strange litterbox issues

[happybird]

PricklyPaw, Ack! I feel your pain
I scoop at least five times a day or basically whenever I see anything in the box. Two of my cats have an annoying habit. I scoop and then as soon as I announce 'OK fresh box, guys' and leave the room, one of them will immediately go and poop. So then I have to get the rake out again....it's gotten to the point that I don't even seal my little waste bag until I get the soon-to-be-taken poop. I've tried stealth scooping but they can still hear me. I guess I would prefer to go in a fresh box, too.
I have an extreme kicker, also. Litter everywhere and it gets in the bed! I vacuum twice a day. At least she covers it and she will actually dig up, inspect, and re-bury the business of the other cats. She's a weirdo, but we love her Coincidentally, her name is Pooper, but she was named well before we realized her strange obsession. She follows everyone to the box and basically stalks them so she can inspect their poop. This causes one of our other cats to shoot out of the box like she's been fired from a cannon, flinging copious amounts of litter in her wake. To balance it out, and possibly to entertain Pooper, one cat doesn't bury anything and I think it offends the others. Five cats, three litter boxes and they all go in the same one. Then my male cat will balance on the edge of the box and pee on the mat because he won't disdain to tread where his sisters have gone...arg. Use one of the other, fresh, untouched boxes buddy! Nope. Well, thanks for letting me vent a bit, I gotta go scoop, rescoop and run the vacuum.

 

[catspaw66]

Five cats, three boxes? I have five cats and five boxes which I scoop once a day. 

 

[poise]

Yeah, my loves to go and do nb1 and nb2 the moment I change the litter. I don't even put the top of the box anymore, I just wait for him to finish, scoop it up and then put the roof of the box back in place.
Once, he propelled out of the box as if wild dogs were chasing him, with poop still hanging from his butt... I had poop on the walls to clean out. It was literally hanging there.

 

[pricklypaw]

PricklyPaw, Ack! I feel your pain
I scoop at least five times a day or basically whenever I see anything in the box. Two of my cats have an annoying habit. I scoop and then as soon as I announce 'OK fresh box, guys' and leave the room, one of them will immediately go and poop. So then I have to get the rake out again....it's gotten to the point that I don't even seal my little waste bag until I get the soon-to-be-taken poop. I've tried stealth scooping but they can still hear me. I guess I would prefer to go in a fresh box, too.
I have an extreme kicker, also. Litter everywhere and it gets in the bed! I vacuum twice a day. At least she covers it and she will actually dig up, inspect, and re-bury the business of the other cats. She's a weirdo, but we love her Coincidentally, her name is Pooper, but she was named well before we realized her strange obsession. She follows everyone to the box and basically stalks them so she can inspect their poop. This causes one of our other cats to shoot out of the box like she's been fired from a cannon, flinging copious amounts of litter in her wake. To balance it out, and possibly to entertain Pooper, one cat doesn't bury anything and I think it offends the others. Five cats, three litter boxes and they all go in the same one. Then my male cat will balance on the edge of the box and pee on the mat because he won't disdain to tread where his sisters have gone...arg. Use one of the other, fresh, untouched boxes buddy! Nope. Well, thanks for letting me vent a bit, I gotta go scoop, rescoop and run the vacuum.

Thank YOU, for letting me finally hear that I'm not alone with the frustration! I told my partner about your predicament, with the five cats ignoring two perfectly clean trays, and he made a suggestion that I thought was pretty funny: He says, "they could get another six trays and push them all up against the main tray, so that it's completely surrounded by other trays and they have to walk across clean litter to get to the middle." That way, even if the male cat perches on the edge to pee outside the box, he will be peeing into another tray heh.

It might not be a sensible use of floor space... but it sure would be good for a laugh!!

We are getting another two litter trays, as I'm willing to try anything to stop Momo from spraying off the couch again. She does it all the time now and she's only two years old! Can't make her an outside cat because the drivers on this street have already claimed the lives of two of my fur-babies

 

[happybird]

Hmmm. I may try that to just see what happens, lol

 

[angelal]

I've never had to use litter trays. I've always had cats doors so my cats could go outside to the toilet whenever they needed to go. Even my Jack Russell uses the cat door to go outside when she needs to go toilet. I only know one person that uses a litter tray and that's only because her cat is some type of pedigree so she never wants it to go outside in case something happens to it. My other friends with cats also uses cat doors.

 

[betsygee]

We have seven cats, seven boxes.  Three of them go outside a lot so the boxes don't get used all that much--I scoop them once a day.  The other kitties are older and two of them have IBS so.....I do a lot of scooping, at least three times a day of four boxes.  Now I'm having a problem with one of them peeing outside the box.  Whoever it is, is peeing on the pad under the box which is helpful LOL at least it's on a pad and easier to clean up.  But I haven't been able to figure out which one is doing it!  Usually when I come home from work or check first thing in the morning, the pee is there.  I want to get whichever of them it is to the vet but haven't caught anybody in the act yet.  

 

[sephreniak]

Feed mashed beets to one suspect kitty at a time for a few days at a time. Or add human grade food coloring to the food. The ASPCA says both are safe for cats, and they should change the urine color of the kitty you are feeding. This way may take a little, but you will be able to determine which kitty is avoiding the box and get them the help they need. In your case you might want to use food coloring in special made treats of different colors to eliminate more than one Kitty at a time.

Seven kitties is a lot, after all!

 

[betsygee]

Feed mashed beets to one suspect kitty at a time for a few days at a time. Or add human grade food coloring to the food. The ASPCA says both are safe for cats, and they should change the urine color of the kitty you are feeding. This way may take a little, but you will be able to determine which kitty is avoiding the box and get them the help they need. In your case you might want to use food coloring in special made treats of different colors to eliminate more than one Kitty at a time.

Seven kitties is a lot, after all!

That's an interesting idea!  The four suspect kitties eat together, so I'd need to wait until the one who has the food coloring is done eating and then pick up that bowl....but it might work.  Thanks.  

 

[betsygee]

Well, Sephreniak, I identified the mystery pee-er!  But only because he "helpfully" just happened to squat to urinate on the pad under the litter box as I was cleaning it out.  LOL  Now I can get the correct kitty to the vet.  

I did try the food coloring for two days--actually, I assigned each of the four kitties a different color, mixed it in their food, and watched to make sure they didn't lick out of each other's bowls to mix up the colors!  I didn't see any results, though.  Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried this before?   Anybody know how long it would have taken for the urine to turn color?  

 

[annabell]

Try cleaning the litter box every day - Smokie will sit by the litter box and cry if it's not cleaned every day.  [no hard feelings but how would you like to use a toilet that had 2 or 3 days of poop in it!]

 

[sephreniak]

Well, Sephreniak, 
I identified the mystery pee-er!  But only because he "helpfully" just happened to squat to urinate on the pad under the litter box as I was cleaning it out.  LOL  Now I can get the correct kitty to the vet.  

I did try the food coloring for two days--actually, I assigned each of the four kitties a different color, mixed it in their food, and watched to make sure they didn't lick out of each other's bowls to mix up the colors!  I didn't see any results, though.  Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried this before?   Anybody know how long it would have taken for the urine to turn color?  

You do have to use a fair amount of food coloring. But usually two or three days is sufficient. I know beets even change human urine colour at fairly small amounts, but food coloring takes quite a bit comparatively. Beets are about a teaspoon or two, or at most a tablespoon mashed before they will change urine colour.which I suppose I should have mentioned beforehand, lol. I mentioned the ASPCA non-toxic rating because I myself check everything I give jasmine or want to give jasmine or Jasmine gets into against that list before all others.

I'm glad you were able to get the right kitty to the vet! It's never very fun to not know. >_

 

[mommyof5]

I have never heard of the beets or the food coloring but willing to try it.  I have 5 cats and 1 I do believe is the one that pees everywhere has been seen.  My kitchen and bathroom counters, the door to go to the garage, MY COUCH!!!! every wall space in my house.  I wipe it up and use Natures Miracle Just for cats urine destroyer and the Natures Miracle Just for cats pet block but I can spray it on something and they jump right up on it 5 mins later.

  I have 6 big litter boxes not covered and all my cats are fixed.  The one we believe is spraying on every vertical space in our house is one of the 2 sisters that we found at 4-5 wks old.  They were number 2 and 3 and was given lots of attention.  They don't like anybody but my boyfriend and I everybody else that comes over they run and hide.  We cant catch Duchess ourselves unless its bed time and she will get up in bed with us, but if I get 3 feet close to her she runs.  I can catch her more than my boyfriend can but very few.  I have taken her to the vet and they did a urine test she has no infection just a high amount of crystals in her urine. I have read can be caused by stress and fear.  I have tried keeping her and her sister in an upstairs bedroom but they both just cry and that lasted for about 2 days.  I cleaned my house from top to bottom Saturday and now its Tuesday and I have found 10 spots that have been sprayed on. 

 Part of the basement is blocked and the office upstairs but they have free run of the rest of the basement, main level and upstairs.  My male cat is about 2 years old and loves to play.  Three of the other cats dont like him and one plays with him.   I think he kinda bullies Duchess because she is scared of everything.  I am about to take her to the vet and have her put on some sort of anxiety meds.  I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO and tired of the pee.  I dont want to get rid of her.

    

 

[tulosai]

I don't get it. How do any of you get away with scooping only once a day?

My Momo digs until she's pushed all the litter out onto the floor and then scrapes and scrapes at the plastic box for about three minutes straight, or until I stop whatever I'm doing and come clean everything again. This happens three to six times a day! If I don't scoop it within a couple of hours, she finds somewhere else to pee. Plain and simple. In the meantime, the litter is spread all over the floor and I eventually find it in my bed

Are there really cats out there that let you get on with your life and only clean their toilet once every day?

P.S. Seeing as we're sharing, alternate urination places include: Under the table (pick a table, any table), on the table (bye bye, TV remote), corner of the kitchen that nobody else can get to. Favourite pee-spraying spots include: Everything on my coat rack (how do you clean pee off handbags?), anything within squirting distance of a window or couch (that's a pretty big distance).

Momo: "Have fun with that." Me: "Did you seriously just do that in front of me

?!!!   But... my day... so many things I wanted to do today.."

I am lucky I don't have your cat.  I have to be out 9-10 hours a day most days so I'd evidently come home to a mess.  I guess I'd try adding boxes in your case but yeah... I can't imagine needing to scoop that much. I do scoop twice a day but only because I'm nice... they will tolerate once though they clearly prefer twice.  One of them will tolerate any litter, the other is picky and if the litter is at all scented will pee elsewhere (but strangely enough still poop in the box). Ah cats.

 

[catspaw66]

Mommyof5, are all of your cats spayed or neutered?

 

[mommyof5]

catspaw66, yes they are all spayed and neutered

 

[katluver4life]

I have never heard of the beets or the food coloring but willing to try it.  I have 5 cats and 1 I do believe is the one that pees everywhere has been seen.  My kitchen and bathroom counters, the door to go to the garage, MY COUCH!!!! every wall space in my house.  I wipe it up and use Natures Miracle Just for cats urine destroyer and the Natures Miracle Just for cats pet block but I can spray it on something and they jump right up on it 5 mins later.

  I have 6 big litter boxes not covered and all my cats are fixed.  The one we believe is spraying on every vertical space in our house is one of the 2 sisters that we found at 4-5 wks old.  They were number 2 and 3 and was given lots of attention.  They don't like anybody but my boyfriend and I everybody else that comes over they run and hide.  We cant catch Duchess ourselves unless its bed time and she will get up in bed with us, but if I get 3 feet close to her she runs.  I can catch her more than my boyfriend can but very few.  I have taken her to the vet and they did a urine test she has no infection just a high amount of crystals in her urine. I have read can be caused by stress and fear.  I have tried keeping her and her sister in an upstairs bedroom but they both just cry and that lasted for about 2 days.  I cleaned my house from top to bottom Saturday and now its Tuesday and I have found 10 spots that have been sprayed on. 

 Part of the basement is blocked and the office upstairs but they have free run of the rest of the basement, main level and upstairs.  My male cat is about 2 years old and loves to play.  Three of the other cats dont like him and one plays with him.   I think he kinda bullies Duchess because she is scared of everything.  I am about to take her to the vet and have her put on some sort of anxiety meds.  I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO and tired of the pee.  I dont want to get rid of her.

    

This sounds like territorial marking to me. Sorry your going through this. Do all the cats get along? Do you ever see any strange cats around outside?

 

[hbles]

PricklyPaw, Ack! I feel your pain
I scoop at least five times a day or basically whenever I see anything in the box. Two of my cats have an annoying habit. I scoop and then as soon as I announce 'OK fresh box, guys' and leave the room, one of them will immediately go and poop. So then I have to get the rake out again....it's gotten to the point that I don't even seal my little waste bag until I get the soon-to-be-taken poop. I've tried stealth scooping but they can still hear me. I guess I would prefer to go in a fresh box, too.
I have an extreme kicker, also. Litter everywhere and it gets in the bed! I vacuum twice a day. At least she covers it and she will actually dig up, inspect, and re-bury the business of the other cats. She's a weirdo, but we love her Coincidentally, her name is Pooper, but she was named well before we realized her strange obsession. She follows everyone to the box and basically stalks them so she can inspect their poop. This causes one of our other cats to shoot out of the box like she's been fired from a cannon, flinging copious amounts of litter in her wake. To balance it out, and possibly to entertain Pooper, one cat doesn't bury anything and I think it offends the others. Five cats, three litter boxes and they all go in the same one. Then my male cat will balance on the edge of the box and pee on the mat because he won't disdain to tread where his sisters have gone...arg. Use one of the other, fresh, untouched boxes buddy! Nope. Well, thanks for letting me vent a bit, I gotta go scoop, rescoop and run the vacuum.

We have two kitties a 3.5 year old boy and 1.5 year girl, both adopted from shelters at 7 months old. Our little girl obviously had a much much worse experience before our boy (she weighed 3 lbs when we got her and tripled her weight, weighing 9 lbs on her first birthday!). Our boy is very neat and tidy in his litter box use so I was shocked when Ellie's true litter box habits began! She digs and digs and buries and buries for sometimes up to 5 minutes before and after she uses the box! She re-buries our boys 'business' too! I did research and found that this can often be the result of OCD which can be the effect of shelter experience. They have unrestricted dry food but twice a day we give them about 1/2 tablespoon I wet food; she buries his food bowl when he's done too (also the result of that OCD, according to research). We have 3 litter boxes for the two of them and clean it once per day(they go alot!); though they've never gone outside the box.
Though I can relate to the instantly using a fresh box! Both my boy and girl often use the box as I'm cleaning it! And if not as I'm cleaning, within 5 minutes after. One time I was changing the litter and my sneaky little guy went right in the box of new litter, before I poured into his box! Crazy kitties!!!
Anyone have any experience with toilet training cats!? Our girl is obsessed with the toilet (possibly TMI, but she sits on the back o the toilet as I'm using it!!! And not just once in awhile, like every time!). I have been wanting to try toilet training her since she's so fascinated with my toilet training! :-) lol

 

[betsygee]

Well, Sephreniak, I identified the mystery pee-er!  But only because he "helpfully" just happened to squat to urinate on the pad under the litter box as I was cleaning it out.  LOL  Now I can get the correct kitty to the vet.  

I did try the food coloring for two days--actually, I assigned each of the four kitties a different color, mixed it in their food, and watched to make sure they didn't lick out of each other's bowls to mix up the colors!  I didn't see any results, though.  Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried this before?   Anybody know how long it would have taken for the urine to turn color?  

Well, I got our boy to the vet, and he was fine.  Very healthy, actually, for a 17 year old cat!  So I started looking at behavioral issues.  Things I read here and on other sites suggested it might be the litter itself, and that cats, especially older ones, just don't like to change the type of litter they have!   When we took in Travis, we also got a couple of boxes of the litter his former owner had been using, it was some kind of scented clay stuff.  We use a wheat litter for our resident cats.  To me, the scent of the clay stuff REEKED so I slowly changed him over to the litter our cats were using.  But I guess Travis had other ideas about changing!  So I switched his box back to a clay litter, unscented.  For two days now, there's been no urinating outside the box!  

  I hope that's the end of that problem, it was really getting bad!  I don't like that it's not biodegradable, but it is half the cost of the wheat litter, I'm not cleaning up urine puddles every day AND our boy seems happy--and that's what counts, right? 

 

[deborahshofatim]

Greetings group,
I have five adopted cats that, in the past, behaved very badly when it came to potty edicate!
We discovered that we topped the scale on cats per square foot of space when we adopted #4, our first male in a house of females. Then, a second male appeared on our back door, completely feral and we couldn't help but feed, tame, and eventually with his permission and much persuasion took him in to the family. Wow-things got very complicated!

My Russian will hold it and wait for the clean box, however I caught her marking and was completely stunned at this because I thought she was the most perfect and well mannered of the pride. Towards the end, every cat was marking along the walls, stair landings, it was a disaster and impossible to clean. We tried every enzyme product on the market and NONE of them worked. Then a foster family told us to buy cheap vodka and let it soak into the carpet and padding and then suck it up with a steam cleaner and this was the only thing to kill the odor until they marked the area once again. So embarrassing since we had friends over constantly!

It wasn't until we moved that we discovered some magic solutions.

#1) we read about cats preferring larger litter boxes. We realized they did seem annoyed, no matter what type of commercial box we used. We purchased two long wrapping papper roll plastic bins used for storing holiday wrap.

#)2 we discovered "World's Best Cat Litter" brand litter. I saw a demonstration at an expo and they showed all the other brands of litter in clay, corn, wheat, newsprint, pine, silicon, etc.... And they had an ammonia test strip in each container, they dropped ammonia in each of the types of litter, including their own, and showed the ammonia detection levels. None of the other brands reduced the ammonia, regardless of their claim, except "Worlds Best". Bingo, had to try it and Eureka it is amazing product! It clumps, it stays dry, the urine does not reach the bottom of the pan, the poo stays dry, and NO ODOR! The cats love this litter and we love this litter. It was truly a life changer, like potty training your kids. So, the fur kids all go in the pot, there is plenty of room for each of them to have a fresh spot to go, and trust me they evenly spread out their deposits, and we clean it once a day.

#3) we have a 14x14 house that has become the kitty condo. We built them a large outdoor enclosed kennel with flooring and lots of cat run shelving throughout with "doggy" doors that lead them outside from their window. Now that all the space is theirs and the potty situation is resolved this past couple years, no more spraying or marking outside the box.

Now I hope that steps 1 and 2 might be of help to others, and not require option #3. We were fortunate and the converted workshop came with our new property.

Good luck to all. Cats are free spirited, cannot be trained, and all we can do is work to satisfy their complaints manifested through this unfortunate behavior.