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Question about a litter box problem

kellyannallen

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We have a 16 year old house cat Lio ( more about him in the get well Forum) whom we have a problem with beyond his many health issues.

He had very bad diarrhea to the point of it being like a lake and we thought we would lose him. He’s stable now and For now.

But, in the time he had major cow flops to the “lake” he couldn’t control himself enough to get to the litter box and pooped on the floor wherever he was. Thankfully on the floor and tile floor and not the couch or our bed. Or the cat beds!

With him at the moment being stable on the meds he normally takes and the pre and probiotics paste from the vet, he’s back to normally formed poop. But NOT in the litter box. On the floor sometimes close to the litter box and other times not.

I clean up right away and use a special cleaner like simple solution for the poop spot. And it’s never in the same spot.

How can we retrain him or encourage him to poop in the litter box again. He pees every single time in the litter box without fail.

I’m happy he’s stable but I would like him to both pee and poop in the box again.

We have one box for both cats. Lio never had a box to himself, we never had room for two that was quiet enough or where he wouldn’t be upset with it being there. And before this diarrhea he was perfect in his habits.

The litter box is set up for him! The litter he likes and uses ( wood soft pellet type cats best original) it’s huge and the door is low. Yes it’s covered and yes it gets cleaned almost like it’s an automatic one by us because he doesn’t like it otherwise. And that’s from kitten until now.

Any suggestions? We still do not have a suitable place for extra litter boxes. Lio is very sound and motion sensitive and the litter box is in the optimal place.

And has anyone used a stainless steel litter box? Plastic ones don’t last long with the cleaning I do


Will take in all suggestions!

Kelly
 

Toa and Ross

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Sorry to hear you're having this issue. I don't have experience with this issue so hope others will chime in
 

Sheldon13

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Even though he no longer has diarrhea, it sounds like be has litterbox aversion for stooling. One of mine did the same and he still has occasional accidents, especially if his tummy is upset. Using litter attractant and having an extra box definitely helped.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 

Yoda mom

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@kellyannallen , Hi Kelly, does the litterbox have a door flap? I remove pop out the door flaps. I do know some people use stainless food trays as litterboxes, can get in big box stores like samsclub, costco here in the US.. maybe amazon other local stores near you?

I do have two good pet stuff hidden litterboxes., I dont use the moss it comes with. it is a fav here with my crew. looks like a planter. I made a litterbox bench.. I googled "litterbox" hacks for some good ideas.

my girl Yoda was picky, she would pee in the unscented dr esleys litterbox and right next to it poo in a pellet open litter box.

many years ago I adopted a retired breeder bengal cat Buddha cat. I trained him like a dog to the litter box. I kept a jar of treats by the litterbox. as soon. I saw him go in the box, praise and when got out one treat on the floor as he exited the box. he quickly learned and I still gave random treats over the years.

hugs n head smooches,
members will surely chime in

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kellyannallen

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Thanks everyone! But without warning Lio decided to use the box again. Not 100% but a whole lot more. I would love to have a second box (the planter one is cool looking) but any noise makes Lio nervous. Our „pantry“ has a dog door put into it with the flap taken off. No flaps at all. The litter box has no flap and never did. I hate the flaps.
 

kellyannallen

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Thanks everyone! But without warning Lio decided to use the box again. Not 100% but a whole lot more. I would love to have a second box (the planter one is cool looking) but any noise makes Lio nervous. Our „pantry“ has a dog door put into it with the flap taken off. No flaps at all. The litter box has no flap and never did. I hate the flaps.
The pellet litter is the one Lio just loves. Using anything else has him not liking to go in the box. We are happy he’s started using the litter box again and getting better at using it as he should. I’ll think about the stainless steel one (Amazon.de for me) later. I can find one that’s big enough for Lio.
 

Silke

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Livvy is my problem child atm.
If there is so much as a poop in her "preferred" litter box -- she'll go on the floor.
If the bathroom door is closed, she won't use the flap (even though she did for 4 years!) and pee under my desk chair. ALL the damn time.
I've gone through every litter imaginable, different litter boxes, door open, door closed with flap, without flap... It's a nightmare.
The bathroom opens to the living room, and Jezzy -- being on antibiotics -- has splats rather than poop, and it stiiiiiiiiiiiiinks.
(I should get shares in Febreze...)
Atm I'm on day 2 of no puddle, but found a poop on the tile floor in the bathroom. (4 litter boxes and 3 cats...)
Seriously, if I don't go clean up after every poop from *any* of them, I will have a puddle.
 
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