Ever had a cat that wouldn't use the litter box?
 

We have a new cat, a stray that we rescued.
We'd been feeding him for about a year, and a few weeks ago he was really banged up, head was all torn up, missing a chunk out of his ear, and his toe on his back paw was really messed up and almost gangrenous....the vet said he definitely would have gotten gangrene and probably died if we hadn't brought him to the vet when we did.

Anyways, sometimes this guy uses the litter box, and other times he doesn't. We can't figure out why.
I googled this and found a few tips, implemented all of them, and the little fucker just pissed on the carpet again....and we just steam cleaned them yesterday!!

Anyways, my patience is wearing thin and I'd really hate to put him out and see him get all banged up and shit again.....but I can't have a house that smells like cat urine.
If any of you have any suggestions that will keep this kitty from becoming homeless I'd appreciate it.

Thanks

bump

5678

My dog does it too. She will do her buisness on her pad most of the time but 2 outta 5 times she goes right in front of it. When you find out whey about your cat let me know so maybe I can figure out what is wrong with the dog lol

I love this time of year!! I no longer have to smell the fucking litter box!!!
its time the cat loves to go outside

everytime your cat does it, put him in the litter box. help him dig his paws into it. (im sure you've tried that but thats the only thing i know to tell ya).

Try Cat Attract and/or Feline Pine instead of dusty/clumping litter
Do not use a covered litter box at first
put it in a easy to find but protected 'corner'
put the cat in the box each hour or at regular intervals over a week
make sure the box is not next to its food/water
perhaps try using 2 boxes in 2 separate locations and see if its a timing/preference thing or comfort zone.
Are you keeping the kitten in a safe room for these first few days with the box in the room? that may be a good idea so he doesn't get 'lost' in the new environment and panic.

The next time your cat pee on the carpet, dont let her eat for the whole day.

We use Cat Attract and have 2 open litter boxes, side-by-side in a closet. The food dishes are in a separate room. He's not a kitten but rather a grown cat and was a stray (outside) for at least 1 year.

Babagirls, we've tried that as well. He jumps out immediately and walks away. It's so odd, because most of the time, he uses it. It's just those rare occasions when he decides he'd rather use the carpet. :Oh crap

That's cruel. Go away.

I never had a cat

You mean that are still breathing? Nope!

My cat has been going in the litterbox for four years, and suddenly in the last two weeks she's started going on the bathroom floor in front of the litterbox. She went on the bathmat, so I got rid of that, then she went on a towel that was on the floor, so I got rid of that, and now she's just going straight on the floor. A week ago we got a kitten, and that kitten had one accident in front of the bathroom door (on the bedroom carpet) and ever since then the big cat has started going there, too. If you figure out something that will get a cat to go in the damn litterbox be sure and post it here, because I'm tired of stepping in disgusting cat pee, and so far the only brilliant ideas I can come up with are to kill the cat and have it stuffed or set up a "sluts stepping in cat pee" webcam fetish site. I'm sure there's a market for it out there somewhere.

bump for you

if you have more than one cat try separating the litter boxes, could be a scent thing :(

Cat piss is the worst smell in the world. I had a similar problem with my Persian, she used to always piss in the corner. So what I had to do was train her, or more like bribe her to use the litter box.
(first of all she would only use the litter box if it was clean, that was very important! she didn't like sharing with my other cat)

So what I did was buy some of her favorite cat treats, (you might have to buy a variety to see what the cat really prefers) and reward her for using the litter box. After some time that did the trick!

good luck!

thats just fucked up, the cat wont understand!

go to walmart, they have a spray you can put on your rugs and furniture so the cat doesn't like going there.

my cat sometimes rims one off the edge of the box but usually his aim is good. Hasn't dropped any steamers around the house other than that.

My cat has done the same , next time he did it , i poked his face in his own poo , he never did it again , and now he always goes to the litter box . It can also be a ditry litter box , you need to clean it regulary .

that happened because something changed

Of course they can! You just have to pet them. Haven't you heard of reward system? it works!!!!!

Cats won't remember what they did to get rewarded. They have small brains. Steamcleaning will only put a band-aid on the problem.

- Take the cat to the vet to see if they have any type of infection. Put them on UTI medication if they do.
- Clean the litter box out every day.
- Go to Walmart of wherever and buy some stuff to prevent cats/dogs off furniture or certain areas. Spray every day.
- Use Feliway in that spot every day.
- Pull up the carpet, replace the padding. Spray the shit out of the subflooring and carpet - both sides. Let that dry. Paint some type of sealant, like Killz, to seal the floor. Oil-based is better because it gets down in the cracks.
- Put a dish of food where the spot is.

It's a bitch getting that smell out. I finally had to remove my whole front room carpeting, use a sealer, and am now waiting to put wood floors in. My cats have not peed in the room in almost a week and hopefully it will stay that way. Pisses me off because it's a totally brand new house that had upgraded carpets.

Hope that helps!

I doubt you'll be able to teach it

Yes you can! I tought my cat, and now she associates using the litter-box with getting a treat!

Small brains or not, the fact is cats are greedy! Use that to your advantage and you can train them!

My 2 devon rex's are smart as hell. They come when called, they know words like "food" "water" and "tuna" or "treat", they fetch, they vocalize, they rock :)

Wipe any places your cat goes with a paper towel before sanitizing then put the paper towel in a corner of the litter box.:2 cents:

.....here's a bump from my side :)

I agree with beckie in that you should take your pet to the vet and see if there is a medical problem. Maybe your cat is trying to tell you there's a health problem, but can't think of any better way to let you know other than to make a mess right in front of you.

I'm definitely not saying cats are dumb (I have a 'few') and hey can be quite smart. Some animals can never learn what reward/discipline is, no matter how hard you try. The litter box issue is a real pain. Hopefully it's just one area and not a whole room. :(

Keep him in the garage.. he's a wild cat that isnt going to obey human rules....

My sister's cat always piss and dumps anywhere. That's why I hate cats so much.

As stated go see a vet and clean the box everyday

It's not a health issue.
He had quite the workup at the vet when we first brought him in, and he took two weeks worth of medicine for a runny stool.
Initially the vet thought that's what the problem was, he just didn't have time to make it to the box before he lost it....but now that's cleared up and we still have accidents sometimes, and the vet doesn't know what to tell us.

They will do it if they're angry for any reason. Cats are tempermental.

Try SwheatScoop litter, its natural from wheat and cats seem to like it.
But one thing to really try is place some foil where the cat pisses on the carpet they hate foil. They will associate the foil with going outside of the box. My cat did this a few times and it worked. Sounds odd but give it a shot. Also place cat in box as mentioned above right after this too.

well, i don't know everything, but we've had cats over the years, just my :2 cents:

1. male cats do "spray" to mark their "space"---they do it less if they are neutered.

2. once a cat urinates in a specific spot it is difficult to prevent it unless the area is immediately cleaned and animal repellant is used...sorry if cat pisses on carpet you almost have to steam clean it.

3. advice about cleaning litter box daily to get the animal acclimated to new surroundings is valid---if animal is traumatized from injury training will take longer.

4. a cat can be trained to successfully use the toilet---many young cats have been trained this way---i do not know if the technique is successful with older cats.

http://www.potty-cat.com/index.htm?catalog.htm&1

5. kudos to you for helping an injured animal.