WHY is he doing this??

i have a 4.5 yr old male, an 8 yr old female and a 19 yr old female

the 4.5 yr old, sheldon, has been charging at the girls when they are in the litter box

i have litter boxes spread out thru out the house in the hopes that they could pee in peace

but he can hear them get in (i can't) and he will run from where ever he is to where they are, and it scares the crap outta them (figuratively, not yet literally)

i am afraid they will avoid the litter boxes.

he is too fast for me to catch, by the time i get to him, he has already scared them

yelling at him, hissing at him, those dont' work
i cant get to him with a squirt bottle


i have heard ppl suggest "time outs" where you put a cat in a room by himself but frankly i dont see how this would work and i believe it would cause more problems. what about when he has to be confined , to go to the vets or for some health related reason, or if he needs to be in a safe place if say, work is being done on my apt?
i dont want him to think that confinement is a punishment. i dont think punishing a cat works at all.

i just dont know what to do about this.

the girls will not use a covered box.


if i only knew why he does this, i might be able to figure out a way to make him stop.

he is a very clean cat, he will not use a dirty box, and he is particular about what litter i get.
he also covers up the girls waste, when they dont. how considerate of him

is he being possessive of the litter boxes?

he acts like this is a game.

i strongly suspect he was taken from his mom and/or siblings too soon. i think they would have taught him that this is not a good thing to do.
he has a hard time "reading" the other cats.

any ideas on why he does this?

Time-outs are counterproductive with cats. We are experiencing a related problem. Autumn will wait right outside the bathroom door, knowing Meeka is doing her business. As soon as she comes out Autumn will ambush her, hissing and batting. Poor Meeka will get holed up in the bathroom until we clear Autumn away. I try leaving the door wide open now so no ambush can occur.

In your situation, I might try making it difficult to ambush. This might be kidn of wierd but try elevating the litter box. By putting it on the sink counter or somewhere stable, he won't be able to charge the other cats. After a while if you break his habit you could probably return the box to its original spot.

thanks for your response

no i don't think thats weird at all, elevating the litter box
that would be ok for my 8 yr old girl but my 19 yr old can just barely get into the box (and it has a low cut out in the front, too)

i had actually been mulling over the idea of making some sort of maze or something to make it harder for him to get there while they are using the box

i just worry that my old girl won't make it in time, she is in renal failure and with the fluids she gets, she needs to be able to get to the box fast, or she doesn't make it at all.

today he was strange, he went to the back room where three of the boxes are (i have 3 cats but 6 boxes!) while my old girl was back there, and he stood in the doorway til she was done, then went and covered up her poop.
he didnt charge her this time.

he is such a curious boy!!