litter box suggestion for a feral inside a 3 tier cage

[vizibara]

I need advice as to what type of litter box to use or what to do to prevent a feral cat from trashing it while being kept inside a 3 tier cage.

When devastating hurricane Ian was going to pass through Florida had to trap my beloved feral cat Micifuz.
During those 2 1/2 days he went bonkers . Not only he didn't eat but he used whatever energy he had to trash the regular litter box I had set inside for him. (see picture of him during Ian) . Micifuz showed his feral skills and flipped that litter box 4 times making litter fly all over the cover sheets, walls and adjacent furniture. This was my first time ever caring for a feral and it was hard trying to stay at ease with brutal hurricane while cleaning cage over and over

I need a solution ASAP because we now have another cat in our community sick and he might need to stay overnight inside my cage after a vet visit. Yesterday went and bought a hooded litter box brand Catit but it seems like a bad idea as it is too big. (see picture).

Can someone please please give me ideas ?

thanks

 

[LeiLatte]

I have been lucky I guess with the ferals I had to keep for a short time inside a cage. They used a small open kitten sized litter box just fine.

I get very nervous with those tier cages though. We brought home an old abandoned stray who was sick and emaciated. She was sweet so we ended up keeping her but she had health issues and would urinate in the house and on the walls. I tried putting her in one of those tiered cages, but at some point she fell and injured herself, and her leg or hip was never the same despite visiting the vet. I felt so guilty and threw out the cage.

 

[treeclimber]

I would suggest a pack of zip ties and a drill or other object capable of making holes in plastic.

Make holes in the side of the litterbox - pick an area that’s above the litter and where the plastic seems strong and not flimsy. Make your holes in pairs, with the two holes in a pair half an inch apart from each-other. You want them far enough apart that the plastic between them has some strength, but not so far apart that a loop that passes through the holes could trap a paw.

Starting from outside the litter box, run a zip tie into the box through one hole and back out through the other. Fasten the ends of the zip tie, but don’t tighten it all the way, leave a little slack - enough you could slide another zip tie under the first one, but not so much you could fit a cat’s paw. I’d suggest creating at least three loops like this on the long side of the litterbox and two loops on the back side.

At this point you could seal up the holes (cover with packing tape, some kind of putty or glue, etc.) from inside the litter box if you’re concerned about the possibility of the cat peeing against the litterbox wall where the holes are.

Now put the litter box in the cage. Run zip ties from outside of the cage, through the loops you created, then back out of the cage, and tighten and fasten those. These are the zip ties you will cut every time you need to take the box out - the loops going through the box will stay there permanently since they take more time/effort to do, you only ever need to cut/replace the ones that secure the loops to the cage wall.

Fasten at least two sides of the litterbox to the cage. If you only fasten one side then you’ve just made a hinge that the box can be flipped along. Tighten the cage wall zip ties enough to make sure there’s no room to get a paw in there, but don’t make them so tight that there is a lot of pulling/stress on the litterbox plastic. You can make them super-narrow by just encircling a single cage bar instead of multiple bars. A well-tightened zip tie that is encircling only another zip tie and a single cage bar should be so narrow that there’s no way a paw could get into it.

After tightening a zip tie, cut the excess off - some cats like to play with loose zip tie ends and it’s best if the cat in the cage has no reason to pay attention to the zip ties.

I strongly suggest doing it the way I described with two sets of zip ties (one set as loops on the litter box, the other set to go from those loops to the cage wall) instead of directly zip tying the litterbox to the cage wall. It makes litterbox changes easier because you never have to mess with feeding a zip tie through the litterbox holes while the box is inside the cage, and it’s safer for the cat because all of the zip tie loops can be kept small/narrow enough that a paw can’t get trapped in them.

 

[CatladyJan]

I need advice as to what type of litter box to use or what to do to prevent a feral cat from trashing it while being kept inside a 3 tier cage.

When devastating hurricane Ian was going to pass through Florida had to trap my beloved feral cat Micifuz.
During those 2 1/2 days he went bonkers . Not only he didn't eat but he used whatever energy he had to trash the regular litter box I had set inside for him. (see picture of him during Ian) . Micifuz showed his feral skills and flipped that litter box 4 times making litter fly all over the cover sheets, walls and adjacent furniture. This was my first time ever caring for a feral and it was hard trying to stay at ease with brutal hurricane while cleaning cage over and over

I need a solution ASAP because we now have another cat in our community sick and he might need to stay overnight inside my cage after a vet visit. Yesterday went and bought a hooded litter box brand Catit but it seems like a bad idea as it is too big. (see picture).

Can someone please please give me ideas ?

thanks

If you removed on of the tiers you can turn the newer litter box in the other direction.

 

[vizibara]

I have been lucky I guess with the ferals I had to keep for a short time inside a cage. They used a small open kitten sized litter box just fine.

I get very nervous with those tier cages though. We brought home an old abandoned stray who was sick and emaciated. She was sweet so we ended up keeping her but she had health issues and would urinate in the house and on the walls. I tried putting her in one of those tiered cages, but at some point she fell and injured herself, and her leg or hip was never the same despite visiting the vet. I felt so guilty and threw out the cage.

Thanks for the advice. I had similar experience when I was training the beloved Micifuz to scent the cage. The tray on 1st level fell over where I had left treats. That scared the cat and her ran. I then had to drill 4 corner holes on each tray and tie them to the cage while getting the tray under the metal part that holds it.

 

[vizibara]

I would suggest a pack of zip ties and a drill or other object capable of making holes in plastic.

Make holes in the side of the litterbox - pick an area that’s above the litter and where the plastic seems strong and not flimsy. Make your holes in pairs, with the two holes in a pair half an inch apart from each-other. You want them far enough apart that the plastic between them has some strength, but not so far apart that a loop that passes through the holes could trap a paw.

Starting from outside the litter box, run a zip tie into the box through one hole and back out through the other. Fasten the ends of the zip tie, but don’t tighten it all the way, leave a little slack - enough you could slide another zip tie under the first one, but not so much you could fit a cat’s paw. I’d suggest creating at least three loops like this on the long side of the litterbox and two loops on the back side.

At this point you could seal up the holes (cover with packing tape, some kind of putty or glue, etc.) from inside the litter box if you’re concerned about the possibility of the cat peeing against the litterbox wall where the holes are.

Now put the litter box in the cage. Run zip ties from outside of the cage, through the loops you created, then back out of the cage, and tighten and fasten those. These are the zip ties you will cut every time you need to take the box out - the loops going through the box will stay there permanently since they take more time/effort to do, you only ever need to cut/replace the ones that secure the loops to the cage wall.

Fasten at least two sides of the litterbox to the cage. If you only fasten one side then you’ve just made a hinge that the box can be flipped along. Tighten the cage wall zip ties enough to make sure there’s no room to get a paw in there, but don’t make them so tight that there is a lot of pulling/stress on the litterbox plastic. You can make them super-narrow by just encircling a single cage bar instead of multiple bars. A well-tightened zip tie that is encircling only another zip tie and a single cage bar should be so narrow that there’s no way a paw could get into it.

After tightening a zip tie, cut the excess off - some cats like to play with loose zip tie ends and it’s best if the cat in the cage has no reason to pay attention to the zip ties.

I strongly suggest doing it the way I described with two sets of zip ties (one set as loops on the litter box, the other set to go from those loops to the cage wall) instead of directly zip tying the litterbox to the cage wall. It makes litterbox changes easier because you never have to mess with feeding a zip tie through the litterbox holes while the box is inside the cage, and it’s safer for the cat because all of the zip tie loops can be kept small/narrow enough that a paw can’t get trapped in them.

OMG this is very detailed. I am glad you mentioned the importance of keeping in mind a paw can get trapped. I have only trapped cat 1 time on this cage and don't own cats myself. So glad you mentioned all the details in the above order. By any chance do you have a picture of this exact set up? I have googled "litter feral cage " and few other key words and nothing seems to show an idea of your set up. thanks a lot