Successfully moved litter boxes

Thanks for small victories! With my two five month old kitties, I've been trying to move both their Roll n Clean litter boxes down to the cellar. I tried about a month ago, about the time Miss Scaredy Cat had her eye infection, and she proceded to pee on the sofa.

I finally gave up and brought one of the boxes back upstairs -- to the hall at the top of the cellar stars right by the kitchen. Not a good place, but they loved it. Both cats used that box 2 to 1 over the box still down in the cellar.

After a month, I gave it another shot and moved the second box back downstairs. I spent the next few days sending both cats downstairs with the laser pointer. Now, a few days later, they are using both downstairs boxes heavily, about equal split between the two. I catch them sneaking down the stairs to do their business.

Tonight, I had just finished rolling both boxes when they came marching down the stairs. One hopped in one box, the other hopped in the other.

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Scaredy Cat has been hopping over from her "petting stool" into my lap lately. She won't stay long, but that's serious progress. This morning she hopped up on my bed. I want to thank whomever suggested the curled hand, outstretched curled index finger. That has been a real help in getting Scaredy Cat to be a little less skittish. Let her "smell the glove" (as Spinal Tap once sang) and she calms right down.

Now, I just hope her eye infection doesn't return. Looks like it's draining again. Argghhhh. I really don't want to have to start up with the ointment. Even when she's in a petting mood, she likes her head to be left alone.

Arghh.

I spoke too soon. After a week of using both downstairs boxes heavily, I noticed a day that seemed pretty "light" when I rolled the boxes. Sure enough, Miss Scaredy Cat had found an old sleeping bag she was peeing on and I caught her in the act.

It's funny. I had mentioned to my wife that Scaredy Cat had been avoiding me, for a day or two, almost reverting to feral aloofness. I think the cat knew she was up to no good.

So, one box has now come back upstairs again. I'm going to move the remaining downstairs box across the cellar away from the noisy furnace. I'm guessing they probably don't like the sound of that.

Any suggestions?

PS: Her eye cleared up on its own.

Plan to keep at least one box upstairs. Find a spot on the main floor that works for both you and the cats. (I'm assuming here that you live in a one story with a cellar - if you have more floors, since your cats have peed outside of boxes, you should have a box on every floor.)

What about having a box on the main floor bothers you? There might be other things to do to mitigate your irritation at having a litter box upstairs.

Wherever your boxes end up, your cats shouldn't have to sneak around to get to them; a litter box should be easily accessible from everywhere the cats hang out, so you shouldn't be able to tell when they are heading towards the litter box.

I've had cats for 40 years and never had one that wouldn't go to where the boxes are, so this is a new one for me. One of our two kitties has no problem at all with both the boxes in the basement. The other one is the problem child!

What bothers me about the box on the main floor is there is no where to put it except in the hall next to the kitchen. It's totally underfoot. I'm only talking about moving it from the top of the steps to the bottom of the steps.

I'll keep working it. This is the dumbest most asocial cat I've ever seen, so it may be a long uphill climb. I'm resigned to a box in my kitchen hall for now.

Or, maybe just leave the door open one day. I'm pretty sure that if this kitty got out, it would be the last we ever see of it... it truly despises people. My wife wouldn't shed a tear. We've now had the cat for over three months and my wife has yet to even touch it.

Cats are certainly different from each other.

Artemis, who sits on my lap and begs for my attention, didn't let anyone touch her for the first year she lived in our house (we adopted her, her mother, and her sibling when she was about 1 month old). Antisocial cats can change as they get older. However, maybe you should see if you can find a friend who likes cats that take care of themselves and has room for litterboxes on every floor.

I wonder, have you thought of moving a chair or bookcase or something from the main floor to the cellar to create more room on your main floor for the litter box?

Originally Posted by Enuja

I wonder, have you thought of moving a chair or bookcase or something from the main floor to the cellar to create more room on your main floor for the litter box?

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No. I've thought about putting both of the litter boxes, that get cleaned every day, down in the cellar.

The issue is not room. The issue is that the entire first floor is a big open floor plan and there is nowhere to put the litter box where it is not right out in the open. The box is currently in my kitchen. The other options are the living room area, the dining room area, the den/TV room area, or in a bedroom. None of those are really appealing options.

Unfortunately it can't be about whats appealing to YOU--it has to be whats appealing to the CAT they are the one using it!

Leslie

Your Roll and Clean litter boxes must be closed boxes, I gather. I don't know if any of the litter cabinet furniture you can buy is large enough to fit that type of box, but how about building a "coffee table" that goes around the box, has a hole in one side, and a wall that opens up so you can easily pull out the box to roll and clean?

I appreciate the suggestions, but honestly I'm not looking for ways to put a cat litter box under my living room coffee table!

What I want to do is move the litter box ten feet down a flight of stairs that the kitties will scamper up and down a dozen times non-stop chasing a laser light.

Obviously, one cat is not allowing me to do that right now so I am stuck with a litter box where I don't want it. We'll see how that stand-off unfolds. As it stands right now, my wife is increasingly opposed to my decision to make these two kitties indoor-only cats. Her proposed solution is to simply open the sliding glass door and let them go poop in the woods rather than on our sofa. At a certain point, I may lose that battle.

Well, we had three weeks of tranquility on the litter box front with both cats reliably using the litter box in the kitchen hall.

Then, came all the commotion of Thanksgiving and a house full of guests. I knew the poor kitties were freaked a at the invasion. One day, I caught Miss Scaredy Cat peeing on the sofa again. She kept this up for a couple of days.

It was like a comedy as my visiting daughter tried to talk a visiting niece (allergic to cats) into staying over night and sleeping on the sofa instead of going home an hour to Boston, while we are trying to give my daugher the "cut" sign with our fingers across our throats!

Anyway, company left. Foil went back on the sofa (which Scaredy Cat is scared of, but Bubba loves to drag around and play with).

Meanwhile, I'm trying a new approach. Any kitty get that gets in the box when I'm in the kitchen gets a cat treat for itself and its sibling (nothing like a little peer pressure!). We store the jar of kat treats right on top of the cat box.

It's getting to the point, after a week, where I walk into the kitchen and both kitties queue up to hop in the box and do some scratching. They've even figured out that to hop in to pee, hop out to get a treat, then hop back in for some poopy action and get a second treat. By the time, I'm done, these cats will be dragging a TV set into that darned box to watch football in there.