I'm in need of some suggestions...please?

Ok...As most of you know, I took Tiki to the Vet on Saturday for a possible bladder infection and sure enough she has a mild infection. My Vet said that most (95%) of her inappropriate peeing is from a behavioral problem. She told me that I have to take her back to Kindergarten and start from scratch. She said that I need to keep her shut inside a room for at least 2 weeks. During the first 5 days, I go in the room to play with her but she is not allowed out. After the first 5 days, I take her out of the room for a few minutes each day and increasing the time everyday. If she pees on something that she shouldn't while she is out of her room, we start all over again. Some how this is supposed to teach her to use her litter box??? The only problem I have is I don't have a room for her to be locked in. My house has 3 bedrooms (all which have beds and people actually sleeping in them), 1 extremely tiny bathroom, living/dining room, kitchen and a full basement that doesn't have any doors on the rooms. There is no way I can keep her in one of the bedrooms because she will pee on the beds, the bathroom is so small that I don't have room for her food, water & litter box...and the living/dining room & the kitchen do not have doors on these rooms. So....Where in the world to I put her? I thought about my walk in closet, but there is no heat in there and it gets awfully darn cold in there & the other closets are full of junk or are too small. My only thought is to build some kind of room inside of a room. My bedroom is the loft (which is as big as our entire house) and is all one big room. I thought I could take some plywood and build a mini room inside my bedroom. Do you think this might work? I don't want to build anything massive or real costly since it's just a temperary thing. Does anyone else have any ideas what I could do? It's got to be tall enough so she won't jump out, but yet roomy enough so she isn't crammed in there. A co-work told me to get a couple of refrigerator boxes and make a room out of that, but I just don't think it'll be sturdy enough. I know she's gonna be one mad little kitty when I start this! My Vet said that if this doesn't work, I may have to put her on an anti-depressant and I really don't want to medicate my cat if I can help it. Any suggestions would be very helpful!
Thanks!

Ok, I am putting my "building thinking hat" on.


Cardboard boxes are too unstable. What building material do you have access too? How about a wood base and for the walls chicken wire/mesh. It's cheap and easily constructed and taken down.

It's late here and that's all I could come up with. Plus, we used this idea before for an outside structure.

It's cheap and pretty easy if you have some 'handy' people who can help. I'll think on it over night.

because you have limited space, I would try adding more pans and different litters into the room. I would try that first.

You can put plates of food out where she is relieving herself, cover the area with an old sheet soaked in lemon and water, or put cheap throw rugs down.


One time, I found a sturdy playpen at a garage sale and bought it. Brought it home, flipped it over and put chicken wire outside. The kities lived in this until they learned litter pan manners and were then released.
Good luck!

I agree that a large kennel might be something you could try.
Good luck with Tiki!!!!!

Hissy, I've tried every single suggestion in the inappropriate peeing thread and none of it seemed to work. I added an extra litter box and it helped temperarily...and I added another one on Saturday. So, I've got 5 boxes through out the house and she still pees on our beds and on our 2 couches. The citrus thing didn't work at all and I've tried different kinds of litter & thickness in the pan. That's how my Vet came to the conclusion that she's doing this out of spite. I've never had a problem like this with any other cat before, so this is all a learning experience. The playpen thing sounds like an idea, but I don't have one or know of anyone's that I can borrow. My grandma has a big cage that she used for her dog...I might be able to use that. When it comes to the cage, I'm afraid that the other 2 cats will be "picking on her" from the outside. I guess I could just shut them out of my bedroom altogether until I get this resolved. Do you think this is a good thing to do? To me it sounds kind of mean in a way. I don't feel like a good cat mommy when I have to cage up my cat...
Thank you everyone for your suggestions...keep em coming! I'm open for any ideas!

using the crate. This is to teach her to use her box, not to punish her. Somehow she got into bad habits. See how the other cats act; if they torment her, keep them out. Remember this is temporary until she learns proper behavior. Loads of luck to you.

At the age of 13, one of my past cats began pooping all over the house. He only did it at night so, for about a week, we put him in a large airline crate, at bedtime. At the end of a week, Peanut returned to sleeping with me and never pooped outside of the box, again.

Angel did that from what I believe to be out of spite, as well. She didn't do it on any beds, but she would target clothing. To be more specific: MY CLOTHING. She never touched anyone else's so that is how I figured it was an attitude thing. She was always with me...she slept with me....played with me, etc. But, if she wanted something and she didn't get her way, she would stalk out the nearest piece of clothing I left in a chair or on the floor or even in the laundry basket. She did her job on my leather jacket one night before I left for work! She didn't want me to leave and she knew I was so right before I walked out the door, she did it.

Can you break them of that sort of attitude? I never could with Angel, but I just made sure my belongings were ALWAYS out of her reach.

I don't know what you money situations is, but have you thought about seeing an animal behavorist?

This is one of your foster kitties, correct?

About locking the cat up... it's not inhumane, but that doesn't mean that the cat might not become upset by it. I have done this MANY times, with my own cats for litterbox purposes and for strays/ferals during quarantien. It's a pitty your bathroom isn't big enough.
Building something could be feesable, or borrowing a LARGE dog crate from someone could also help. Maybe you can get a crate that allows you to put at least one shelf on, so the cat isn't forced to hang out at the bottom of a cage forever.
Yeah the point is to retrain them to use their box, as it's one of the only options they are left with.

Asim... my crazy cat, anxiety/depression problems. I got him at 4 months of age and he is now 3 years. When I adopted him and his sister, both were said to be litter box trained. But when I got them home and for about 5-6 months Asim had issues.
I really feel it had a lot to do with his enviroment. The apartment was cruddy, my room mates weren't the best in the world. By the end of it, his sister even joined him in this elimination feasco.
Well I finally moved out, into my own place, but didn't have a way to bring the cats with me (for now.) I had my room mates "take care" of them until I could get them. They're mentality declined while I was gone, they spent their time hiding out ontop of dishes in the cupboards, and their "care taker" couldn't keep up with the amount of poo/pee that was prodouced. However, the very day that I had a rescuer pick them up and keep them until further transport picked them up to come to Maine (where I was). Their litter box habbits stopped, they were perfect. When they got to our new home, they were perfect. There's only been one time, since then, that Asim has pee'd in the wrong place, and it was because I left him alone for too long. ( I went to spend the night at a friends house.)

In short, maybe there is something about one of you, your cats, or your house that upsets this cat. The only way, I have found, to remotly break Asim of his many habits is to baby him, he needs LOTS of love and certain level of care.

Shell- check your email- one incoming!

Hissy,
I just emailed you back!

AngelZOO,
Hissy just emailed me about the Cat Site Newsletter and how I could submit a letter to a Cat behavorist. I just sent in the letter, so hopefully I will get some help for this little girl! BTW, Tiki is not a foster cat. I adopted her in August and she's nuzzled her way into my entire family's hearts! I could never give her up...no matter how frustrating it can be. My folks (yes, I still live with them! Am I insane or what! ) get more upset about it than I do. It is their house and all....but she is one of my furkids and she's with me for life!!LOL!

Carrie,
As for the peeing on certain things, she has not peed on any clothes...just on my bed, my brothers bed and our 2 couches. It's pretty hard to me to keep them out of her reach! If I had to keep her away from all of those, I'd be keeping her in my bathroom...and there isn't even enough room! So, keeping her confined isn't an option....hopefully I will get this problem solved eventually!
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. I'm going to get a large crate and see if it'll work. Wish me luck!
Thanks again!