Cat Channel / Litter and Litterbox Issues / All About Cats

Will dogs mess with the litter box?

Luci's Mama — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 11:40:33 GMT

Do dogs mess with the litter box because I was considering getting one and was wondering if it would.

Pee in the box, BM outside the box

BarstRolev — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:28:10 GMT

I have a female petite tuxedo cat. She is about 3 years old and spayed. We had have no problems with her using the litter when we first got her and have been using 2 litter boxes. I have a second older neutered male cat, and they do get along. However, about 6months ago she started to BM just outside of the box. She will still use the boxes for urination, but every single BM is just outside of the box. They are clearly not a “near miss” either. Luckily, they are never anywhere else, just in the room that we keep the boxes. . This room has a concrete floor. We have been using the same litter she was introduced to and had no previous problem with. It almost seems to be a conscious choice on her part. I have taken her to the vet, and nothing obvious was discovered, although he did say something about impacted or swollen anal sacs and emptied them for me. But I have never seen anything dripping or hanging from here, and she doesn’t seem to do an unusual amount of licking in that area. Her behavior has not changed at all either and acts like a normal and happy cat. Although she has to be the most skittish cat I have ever owned. I have changed the litter thinking she might like something new, but to no avail. I have gone to cleaning the boxes twice a day, but still BMs show up on the floor even if there is nothing in either box. I have recently added a third covered box thinking maybe she wanted more privacy, but that also had no effect. I have considered splitting the boxes into different rooms, but don’t really want to open the possibility of her going BM in a new place that isn’t as easy to clean. If it was unhappy with us, I would think she would BM in our bedroom or other more obvious places. It would almost be easier to understand if she was doing everything all over, but the specific behavior just baffles me more. I am open to ANY suggestions as I am at my wits end.

Need help w/kitten !!!

missmagu — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 18:44:46 GMT

My 9 week old female kitten was using the litterbox fine a week ago when we got her. We had one of those disposable ones temporarily, and she used it all the time, no problems. But then I got her an actual litterbox and tidy cats clay litter with a liner and she was using it fine in the begining. Now she goes pee and poop on the floor, my bed, and in my mom's closet. Her favorite place though is on my sheets and comforter. She will use the litterbox sometimes too. I'm so confused! I might get another disposable one and see if that stops her. So if anyone could help, that would be great! Thanks

Which Litter is Best?

Arabella's Mommy — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 20:57:01 GMT

I am just looking for which litter most people prefer for their cat.

I use either arm and hammer or fresh step for my kitty.

CatGenie Litterbox

suezee — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 13:14:29 GMT

Has anyone used the CatGenie Litterbox? I'm thinking of getting one and I want to know if it really works and if it has any problems. I have 3 cats and currently use a Cat Privy. Thanks.

Sue

Cat wont stop pooping in my bed!

Nermal — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:08:00 GMT

My 2 yo male neutered cat wont stop pooping in my bed. Actually, it may be the 11 mo old unspayed female but her poops are a little thinner than what ive been finding so i just assumed it was the male. I keep thier box very clean, scoop it every day and change the entrire thing with new litter once a week or more. Sometimes they will go months and no one poops in my bed, but this week they did it twice and Im at my wits end. the smell went all the way thru to the mattress. can anyone provide any insight? TIA!

LItter problems... and a mounthfool

doublecaps — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 20:13:56 GMT

I have two cats and they both were excellent "litterers", now things have changed

we recently moved to Puerto Rico which as you can image has broght on MANY CHANGES.

1) New House
2) Heat (we have no AC)
3) New litter box
4) Food (not a whole lot of variety, I;ve had a hard time finding her old food)

One of the cats is OK but the other is having several simptoms the last 4 month (gee it's been that long?)

Reoccurring skin outbreaks (ACNE like) around the back of the head and the neck.
Urinating and defecating on the floor close to the litter box. She occasionally uses the box but the exception more then the rule.
She gets really grouchy, hisses at us and her little sister.

We have tried the vet (who pissed me off multiple times in one single visit), changing food, moving the litter box etc.

At this point I think the ACNE might be caused by the heat but I don't know. The litter stuff I don't know.

Any suggestions?

12 week old kitty peeing on our bed

mnmomof2 — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:13:30 GMT

We just adopted a kitty and he has peed on our bed twice. Can anyone tell me why he would do this and what I can do to prevent it from happening again? Just a little info. We have an older cat that is 16 and 2 dogs. He seems to get along just fine with all of them so I am not sure what the problem could be. Thanks!

Odd Litterbox Behavior

sleepershedreams — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 13:14:06 GMT

Hello

I used to post here quite some time ago so I hope I can get some advice on my mom's cats strange behavior recently. I chose Zelda as a kitten but she adopted my Mom. I had her sister but I lost her sister Noni January to Kidney failure ... she took my heart with her. She was 16 (I was 16 when she came into my life.

Zelda is the same age. She used Sweat Scoop cat litter in her box for quite some time now and the same sort of litterbox (with a hood) the door fell off. One day I heard an odd sound and Zelda had peed outside the litterbox. There are pee clumps in the litter box so this isnt all the time. But often enough that its messy and smelly.

I caught her one day doing it and what she is doing is she walks into the litter box standing with her butt to the opening and just pees so it goes outside the litter box.

I am at a loss what it is. After what happened with my Noni she is terrified to take Zelda to the vet. But I dont see any obvious signs of a UTI my Noni had those sometimes so I would think I would know.

She had a problem briefly where her butt hurt and was leaking something reddish and she felt feverish. But then the next day she was better.

I am trying to help my Mom the best I can but I dont know why she is doing this.

thanks!

Christine

IN terms of our health and our cats' which is the best type of litter

WoridocK — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:01:15 GMT

Over the years we have used both clumping and nonclumping litters. We changed back to non clumping litter several years ago because of concerns about the chemicals in them as I have asthma and allergies to dust, perfumes etc. With the store brand of non clumping litter, we don't have litter box problems however recently, I heard that the non clumping litters could pose a health hazard to our cats. Does anyone have the most current answer to this question. I 'd hate to switch and start having litterbox issues and exacerbate my asthma.

BMs not in litter box

ellafitz — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 06:06:23 GMT

We have a 12 year old female indoor cat who we got from our son about 6 years ago. He rescued her from humane soc, she had been declawed and he had her fixed. Our problem is she has started to not use the litter box for her BMs, she uses it to pee in all the time. She had a problem a few years ago with constipation and took her to the vet (?) who did all test but not much of anything else for $500.00. She started to go regularly but within the last couple of months started to go wherever she was and sometimes in her box. We feed her IAMS (pink bag) I think it is for digestion and indoor cats. Hope I explained OK and hope somebody might have some suggestions as to her problem. Thanks, Aggie

Help Cat Peeing Ouside the Litter

karen66 — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 08:00:20 GMT

I've never had problems with my cats before I now have 3 cats.

Suki a male who is 5 years old, Sammy a female 1 years and I recently just rescued a Persian from the street who we named Cookie Female.

I just rescued Cookie last Friday so there is major adjustments going on. Sammy doesn't like her too much she growls at her and hisses and runs away from her Sammy seems scared of her. Yesterday evening when I came home from work I noticed urine in the cat bed. The new cat was sleeping in there the day before.

Cookie is still a little weak sleeps alot and is very thin. I am trying to fatten her up and get her strength up. I brought her to vet and she is not in bad shape just thin.

What can I do about the Sammy Cookie situation I would hate to give her away is a super sweet cat. The vet thinks she's about 5 years old she was also chipped but the chip was never registered. Suki the male he doesn't have a problem with it, I haven't seen Sammy using the litter like I used to. I have two litter pans and put Cookies in another room during the day when I'm at work I put Cookie in the basement with her food and litter I don't have the food and litter near one another.

Thanks for your advice.

How to keep carpets clean of litter?

nrundle — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 11:14:12 GMT

I grew up with cats and have had cats around as long as I can remember. My wife grew up with a cat too, but now that we have kids (18month old and a newborn), she wants the cats to go. She likes the cats, but her concern is the litter that they drag throughout the house.

We keep the litter box in our laundry room (cement floor) which is off the kitchen. I tried one of the plastic mats right in front of the litter box to help get litter off their paws, but they still manage to get it into the carpets and other places.

What are some things I can do to try and keep the amount of litter that is tracked through the house down? And are there any articles on the health impacts of litter tracked through the house on young children that will be crawling around on the floor?

Nick

what does your cat do that you don't like?

Fran — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 15:02:35 GMT

what my cat does is MEOW all the time,he his meowing AS I TYPE THIS.The only time he doesn't meow,is when I have a friend over or at night.

My CAT won't PEE?

syh55 — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:19:55 GMT

My cat just broke his leg 2 days ago and ever since has not gone pee. I've tried to stimulate him and that has not worked. Is there any other tricks I can use to help him go?

XP: Cat Incontinence Issues (Not Improper Urination)

kimsaks86 — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:27:42 GMT

I have always dealt with my one cat, Lucy's, urination issues. She's almost 6 years old. In fact, Lucy has been diagnosed with interstitial cystitis, which oddly enough is something we have in common. Usually Lucy's symptoms, when she flares up, can be dealt with as if it were a behavioral issue (amitriptylene, feliway, etc.). However, there's a trend starting that worries me.

Lately it seems as if she's suffering from incontinence. What I mean by that is that she'll lose control of her bladder--usually when she's jumping up to me or something. This has happened once in the past, but has happened twice in the past couple of weeks. She doesn't know it's happened until after I set her down and then she realizes she's wet and she'll start cleaning herself.

I've contacted the vet (via e-mail) to see if there are other tests or treatments we can consider. In the meantime, I wanted to know if anyone else has dealt with this and what are some options that I should be aware of.

Thanks!

Cats peeing on the stove

licokitty — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 09:42:53 GMT

I have multiple cats peeing my kitchen counters and stove. im goinig crazy. I foster cats for a cat rescue and its them that are doing it not my own cats, but ive had these cats sense hey were kittens. Ive tried aluminum foil, spray bottle, fan on, crating them, multiple litter boxes, etc. does anyone else have these problems? or know of any other methods i can try. this is just unsanitary.

Litter box Liners

ScarletDreams489 — Fri, 02 May 2008 06:38:29 GMT

I am one of those people that really hates to wash out a litter box, So I use litter box liners to keep the litter box clean. Well that would be a great concept if my cat didn't rip huge hole in it. It kind of defeats the purpose you know?

Anyways, I have thought of using a deeper litter box, but I'm not sure that would work. I have looked at different litter liners and I'm not sure that any of them can withstand her claws. Any good idea on what else might work? Any advice would be good at this point. Thanks

A little trouble with 4week kitten

jewelthief — Tue, 06 May 2008 15:28:03 GMT

I recently adopted a new kitten, and a couple of days after doing so, I found out that she is only about 4 weeks old, which I believe is several weeks too young to be weaned from her mother. She is eating dry kibble as instructed by the person whom I got her from, but she is frightened of the sand in the kitty litter. I have to tear up paper and put it in a small box for her to go, but she prefers to lie down in and play in the box as well, causing her to get pee all over herself.

She pees in the box I made for her, but also pees on my bed too! On top of that, I notice that she frequently smells terrible, and i have to give her a little wipe.

Can anyone point me in the right direction to bringing this little one up?? I know she is way too young and at this point can not give her back to her mother (mother was a stray).

kitten peeing on blankets and bed

jewelthief — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 17:36:32 GMT

my kitten has recently been littertrained, and she has been good with that. however, whenever she is let on the bed or a blanket, she pees on it! any ideas on what i can do to prevent it? she is about 8 weeks old now.

my hairy 4 year old cat

tsnowice — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 09:17:39 GMT

My co co is handsome with medium hair and fluffy tail, I love his hair, very cute, I do brush him a lot, at least 7 times a week, but I never cut his hair. when he was younger, he was so noisy, little noise could make him stop what he was doing, he would still have some " dirt " hang around his behind, running out from the litter box.
Now he is getting older, he does know better with cleaning his behind. But last night, it happen again, it was so disgusting. But he was a good cat, even I pull his leg up, and washed his behind, few times and brushed him, he only struggled once. and also he did not mad at me, he still came to me, when I called him this morning.

my boy friend said may be I should cut his butt hair, and make him easier to go without hanging some dirt. Also he said may be I should show him the stinky "dirt" and hair that I cut off, let him sniff. I don't think this is a good idea, plus I wanted to throw it out right away. So anybody has this experience, please send some suggestion!!!

Cat Peeing EVERYWHERE But Litterbox

mommyof4furbabies — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 13:56:49 GMT

I don't want to get rid of my cat but nor do I have hundreds of dollars that it costs to find out what's wrong with my kitty. She's 6 months old and we moved last month from CO to MD. She was great in Co but all of a sudden she's peeing ALL over my house. In the sinks, carpets, by the front door, everywhere. She poops in the box. I moved a box upstairs in my bathroom even, thinking the location might be wrong. She's not finicky with litter and the box seems ok but WHY is she peeing? Vet said it'd be at least $200 or more to diagnose and I hate to say I don't have the money right now due to being jobless and I don't know what else to do. If it's an infection I do have clavamox but is she doing this to mark her territory? Please do not yell at me for not taking her to the vet. I have been incontact and discussed this with them. I thought it was behavioral but now I don't know? Any ideas. We have an unnuetered male cat so might that be why she's spraying?

Many Cats

babymarco — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 09:03:43 GMT

I have over 20 cats and work at a vet. I have found them on the side of the rough and have taken in many abused and ones like so. If you have any questions or want to know how to introduce cats to each other or like so just send me a message trust me i know it all lol

Digging to China (and then some)

fireytiger — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 17:09:57 GMT

My male cat Roy has an issue with the litter box. I think he's confused as to how to use it, because he will get in it, dig until all the litter is shifted into one corner, poop/pee on the pile, and then jump out. He is about 4 years old so i'm not sure if there's anything to do at this point, but I wanted to ask. It's creating an issue for my other cat, because she won't use the litter once he's done this and instead uses the floor. It also doesn't help to add more litter boxes, as we've done this and he just starts doing it to both boxes. Any advice?

HELP IS HERE

Cat-woman — Tue, 06 May 2008 11:47:25 GMT

I have over twenty cats and lots of experiencs. If you have any questions just message me!!!

CatGenie and other automatic litterboxes

PeaLoki&Gabe — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 07:13:24 GMT

Has anyone given the Cat Genie http://www.catgenie.com/?R=cf a try yet? If you have what are your opinions?

Also your thoughts on Littermaid and other automatic litterboxes would be appreciated.

Cat Rooms

vinbis — Thu, 22 May 2008 19:33:41 GMT

I am looking to have a room built for four cats. It is about 8 by 18 feet and has windows on three sides. I want it built to make them happy. We want it to have a Love Seat, TV, three Litter boxes, and a food area, plus all the fun and running to make them happy.

Cat peeing on dogs stuff and now mine...

Cija — Tue, 27 May 2008 19:04:45 GMT

Hello:

I have two cat and a dog. The cat are 3 and 1 years old and the dog a beagle is also 3 years old. The we had the 3 year old cat first and then got the dog a few months later. They were puppies and kittens together and to this day she will lick and clean him and they get along really well. She is fixed and also really dominant. She will meow at all of us if we stay up too late at night, etc.

This oldest cat has recently been allowed to go outside when we are home and just stays in the backyard. She will howl at the back door to be let out so we have let her out more and more recently. Then within the last month she has been peeing on the dogs bed which is near the back door that leads to the yard. We are trying to figure out if she is mad the dog gets to go outside more than she does. At first she only peed on his stuff in that room (his bed and toys) but now she peed on all of that, plus under my chair at the dining room table. She doesn't pee outside of the box in any other room.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what is going on with her? We also recently cut a tree down in the same backyard that use to house all the birds she would watch, is she mad about that.

I haven't taken her to the vet yet, but I will try that next. If it is behavior does anyone have any suggestions on how to change it?

Thanks for any advice you can give.

scoopable litter question

sjfreddy — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:44:00 GMT

I have recently switched to Fresh Step Scoopable Litter. I had previously used Tidy Cats clay litter which I always on a weekly basis empty out the whole litter, clean the litter box, and put in new litter. The Fresh Step box says to only empty litter box of all litter on a monthly basis and occasionally just refresh the litter after each time that you scoop. Can this be correct? Only empty entire contents of litter box on a monthly basis and occasionally add extra litter as needed? I am new to the scoopable litter so I need some feedback on the correct thing to do. I really like using the scoopable litter vs. regular clay litter.

Low-dust litters

beezer — Sun, 25 May 2008 20:28:59 GMT

Hi,

My cat was recently diagnosed with feline asthma. I've read that low-dust litters or natural litters are best, so his lungs won't get irritated when sniffing in his box. Does anyone have any suggestions? We currently use Tidy Cat scoopable. Would a clay litter be better? Thanks!

Cat Urinating on Carpet - Never had a problem in 13 years...

jeremyf0923 — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 19:41:07 GMT

Hello everyone,

Just looking for some advice. I have two cats, a regular domestic cat (Smokey) that is 13 years old and a pure bred Rag Doll (Toby) that is 4 years old. They both get along very well and are both indoor only. We have one litter box that they share and we have never had a problem with them using it. We recently finished our basement, and in our media room where we watch TV in the evenings Smokey has decided to start using the carpet as a litter box. He has done it three times now. The first time he squatted like he was using the litter box and the next two times he sprayed the wall. This is what is so confusing - I have read that if it is one or the other (squatting vs. spraying) that it means something different, but since he has done both I don't know what to think.

One note, Toby is the more dominant cat - he's younger, more active, bigger, and more loving. He by default gets more attention because he lets us give him attention. Every night as soon as we go down to the media room, Toby comes right down and immediately jumps up in one of our laps and sprawls out. Smokey has never been jealous in the past, but the way he has sprayed the last two times it just seemed strange - like he was marking his territory - even though Toby could care less.

I have read in other posts that with a cat Smokey's age that it may be a good idea to take him to the vet for a check up and we may do that, but he is showing no signs of anything being wrong with him physically - he's eating and drinking fine, still quite active, etc. We were also thinking about putting a litter box in the basement because now he has to go up two flights of stairs to get to his current litter box. Maybe he is just getting lazy - who knows!

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It is very frustrating to my wife and I that we can't figure out why he is doing it. Wouldn't it be great if cats could talk and just tell us what is bothering them!? :-)

Thanks in advance!

Jeremy

World's Best Cat Litter

vettechgirl — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:01:44 GMT

I found a coupon for World's Best Cat Litter, and since so many Cat Channel-ers had said it was so good, I decided to try it.

Apart from smelling like bird food to ME, I know my cats didn't really like it much. I transitioned them to it over the course of about 1 week. Now, I REALLY loved how it clumped the urine so well, but it didn't do hardly anything for the smell. Now, two of my cats don't bury their business very well, but Leo always would go behind them and cover it for them (P.S. This all happened before Leo passed, I'm just now getting to posting this.). So even when all poos were covered, it still smelled pretty bad.

I put a good 3 inches or so in each litter box, so I know there was enough. I'm just not sure if maybe I did something wrong. I'm not one to completely give up on a product with one bad experience, usually. I'm willing to give it another go if anyone has any suggestions.

I'm thinking about feline pine next.

my cat pees in the sink and bath tub

becky&phillip — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 11:51:09 GMT

my cat chichi potty's in my bathroom sink and tub i clean the litter everyday why does he do it....is it because he is trying to cover the scent of my cat toby cuase when toby was sick he peed in the sink and tub?

problems with my 2 yeard old cat

carlita213 — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 17:47:31 GMT

Hi.. everyone.. first time here and glad to know there are alot of people out there loving there kitties. I have a almost 2 year old cat named pistachio. She is a female cat and neutered. She always use to pee in her litter box and there was never a problem. More than a month ago she started peeing everywhere, I took here to the vet and they told me she had a UTI and the gave me antibiotics. She finished her medicine but now.. she still continues to pee everywhere I need help.. does anyone have any suggestions?

New cat won't use litter box..

misskris — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 14:16:37 GMT

We added a new cat, and she refuses to go into the litter box! Our cat Pearl uses it. Is Ruby refusing to se someone elses bathroom? How do I get er to use it or do I need another box, one for each of them.

cat randomly pees in anything box-shaped

sorcha — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 07:32:28 GMT

I have a 4yr old male cat whom I love to death.... but if anything is laying around that is boxed shaped that he can jump into (a cardboard box, laundry basket, even a big camera case) he will jump in it and pee in it. He uses the litter box well it's just random times where he pees in anything box shaped. Why is he doing this and what can I do it stop it?? I've never heard of a cat doing this before and I've had them my whole life.

Smell Isn't Gone

mommyof4furbabies — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 16:15:05 GMT

I'm sorry to post again but I cleaned the entire house with nature's miracle and carpet cleaner and deep scrubbed with a carpet cleaning machine. 2 days later the carpet is still drying in some areas, yet the smell remains. It was all for NOTHING! Nature's Miarcle didnt work. The odor hits you as soon as you walk in the door. I love my kitty but I'm afraid nuetering him at this point wont even help and getting rid of him may be the only option. I have 3 small children and their health is more important then my cat. I don't mean to be heartless but I don't know what else to do. HOW DO I GET OUT THE ODOR?

Training a stray to use litterbox

macaque50 — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:26:37 GMT

Hi-

Two days ago, we took in a stray that was living under our front porch. He is separated from our other two cats now because he is not neutered or litterbox trained. He doesn't seem naturally inclined to use the litterbox we provided for him yet either. Does anyone have any tips on how to train him to use it? Thanks in advance!

cat stays in litterbox

erniebrown2007 — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 19:57:53 GMT

My cat is staying in the litterbox for hours at a time, sleeping even. Does anyone know anything about this? she just starting doing this

Old cat, litterbox issues

jmsppk_123 — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:40:23 GMT

Hi I just read the senior cat topic in Cat Fancy and I was wondering about the litterbox thing. My cat Sylvester is 7, but pretty much acts like a kitten. The litterboxes we have all have tops on them with a hole to go into which means Sylvester has to step into and pick up his paws to get in. Should the top be taken off for him because he is aging or should i wait until he shows signs of becoming a senior himself???