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- #21
As near as I can tell, Skyy hasn't heckled Brownie in or around the boxes... It's certainly possible since Skyy is goofy and periodically gets full of energy and chases Brownie around. Of course, I've also seen Brownie chase Skyy around or even give her a thump on the head (which I personally think is poetic justice and well deserved, and no cause for concern since Brownie was declawed when we rescued her).
At this point, we're baffled. We had a urination Wednesday afternoon, then NO problems until Saturday. Everybody used a litterbox. Saturday afternoon, one of the cats urinated next to the box in the laundry room again. She always goes on the big piece of plastic, but why?
We've continued confining them at night, and Brownie definitely used the litter box since there was both urine and feces in the box this morning.
We now have FIVE litter boxes. Laundry room, kitchen, downstairs bath, my office, and one of the upstairs baths. All but the downstairs bath are Littermaids, but they are all big ones except the one in the laundry room. That one's a small one. The bathroom where we've been confining Brownie at night is just a regular box...
Do y'all really think there's a problem between Brownie and the Littermaids? At this point I wouldn't rule anything out, but what would cause her to suddenly not like them after 4 years of using the one in the kitchen faithfully? I can say I have not seen her use the Littermaid anywhere there is one, even though a couple of them are very new.
The one in my office is an LM Elite, which is very large. I've seen Skyy use it, but so far I haven't seen Brownie use it. At this point, everyone is in here with me, including food, water, toys, giant cat tree, two cat beds, and two cats!
It's my hope that I'll be able to see and catch Brownie if she starts to go outside the box, and/or see her using the box. If it's some kind of fear thing, or she associates the Littermaid with some kind of problem, hopefully this'll get her past it... I'm also thinking about replacing the non-Littermaid in the downstairs bath the one of the big Littermaids so at night when she's confined she'll hopefully use it and stop being afraid if that's the problem.
If it becomes ABSOLUTELY necessary, we can replace ALL the Littermaids with regular boxes, but that's going to be a really tough sell with my wife. All our units are on platforms with catch pans underneath so they're always clean, and very easy to remove the droppings from.
BUT, if all else fails, I'll substitute regular boxes and put the Littermaids in the basement and see if THAT fixes the problem... If we get to that point, I'll need a recommendation 'cause Skyy, who's about at big as a minute, LOVES TO DIG....... And BOY, can she move some litter! All the Littermaids have a "digger guard" on the front to minimize the amount of litter she throws all over, and the non-littermaid in the bathroom regularly has to be moved and all the litter put back in the box from where it's been thrown onto the plastic sheet underneath! I've seen regular boxes with high sides on 3 sides, but they seem REALLY small, and Skyy will undoubtedly make a huge mess throwing the litter out the remaining hole... So, just in case we HAVE to go that way, anyone have a recommendation for a box that'll hopefully keep the litter in?
OR, OF COURSE, any OTHER recommendations... We're trying everything we can think of so keep any ideas coming.
At this point, we're baffled. We had a urination Wednesday afternoon, then NO problems until Saturday. Everybody used a litterbox. Saturday afternoon, one of the cats urinated next to the box in the laundry room again. She always goes on the big piece of plastic, but why?
We've continued confining them at night, and Brownie definitely used the litter box since there was both urine and feces in the box this morning.
We now have FIVE litter boxes. Laundry room, kitchen, downstairs bath, my office, and one of the upstairs baths. All but the downstairs bath are Littermaids, but they are all big ones except the one in the laundry room. That one's a small one. The bathroom where we've been confining Brownie at night is just a regular box...
Do y'all really think there's a problem between Brownie and the Littermaids? At this point I wouldn't rule anything out, but what would cause her to suddenly not like them after 4 years of using the one in the kitchen faithfully? I can say I have not seen her use the Littermaid anywhere there is one, even though a couple of them are very new.
The one in my office is an LM Elite, which is very large. I've seen Skyy use it, but so far I haven't seen Brownie use it. At this point, everyone is in here with me, including food, water, toys, giant cat tree, two cat beds, and two cats!
It's my hope that I'll be able to see and catch Brownie if she starts to go outside the box, and/or see her using the box. If it's some kind of fear thing, or she associates the Littermaid with some kind of problem, hopefully this'll get her past it... I'm also thinking about replacing the non-Littermaid in the downstairs bath the one of the big Littermaids so at night when she's confined she'll hopefully use it and stop being afraid if that's the problem.
If it becomes ABSOLUTELY necessary, we can replace ALL the Littermaids with regular boxes, but that's going to be a really tough sell with my wife. All our units are on platforms with catch pans underneath so they're always clean, and very easy to remove the droppings from.
BUT, if all else fails, I'll substitute regular boxes and put the Littermaids in the basement and see if THAT fixes the problem... If we get to that point, I'll need a recommendation 'cause Skyy, who's about at big as a minute, LOVES TO DIG....... And BOY, can she move some litter! All the Littermaids have a "digger guard" on the front to minimize the amount of litter she throws all over, and the non-littermaid in the bathroom regularly has to be moved and all the litter put back in the box from where it's been thrown onto the plastic sheet underneath! I've seen regular boxes with high sides on 3 sides, but they seem REALLY small, and Skyy will undoubtedly make a huge mess throwing the litter out the remaining hole... So, just in case we HAVE to go that way, anyone have a recommendation for a box that'll hopefully keep the litter in?
OR, OF COURSE, any OTHER recommendations... We're trying everything we can think of so keep any ideas coming.