Sunday, January 24, 2016

Cat Bathroom Habits: Help Needed

I'm frustrated. We're having some litter box challenges.

A few months back we realized that the kitten, Felix, was peeing on Paul's duffle bag located in our Master Bedroom closet. Then he pooped in Paul's backpack.

Then we went through a stint where around once a week we would wake up to find poop next to the food and water dishes on the kitchen floor.
My gut told me it was Felix- but we were also concerned that Linus was perhaps getting so upset by the bullying that he would mark his territory.

Then at once, without any changes, the erratic bathroom habits stopped.

Until now. For three days in a row we've found poop in the kitchen....this morning it was actually IN the water dish.
Then I went down today to change the litter, thinking that the "organic" stuff Paul had picked up on his last trip wasn't as appealing as their usual Tidy Cat. When I pulled the mats up, they were soaked, and there was liquid underneath. Now our basement has little built in gutters to allow the hill water to run through so it IS possible the mats were dipped into that and somehow soaked through.
The basement itself didn't smell like urine, but upon closer inspection I'm fairly certain someone is skipping their box in favor of a mat.

I'm not sure what to do. We have the box sitting away from any water and on the cement so we can easily see if someone is peeing. I'm not sure how to guard the kitchen floor and outside of making sure the box is cleaned daily will be adding a few additional boxes to the mix- when the kitties went in for their checkup the vet did recommend at least three. Fun!

Sorry for using the word poop like 20 times in this post but I need suggestions? Has anyone else dealt with something like this?
Linus looking angelic

5 comments:

  1. I feel your pain right now! One of my cats has been peeing on our paper recycling bag we keep next to the trash can for weeks for no discernible reason. We finally gave up and removed the bag, which led to him peeing on the carpet in the bedroom. CATS!

    I had an issue a few years ago where my cat seemed to be peeing on the mat outside the litter box and I could not understand why until I caught him in the act. At the time, I had a Booda Dome litter box, the kind with the little stairs that were supposed to help keep it tidier. My cat was getting on the stairs, apparently thinking he was fully IN the litter box, and just letting it rip. It would run down the stairs and leak out onto the mat. I switched to a regular box and didn't have any further problems with peeing on the mat.

    Maybe you could try an alternate type of box? Or a different location? Good luck!

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    1. Haha- oh man. Cats for real. I just ordered a few extra boxes from Amazon so hopefully that helps a bit. We also conducted a thorough pee search through the house to make sure they weren't using another spot we weren't aware of!

      Also- we had been using a pretty big water bowl which is switched out for two small ones yesterday. Wondering if Felix had seen his people using a toilet and thought his water bowl was one!

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  2. You mention bullying... if one cat picks on the other that could be it. Getting a second litter box or a box with a hood/cover may help. I've heard of that working for someone else with a similar situation.

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  3. Ugh how frustrating! I had a cat that peed around the house for behavioral reasons and it totally sucked. Might be worth checking in with you vet first to rule out anything physical like a uti... Anyway good luck!

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