hello, i'm a brand new user and i just thought i'd try my luck with trying to find help for this little issue i'm having! i have two kittens, a 4 month old precious, red persian, and a 6 month old beautiful black girl. my roommate adopted the persian but found that she could not handle the responsibilities of taking care of him, so, me being the cat fanatic i am, decided to take him in. his name is Juno and my girl's name is Victoria (aka Tori), they absolutely love each other so i can't bare to separate them. the only problem i'm having is that Juno continues to do his business on the floor! both of my cats have their claws and i'm not going to get them declawed (i know that declawed cats are extra sensitive to cat litter after their operation), so that's not the issue. I have two litter boxes for the two of them, and i keep them VERY clean... i change the litter about once a week and i scoop out the waste almost every time they use it. I've been looking at other sources and i know that some cats are sensitive to certain scents that kitty litter tends to have, so i switched to unscented just for Juno (Tori hasn't had this problem at all, she's very mindful of where to do her business). I've been keeping up these habits for about a week now but for some reason Juno still keeps using the floor as his potty, very occasionally have i seen him use his litter pan. I can get him to pee in the litter box, but several times i've caught him about to poop on the floor and when i've physically moved him into the litter box he'll go maybe a little bit, hop right out, and finish on the floor. i'm not really sure what to do! please help, he's such a sweet boy and i'm getting super frustrated trying to get him to go in the box! he didn't start out this way, and i think because my roommate very rarely kept his box cleaned he developed the habit of going on the floor, so i'm basically trying to retrain him. is there any other reason he could be going on the floor?
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new user having kitty problems!
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Welcome to the Daily Kitten, Kate! It is wonderful of you to take on Juno. Has he been checked out by a vet to see if he has a physical problem or illness? Sometimes cats go outside the litter box if they associate painful elimination with it. You might want to try using an additive to the litter called "Cat Attract." You could also place his poop in the litter box and then put him in it. Are your litter boxes covered or uncovered? Maybe he needs some privacy or feels uncomfortable in an enclosed box. Once cats start eliminating outside of the litter box, they are drawn back to the place they've used. You need to clean each spot very well so that odor doesn't attract him back to it. Use an enzyme type cleaner on carpeting. You can also place aluminum foil over a favorite elimination spot and/or a bowl of food. Cats don't like to eliminate where there food is located.
Good luck with Juno. He is a lucky boy to have you to care for him. This may be something he will grow out of as his system matures. Please keep us posted!
Posted 2 years ago by Kitten Whisperer #
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Wow, I just want to make sure I have this straight. The kitty used to be OK using the litterbox, but because it was rarely cleaned, he stopped using it? I've never heard of having to retrain a previously potty-trained kitty. You might be in for a long road here. My best guess would be that you have to try to break the negative association he has created with litterboxes. I'm not exactly sure how one would go about doing that, but I'll try to tell you the little bits I do know, and hopefully you can try to utelize some of it with the ideal of eventually getting him to use the box again.
My first thought was maybe your kitty doesnt like the texture of litter under his feet (please note - declawing is not a subject we ever talk about on the DK). If this is the case, try him with newspaper and see if he prefers it? Maybe just a few flat sheets of newspaper on the floor where the boxes are, see what he does with it?
The other thing I know works really well when potty training a kitty is to build a positive scent association. You could try this with the newspaper, and also with the box. What I mean by a positive scent association is that cats use their urine/feces to mark their territories. The places where they eliminate are places where they feel safe, and pee/poo is like a post-it note saying 'i was here, and i was ok'. What I would suggest in your case is to try to put a litterbox by all the spots he usually pees/poos, and see if the placement of the boxes might be his problem. The other thing I always suggest is that you mop up the pee with some paper towels, or pick the poop up with some paper towels, and leave the poo in the box, or the paper with the pee on it in the box. Its important that you dont put litter over it, and leave it there. Then take your kitty and go show it to him. Very calmly, very gently, soft tones of voice, so he can see that this is where mommy wants you to do this. Every time he pees or poops in an inappropriate place, clean it and leave his 'stuff' in the litterbox, and go show it to him. Off course you can take the old 'stuff' out as new stuff comes in, but the idea is to a)teach him that this is where pee/poo belongs, and b) that his scent, already being in the box, will make him feel safe enough there to use it.
You could also try mixing some catnip in the litter and see if he calms down/feels better about the box. Just initially to break his phobia, I dont think having kitties rolling in nip mixed with poo/pee will be a good thing, but if you can get him to roll around in clean litter with some catnip, maybe he'll feel better about it.
This is the best I have for now, but I'll think on it some more and get back to you. Welcome to the daily kitten, by the way ;)
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Those all seem like some very sound ideas! When I first knew the kitten he was peeing and pooping in his litter box, and one of the reasons my roommate felt he was too much to handle was because he began to poop on her floor but continue to pee in his box. Juno is not yet neutered, so that may have something to do with it as well... but I'm not quite sure if that is relevant or not.
I've never heard of a kitten doing this either, all the women on my mother's side of the family love Persians, so they were the first type of cat I got to know. My mother, however, did have an elderly blue Persian who used to do a similar thing because of his age, but i've never seen a kitten react this way. All I know is that Juno won't go near the litter box after it's been contaminated, so I've been keeping both boxes very very clean. I've switched litters, as I mentioned before, but I have yet to try the newspaper technique you were referring to, as well as the other things you suggested!
Here is a brief history of my two children: When I was visiting my family over the holidays, I was expressing to my mother how much I wanted a cat of my very own. Young or old, it didn't matter, I just absolutely love kitties and wanted to take one back to school with me. My mom and I went to her veterinarian clinic to go take a look at some kittens that were rescued. There were 4 of them, two boys and two girls, all black with golden eyes. I instantly laid eyes on Tori and a nurse had taken her out so I could hold her. I had never met a girl so sweet! She instantly started purring in my arms, and it brought a tear to my eye. I knew that I couldn't let her go, and she's an absolute pleasure to have around! I was a bit skeptical bringing her back to Mississippi with me (my family lives in Texas), because I have two other roommates, and I had only discussed the cat with one of them. Later that week I got a phone call from the other roommate telling me that she had gotten a Persian kitten and she was extremely excited. So was I! A playmate for Tori! This little Persian has already been through so much. Under the care of my roommate he had an awful eye infection which resulted in him having to get his right eye removed :( However, my roommate still continued to care for him. It wasn't until he began using her carpet as his bathroom that she started neglecting him. I knew she wasn't keeping his litter box very sanitary and I had a problem with the way she took care of him. I just felt like he belonged with me. A few weeks ago she said she was going to try and find someone to take him, but I couldn't let that happen! He is way too precious and sweet, and I almost couldn't believe she would do that. I decided to adopt sweet little one-eyed Juno, and I've been trying my best to take care of him! Juno and Tori are best friends, and getting rid of him would mean breaking my little Tori's heart, so I'll never let that happen. I love them both, and I really appreciate all of y'alls help! Victoria and Juno are my kids, and it's extremely rewarding knowing that I've sort of rescued both of them :)
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Bless you, Kate, and welcome to TDK. You've had some marvellous advice above, hope it helps! I know that other TDKers have had very good results with the Cat Attract and Kitten Attract litter! Good luck with your two beautiful babies! (I also have a one-eyed cat, Jasper, but he's an old ex-tom!)
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Welcome to TDK Kate :) Besides all the excellent suggestions above, he might not like the texture of the current litter (might want to try out something different, such as a finer texture if you currently use a coarser one or vice versa) I know that mine like a really fine texture and I have one that likes it a little bit bigger pieces.
Posted 1 year ago by AZDEBRA 5/27 & crew #
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welcome Kate, I hope you can solve Juno's problem using all the great advice.
Posted 1 year ago by Moonshadow_NZ #
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