Litter Box Problems After De-claw Surgery; Please Help!

Greetings fellow cat lovers! First, if you don't mind, I would like to give you a little background on my fuzzy baby and me! Shelly is an eleven week old kitten who I rescued from a lady who was giving her cat's kittens away at five weeks (way too young to be away from their mother!!) Shelly was a little slow to the litter box game because she was so young but she did finally get the hang of it!

Three days ago I had Shelly de-clawed. They used a laser and she has been on anti-biotics and pain medicine since she got home. I would like to disclose that I never knew about people being so opposed to de-clawing until Shelly had already been de-clawed (although after reading people's opinions on the matter, I completely understand their view). However I was concerned for my furniture, curtains, bedskirt, etc..., that was not my main reason for having her de-clawed, she really gets in to her playtime and I was covered in scratches but the worst she gave me bled for two day and I was concerned for my 5 month old pug puppy who is terrified of her. Pugs are very prone to eye problems especially blindness from scratches because they have no snout to protect their eyes when they sniff around. I was worried Shelly would severely hurt my puppy because when she played with her, she would attack and batt at her face.

Also, while some people hold the opinion that de-clawing is cruel to the animal, I hold an opinion that allowing a domesticated cat to roam around outside with or without their claws is cruel. Of course I am biased because when I was in high school, my best friend, a cat named Puddles, was hit by a car after my mother let her outside (though I begged her not to allow Puddles to go outside). It was a little scarring because the person who hit her just left her there and she suffered from massive organ damage and blood loss before we found her and rushed her to the vet where she then died.

Anyways, Shelly is my new baby and she is as sweet as can be! Well since I have had her back from the vet she has been doing great! running, playing, cuddling without any problems... until last night. She pooped under a stand-alone lamp, in the corner of the living room. I immediately picked her up and put her in the litter box and she jumped out immediately, wanting nothing to do with it. So, I cleaned up her mess with Woolite Pet Stain and Odor and took a little of the poop I cleaned up and placed it in her litter box. Which has been replaced with Kritter Litter, a soft cotton-paper-like bedding used for rodents cages, at the request of my veterinarian.I continued to put her in the litter box but she wouldn't even stay in long enough to sniff her poop.

Well, this morning, Shelly hopped off my bed and I began to hear scratching on the carpet behind the door. I immediately popped out of bed, grabbed her and took her to the litter box (which by the way is uncovered and in my bathroom, between the toilet and the cabinet, about as private an area as you'll find in my tiny apartment) she immediately jumped out of the litter box and seemed almost fearful of it. I tried luring her into the litter box with a treat to no avail. So I left her closed in the bathroom for about five minutes and when I came back to see if she had taken care of business, I found she had pooped on the laminate floor behind the toilet, right next too her litter box. I immediately cleaned it up, put a little poop in her litter box and placed her in it. I have done some research on the matter and have found that they may associate pain from de-claw surgery or a hard bowel movement with their litter box, causing them to avoid the litter box because they think that is their source of pain.

Most everything I've found on the internet is about cats spraying and urinating outside the litter box and I haven't noticed any spots on the carpet where she seems to be peeing. I would appreciate a response from anyone who has ideas about how to re teach little Shell Bell that her poopies go in the litter box and I would love to hear your similar stories about your furry babies! I love this little girl to death and would like to help her overcome her aversion to the litter box ASAP! thank you!

My apologies, the litter I am using is actually called Carefress Natural!

I understand you love your cat but I really wish you had posted here before you had this surgery. Declawing is nothing short of mutilation and is banned in many countries since it amputates their fingers. Cats who are declawed will be in pain their whole lives and they actually will never be able to properly stretch their backs again and their muscles atrophy. Cats who are declawed will have problems with using litter boxes because the litter hurts their feet. You will have to try getting yesterday's news litter as it is softer for their sore feet.

For future reference you do not need to decide declawing or letting a cat outside. Their are tons of alternatives to declawing including gluing on soft paws which last a whole month. I really hope you understand you have made a terrible mistake which has made your cat suffer a lot of pain and you will never do this to another cat.

All you can do now is try yesterday's news and hope your cat will use it.

Franksmom said:

I understand you love your cat but I really wish you had posted here before you had this surgery. Declawing is nothing short of mutilation and is banned in many countries since it amputates their fingers. Cats who are declawed will be in pain their whole lives and they actually will never be able to properly stretch their backs again and their muscles atrophy. Cats who are declawed will have problems with using litter boxes because the litter hurts their feet. You will have to try getting yesterday's news litter as it is softer for their sore feet.

For future reference you do not need to decide declawing or letting a cat outside. Their are tons of alternatives to declawing including gluing on soft paws which last a whole month. I really hope you understand you have made a terrible mistake which has made your cat suffer a lot of pain and you will never do this to another cat.

All you can do now is try yesterday's news and hope your cat will use it.

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I have heard this from many people online but after having three cats all being de-clawed  with no problems I was un aware of the risks until recently and as for cats having pain the rest of their lives after declawing, I have heard it both ways from reputable sources on both sides of the issue. From my experience, though, none of my three cats that I have had in the past that were de-clawed had any problems at all. I do appreciate your advice about the newspaper and I will have to try that! Thank You!

The first thing I'd try is switching back to the litter you were using before.  However, the truth is that your kitty may have long term litterbox problems because the declawing has made it painful for her to dig in the box.

I really hope you will continue to read up on declawing and avoid this cruel procedure in the future.  Your poor kitty just needed some training and scratching posts.

This is an anti-declaw site, so you are going to get a lot of people with negative posts directed at you.

I currently have 28 cats all have claws. I have had others who are now passed and those to had claws. I do not support declawing at ANY age or for any reason except medical(meaning for the CATS medical!  Some cats with extra claws may have one that will make it get stuck or hurts the cat the way it is coming in or a defect.  That is FEW cats who ever would have to have JUST THAT CLAW removed.  I also think doing it younger may make the person "feel better" about what they are doing and does not give the kitten a chance to learn to use a post.  Its like deciding to put a puppy outside for rest of his life cause "he may not ever get fully housebroken"

If you switched litters that may be reason.  Do not go back unless vet says it is ok as with the feet healing there can be build up of clay litter that will further infect the sore feet.  Ask vet what else can be used(paper towels ripped up, newspaper(this may lead to you "training" her that paper is ok to be used no matter where it is in the house.)

I don't agree with declawing cats either, but it's already done, so we should try and help the OP. Although a mistake was made, it's clear the OP loves the kitty.

Have you tried seeing if she'll go on puppy paper?

This cat is getting set up to have life long avoidance of the litter box.  I have used the carefresh natural(it is usually aimed at small pets bedding)  some of my cats were ok with it others hated it.  She had issues with box got mutilated and now has to use a litter she hates and is in pain(observed or not there is no way THAT will not hurt).

I would be on phone with vet getting some pain meds, options on what else to use that will not infect the feet.  She was learning how to play with claws ALL kittens go through that stage.  They need to be taught to play nice.  She still has her teeth and that is her only line of defense left and you cant bet she will now start nipping in play.

BCT, you've received all the lectures on declawing, so I will refrain from adding to that. 

The only suggestion I have for you is to try to potty train your kitten to the toilet.  I've done this myself with all 4 of my cats (one was even 8 years old when training started). 

Be aware, toilet training is not for the faint of heart... it requires a LOT of patience and perseverance.  There will be messes to clean up, there will be times of frustration.  It will take TIME (though it goes quicker with kittens).  In the long run, you will be rewarded with a litter-free household.  However, you will still need to find a soft litter during the beginning of the training, (I used Swheat Scoop for our kittens). 

If you are interested in the how-to's, send me a PM (hit the drop down arrow next to my name).

And in the meantime, please join us in spreading the word against declawing.  There really are no good excuses for it.

No lecture here about declawing....it's already been said. I have no opinion on toilet-training as we've never tried it.

You're going to have to try to re-train her to her litter box again. If your vet didn't offer an opinion on any kind of cat litter for the time it takes for her paws to heal, I suggest you try Yesterday News cat litter.....that's what our vet recommends. Once her paws have healed, then you can slowly transfer her from the Yesterday News over to whatever cat litter you're going to use in the future. By slowly, I mean use all Yesterdays News for awhile until her paws heal. Then add a wee bit of the other cat litter to the box every time you change it, until she's using the regular litter all the time again.

Meanwhile, every time she wakes up from a nap, after every time she eats, etc., put her in her litter box. You scratch around for her, so she gets the idea that she needs to scratch a bit. It shouldn't take long for her to get the idea. If she's not on pain meds now, call your vet to ask for some meds for her.

Oh, and maybe you need a smaller litter box for awhile, too.....just so she doesn't feel so overwhelmed with a big box. As she grows, you can move the bigger box back in.

Above all, patience. She's been through a lot and it's going to take her awhile to get the hang of things again.

(Out of our seven cats, five of them are declawed. Four have been declawed for years....it was before we realized how bad declawing actually was for a cat, so it was due to our ignorance. They never had any issues with the litter box as we always used a gentler litter until the paws healed. One will be 20 years old next month, two just turned 17, and one is 10 years old. The fifth cat was my mother's cat and we took her in when Mom went to a nursing home; my mother's apartment lease specified that cats had to be declawed and so Muffin was. The other two cats, Mollipop and Tabby, are not declawed.)

Some cats are very picky about their litter. I'm sure that your kitten's avoidance of the litter box is related to the pain, but she may also just not like the change in texture. You could try putting a puppy pad in the litter box instead of litter to see if she'll use that. After her paws heal you can start adding litter to one end of the box, leaving some of the puppy pad uncovered so she can transition at her own pace.

I have read about 30 articles on the best litter for your kitten. Shredded newspaper is the one almost all of them recommend. Yesterday's news is a commercial cat litter that is made from paper. It comes in two types, original and a softer one, that I think is smaller pellets. Shredding your own newspaper is the softest one of all.

They say to put several sheets of non-shredded paper in there, then the shredded stuff. This makes it easier to take all of it out each day. You have to change it every day, as it can't be scooped.

The second most recommended one is Swheat Scoopable. It still has some sharper edges, though. 

I hope this helps with your cat's comfort and cleanliness.

My late DM/CRF kitty was declawed before I learned better, and she had sore paw issues. The scoopable litter she liked the best was Cat's Pride unscented scoopable litter. No perfumes and softer, kind of like sand. I still placed puppy pee pads just outside of the litter box for when she still felt too sore to walk on litter.

Thank you to everyone who has offered their advice and help.

It also doesn't help that some of you have left comments telling me to call the vet and ask for pain medicine, ask the vet what kind of litter to use, etc... because I am led to believe that my post was not even read to entirety. I clearly state that I have her on pain medicine and antibiotics to prevent infection and that the vet has told me to use carefresh litter (i was using arm and hammer double duty before).

Again thank you for everyone who actually tried to help me I really appreciate it and I definitely appreciate it and I thank you so much.

bct121 said:

I am led to believe that my post was not even read to entirety.

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I have to admit that I stopped reading halfway through the first time I looked at this thread because it's so hard to read a solid block of text. I've edited your first post to break it up into paragraphs, so hopefully more people pay attention to everything you've written and not get hung up on the declawing issue.

This thread has been heavily edited by the moderators to remove posts that are off-topic and/or flaming other members. We have also removed the poll and all comments related to it since that seemed to be getting in the way of the OP's real question.

Let's try to keep future posts on topic with suggestions for the OP on how to handle the litterbox issues.

Thanks
The ModSquad

I found this great post on things you can do to help a cat in pain from declawing, which the litter box avoidance points to (http://www.littlebigcat.com/declawing/relief-for-declawed-cats/)

Also here is a post from the same website written by a vet on what exactly declawing does to cat's bodies (http://www.littlebigcat.com.php5-16.dfw1-1.websitetestlink.com/?p=200).This may give you some insight as to why your cat is now in pain and why you will probably have to use some sort of pain management long term(like the ideas from my above post). I know she is on pain meds now but she is exhibiting pain because of the litter issue and may need something more. In this article it explains that often cats are not given enough pain meds after declawing ( http://www.littlebigcat.com/declawing/chronic-pain-of-declawing).She will also probably need some long term main management and massage so she doesn't develop arthritis which is very common in declawed cats as mentioned in the article.

bct121 said:

Thank you to everyone who has offered their advice and help.

It also doesn't help that some of you have left comments telling me to call the vet and ask for pain medicine, ask the vet what kind of litter to use, etc... because I am led to believe that my post was not even read to entirety. I clearly state that I have her on pain medicine and antibiotics to prevent infection and that the vet has told me to use carefresh litter (i was using arm and hammer double duty before).

Again thank you for everyone who actually tried to help me I really appreciate it and I definitely appreciate it and I thank you so much.

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I see the Carefresh is recycled cellulose. How does it compare in price to Yesterday's News? Are the pellets smaller? This knowledge will help us recommend litters for cats having box problems.