My Husband's parents have a cat who is about 4 or 5 years old named Pumpkin and they've noticed that she hasn't been using the litter box when it comes to urinating. She tends to want go on the beds or even around the litter box, but not inside the litter.
She used to be fine before, but this just started to happen and has gotten worse. They also have 4 other cats who are male, but are neutered. The other male cats have no problem going in the litter box. Could it be that maybe she doesn't like sharing the litter box with the male cats?
How many litter boxes do you have for all the cats? Typically, with multiple cats, you want to have the number of litter boxes match the number of cats you have plus one.
However, sometimes a cat will stop using its litterbox because they have a urinary tract infection, bladder infection, kidney infection or other medical issue. It wouldn't hurt to have her checked out.
(02-08-2014, 02:10 PM)cookiemonster16 Wrote: My Husband's parents have a cat who is about 4 or 5 years old named Pumpkin and they've noticed that she hasn't been using the litter box when it comes to urinating. She tends to want go on the beds or even around the litter box, but not inside the litter.
She used to be fine before, but this just started to happen and has gotten worse. They also have 4 other cats who are male, but are neutered. The other male cats have no problem going in the litter box. Could it be that maybe she doesn't like sharing the litter box with the male cats?
If the litter box is too dirty, cats will really avoid using it. I had once a weekend trip and left my two cats by themselves in the cage for 3 days. While they were well supplied with food so they really won't get hungry while I'm away, nobody cleaned their cage and litter box for 3 days, so it was really full and dirty. When I got back, I noticed that there were urine and feces all over the cage, outside of the litter box. This never happened before. My cats had always been well-trained when it comes to the use of the litter box. Therefore, my conclusion in that particular case is that they felt it was also yucky that their litter box was already full and dirty that's why they looked for other places to do it.
In your case, it is possible that your female cat does not like the smell of the urine of your male cats, that's why she's avoiding it. She may feel it's dirty and she does not want to dig in through it.
This particular experience with them told me very well that cats are really very clean pets. They clean themselves up without giving them a bath and they are very picky in terms of the condition of their litter boxes.
03-25-2014, 03:55 PM, (This post was last modified: 03-25-2014, 04:02 PM by cookiemonster16.)
(02-17-2014, 09:06 AM)shawnnac Wrote: How many litter boxes do you have for all the cats? Typically, with multiple cats, you want to have the number of litter boxes match the number of cats you have plus one.
We have 3 litter boxes so I would definitely have to upgrade the number of littler boxes we have to the amount of cats like you said. Really appreciate the help, thank you.
(02-26-2014, 11:40 PM)The Aspertarian Wrote: 5 cats to 1 litterbox? That's a public restroom!
My guess is she wants her own space.
However, sometimes a cat will stop using its litterbox because they have a urinary tract infection, bladder infection, kidney infection or other medical issue. It wouldn't hurt to have her checked out.
We do have more than one litter box, but we are probably going to have to get more to equal the amount of cats we have. Hopefully after doing this we'll see if it improves if it doesn't then we will be sure to have her checked out. Thanks for the help.
They" say you should have one more litter box than you have cats. "they" don't say where the heck you are supposed to fit those boxes.
I would ad an extra box or two, if you can, but what I'd be more concerned about is getting the cat to a vet. We recently lost a wonderful cat from kidney failure. The first sign was that she was "peeing outside the box".
I didn't get her in right away, though, and I knew better. She's always been so picky about everything I started trying to find a litter she liked better. Even if they are dirty, cats prefer a litter box, the don't like to leave it where a dangerous animal can find it and attack them. (even when there are no wild animals around)
I don't know if getting our cat in sooner would have saved her, but I sure will always feel bad that I didn't take her in right away. I played around with the litter for about 3 months, then she started having trouble walking and we took her in. It was too late.
That is such a sad story, Meowmie, and I am sorry that you lost your kitty that way.
It seems like ever since the big china scare a few years back, with the dogs and cats being killed with food that was tainted, and some of the ingredients were from china; that there have been more animals dying from kidney problems than ever before.
I had a a persian cat that always used his litter box fine until I had to keep a friends cat for a few days. They got along just fine; but Elijah flat refused to use the litter box once the other cat (if I remember right, it was a female) had used his litter box; so he definitely had an issue with it.
Even after the other cat was gone; I had to get a whole new litter box and new litter before he would use it again. Other wise, he would simply go right beside the box, just not in it. He even turned around and scratched in the box afterward, but nothing besides his delicate little paw touched the litterbox until I got him a new one.
You might need to put a cat pan in a different room from the one that it's in currently; sometimes cats are afraid of going to the cat pan when there are other cats because they're afraid of getting cornered. When we had a lot of cats, we had cat pans in two different rooms. Two pans in one room, and two in the other. Also, how big is your cat pan? If you only have one small cat pan, she may feel as if there's no room for her to go. You should try getting two large pans, and see how it goes. We currently have two cats, and one cat pan but it's a larger one so they share it just fine. And this is with the male having urinating problems too.
RE: Neglecting the Litter Box