Anyone have experience with meds for litter box issues?

In a home with 11 cats, I'm not sure you can do much about the bullying. Hopefully others will have ideas there. We live in a really small space with 8 cats. In fact, when we first started rescuing, we lived in the RV. Our family grew to five, and one of our more aggressive kitties decided to frequently pick on and chase one of our girls. We thought more space might solve the problem.

Wrong.

The move stressed her out, and she started stress peeing. We could have had 100 litter boxes and it wouldn't have made a difference.

You don't mention using an enzyme cleaner to clean up... you're already familiar with this?

Anyway, here's what we finally did.

ALL of us needed a break. We talked to our vet, and he recommended elavil (amytriptaline). 10mg a day. (10 pound cat). It takes about two weeks to build to the level in the kitty, but for her, it worked within two days.

Now, elavil is NOT really an effective anti-depressant. But it's used on children who have problems with bed-wetting, because one of its side effects is to cause urine retention. For WHATEVER reason, that apparently helps. Spooky started peeing once a day - one huge pee. Always in the box.

We then went through the house with a blacklight, made sure we'd gotten EVERY spot she'd ever peed. We used Nok Out (http://www.nokout.com) as the enzyme cleaner (really, we tried SO many, and they are NOT created equal!).

We then also used methods of "non access" to spots she'd previously gone while the Nok Out dried. Spots on the floor we covered with aluminum foil until it air dried. We completely SOAKED the couch cushions and just let them dry outside.

Because she loved to pee on the bed, we'd already made sure to get the mattress spots REALLY well. We'd just layer towels over the wet spot and make the bed over those, and swap the towels out daily. We also got a LARGE cardboard box, cut down one side so it could lay flat, and laid it over the bed during the day, and just folded it up and put it up against the wall at night. We did this for a month, and she never went on the bed again.

We used Nok Out with the wash. We'd already stopped leaving ANY laundry of any kind out anywhere.

All of that said... for us - for her - the elavil worked, and fast. And it gave us time to clean up the house so there was no more cat pee smell encouraging her to go outside of the box. It DID make her dopey and sleepy for the first three weeks. She definitely gained some weight. But after that first three weeks/a month, she pretty much went back to being her normal, playful (and needy LOL) self. We kept her on the elavil for three months, then weaned her off of it, by moving to every other day for two weeks, every third day for the next week, &etc.

She did pee outside the box again. It was because her teeth hurt (she has terrible teeth and by like 4 years old had already had 4 of them pulled).

Some have tried elavil and it has not worked. Because these meds are generally frowned upon, I tend to talk about it via private message, but I know for sure there are a number of people for whom the short term use broke the cycle, and that was enough. There are several others that are on long term maintenance - but it's working.

I also know people have had mixed results with prozac as well - and many people have had very bad experiences with it. At least with elavil, the worst people have seen (that I'm aware of) is that their cats seemed very "dopey." But we found that if you see it through, that only lasts for a few weeks.

I'd discuss it with the vet, but it seems to me it's worth a try. It gave all of us the break we needed, and it broke the cycle for Spooky.

...and Shelly and Tuxedo continue to stalk and chase her on a fairly frequent basis (although she doesn't get chased out of the litter box)... and we moved back into the RV two years ago after having lived in a house for four years. We now have 8 in here, and she's still not having problems.

We do give her extra attention and play time. We also discourage the others from chasing her down by making how we feel about it really clear: "Shelly, NO!" and giving him (or whoever) a time out in the bathroom for five minutes. We explain why on the way there, shut the door, and open it without saying anything and walking away. We also praise the heck out of them for being near her and ignoring her (or being nice to her).

With 11, I don't know if that's practical or effective. Basically your stress-peer is your "pariah" kitty.

Do you have a lot of vertical space for them? Do you have any litter boxes that are... "up?" This has worked for some people.

Others have simply separated their pariah kitties.

One person found a large area of vertical space (the top of the bed), and the pariah kitty - when food, water, and litter was provided - basically chooses to live up there, and come down just for cuddles.

Hope some of this helps.

Vibes for you and your boy!

I know you love all your cats, but when it comes to obvious stress and uncontrollable bullying in a multi kitty home, you need to think about what is best for the kitties. Do you really think that it would be fare to dose the kitty who is already being attacked and bullied?
The best thing would be for you to find a loving home for him, he will never be happy in his current living situation. He is a constant target by your other cats, and medicating him, the one who is being bullied and terrified to use the litter box at times because as you even stated, he has been attacked doing so. How is this OK?
This kitty is pleading with you for help. Don't drug him to conform to your living situation.

Spooky loved using the bed, which got really frustrating. We hit on the box idea before the elavil, actually, and that worked. What we did for the couch was buy the big heavy duty aluminum foil and put several strips down to cover where you sit on the couch. Then we kept a throw blanket around to put down over that when we wanted to sit on it, but we'd put the throw blanket away when we weren't using the couch. This stopped her peeing on the couch.

You just described Spooky. She's incredibly needy. And I don't know what it is about her, but just her presence often annoys the other cats. I can't see or sense anything that she's doing - but every day or two, one of the boys will just go after her.

Yup, know this one too.

It's definitely worth talking about, and probably worth trying. If it works, he may need to stay on it. But in our experience, Spooky went back to being her normal - playful and needy - self after those first few weeks. She also took off the little bit of extra weight she'd gained once she went back to being more active. ...and though she was definitely stress peeing, she never seemed depressed. She's needy... but she was that way from the beginning.

Hi, have you tried putting a litterbox on your shower? It seems he doesn't get bullied there... I know it would be a pain to move it every time you shower, but at least he would use the box instead of the shower... After a while, if that works, you can try to move it to right outside the shower, behind the door or something, in a more private area for him. Also try to add one extra box inside of a closet or somewhere more private - I know this is the reverse of what usually works, but it might give him the feeling of safety/protection...
Also, you can try the vanilla trick and see if it works. Get a bottle of vanilla extract and put a dab on each cat's chin and neck every day. They will all smell the same, helping to reduce aggression against one another.

Good luck!

Brooklet already answered you, but I wanted to address this post too. Stress does not mean unhappy or depressed. Lazlo stalked and chased Billy for months when we first adopted Billy. But he is the happiest cat - he's totally happy-go-lucky, and continued to head bump Lazlo - knowing what was coming! But he never reacted to Lazlo's aggression with stress. He was overly submissive like Oreo, and would run or ball up - but the minute Lazlo walked away, Bill immediately "bounced back," smiling, tail up, looking like he was whistling or something.

Like Brooklet's Oreo, our Spook was rescued out of a tough situation (actually she was being abused). She's a happy girl who loves to play - there's just something about her that makes her like the outcast of the group. That's what a "pariah" kitty is. If the kitty(ies) were unhappy, obviously rehoming would be something to be considered. But one thing most of us encourage is trying to find solutions rather than rehoming. Personally, I think rehoming a cat is a far more drastic measure than temporarily medicating them.

When a cat starts stress peeing, if you don't get to all the spots they pee with the enzyme cleaner while the root of the stress is still happening, it just becomes a vicious cycle. Enzyme cleaners don't always dry overnight, and the smell of urine isn't gone until they've done their job. And sometimes they require a second application... and the scent of the pee around the house just encourages the kitty with the problem to continue not using the box.

Obviously everything else should be tried first. But sometimes "the last resort" is necessary - and what IS best for everyone, including the cat. With pill pockets, medicating a cat with a pill is not a traumatic experience. In fact, some of us are quite good at pilling, and pilling itself is not a traumatic experience.

Besides - the cats react to OUR stress - and ongoing problems with peeing outside the box clearly become frustrating and stressful, just adding to everything contributing to the problem.

We had excellent results and broke the cycle, and I never recommend using elavil as a first, second, or third resort. I do suggest people consider it as a last resort.

Spooky continues to be needy, and she continues to be the pariah kitty. But as she was never depressed, my guess is that that few month break helped reduce our stress levels while she wasn't peeing outside of the box. It gave us the time we needed to clean up the scent of pee in our home - and so when she came off, she was "used" to using the boxes again, and there was no pee smell anywhere that encouraged her to pee outside the box.

Medications for behavioral problems, IMO, are a tool and have their place and time. If they can prevent an otherwise happy cat from being rehomed, I believe there is a point at which they should be considered.

Just wanted to add.... I think Carolina's idea of trying a litter box in the shower is a great idea. Yes, a PIA - but given part of Oreo's problem is that he's being stalked and ambushed when using a box, part of the long term solution is going to be finding a place he can use a litter box without fear of being ambushed.

I also remember reading here about ... herbal collars (I think they're relatively new?) that help reduce stress. I think they need to be changed monthly. I don't know what they're called, but that's something else to look into. I'm not familiar with them, but I know they've been discussed here, particularly for use during cat introductions or use in multicat homes.

Also, have you tried Bach's Rescue Remedy? We add a few drops to their water, and we started putting out small water dishes EVERYWHERE. We also dab it under Spooky's chin, behind her ears, and at the base of her tail. If you haven't already tried this, you might want to give it a go. They now have a formula specifically for pets that has no alcohol. (The alcohol as re: drinking was no issue as far as we were concerned because it would evaporate out of the water, but I didn't like dabbing it under her chin. Nice they have a non-alcohol based option now ).