Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm getting pretty stressed out about my little Winston's litterbox avoidance!

I adopted Winston (5 months old) and Bentley (4 months old) from a local shelter about 4 weeks ago. Both have been sheltered since May and were strays before that.

Everything was great for the first two days. The third and fourth day, I caught Winston urinating on two different spots. I took him to the vet on the fifth day to check to see if anything was going on medically. I brought in fresh poop and the vet extracted urine and tested it. Both turned out o.k. The next few days, however, Winston began pooping just outside his litter box (not over the edge, just beside it). I changed his litter back to pellet pine (which is what they were using at the humane society) and that didn't work. I bought numerous products (including Nature's Miracle) and he would just poop two inches from that spot.

This went on for a week until Winston came down with an Upper Respiratory Infection, with him sneezing blood and throwing up. I immediately took him back to the vet, who i.v.'d fluids into him and gave a weeks worth of antibiotics and eye ointment for conjunctavitis for both cats. The vet suggested isolating Winston, due to both the sickness and litter box issues.

So, I chose one litter brand (unscented) to stick with and isolated Winston in the bathroom (not an easy thing to do!) as the vet recommended. He used the litter box for about one day, but then started pooping in the tub! I've tried everything, from aluminum foil (which he urinated on), to adding an additional litter box, to buying Comfort Zone, placing food dishes in the bathtub (he just pooped on any open spot), to spraying "Nature's Miracle", with not much success.
Finally, I decided to stop fighting it, and put another litter box inside the bathtub. This is not enjoyable, as I have to shower in there and I'm constantly cleaning up litter. This has worked for a few days, but now he's back to pooping beside the litterbox inside the tub!

I'm frustrated and concerned, because I know cats don't just poop anywhere and usually it's a medical or behavioral problem.

Does anyone have any other suggestions??? Should I just give it more time? How much longer do I keep him in the bathroom? What do I do when I remove him from the bathroom? I don't want to just give up on the little guy, but am getting extremely frustrated.

Oh... one last thing.. I even talked to a cat behavior specialist on the phone, who gave me little help (suggested more litter boxes - I have 4, and to buy some other product to get rid of the odor). Thanks so much in advance for an suggestions!!!

Hi There,

Usually I would recommend adding another litterbox or confining the cat to one room until he uses the box all the time, but you have already covered that.

There is a product known as Cat Attract that may solve your problem. It is designed just for cats that avoid the litterbox and I have heard good things about it. You can get it as an actual litter in pet stores or as a litter additive from your vet. I know that it is expensive, but if it solves the litterbox avoidance problem it will be well worth it.

Medication may also help if the kitty is very anxious, but I would try the special litter first.

Good luck and please let us know how things go.

Regards,
PHKitkat

Thank you so much for the quick response and advice. I have been putting this baking soda deodorizer that had "cat attract" in it in his litter, but haven't been able to find the actual litter... I guess I'm gonna have to travel to get some I bought a closed-in litter box today (a suggestion I read somewhere) and he used it - so I'm keeping my fingers crossed! One more thing I tried today was feeding him in the bathtub (previously, I was just putting the dishes with left-overs in the tub) and putting both litter boxes outside the bathtub, so he will associate the tub with eating, and the litter with pottying! I know how cats are with change, so that's the last adjustment I'll make for a while (besides getting the 'cat attract' litter). I just don't want to give up!

Thanks for the advice - I'll definitely give it a try.

48 hours in the litter box and counting!!! woo hoo!!

Catlover, I have a cat that has exactly the problem you had with yours -- pooping in the tub rather than the litterbox. Has the combination of litter box in tub, covered box, and cat attract continued to work (after 48 hours)? Thanks!

In my previous message, I meant to say "litterbox out of tub, food in tub"

Hi there.. I'm sorry about your situation - it can be very frustrating!! Well, I'm not exactly sure what specifically changed his behavior, but this is what I did....

-I had him isolated in the bathroom (it took almost 2 weeks)
-I picked one litter to stick with (Arm & Hammer UN-scented) and added plain baking soda (for odor) and some powder that had Cat-Attract in it
-When he started pooping in the tub, I switched his feeding to the tub (you can always change where a cat eats, but it's harder to change the litterbox)... I also started leaving 2-3 bowls of dry food in the tub to try to deter him from pooping in there
-I had two litter boxes in the bathroom outside the tub... my bathroom looked ridiculous
-Finally, I got a covered Litterbox (against all other suggestions) and he took to it right away! Maybe he just needed some privacy? I don't know.

After one full week of going in the litterbox, I slowly re-introduced the two guys (don't know if you have any other cats, but if you do, there's a process to this... wiping their rear end with a clean sock and letting the other smell it, etc..) I put them together when I was there to supervise, but when I went to work - he went back to the bathroom for a few days. When they seemed to be fine together, I put both litter boxes just outside the bathroom door and kept the bathroom closed at all times. Right after all of this, I had 4 litterboxes in my apartment (for just 2 cats - crazy, I know, but it helped) and I was able to go down to 3 just a few weeks ago. And basically, I haven't had any accidents since!

Is your cat a kitten? boy or girl? any other cats? Well, I hope this helps and good luck!!!

Rachel