will make her more likely to use it, and that she will have outgrown her habit of litter scattering.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

I'm wondering if there is a way of getting a bigger box of some sort to put the pan into, so as to catch scatter?

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

It would have to be pretty substantially wide and long, if she scatters like she used to, and there wouldn't be a good place to put it that I can think of.

[dee-cee.livejournal.com]

This is most likely due to the move. This is her telling you "this is how I'm handling you moving me to a new place, Mommy! 'PLOP'"

For now, I suggest getting wee-wee pads (housebreaking pads used for puppies) and putting them around the litterbox. She should readjust to using the box.

Another question: Is the box near a loud appliance? If it's near a washing machine, dishwasher, etc. The cats won't poop...it scares them.

That's all I got.

[pierceheart.livejournal.com]

She was doing this over at Highland Road, long after Laura moved there, and the boxes there weren't near any loud appliances, nor are they here.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

The problem is that she did this BEFORE the move. She started it after I'd been Highland Road for a while. Also, she does poop directly in front of the litter box, so if it was too loud for her (it's not too near the dishwasher, anyway), she wouldn't poop there.

[dee-cee.livejournal.com]

When I've talked to vets about this behaviour I've seen in cats I've lived with, I've been told it's behavioral, and 9 times out of ten it's due to some kind of stress.

Talk to your vet, and see what they think.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I figure that's the next step if taking the lid off the box doesn't work.

[tisana.livejournal.com]

My cat Shadow did something like this shortly before she died, too. I figure it had to do with stress levels from having too damn many cats in one house and the resulting tension. She would go right outside the box. I thought it might be arthritis pain preventing her from getting in, but...no, she still got up on the couch.

I say talk to the vet, they'll have better suggestions. City Cats in Arlington has great vets who really talk to you about what's going on with your kitty.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm hoping that's the case.

[justanyolname.livejournal.com]

I saw not too long ago a very cool litterbox at Target. It had very high sides on three sides but no cover over the top. Next time I need a litterbox I am buying that one b/c my cat doesn't seem to like the cover but I've used those to keep the litter from flinging everywhere.

Good luck!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Ooooh. I'll have to consider that, if this seems to help. Thanks!

[lothiriel-1.livejournal.com]

Some cats decide they don't want to poop in the same box where they pee - is getting an additional box an option for you?

How old is Lucy?

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Heh. She had two boxes at her disposal at the old place. Lucy's almost 6.

[lothiriel-1.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... definitely try changing litter and/or box type to see if that works. Give it about 3-4 weeks. If there's no improvement, talk to a vet.

This is what happened with Boomerang starting around this time last year...

[macropixi.livejournal.com]

Okay first off, the bringing over to the litter box is probably causing mixed messages. She most likely isn't understanding what you're upset about. (where the poop is, so much as the poop.)

Question, Is Lucy an Only Cat or does she have "Siblings"? If she has siblings, this might be a marking behavior, or a territory issue, or a litter box aversion due to the covered litter box and being jumped on...

If she is an only kitty, there are some other possible explantions.

The most likely culprit is the litter box itself. Or rather the covered aspect. Humans love covered boxes because they manage to contain the smell and the mess.

Kitties, not so much. For one thing, their sense of smell is much more developed than ours, so the litter box keeping the smell in is really unpleasant to them, and as a result they tend to avoid covered boxes.

Another thing to consider is that while we humans look at a covered litter box and see privacy for the kitty to do his or her business, kitties see it as somewhere where they can't see any potential predators or attackers. It's a very vunerable situation for them.

If the cover isn't the issue the box itself may be. The box might not be big enough for her to really scratch in. Some cats prefer to have one box to poop in and another to pee in.

It might be the litter. Try a un-scented litter, or she may dislike the texture.

I suspect it's the cover though.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Only kitty. I use an unscented litter. I scoop the box frequently to keep the smell down, and she does pee and scratch just fine in it. I think it's the cover, more than likely, since she's only done it in places where I've used covered boxes. I'm just glad she doesn't mind PEEING in it, because that's even more of a pain to clean up. And she only used one box when we had two of them in the old place.

[macropixi.livejournal.com]

we have to scoop ours daily. *four kitties* and we still have one who has accidents either outside the litter box or in the kitchen. I suspect ours is doing it because of the multicat territory aspect. I think the litter boxes are in another cats territory and since the one that is going outside the box is the one that is picked on the most by the others I think she is avoiding it. I am trying to get Shadow to put one of the litter boxes in a different location.

[tryst-inn.livejournal.com]

When I first started working on Whidbey Island, I had to live on the Island during the week and come home on weekends. This meant Fudge (the older cat) was in the care of my roommates, whom he liked but since he was fairly co-dependent this was very stressful for him. They also weren't good about cleaning out his box while I was gone so he got a raging urinary infection. *seethe*

I changed litter to the crystal stuff, bought a huge open box (he's about 16 pounds) and bought Feliway, which the vet recommended. Let me tell you, the only thing that brought down his stress was the Feliway. I'd recommend picking up a Feliway unit and give him a few drops of Bach Flower Rescue Remedy until your kitty's stress comes down.

[lokiswings.livejournal.com]

I have a cat with a history of litter box issues, so my two pieces of advice are 1. make sure you scoop every day and 2. If it doesn't improve quickly, take her to the vet. Especially if she doesn't have a history of litter box problems. Every time my cat has had a litter box problem, the vet has found something that needed attention.

[iterum.livejournal.com]

tisana directed me here because as of this week I'm suddenly having similar issues with an eight-year-old cat who has never had trouble with a covered box before, and any new stressors in the poor creature's life are at least a few months old. Baffling.

Since you posted this weeks ago, have you had any luck ?

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Well, taking the lid off the litter box has helped somewhat. I have also found that putting the litter scoop in its stand close to the spot where she likes to go in front of the box, thereby putting it directly in her way, has been quite helpful. She's gone in front of the box a couple of times in the last week or so, but compared with every day, it's an improvement.

[iterum.livejournal.com]

Thanks; I'll experiment and see what I can do.

And good luck!

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

You, too!