Cats International

[lizzielou742]

Hey everyone! Long time no post.

Sophie has been going outside her litterbox #2 non-stop lately. (She still goes #1 in the box just fine.) I was at my wit's end when a friend referred me to Cats International - http://www.catsinternational.org/. They also have a behavior hotline you can call at (262)375-8852. They will help you solve any cat behavior problems - litterbox issues and all! They have a great article on their site about how to solve litterbox issues. Anyway, I just read their article, and I'm going to try a few things, namely changing the litter, never cleaning out the box with bleach again, removing the covers, placing night-lights by the boxes, and positioning the boxes so that they're not directly visible from the doorway (I'm not going to actually move the boxes any more than a foot or two, I'm just going to carefully rearrange the furniture so Sophie feels more protected when she goes).

Anyway I thought some of you all might like to check out this site. I haven't called their hotline yet, but I might if tonight's strategies don't help. My friend who gave me the link and # has called them, and said they were a big help. They sent her literature in the mail about cat behavior problems and how to solve them, and followed up with her until her problem was resolved. I hope I have that much luck!!

Hopefully I can post some pics of Tito & Sophie soon. I've just been swamped, and not exactly pleased with Sophie and her litterbox habits to boot.

[catnapper]

Sounds like a great thing to have!

Once, my son was given the chore of cleaning the bathroom -- that included emptying, cleaning and refilling the litterbox. Well, instead of the stuff I normally use, he used AMONIIA! Well, Allen had a fit and refused to use it because the cleaned box smelled dirtier to him than the dirty box. I tossed out the box and bought a new one.

[emily_the_spoiled]

I having been using night lights for quite awhile now and it really made a difference in the number of "accidents" I had. I guess I have cats who can't see in the dark

I also only use anit-bacterial dish soap to wash out their litter boxes and they don't seem to have any problems with that.

[Laura's Babies]

I saved in favorite places and will go check that out... Sound like a grat place, thanks for posting about it..

[catmandu]

Iwill have,to check,out tht site,to see,if they ahve anything,about Cats,who dig,and dig,and leave little mound,of litter,and sometimes,little balls,of you know what,sitting about.

[smokey the elder]

If you do use bleach, letting the box dry in the sun will remove any of the residue.

[lizzielou742]

Smokey, that's what I had heard about the bleach. So I always try to dry it outside. But at this point, I'm going to try to stop ANYTHING that could potentially cause her to stray from the box.

I switched all the litter in the cat's boxes from Fresh Step to EverClean unscented this afternoon - and wouldn't you know, Sophie jumped right in the first one as soon as I was done with it, and went #2 right away!!! Here's hoping this solves my problem!!!