Neglecting the Litter Box

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.