Creating a Private Bathroom for Cat

Hey All!

I had posted a while back about my cat who would always poop outside of the litterbox no matter what I did. Thanks to the responses I received, I realized the issue was that she needed a large litter box that no other cats used and it had to clean in order for her to go number 2. Peeing in the box is not a problem, just pooping.  With three other cats in the house, this was somewhat hard to accomplish. What I ended up doing was turning our guest room into her own personal bathroom. The only issue is that I would have to lock her in there whenever I thought she needed to use the bathroom and keep her in there until she finally went. This has caused some issues because both my husband and I work full time, so she would end up locked in the room for most of the day if she didn't go while we were home. I'm sure this isn't too huge of an issue, but it made me sad to keep her locked up for long periods, so i ended up letting her out when she would start crying and then she would have an "accident" when I wasn't paying attention. This also has made our guest room unusable for actual guests.

I have been doing a lot of research and am contemplating going to extremes to create a private bathroom for Vera. We are currently in the process of finishing the basement and I am thinking about adding a small room just for her box. I saw this cat door online and thought it might be a good option:

http://www.sureflap.com/products/details/1-microchip-cat-door

Or something similar.. still in the very beginning stages of thinking this through. My husband of course thinks I am crazy for planning a private bathroom for our cat, but I think it could make all of our lives much easier. The only issue is Vera does not currently have a microchip, so I would need to have one implanted. The reason I never had one put in, is that she is strictly indoors and has no urge to even venture outside. 

So I guess what my question is.... is this completely crazy? I can't think of a better solution besides chasing her around the house each day and locking her up until she does her business. Even with scooping all of the boxes constantly, she still refuses to poop in shared litter boxes.

Is there anyone out there who has done something like this before?

what a frustration for you to deal with... we had one that would poop right outside of the box..but more like she missed it. I got her a bigger box and that did the trick...she shares with her "sister" though...so no problem like you have. Ours is in our laundry room under a sink that has double cupboard doors. We took the one door off for entering and exiting, and removed the piping underneath so they have room. So funny as at one point we were looking for a new home, and that's on our check list.... place for litterbox!

I could swear there's a litter box, or a cat/doggie door that would only open to a specific pet (via collar tag). What if you installed one of these doggy/cat doors in the guest room door?

I feel like there's a litterbox that perform the same way (that would let cats in, and keep dogs out). let me see if I can find.

Yeah, I have seen some that use a tag rather than microchip.. I just don't think she would take too well to a collar. I tried putting one on her when she was younger and somehow she managed to get it stuck in her mouth while still wearing it and it freaked me out a lot. I would put on the guest room door, but I would rather the basement so that we can actually have a guest room again. I guess I am just wondering if a cat would even do that? Use a special door to get to their litter box?  And I wonder if the other cats would somehow figure a way in there...