My cat recently stopped using the litter box

[Tara]

He is a 3 yr old Himalyan. The problem started right after I had him declawed (had to - he was ruining my house)in Nov. 2000. The vet said that he had sensitive paws and the texture of the litter bothered him. After a while he went back to using the litter box but then he developed a urinary tract infection. After treatment he used the litter box for a while but now is back to avoiding it. Not only does he urinate on the carpet but he recently started pooping in there too. Extra litter boxes don't do the trick. My other cat (2 yr old Himmie) is fine. Help! Any suggestions would be most appreciated. Thanks. :confused:

[Kittylady]

Hi Tara,

I know it's frustrating to have a cat who doesn't use the litterbox. I've had that happen before, so I can sympathize. I would like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind answering them so we can shed some light on the problem and hopefully find a solution.

1. Have you changed the brand or type of litter you have always used?

2. Does the litterbox have a cover?

3. Have you moved the litterbox from its previous location?

4. Have you changed his diet?

5. Has there been a dramatic change in the household about the time he started this, like someone new living there or someone leaving?

6. How do you react and what do you do when you discover he has used the carpet?

I hope I can help. Cats are such complex creatures and I have done a lot of research on the subject as well as having been on the receiving end of the problem.

Luv', Kittylady

:)

[Tara]

Originally posted by Kittylady:
<STRONG>Hi Tara,

I know it's frustrating to have a cat who doesn't use the litterbox. I've had that happen before, so I can sympathize. I would like to ask you a few questions if you don't mind answering them so we can shed some light on the problem and hopefully find a solution.

1. Have you changed the brand or type of litter you have always used?

2. Does the litterbox have a cover?

3. Have you moved the litterbox from its previous location?

4. Have you changed his diet?

5. Has there been a dramatic change in the household about the time he started this, like someone new living there or someone leaving?

6. How do you react and what do you do when you discover he has used the carpet?

I hope I can help. Cats are such complex creatures and I have done a lot of research on the subject as well as having been on the receiving end of the problem.

Luv', Kittylady

:)</STRONG>


Thanks Kitty lady.
Some background info...
1. I did not change the litter brand
2. Litterbox does not have a cover
3. Litterbox has never been moved
4. I did change his diet. He lost a lot of weight a few months ago so I took him to the vet who suggested I put him back on kitten food. He had a tooth infection at the time but I don't know if that had anything to do with the weight loss. I gradually eased him back to kitten food and he loved it.
5. There hasn't been anyone new in the house or anyone leaving.
6. I don't react at all because there is no way he can associate my reaction with his behavior. So, I just clean it up and pretend that nothing happend.

I did notice that my other cat seems to bully him. They both get along with each other and play and groom each other but the one with the litterbox problem is definitely a scaredy cat. Maybe that has something to do with it?

Thanks,
Tara

[Wyldhart68]

My 10 year old himilayan has begun doing the same thing.

We have four cats. The himmie is the oldest and declawed in front. Then there is a 6 year old neutered male domestic shorthair who goes outside and has all his claws, a one year old spayed female DSH with all her claws and an intact 6 month old female maine coon with all her claws (will be spayed soon)

We have four litter boxes in the basement, and they have not been moved in the year we've lived in this house. We have changed brand (we now buy the least expensive we can find of the clay litter).

No changes recently in people moving in or out.

This cat has been known to poop in other areas also, but usually it's just urine. She ruined the carpeting in the entry area at the front door to the point where we had to remove that section of carpet (now a tile floor).

This morning she went into the bottom shelf of the entertainment center and urinated all over my husband's Nintendo 64 equipment. :rolleyes:

Bad kitty!!

I don't yell at her, I just clean it up. If she continues with this, I'm going to have to get rid of her and I don't want to do that. I've had her since she was a baby, and I always figured I'd have her until the day she died.

[Tara]

That is terrible. My cat urinates on the carpet but has yet to ruin anything else. A lot has happened since my last email. I took my cat to the vet. It turned out that he had a bladder infection and was straining when urinating. He was put on medication and just the other day he seemed to improve. However, this morning he was at it again. His infection returned - blood in the urine - poor thing! He is on a different medication now and hopefully this will do the trick.

Perhaps you can take your cat to the vet to rule anything out. Good luck!

[catwoman]

Wyldhart68, Tara is right! Definitely take your 10-year-old to the vet. She could have a UTI, or something more serious ...

[purrley]

I sympathize with all cat people who have this problem. I to have gone the gambit with the urine and feces problem. I have four kitties, one outside a lot. My Panda
Bear (Momma Kitty) gave birth to 3 kittens
this past Feb and when they were just learning
to do their business in the litter box, I had
a bunch of accidents. I recently replaced
the whole carpet but the first carpet installer wouldn't do the job because he said the smell was too bad. I was so upset and embarassed. I had to end up pulling up the carpet myself and painting the whole floor to get the odor out. What we go through for our
animals, but I guess this problem just comes with the territory. Good luck to every pissy
pussy and all the suggestions made to isolate the problem were right on the money!!

[Edwina's Secretary]

I had a problem with Edwina using the dining room as a toilet. On the advice of my sister-in-law who is a vet we started putting her in her box and standing there telling her "good girl". Over and over. Putting her back in the box. Anyway,, today she RARELY (knock on wood) has an accident but she does still like an audience for doing business.

By the way...animals, like people are usually fairly regular in these matters. We know her usual times and we tried to get her in the box then -- about half an hour after eating for poo.

[Tara]

Purrley, just curious...Did you ever use Nature's Miracle to remove the urine smell from the carpet? I have used it on all the urine spots more than once but it still smells. I am now faced with either putting in wood floors - a very expensive solution, or putting in new carpet. The only thing is, I don't know if my cat will continue this behavior - he has been sniffing his old spots lately. Anyway, have you had much luck after replacing your carpet?

[Tara]

Edwina's secretary, my cat loves the dining room too. Since his bladder infection, I have had him in a cage with litter, food & water for around 2 weeks 24/7. I would take him out for cuddles when I came home from work and the only other time he was out of the cage is when I was cleaning it. (I would put him in the bathroom where the original litter box is located and he used the litter in there too). I praised him whenever I saw him use the litter box. After a while I would leave the cage door open and let him roam freely. He was so used to using the litter in the cage that he kept going back there. But, now back to the drawing board...just as I was about to get rid of the cage, he started to urinate on the carpet again because of his bladder infection recurrence. I'm crossing my fingers that he will continue to use the litter when he is better!

[wolflady]

Hi Tara, I can totally sympathize with your predicament!! It can be a frustrating thing for a cat owner, because there are so many reasons why a cat may not be using the box. I know I posted this somewhere else before, but I'll go ahead and give you an overview on what we're doing with our "troublesome boy"!! :D LOL LOL
It sounds like you may be in a very similar situation as we are with our Scooter. My husband (boyfriend at the time this all happened) got his cat Scooter declawed and neutered at probably a little over 6 months of age. Later we noticed that he had started going to the bathroom on the carpet. Mostly at the baseboards around the room. Soooo...of course I go to the "drawing board" so to speak to see if we can solve the problem. First thing is to always rule out any kind of change that may have occurred. It could me anything from adding a new pet, to moving the food bowl to changing the litter or food. Once that kind of stuff is ruled out, rule out health problems next. UTI is a common thing in males cats, unfortunately.
Then I started doing a little research, and what I found was a bit disconcerting. There have been some studies by veterinarians that the declaw procedure can cause behavioral problems to develop, even up to years after the declaw procedure. The description of the behavior described my Scooter to a T (basically biting, eliminating outside the litter box, becoming a little more skittish etc). Unfortunately there's not much we can do at this point because we've tried everything. Sounds like you are on the right track with the cage. We can't trust poor Scooter out in the house whenever we are not home, so we put him in his "kitty playpen" that I got from Dr. Foster and Smith. So, now he's in this cage with his litter box food and water whenever no one is home to watch him. When we are home we let him out. The vet suggested us 2 different kinds of drugs that could help with the behavioral problem. One was valium and the other was Ovaban. We tried the Valium, but it really didn't help with the elimination problem. It helped with everything else though! LOL :rolleyes: Aaron didn't want to do the ovaban because it has a rare, but serious side effect. Knowing our luck, our cat would be that one in 10000 or whatever that dies from it. Ovaban can cause a type of cancer...but it's very rare that they see that happen. But we just decided to try the valium. No harm there. You could talk with your vet about the possibility of a behavior problem and he might suggest you to try valium.
Our poor Scooter just recently recovered from a severe UTI as well! He's had several ocurrances, so finally our vet put us on a prescription diet that he has to be on for the rest of his life. It's a Hill's Science Diet prescription. You may want to check into that as well...so help a recurrance :)

Also,...boy am I babbling or what??LOL....it's so unfortunate about the carpet. I know that feeling!! Visit the Drs Foster and smith website(www.drsfostersmith.com). They have a product that I use for stains and such called stain away. You might want to give that a shot to see if it helps with the stains/smells in the carpet. Good luck and let us know how he's doing!!!