Hi all - Litter box issues

Im a newbie here but have spent some time reading...apparently other pet owners are having a similar problem I am. Here's the scoop on my problem.

My 6 year old male cat stopped using the litter box when my husband and I separated a year ago...but we are back together now for about 4 months...and the problem has not stopped. I have 3 cats, 4 litter boxes, 3 self cleaning within 10 minutes of being used, and one large covered littler box. We have srcubed the room down, tried various different litters, I have scolded him and crated him, thinking he may figure out poop on the floor equals crate time out. He has been vet checked for health issues, and got a clean bill of health. He is always been a very loving kitty, but I am at the point I dont know what else to do. He is strickly an indoor kitty, except for when it is time to go to the vet, he never goes outside.

I have consulted many people trying to get different ideas. One person suggested I put his favorite blankie on the floor were he is making a mess, and this morning I got up and not only did he poop on is blankie, but peed on it also and on the mat in front of the litter boxes. I have a 9 year old cat, then him, and a 4 year old kitty. They all get along very well. Dunno, I do know I am getting very frustrated. He is killing my hardwood floors.

Please help,

Thanks in advance

He will not figure out crate time comes when he poops outside the box, that does not work for cats like it might for a kid! Does he tend to go in a specific spot? Is there any pattern to it?

no, it is not always the same spot, but always in the room were the litter boxes are. These guys have their own room....food dishes are down stairs in the kitchen, litter boxes are upstairs in a spare room.

Try adding one more plain, NOT covered litterbox, added in the same room. Some cats dislike being enclosed, and other are freaked out by the self-cleaning kind, and refuse to poop where the scary monster comes and eats their "presents!"

Scolding, yelling, crating, none of that will work with a cat.

Here are some things to consider:
1. Changed the brand of litter? Cats can be very particular about which litter they use, and a change can trigger this sort of behavior. I've had 2 cats who would only use Tidy Cats scoopable, no matter the cost that week to my wallet, lol.
2. Take the lit off the one litter box, see if he starts using it with no cover on
3. Clearly location of the boxes changed when you separated. Are the boxes in the place they were prior? Cats sometimes insist you not move their bathroom.
4. Is a food and / or water bowl anyplace near the litter boxes? Cats do not like their dining room near their bathroom. These need to be at least 8 feet apart, for some cats.
5. Are all the cats neutered and spayed? Especially the youngest, age now 4 years? If not, get that done.
6. are all the boxes lined up in a row? Could HE be trying to bully the others, claiming all the boxes as HIS TERRITORY? Or perhaps one of the others does this. Can you move some boxes further apart (if they are all lined up) -- and still have all of the boxes away from the food and water bowls.
7. If all the above have been addressed, buy some Feliway, and use that in 'their' room. See if that makes any improvement.

Good luck!

I'm sorry that you're having this problem. One thing that you can also try is to add some Cat Attract Litter to the top of your current litter. It's supposed to attract cats and help them use the litter box again. You can buy this at Petsmart. It worked wonders when I was having peeing issues. Here's a great link about litter box problems and solutions: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=litterbox. Good luck.:)

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Originally Posted by krazyaboutkatz

I'm sorry that you're having this problem. One thing that you can also try is to add some Cat Attract Litter to the top of your current litter. It's supposed to attract cats and help them use the litter box again. You can buy this at Petsmart. It worked wonders when I was having peeing issues. Here's a great link about litter box problems and solutions: http://www.catinfo.org/?link=litterbox. Good luck.:)

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Thank you for all your feed back, Im sure my little guy will appreciate me trying "cat attract". I will pick some up today, and hopefully we will resume to a happier household again...despite his size, (cause he is a big boy) he really is just a baby in attitude. Sure hope this works, cause we are at the end of our rope with this. I will keep you posted, but I am pretty sure this is just a simple case of catattude.....since we have ruled out everything else.

thanks again

How often do you remove what your cats leave behind in the litterbox? Once a day? Twice a day? Also, make sure you have enough litter in the boxes.

Back when I still had Chessie and had brought Casey home, I was scooping litterboxes twice a day during the week, but I was slacking off and only doing it once a day on weekends. After a couple months, I woke up one Monday morning and found a puddle in the hallway outside the upstairs bathroom. A couple weeks later, the same thing happened. I started scooping the boxes twice a day on the weekends as well, and I never saw any puddles after that. Apparently, the cats were letting me know that I needed to clean the boxes more often.

On another occasion, I was scooping the boxes on a Friday evening. I noticed that the litterbox in the upstairs bathroom needed some more litter as it was getting low. Being tired from a long week, I decided that it would wait until morning. The following morning, I woke up, went into the bathroom to put in my contacts, and found a large bowel movement left on the floor next to the litterbox that had been used a couple times during the night. Needless to say, either Chessie or Casey had let me know what they thought of how full I kept the litterbox. I've always made sure to keep plenty of litter in them since then, and I haven't had any further issues.

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Originally Posted by Lukers

Thank you for all your feed back, Im sure my little guy will appreciate me trying "cat attract". I will pick some up today, and hopefully we will resume to a happier household again...despite his size, (cause he is a big boy) he really is just a baby in attitude. Sure hope this works, cause we are at the end of our rope with this. I will keep you posted, but I am pretty sure this is just a simple case of catattude.....since we have ruled out everything else.

thanks again

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I hope that it'll work for you. When I tried it, all of my cats loved it and they wanted to use the litter box immediately. I now use Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat Litter which they all love. I've tried so many different types of litter and I keep going back to this one because I need to use an unscented litter and one that's less dusty and clumps well too. Both the Ultra and Classic work well. Good luck.:)