peeing problem solved! Hallelujah!

Hope I'm not celebrating prematurely, but I thought I was going to have to banish my cat to the outdoors.

After Little Kitty stopped peeing in the box for some unknown reason, I tried a couple of new litter brands, and Dr Elsey's did the trick!

I was at wit's end because we had taken LK in for urinary tract treatments, bought a second litterbox, calming spray, and cleaned old pee spots with Nature's Miracle, and he was still peeing in the corners outside the box. It was driving me nuts. There didn't seem to be any reason for this sudden problem.

I put the Dr Elsey's in the box and LK now spends a lot of time in there... almost obsessed with it.

On the other hand, I bought the Nature's Miracle litter, and while I love its scent (almost like a Christmas tree), the cats haven't touched the box I put it in.

Just thought I'd share this to suggest to others that changing litters might be all you need to do.

I've never heard of this type of litter. Where did you find it? Is it scoopable? How is it different from other litters?

Oh....Bravo for your success! *keeping fingers crossed that it continues!*

Thanks, LOC. I'm calling it Dr Elsey's, but that's only part of the name. It's full name is Dr Elsey's Cat Attract. And boy, does it ever... and that's the difference. I don't know what they put in there.

It is scoopable and it clumps. The texture is not sandy, more like teeny gravel. I don't have one of those floor mats to catch the litter, so it is scattered all over outside the box, but I'm not finding it all over the house, thank goodness.

No accidents yet. But the odor control is not all that, sad to say. I can live with it though!

Grrr... spoke too soon. Little Kitty was back to his old ways within 2 weeks. I'm in despair. He's on his way to becoming an outdoor cat.

Automatic scooping litter box solved my issues. I tried multiple boxes, different litter, and scooping like mad, but it seems that my one cat would not use the litter box unless it was empty and there's no way to scoop after every use by hand. Some cats are just very picky. It's not a cheap solution but it did work for me. It's also nice not to have to scoop all the time, I just empty the tray every few days and clean the box every month and the rest takes care of itself.

If you want to try an automatic litterbox before condemning kitty to the outside, I have no idea what your resources are, and this IS expensive- but they are the best automatic litterboxes there are.

http://www.litter-robot.com/default....1?source=gaw01

We've got six cats and five litterboxes. 2 of them are these. We have one cat that had a litterbox problem. Hers was stress related, and once she adjusted to our having adopted a daughter everything was fine - but we still love these litterboxes. They are so easy to use and so easy to clean, and it's been almost 2 years and we've just never had a problem with them.

One quick thought - before trying an auto litterbox (unless that's something you want to try anyway), have you tried purchasing a few more boxes and putting them in different locations? From the short note you wrote, it seems kitty likes the corners. Only where litterboxes aren't? Because one method of litterbox retraining is to put a box where kitty has been going, and then slowly moving it to where you want the litterbox. Cats can also be very choosey about where they go to the bathroom - not just the litter or the cleanliness of the box - but also where that box is located. Just a thought, in case you hadn't already given that a try.

Thanks for trying so hard with kitty. We know from experience how difficult and frustrating it can get.

Wishing you luck,

Laurie

Originally Posted by mrsbrak

He's on his way to becoming an outdoor cat.

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Don't eject the poor thing outside Between poisons and cars and being attacked by dogs and other cats, the life expectancy of an outdoor cat is short.

Better to find him a new home or take him to the Humane Society or a no kill cat shelter than to condemn him to a life of living outside

Originally Posted by LDG

Cats can also be very choosey about where they go to the bathroom - not just the litter or the cleanliness of the box - but also where that box is located.

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Yes, make sure that it's not near any walls. Some cats don't like the confinement of having their litter pan close to walls.

Also, make sure the place is quiet and not busy. If your bathroom is a busy place, that's not the place for your cat pan. And make sure that their food and water areas are not near the cat pan either.

Also, is the pan big enough? Some cats like larger or smaller pans. What about the height? Is it too tall for kitty to get in and out of?

What are you using to disinfect it with?

Is the amount of cat litter in the pan adequate? My oldest cat hates when I let it go low. She's a shoveller and likes lots of cat litter.

Also, you said that the cat litter you are using is scoopable, but has no litter control. Maybe your cat can smell the left over urine from many scoopings ago and doesn't like it. How often are you doing a complete litter change? Have you tried sprinkling a box of baking soda into the litter pan and mixing it up to give it some odour control?

I use "Johnny Cat" scoopable litter. It tracks, but it has good odour control and clumps nicely. When I scoop I manage to get pretty much all of what was deposited.

Some cats are "edgers" meaning they like to pee along the side of the pan. Maybe the cat can smell the old urine left on the pan, even if you have scooped.

UPDATE:
OK, no one get upset... I did not banish Little Kitty to the outdoors. However, the problem got worse-- more puddles in more places than ever. Even though the previous vet had treated him for a suspected UTI, I thought I'd best have another vet check him out.

We had to warn the vet that LK is pretty dangerous-- has sent my husband to the doc-in-the-box before-- so this vet decided to anesthetize LK and give him a complete check up. Turns out, he had a full-blown UTI.

Knowing the oral meds are hard to get down a wildcat like LK, the vet gave us some injectable antibiotics, soon to be followed by topical cream as soon as it's in stock.

The vet gave us this helpful explanation as to why LK was pooping in the box, but not peeing... LK associated the box with painful urination, so he was looking for some place more pleasant and cool out the box.

I did notice that when I would change litters, LK would go back in the box for a while. The vet suggested changing litterboxes again so that LK wouldn't have that bad association with the pain.

The UTI also explained why LK started having slightly loose and smelly stools. The vet said all that straining was inducing a little diarrhea. Sorry if this is TMI! But I'm glad to know all this "bad" behavior has an explanation. Hopefully, this information will help others to continue pursuing medical reasons, even though you may think it has been treated.

Thank you for having the patience to find out the problem and not kicking kitty outside!

When did you take him to the vet? Have the treatments helped?

Natalie, we took LK to the vet yesterday. I could find only one accident spot on the floor this morning and it was small. I changed the type of litter I put in his box, so he investigated it and stepped in. I guess we'll see if this improves things.

Thank you for your thoughtful replies!