Cat not wanting to use the litter box.

loveracing1988

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
2
Purraise
1
Hello all, my wife and I have 2 cats, one female and one male. They are around the same age, both are rescues so we aren't sure on their exact age but both are about 3.5 years old.

The female has never had one issue of not using the litter box, she chooses to act out in other ways such as chewing on wires and such. The male though has been peeing outside the litter box on and off now since we had him for about 6 months (we got him in February of 2011 when he was a year or so old). The first times were on my old futon while we were in our apartment, we took him to the vet (he came to us with "kenel cough") and he was treated with anti biotics for protein in his urine. The vets wanted to do a bunch of testing but we can't afford to put $1000 into a cat because he has a slight possibility of being sick while having no other symptoms. This went on for a few months on and off. At one point he got really sick but a strong dose of antibiotics cured him of that (that was related to the kennel cough though).

He was good as far as we know for the rest of the time we were at the apartment. We moved into our house in September of 2012 and it was only a week or so before he went again on the futon, this time we threw it out because obviously he wasn't going to stop going on it. He seemed to be fine for the most part, he would go every once in a while outside of his litter box but he would warn us first (he was actually saying his litter box was "full" it turns out). After we figured out to empty it every day it seemed to be fine. The only time he would not pee in his litter box was when the pheromone diffuser would run out. Since then we have kept up on that, kept up on his litter box, moved a litter box upstairs for him, did everything possible to try and make him happy.

We just had a child this last July, ever since then he hasn't gotten as much attention so he has resorted to peeing outside his litter box again. The renters that lived there before we bought the house had a cat that was always kept in one room, it peed on the floor in a few different places, ironically in the same places ours was now peeing. So we spent $500 ripping out the carpet, sealing the floor with kilz sealer and then putting laminate down. It took him all of 5 days to go back to the same spot and pee again. While we were doing the floor (a 2 week span) we moved his litter box into the dining room, as far as we know he never peed outside it once while it was there, it just made a huge mess with the litter so we don't want it there anymore.

So now he is locked out of the room where his litter box was, and all 3 litter boxes are now in the basement. He now is peeing down in the basement, literally 5 feet from 2 of his litter boxes. He will randomly use his litter box but for the most part he is using the floor. We are honestly at a loss of what to do. He is by far the most lovable cat you will ever meet, he is incredibly clumsy (in the apartment he jumped a flight of stairs by accident) I don't want to get rid of him by any means. He will pee on the floor without me knowing and immediately want to cuddle or play like he doesn't know what he is doing is wrong. We have tried locking him up, giving him treats when he uses the litter box, smacked him with a newspaper at the scene of the crim and placed him in his litter box. Two years ago around this time we dumped over $1000 in vet bills only to have them say it must be a behavioral problem and that we need to try kitty boot camp.

Can anyone share any tips to help us? Thank you very much for any tips you can give.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

shadowsrescue

TCS Member
Veteran
Joined
Apr 27, 2011
Messages
7,023
Purraise
5,084
Location
Ohio
Welcome to the forums.  I realize how very frustrating this problem is for you and your family.  One of the first suggestions, is to be sure each pee spot gets cleaned with a good enzymatic cleaner.  If not the cat will continue to pee over an over in the same spot as he smells his familiar scent there. 

Have you tried feliway diffusers?  I have found they work to help stressed animals.  The key is to be sure you have enough of them if you have an open floor plan home.  You can also get the spray.  I have found the products on Amazon.

Another one to try is Composure liquid max. 

I will post a few ideas from Jackson Galaxy, the "cat guru".  He has lots of great suggestions on litter box problems.  The key at first may be to get more litter boxes.  Also the type of litter box can be important.  Many cats do not like the small standard size cat litter boxes.  I have long cats and they need more space and deep litter.  I use sterlite boxes.  The are about 24" long.  I make sure to fill the box at least 3 inches deep with litter.  Also cleaning the boxes is very important.  I scoop daily with my two cats and sometimes more often.


 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #3

loveracing1988

TCS Member
Thread starter
Kitten
Joined
Oct 26, 2014
Messages
2
Purraise
1
Welcome to the forums.  I realize how very frustrating this problem is for you and your family.  One of the first suggestions, is to be sure each pee spot gets cleaned with a good enzymatic cleaner.  If not the cat will continue to pee over an over in the same spot as he smells his familiar scent there. 



Have you tried feliway diffusers?  I have found they work to help stressed animals.  The key is to be sure you have enough of them if you have an open floor plan home.  You can also get the spray.  I have found the products on Amazon.



Another one to try is Composure liquid max. 



I will post a few ideas from Jackson Galaxy, the "cat guru".  He has lots of great suggestions on litter box problems.  The key at first may be to get more litter boxes.  Also the type of litter box can be important.  Many cats do not like the small standard size cat litter boxes.  I have long cats and they need more space and deep litter.  I use sterlite boxes.  The are about 24" long.  I make sure to fill the box at least 3 inches deep with litter.  Also cleaning the boxes is very important.  I scoop daily with my two cats and sometimes more often.






I have used nature's miracle on the spots, and have used a carpet cleaner, nothing helps.
We did have 1 diffuser up in the family room where his litter box was upstairs and the bathroom downstairs where his litter box has always been. Now that he is banned from that room upstairs he just has the one downstairs in the bathroom.
We have used the standard tidy cats litter since we have brought honey our female home, we have never changed it once. We have then on purina one urinary tract infection food as well because the vet throught that he was getting infections and that is what was causing this.
I have thought about making a litter box like that but I'm not sure he would be able to get in and out of it. One of the reasons he was in the shelter for so long is he has something wrong with one of his hind legs. It was broken and didn't heal right or it was a birth defect, but he cannot jump that high and cannot push off of it very well to do much. This only slows him down if he tries to jump on the couch or somewhere where he would need to catch himself with his claws as that leg just doesn't work like he wants it to. So if a litter box has very high sides I'm not sure he would use it anyways. When we first got him we had 2 covered litter boxes but now we took the covers off of two of them and got a extra large non covered one that he used to like. It's like he finds something he doesn't like, we correct it, and he is happy for 6 months or so and the moves on to something else he is unhappy with. By all means please keep throwing out suggestions though. I am hoping that it is just one simple thing that fixes this although I fear I will end up needing to take him back to the vet to find out nothing is wrong with him again... Thanks!
 
Top