Cat question

[abyss]

Since it's not really related to the aggressive cat thread, I thought I'd make a new one. For all you cat owners out there, how often do you change your cat's litter? Also, which type has worked the best for you? For some reason, our cat won't poo in her litter all the time, some times she uses it, and sometimes she doesn't. She ALWAYS pees in the litter though. It isn't health related, I've already had the vet check her out, and she knows it's wrong because every time I yell at her for it, she runs right to her litter and proceeds to use it in front of me. ARGH! Her litter gets cleaned every couple of days at least. Any suggestions?

[Khyron]

Just one cat? Try "Yesterday's News" litter - it's pretty good. Also change it ocne a week but you can scoop it out every now and then.

Khyron

[awd]

I use clumping cat litter with a self cleaning litter box -- gets emptied at least once a day.

She doesn't sound housetrained to me.

[QuasarCav]

I own 3 cats, I change the litter daily. We have two litterboxes and they shit in one and pee in the other. Dont ask me why but they just wont switch.

I use superstore clumping litter, 6 dollars for 18 pounds.

Some cats are really peticular and will only go in a clean place.

[abyss]

It's never really that dirty, and she'll still sometimes use it even if it is dirty, and I don't know how she couldn't be housetrained, she pees in it ALL the time, and I never had this problem with her until we moved to the house, in the apartment she was fine...and then sometimes when it's clean she won't use it either. It's so wierd...I've had cats for all of my life and this is the first time I've ever seen this, even the vet doesn't really understand why she'd do it. I can never catch her in the act either because she knows it's wrong so she won't do it till no one is home to scold her. Then when I do come home and scold her she goes right to it and uses it in front of me all like..."see! I use it! it must be some other cat pooing on the floor!" it's so frustrating!

[QuasarCav]

I've owned cats throughout my life and I have seen this before.

When we moved into a new house the litter went from the laundry room inot the basement. Then the cats started pooping on the floor near the litter box. The boxes were always clean and the cats had no physical problems. To this day they still do it, They are at my moms house and she has tried everything.

[abyss]

that's not very reassuring, but like I said, if she always did it one way or the other, maybe I could figure out what's wrong with her and deal with it. However she'll use it some days, and then other days she won't. Whenever I take her to my parents house, she'll use the other cats' litter box all the time. I think she does it just to get back at me for scolding her or something....damn vindictive cat...

[Chiggles]

:rofl: Your cat pwns joo!! :P Seriously though, cats can be particular to varying degrees, there is no common ground or normalcy to any of it. Some cat's just won't use the box no matter how clean it is, some use it til there's more shit than litter and are fine with it. Our cat isn't very picky at all. Sometimes I procrastinate about changing the litter for weeks at a time, and he still pees and craps in it daily. The only times I have trouble with our cat when it comes to box-training is just that it likes to shovel pretty hard, so I keep getting litter or shit being kicked out of the box and onto the carpet. Because of that, I switched the box to the ones that have an enclosure lid to them and a little window for him to get in and out of it. He can kick and bury as hard as he wants and I keep my floor clean. As much of a pain in the ass our cat is to guests (super anti-social), one of the few good behaviours that he has is that he'll use the same dirty box for days or even weeks on end without complaining about it by shitting/peeing elsewhere.

[Z_Fan]

That situation of yours would drive me nuts!

We have three cats, and three litter boxes. They're all really good about doing their business where it is supposed to be done.

Maybe get her a different box (so you'd have two) and see what she does with that...

OR - check and find out if the litter used at your parent's place is different.

We use the litter from Costco. The other day they had it on sale for like $7.88 a box. They are *FIFTY* lb boxes of clumping litter. Works great...

[bspot]

Is your litter scented? Our cat is really picky and won't take a shit anywhere that smells too flowery. With the unscented stuff she's perfect though, scoop it one a week, change it once a week. All the shit goes in the box. :thumbsup:

[abyss]

no, it's not scented, I made sure of that, and the litter is not the same as my parents, but they're both clumping so I can't see much difference there. Maybe I'll try giving her another box. Stupid, spoiled, picky cat. It's a good thing I like her so much....:D

[eina15]

I had the same problem with my cat and did alot of research on the topic. It likely has nothing to do with the litter or the box or anything like that. My cat would only poop in his box if no one was around and he was desperate. Every time he would poop on the floor I would of course yell at him. Since cats don't (to my knowledge!) understand English, he did not think I was yelling that he was pooping on the floor, but rather he thought he was in trouble for the act of pooping itself!
Sooooo...when he pooped on the floor I would not say a thing. Instead, I would scoop up the poop and place it in his litterbox (and, as is their curious way, he would watch me do this.) then I would pet him. He began to learn that poop is ok, and that he would get pet when poop was put in the box and within a week or so he was cured!

Anyway, worth a shot.

[kaput]

.

[eina15]

Positive reinforcement sounds weird? Praising an animal when they do something right rather than punishing them for doing something wrong will encourage positive behaiviour.
It worked for my crazy cat, he is very well behaved now, and it is recommended by a zillion vets and the SPCA etc.

[smokedog]

take her to the pound

[abyss]

HAHA, I think I figured it out. I decided to try two litterboxes. When we moved to the new house, I gave her a new litterbox because the one she had was too small for her. Since that was the only other thing I had that could qualify as a litterbox, I set it down, and what does she do, goes and poops in it. It's WAY too small for her, she barely can crunch up inside it, but it appears that she just missed the litterbox she had as a kitten. She totally ignores the other litterbox now too. Weird.

[Khyron]

Originally posted by abyss
HAHA, I think I figured it out. I decided to try two litterboxes. When we moved to the new house, I gave her a new litterbox because the one she had was too small for her. Since that was the only other thing I had that could qualify as a litterbox, I set it down, and what does she do, goes and poops in it. It's WAY too small for her, she barely can crunch up inside it, but it appears that she just missed the litterbox she had as a kitten. She totally ignores the other litterbox now too. Weird.

Put the little one inside a bigger one and see if you can get her used to it that way.

Khyron

[hampstor]

It's kind of interesting to watch her try and fit into that litterbox...

but hey, so long as she's not crapping all over the bottom corner of the house again, she can do whatever she want :D