Mom's female cat will not let male use litter box

It's been a while since I've posted on this forum, but I have an important question. My mother's male cat is peeing all over her couch. She doesn't think it is a UTI because he is not doing any of the normal signals (licking genitals, constantly running back and forth to the litter box, no crying). She has observed that her female cat beats on the male cat after he uses or before he goes in the litter box. Now they have lived together since kittens for 3 years. She called me for advice. I asked if she has changed litter lately - yes, because the price went way up on her usual litter. However, she still made sure it was unscented and she's always used unscoopable, so no scent change or type change. My mother bought another litter box so there would be 2 and the couch peeing did not stop. She then noticed that there were big scuffs of hair next to the new litter box like they had been obviously fighting around it. While I was on the phone with her the male cat tried to pee on the couch again (he didn't think she was looking). My mother brought him the litter box. He went in very cautiously, used it and when he came out the female cat went after him.

Has anyone else had this problem?

I suggested that she give the female cat some sort of calmative.

She also added tinkle tonic http://www.springvalleyherbs.com/cat...hp?itemID=2121 his food just in case it is an infection and especially since he isn't allowed to pee, according to the female cat.

My mother wonders if this could have anything to do with the stray cats in her neihborhood. Did the female become possessive because of the litter change?

I had a problem with bullying in my household. Sparkle, a female, was being bullied by Simple and Pippin (both young males). All cats were neutered/spayed.
I had some luck with removing the lids from the boxes, adding more boxes in different rooms and segregating.
However, my apartment was just too small and I ended up rehoming her with my friend last November. She was a stray I took in and we gave it almost two years for everyone to adjust and tried lots of solutions. She has had NO problems since the move. There are two cats where she lives now, but it's a large house and she has the upstairs as her territory.
Perhaps if your mom segregated them for a few weeks and used introduction techniques to slowly reintegrate them it might help.
It's definitely possible that the female was affected by an cat outside and is taking it out on the male.
I've heard other people have had good luck with cat attract litter, but if she is chasing him out of the box, it may not work.
I know full well how hard this problem is to deal with.

Best of luck!

Devlyn

I hate to say this but I think your mom needs to go back to the other litter for now and slowly introduce the new litter by mixing it with the old litter, very incrementally. Cats hate change and this change has introduced a territory fight.

In this case it sounds like your male cat may be helped by having a lid on the box so the female cat cannot get to him while he is in the box.

Your mom is also going to have to deal with the issue that there is pee in her house and even if the male cat is able to begin using the box again, he will not remember why he peed in those other places and they will become pee places for him just because they smell like pee places. She will have to really use an odor neutralizing cleaner and also cover those places with things kitties do not like such as sticky tape and aluminum foil.

As for the female bothering the male when he comes out of the box, I am not sure what to do. It makes sense to me that they should each have their own box for now (with the old litter) and they should be positively reinforced when they go into their boxes. Female kitty should be picked up and put into another room with the door closed when male kitty goes into his box (lots of hard work, I know). Once they both adjust to the new litter, it may be possible to take away one box.

Originally Posted by BarbB

I hate to say this but I think your mom needs to go back to the other litter for now and slowly introduce the new litter by mixing it with the old litter, very incrementally. Cats hate change and this change has introduced a territory fight.

In this case it sounds like your male cat may be helped by having a lid on the box so the female cat cannot get to him while he is in the box.

Your mom is also going to have to deal with the issue that there is pee in her house and even if the male cat is able to begin using the box again, he will not remember why he peed in those other places and they will become pee places for him just because they smell like pee places. She will have to really use an odor neutralizing cleaner and also cover those places with things kitties do not like such as sticky tape and aluminum foil.

As for the female bothering the male when he comes out of the box, I am not sure what to do. It makes sense to me that they should each have their own box for now (with the old litter) and they should be positively reinforced when they go into their boxes. Female kitty should be picked up and put into another room with the door closed when male kitty goes into his box (lots of hard work, I know). Once they both adjust to the new litter, it may be possible to take away one box.

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She has already returned the new litter and repurchased their usual kind. When this first started she purchased a second litter box, which the female still fought with the male over. This morning, I gave her your responses and asked where she put the new second litter box - "in the same room as the other one" . I suggested that she put the other litter box on her second story, far away from the other one. Duh!

I also told her that someone suggested she take the lids off the litter boxes.

I guess the cat outside that might be causing the female to take her territorial-ness out on the male is moving in a week. He belongs to a neighbor who is moving. I suggested that she give the female cat a calmative like Azmira's Pet Calm until the other cat is gone.

Her now pee saturated couch is old, so she just threw it out.

If changing back to the old litter, removing the lids, having 2 litterboxes (one on each floor) doesn't work, then she'll try separating and reintroducing the cats.

One more question...my mother also wonders if the couch peeing could be behavioral on the male cats part. She has a schedule of sitting on the couch before bed and that is when my mother and her male cat have "their special time together." Because the weather has been nice, she has been spending time on her back deck. Maybe he's offended...??