- Joined
- Jul 4, 2012
- Messages
- 4
- Purraise
- 0
I am the proud new owner roommate of 2 10-week-old kittes (brothers) who moved in about 5 days ago. One of them learned to use the litterbox almost instantaneously, but the other has been having some trouble so I'd like to recount my experiences of the past few days, and would love to hear your suggestions on a good next step.
** note: to protect their anonymity I will be referring to the boys as Black and Grey for the remainder of this posting.
Day 1 - We picked up the boys at the breeders house, had about a 15 minute car ride home, and fed them right away (Merrick, dry #2- salmon) which they nose-dived into despite having been eating wetfood at the breeders. They found a hiding space behind some stuff on a bottom shelf, and pretty much stayed there for the rest of the evening.
They have the run of a 1.5 room area, where we had already 1 jumbo-sized litter box set-up with about 4 inches of Worlds Best Kitty Litter (multicat clumping formula) about 15 feet away from their eating area. The box is in a quite place under a side table, and easily accessible. Neither of them looked like the needed to use the box at all that day.
Day 2 - Unless something is still hiding somewhere, I'm pretty sure neither of them went to the bathroom at all until late in the afternoon of day 2. They were both sniffing around the litter box but looked a bit scared to jump in, so I had the idea to make them chase a laser pointer into the box to help them overcome their fears. Black jumped right in after the pointer and started peeing pretty much the second his feet hit litter (he now uses the litter box every time.) Grey was still hesitant to go into the box, and ended up doing his business (all of it) on the litter mat. (This was a silicone mat with rubbery numbs that he seemed to like on his feet.)
After he did his business I cleaned up the litter mat, and moved it into a closet for the time being so he wouldn't be tempted to use it again. I also picked up Grey and put him into the box so we would know its okay, but he jumped right out.
Day 3 - Grey and Black are out of hiding and being social and curious. Black is using the litter box regularly but Grey is still not into it. He ends up going on the rug. After putting a little bit of it into the litter box so he would know where to go, I cleaned up the mess with Natures Miracle Advanced (the red bottle) as per their directions. A couple hours later I saw Grey sniffing around like he had to go, so I picked him up to gently usher him to the box. Unfortunately, he had already started going when I picked him up and we didn't quite make it in time. He just hopped out of the box, and I don't think this was a traumatic experience for him, but I'm sure he didn't enjoy it.
That evening we cleaned up the rug again, rolled it up, and put it out of sight.
Day 4 - We wake up to find a present for us on a leather side chair. I'm starting to feel as though either Grey is one of those cat's I've read about that refuses to share his litter box, or that the jumbo box is just big and intimidating for him. Cleaned up the mess, and hightailed it to the store to buy a smaller box to put up in a different part of the house. 8 hours later... still no luck. Grey has once again used the leather chair. Put a little bit in the new box, cleaned up the mess again, but decided to leave the chair where it is for fear that the next stop might be the couch (or worse, hiding it).
Day 5- Woke up to find a familiar scene on the leather chair. My next thought is that he just doesn't like the alleged "World's Best Kitty Litter", and I'd also been reading about Cat Attract so I went out and got a bag. I completely emptied and washed the second litter box, and then put in the cat attract. After about 20 minutes Grey was sniffing around it, and even looked like he might have tasted a little. I got out the laser point again to see if this would help and started noticing something about his behaviour....
GREY IS AFRAID TO GET INTO THE BOX. Even while chasing the pointer, or his bird toy, he will only put his front paws into the box, and even seems a bit scared to do that. I tried working with him again on it about an hour later and it was the same. I also picked him up and gently put him into the new litter, but again he just hopped out. Another hour later... he peed on the chair again. This time I moved the leather chair away because I really don't want him to get in the habit, and I also moved the Cat Attract litter box to the spot where the chair was.
I know this is a bit long, but I wanted to make sure the experts had all relevant info at their disposal, so thanks so much for reading, and thanks in advance for any help you might be able to offer, and ... for your enjoyment here are some highlights of the first couple days:
-
** note: to protect their anonymity I will be referring to the boys as Black and Grey for the remainder of this posting.
Day 1 - We picked up the boys at the breeders house, had about a 15 minute car ride home, and fed them right away (Merrick, dry #2- salmon) which they nose-dived into despite having been eating wetfood at the breeders. They found a hiding space behind some stuff on a bottom shelf, and pretty much stayed there for the rest of the evening.
They have the run of a 1.5 room area, where we had already 1 jumbo-sized litter box set-up with about 4 inches of Worlds Best Kitty Litter (multicat clumping formula) about 15 feet away from their eating area. The box is in a quite place under a side table, and easily accessible. Neither of them looked like the needed to use the box at all that day.
Day 2 - Unless something is still hiding somewhere, I'm pretty sure neither of them went to the bathroom at all until late in the afternoon of day 2. They were both sniffing around the litter box but looked a bit scared to jump in, so I had the idea to make them chase a laser pointer into the box to help them overcome their fears. Black jumped right in after the pointer and started peeing pretty much the second his feet hit litter (he now uses the litter box every time.) Grey was still hesitant to go into the box, and ended up doing his business (all of it) on the litter mat. (This was a silicone mat with rubbery numbs that he seemed to like on his feet.)
After he did his business I cleaned up the litter mat, and moved it into a closet for the time being so he wouldn't be tempted to use it again. I also picked up Grey and put him into the box so we would know its okay, but he jumped right out.
Day 3 - Grey and Black are out of hiding and being social and curious. Black is using the litter box regularly but Grey is still not into it. He ends up going on the rug. After putting a little bit of it into the litter box so he would know where to go, I cleaned up the mess with Natures Miracle Advanced (the red bottle) as per their directions. A couple hours later I saw Grey sniffing around like he had to go, so I picked him up to gently usher him to the box. Unfortunately, he had already started going when I picked him up and we didn't quite make it in time. He just hopped out of the box, and I don't think this was a traumatic experience for him, but I'm sure he didn't enjoy it.
That evening we cleaned up the rug again, rolled it up, and put it out of sight.
Day 4 - We wake up to find a present for us on a leather side chair. I'm starting to feel as though either Grey is one of those cat's I've read about that refuses to share his litter box, or that the jumbo box is just big and intimidating for him. Cleaned up the mess, and hightailed it to the store to buy a smaller box to put up in a different part of the house. 8 hours later... still no luck. Grey has once again used the leather chair. Put a little bit in the new box, cleaned up the mess again, but decided to leave the chair where it is for fear that the next stop might be the couch (or worse, hiding it).
Day 5- Woke up to find a familiar scene on the leather chair. My next thought is that he just doesn't like the alleged "World's Best Kitty Litter", and I'd also been reading about Cat Attract so I went out and got a bag. I completely emptied and washed the second litter box, and then put in the cat attract. After about 20 minutes Grey was sniffing around it, and even looked like he might have tasted a little. I got out the laser point again to see if this would help and started noticing something about his behaviour....
GREY IS AFRAID TO GET INTO THE BOX. Even while chasing the pointer, or his bird toy, he will only put his front paws into the box, and even seems a bit scared to do that. I tried working with him again on it about an hour later and it was the same. I also picked him up and gently put him into the new litter, but again he just hopped out. Another hour later... he peed on the chair again. This time I moved the leather chair away because I really don't want him to get in the habit, and I also moved the Cat Attract litter box to the spot where the chair was.
I know this is a bit long, but I wanted to make sure the experts had all relevant info at their disposal, so thanks so much for reading, and thanks in advance for any help you might be able to offer, and ... for your enjoyment here are some highlights of the first couple days:
-
