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Hestia has a strange litter habit

post #1 of 12
1/1/11 at 11:43pm
Thread Starter 
She is not intentionally missing the box but here is what she does:
My two other cats enter the box, turn around, and do their business.
Hestia does not turn around, she has her bum pointed toward the opening of the litter box. Now if she squatted low enough this would be no big deal.
But the last year or two, off and on, (and more recently ON) she has seemed to "forget" to squat and the urine dribbles straight out the entryway and onto the floor and goes everwhere.
We have many boxes in this house. Some covered, some uncovered. And two more private ones the dogs cannot access which are the most used.
In the ferret friendly parts of the house we use wood pellets. In the non ferret areas we use Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat Ulrta.
She is 12 years old, only health issue is the herpes virus in her eye since she was a kitten according to her previous owner (she has been with us maybe a bit over two years now?).
Her previous owner declawed her. She has the normal defensiveness of a declawed cat. Doesnt' socialize with the others much, more of a "people person".
I cannot figure out why this is happening. I almost wonder if the herpes has destroyed her vision over time or something and her space/depth perception is making her miss?
Ideas?...
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post #2 of 12
1/2/11 at 1:09am
It could be her joints are starting to hurt her when she squats. She is getting old, have you had a vet check out that possibility, or has she shown any other signs of arthritis or bad joints? I would think there might be a higher risk of that being declawed. Is she four or two paw declawed?
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post #3 of 12
1/2/11 at 11:17am
Thread Starter 
Ah..see? This is why I love forums. I hadn't even thought of that..makes sense! Now that I think of it..she does act like she doesn't want to jump sometimes.
She is two paw declawed.
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post #4 of 12
1/2/11 at 11:45am
When we got Carly, she had some injury to her tail and couldn't move it or control it. As a result, she got into the habit of hanging the tail over the front of the litter box. After a couple of years, it was obvious the tail was a hazard to her so we amputated it. This put her whole orientation off and I would have her in the box peeing over the front opening.

So I've done two things. One was to get new Sterlite boxes and make the front opening higher to nudge her in. It still doesn't quite work so I put puppy pads under the opening of the litter boxes so I can clean up the mess quickly.
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post #5 of 12
1/2/11 at 11:54am
Thread Starter 
Puppy pads is a great idea! I think I'll definitely have to do that.
Her two fave litter boxes are
1-in the ferret room w/wood pellet litter (the urine streams down the opening and makes a puddle around the box so i guess i'll just place the litter box on top of a puppy pad..
2-the elevated box in the living room with the precious cat litter; a little trickier as it streams down the front of the end table it's on and then disperses on the floor (it's about two feet high so the nosy dogs won't bother them when they use it..a little messier with that kind of drop though)
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post #6 of 12
1/2/11 at 11:55am
I use storage boxes (rubbermaid, sterilite, etc) - I cut holes in the lids so they have "top entry" catboxes. My Twitcha also doesn't squat, as does Molly - so they would pee outside the box w/o meaning to.
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post #7 of 12
1/2/11 at 12:00pm
Thread Starter 
oh wow, that's a good idea too--i'll have to write these all down *runs to find notepad*
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post #8 of 12
1/2/11 at 2:00pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by white cat lover View Post
I use storage boxes (rubbermaid, sterilite, etc) - I cut holes in the lids so they have "top entry" catboxes. My Twitcha also doesn't squat, as does Molly - so they would pee outside the box w/o meaning to.

Please, how do you cut holes in the lids? What tool do you use? Do you have to smooth the edges of the hole somehow?

Robin
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post #9 of 12
1/2/11 at 2:20pm
Thread Starter 
so i just ordered some puppy pads and the booda box to try. i'll also get a rubbermaid where i can cut a hole in the lid, that way i can see what she prefers. also got her some natural treat supplements just in case she's getting stiff in the joints.
i'll schedule her a vet visit too if none of these help. the last time i brought it up to the vet she thought it odd but we didn't go into too much detail because she had stopped for awhile and the behavior wasn't as routine yet.
thanks, everyone!
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post #10 of 12
1/2/11 at 6:13pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by bastetservant View Post
Please, how do you cut holes in the lids? What tool do you use? Do you have to smooth the edges of the hole somehow?

Robin
I say 'dad cut a hole in this where I marked' & viola - it's done!

I think he just uses a utility knife.
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post #11 of 12
1/2/11 at 7:06pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by white cat lover View Post
I say 'dad cut a hole in this where I marked' & viola - it's done!

I think he just uses a utility knife.
i do the same thing around here except substitute "dad" for "babe" in a whiney voice while batting eyelashes
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post #12 of 12
1/5/11 at 2:14pm
Just wondering, if she's having trouble with her joints - it may be a little harder jumping up and in, then up and out with a top entry (???) just wondering.

Sterilite tote: I just cut the hole up a little higher, and put a step up in front of the hole.


The clear plastic containers are harder to cut, so I get the colored totes if I need to cut.
I use a box cutter, but maybe a Dremel tool would work?

I usually leave the lid off - makes it easier to keep the litter cleaned out - and cuts down on the cats breathing dust when they are taking care of business.

Also - another just wondering - maybe she's being picky, and the litter isn't as clean as she'd like. , so she doesn't go into the box further ??
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