# Cat started to refuse to use litter tray



## Harry in Poland (Dec 12, 2008)

Ive got a very annoying problem with one of my cats: she has started to refuse to use the litter box for anything except peeing in. Instead she [email protected] anywhere she wants: in the living room, in the bed room, in the kitchen, on the kitchen work surface, sometimes she even runs round the apartment crapping so there is a lovely trail for me to clean up.

Although there are two other cats in the apartment, the three of them have been happily using two litter trays for the past three years. I check the litter trays at least four times a day and remove anything thats in there. I use the premium silicon (and always have since before I got this cat) and daily scoop out any silicon which has gone yellow or smells. The litter is changed completely every seven to ten days and a new packet goes in. One tray is open and the other is closed.

I cant have any more litter trays because there simply is not any more space in the bathroom. The hall is too small (there physically is not enough space). Im not putting a litter tray in the kitchen (and again it is too small anyway). I refused to have a litter tray in the bedroom (one of the other cats is a real digger and the noise would wake me up) and the living room is also out because I often have guests so it doubles as a second bedroom. Ive tried varying the depth of litter without success. 

Nothing has changed. No new room fresheners (have never been any). No new cats or people or other animals. No fighting between the cats. No new food. Nothing has changed other than the cat who refuses to do anything other than pee in the litter tray.

Any suggestions anybody?


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## Siamese Kelly (Jan 6, 2008)

Hi Harry in Poland,she's clearly not happy with something and this is her way of telling you,maybe try a different litter


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## rottiesloveragdolls (Nov 2, 2007)

*welcome to the forum Harry  as SK has said she may not be happy try using a different litter for her, or maybe shes not feeling very well  hope you get it sorted soon nothing worse than having a kitty doing their jobs in the wrong place *


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## kiska (Dec 12, 2008)

I would definitely consider changing the litter in one of the trays and see how she gets on with that - perhaps try a clumping type.


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## Harry in Poland (Dec 12, 2008)

So I now have three litter trays in different locations in two different rooms. Each is a different shape, each has different litter, one is uncovered, one is covered and has a big door, one is covered and has a small door. But I still have cat **** on my floor every morning.

Any suggestions?


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## Katie&Cody (Dec 4, 2008)

Pray she starts using one of them....
Sorry cant be of more help...


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## bimbam (Dec 19, 2008)

Can I ask where she sleeps? The reason being is that many years ago we took in a moggie from a rescue. During the day he was fine - would use the litter tray no problem. Of a night we would leave him in the kitchen with a clean tray etc - though he always scratched at the door to come out. Every morning without fail we would go in to find he had poohed on the floor and not in the tray. This went on for about 6 weeks until I was at my wits end and even on the verge of considering returning him. For some reason, I forget why now, we didn't shut in the kitchen one night and he just came in and settled on our bed and purred for ages and the next morning we found he had used the tray and not the floor. We continued to let him sleep with us and he was never any trouble after that unless he was accidently locked in a room somewhere ...then he would pooh on the floor! Sorry for the long tale but I wonder if perhaps your cat is just sociable and if she is shut out of your bedroom of a night it is her way of protest?


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## Tabbysaurus in Canada (Dec 12, 2008)

Hi Harry in Poland
We are having the same problem with one of our cats. Everything has been fine for 4 years, but seems that something has happened in the litter box between the multi cat household members. In our case we really now think our dominating male cat (neutered 4 years ago) ambushed and trapped our female cat (fixed 4 years ago) in the litter box while she was pooping and it freaked her out so much that she is only using the litter box now for peeing, the rest she holds in for sometimes 2 to 3 days and then runs round in a panic when it's time to poop and drops it all everyhwere.

The mystery is unravelling because our male cat just got sick with an upper respiratory virus and was quite poorly for past 10 days - vets visits, antibiotics etc. He has now fully recovered, and the strangest thing happened. The female cat suddenly regained her confidence while he was sick and watched him all the time curiously while he sneezed and could hardly eat and she suddenly started to use the litter box again for pooping ..only 2 days running(for the 1st time in 7 weeks) whilst our male cat was at his sickest.She also tried to attack and pounce on him while he was sickly Now that he is recovered she has reverted back to panicking, holding herself for a day or 2, and running around when it's time to poop and so avoiding the litter boxes all over again.

Yep, it is incredibly frustrating as we realise it's all psychological...a power struggle going on between the 2 cats who were harmonious for so long. We can't give up on them so we will just keep trying to be patient and hope the female regains her confidence soon. We spent a lot of time and money at the vets ruling out physical problems...so we just have hope things will get better.


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## ClaireLily (Jul 8, 2008)

I'm having a similar problem, a few weeks after Tiff was spayed she started pooing on the livingroom rug, right next to the tray. We have two kittens and two trays. Last couple days I have seen the warning signs and have lifted her intot he tray and she pooed there fine but overnight she has done it on the carpet again. I'm sure she wants a tray all to herself and doesn't like going where Pena has been but we tried having three trays and Pena used them all and there was still poo on the carpet. We have also tried using the litter we used when we first got Tiff then went back to the stuff we have used for about 3 months, nothing is working. Its very frustrating as she is otherwise perfect. Im hoping the treats and praise she gets when I catch her in the act and put her in the tray and she does it there will win out. Any other suggestions very welcome


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## Harry in Poland (Dec 12, 2008)

Tabbysaurus in Canada said:


> she is only using the litter box now for peeing, the rest she holds in for sometimes 2 to 3 days and then runs round in a panic when it's time to poop and drops it all everyhwere.


That is exactly what mine does. Usually its scattered over a square metre or so. Sometimes under the radiator or the TV. Even when theres a litter tray put right next to the TV or radiator

She knows that she is supposed to use the litter tray and Im sure of that because on mornings when theres [email protected] on the floor, the cat is nowhere to be seen but on mornings when there isnt she is always around and asking for breakfast.



Tabbysaurus in Canada said:


> she suddenly started to use the litter box again for pooping ..only 2 days running(for the 1st time in 7 weeks) whilst our male cat was at his sickest.  Now that he is recovered she has reverted back to panicking, holding herself for a day or 2, and running around when it's time to poop and so avoiding the litter boxes all over again.
> 
> Yep, it is incredibly frustrating as we realise it's all psychological...a power struggle going on between the 2 cats who were harmonious for so long. We can't give up on them so we will just keep trying to be patient and hope the female regains her confidence soon.


That is (almost) exactly what happened with me too! One of my other two cats got lost for two days (she ran out of the door when some guest left but I didnt notice at the time, only the next morning, and she spent two days hiding at the top of the rubbish chute in my apartment building) and while she was gone, the other cat used the litter tray. But within two days of her coming back, [email protected] was on the floor again.
The strange thing is that the cat whos refusing to use the litter tray is the one who usually jumps at the cat which was lost for two days, never the other way around.


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## silverhorse (Nov 2, 2008)

Have you tried using a cage at night with the cat bed in it and a tray. They dont like soiling their beds so this can work OK . I have tried this in the past with good results. If you have little room you can fold these cagess flat during the day . This may train her back to using the tray after a while.


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## Harry in Poland (Dec 12, 2008)

silverhorse said:


> Have you tried using a cage at night with the cat bed in it and a tray. They dont like soiling their beds so this can work OK . I have tried this in the past with good results. If you have little room you can fold these cagess flat during the day . This may train her back to using the tray after a while.


None of my cats have beds: they all just sleep anywhere they want to.

Unfortunately the cat which is refusing to use the cat tray is a Warsaw street cat (i.e. has 75 generations of ancestors which only had kittens because they learned that running away is usually a very good idea), so getting her into a cage is a major operation which requires at least two people and usually ends with her soiling herself because she's so frightened by the experience....


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