Question about cats peeing...

a reply to: zazzafrazz

No I'm not locking him in there other than when I'm gone for short times when I can't keep an eye on him.

Thank you for asking before condemning.

peace

a reply to: silo13


I didn't condemn you.

Geez .

a reply to: Lurker1

The thing with your opinion on the closed litter boxes is that you've not had a cat who seems to partially miss the litter box every time the lid isn't on and I have to clean up cat pee from carpet. No he doesn't do it out of defiance or marking or anything but the fact he forgets he's a 20 lbs cat that should only be like 10-12 lbs.

a reply to: misterhistory

Wow, guess I've been doing it all wrong. I've always had one box for my two cats. Never had a problem, and I've added new cats to the mix when an old one died. Also, I've had a covered box for about 6 years now.

We just got a new young cat a month ago. I gave him his own litter box (open box) while introducing him to the new house, and he instead went straight for the closed box. I always assumed they liked the privacy.

I keep it very clean, and all my cats have seemed to like it very much. My husband built it - it has two holes for an entrance and an exit - a cabinet door on the side with a pull-out platform on wheels that the box sits on ( for easy cleaning), and an overhead top that opens. It's pretty big - almost like a tiny room for cats. It just looks like a big piece of furniture from the outside. It's pretty cool actually.

a reply to: kaylaluv
Same here.

When I had two cats I started with 2 boxes. One open and one closed. Both cats were male and they both always went for the closed box and ignored the open box.

I only have one cat now, but he rarely uses the open box. He prefers the closed box.

reply to: misterhistory
Both my male cats had poor aim. Neither were overweight and both could fit into the litter box at the same time with room to spare, they didn't of course, but they both preferred the edges of the box, and you had to clean up after them on a regular basis. That is also why I bought the closed in box. I will openly admit and with no animosity, that I was just too lazy to keep moping the floor ever time they missed.

I think it is a male thing. Had the same problem with the human males in my house.

originally posted by: zazzafrazz
a reply to: silo13

I didn't condemn you.

Geez .

That's my point - I was thanking you.

No sarcasm.

I know - hard to beleive here on ATS these days huh...

Look who just woke up...



peace

originally posted by: kaylaluv
a reply to: misterhistory

Wow, guess I've been doing it all wrong. I've always had one box for my two cats. Never had a problem, and I've added new cats to the mix when an old one died. Also, I've had a covered box for about 6 years now.

We just got a new young cat a month ago. I gave him his own litter box (open box) while introducing him to the new house, and he instead went straight for the closed box. I always assumed they liked the privacy.

I keep it very clean, and all my cats have seemed to like it very much. My husband built it - it has two holes for an entrance and an exit - a cabinet door on the side with a pull-out platform on wheels that the box sits on ( for easy cleaning), and an overhead top that opens. It's pretty big - almost like a tiny room for cats. It just looks like a big piece of furniture from the outside. It's pretty cool actually.

My last cat refused to 'do' anything if she wasn't in a closed box or by herself. I do believe she wanted some privacy.

I've always had one box for two cats also. A waste a time and money to have two and they did just fine.

peace

originally posted by: misterhistory
a reply to: Lurker1

The thing with your opinion on the closed litter boxes is that you've not had a cat who seems to partially miss the litter box every time the lid isn't on and I have to clean up cat pee from carpet. No he doesn't do it out of defiance or marking or anything but the fact he forgets he's a 20 lbs cat that should only be like 10-12 lbs.

I've had two such cats. You buy a larger box. I also have nice remnant carpets under the boxes. I get them from Menard's. They absorb accidents and excess litter and are cheap to replace.

Regarding cat privacy and closed litterboxes, it's not the cat wanting its privacy.

While using the litterbox the cat is temporarily vulnerable to attack. The closed box gives them a false sense of security.

Some here are anthropomorphizing their behavior.

a reply to: Lurker1

We had a large box, this cat still missed.

a reply to: silo13

You didn't mention if you have a multiple cat household. Sometimes the other cats will "bully" another cat in the household causing that cat to be nervous. I had this issue and it is a ongoing issue. I've tried everything to get my older male cat to stop peeing in spots around the house and read that if a the cat is being bullied, they will become nervous and have litter box issues. I immediately stop the behavior when I see it and remove the aggressive cat out of the area.

a reply to: kaylaluv

I've always had one box for my two cats. Never had a problem, and I've added new cats to the mix when an old one died.

I've always had at least two boxes for multiple cats. When I was down to one cat, he peed in one box, and pooped in the other. It was comical. He would go to one, pee, then go to the other and poop. Amazing.

When I had more than one cat, the only time I had an issue with not using the box was when it was a medical issue (diabetes), which was a form of distress and corrected when I started giving him insulin.

The only time I used covered boxes was when they were too damned big to keep their asses on the box when they wanted to go.

a reply to: lisame

You didn't mention if you have a multiple cat household. Sometimes the other cats will "bully" another cat in the household causing that cat to be nervous. I had this issue and it is a ongoing issue. I've tried everything to get my older male cat to stop peeing in spots around the house and read that if a the cat is being bullied, they will become nervous and have litter box issues.

I had a cat who would lie in wait for the other cat to finish and exit the basement room that had the box. That never deterred the cat from using, it mainly just pissed me off.

As I mentioned above, the only time I had a problem with peeing in places around the house was because of a medical issue/distress.