Does anyone have a cat that just uses pee pads?

racheljc

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I have tried every litter. One of my two cats will ONLY use clay litter. The problem is that we're sharing a very, very small bedroom in my parents house. We have been so far for about 6 months and will for another few months. I just cleared out the closet from my mother's belongings and put the box in there and it really didn't help that much. The silica dust is making me really sick. I can barely breathe and I spend the majority of my day + sleep in this room and I have this burning in my chest and nose that's really bad. It gets a little better when I leave the house. Last night, he used the pee pad with this walnut litter very reluctantly. I have some of the old litter mixed in with it. I would like it if he would just use the pee pads because this walnut stuff stinks and it's not very easy to clean. I know cats need to bury their waste but on google, I have seen some people that have trained their cats to do this. Additionally, if he can pee on the bed and not worry about burying it, I don't see why he can't pee on a pad all the same. My girl cat is also not pleased by the arrangement but I can't breathe anymore. My eyelids are swelling and doctors are pointing to the litter exposure. I vacuum twice daily, I clean the box each time they go. It's the dust. It's killing me, probably literally. We moved from a house into this situation so I never had this issue before. This is temporary but indefinite and I don't want to give them up.
 

Willowy

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I do have a couple of cats who only use pee pads due to old age but I've never thought about deliberately training a cat to do it. I don't see why not, if you're willing to provide pee pads for the rest of his life. You might want to use one of those plastic puppy pad holders, or put the pad in a litterbox, just to delineate it from other soft surfaces in the house.
 

hexiesfriend

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I had a diabetic cat who wouldn't use the litter for peeing because her feet would get wet from too much urine output. She used human bed pads for many many years with no problems. She would still poop in the litterbox though. As for the burying she would just flip the pad over with her paw after she would pee. Burying is a learned behavior but once your cat does it they always will. I think you can train your cat to use the pads for peeing but probably not pooping. If they have a need to bury they'll just flip the pad over the problem with that is you have to watch and change the pad. Pads are also very expensive and you'll have to buy the human ones. The dog ones are too thin and move pretty easily. Have you tried pine litter?
 
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racheljc

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Right now I have the pad in the litter box so they understand this is where they need to go. My girl cat pooped and then covered it with the pad so she gets it. He's just holding it in and going to pop at some point. I haven't left the room to make sure he doesn't pop on the bed.
 
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racheljc

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Yeah, he hates all litters except the clay. Which is silly, because he was a homeless cat for years and lived in a parking lot so I'm sure he didn't have clay litter there.
 

sophie1

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Dr. Elsey's has a "respiratory relief" version of their clumping clay litter that you might try.
 
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