Dart and the litterbox....

Dart, Becky's cat, is peeing outside of the litterbox every once in a while for the last little while. :frustrated:

1) He couldn't be sick because he's been playing and eating and everything just fine (in other words being totally annoying as per normal for him). I'd sort of like to take him to the vet as a last option (you guys will see why in a bit).

2) We had two litterboxes out before but now we're down to one until I can grab a high sided one (later this today/this week). Becky bought one but its low-sided and the cats (I swear) toss the litter out of it in pawfuls! Even with the one high-sided litter box we still have issues with that (again Dart is being the litter/feces flinger)!

3) He's only started this peeing outside the litterbox AFTER I did the "boo boo" of not cleaning the litter off the floor (I have another thread about that one). I've stuck some of that "Get Serious" stuff (the ones that's actually for upholstery rather than the floor cuz that's all I had) and he stopped peeing on the floor for a few days, then went right back.

So how do I stop this? Am I wrong in thinking its a "learned" behaviour (ie. I peed on the floor once so now I can do it whenever I feel like it) or do you think there's more to it? I mean I can't be home all day everyday to watch him and neither can Becky nor Arron. I clean it up when I see it. I toss a ton of that de-enzymer stuff on the floor and do what it says...to the best of my ability anyway.

I'm trying to get the area cleaned up (its the same area that has all the black stuff on the floor) but I'm afraid its going to start seeping under the trim and he'll just keep peeing there! I'm also afraid that if I can't stop this I'm going to have to replace the trimming and the section of real hardwood flooring too. If that happens I'm going to have to sell Arron's organs on the blackmarket.

I know I need to get that second box in but I've been having lots of money issues lately (to the point where I starved myself for my cats) and only just this week am I coming "into money." There's also not enough space in the apartment to put 4 boxes in (the number I *should* have) and two's always worked just fine (minus litter flinging competitions). The only other thing I can think of is to find a huge rubbermaid bin of some sort and just have one big huge litterbox of sorts in the corner. I'm tired of stepping on flung litter when I go to the bathroom!

Also there's no other viable place to put the litterbox at the moment since all of Becky's clothing (the stuff she DOESN"T want) is in the corner we originally had the litter box in and we've run out of corners to put them! This place was NOT designed for cats.....:cat:

Megan

Alright more questions...

Dart meows....excessively....started a thread a while ago....only tip was to ignore him....so far its not working, he usually takes an hour to calm down and God forbid if anyone moves in the bedroom or we're in for another hour....

We have another theory...

Becky got Dart because her boyfriend, Chippy, had broken up with her (for a number of reasons). Dart got used to Chippy and (funnily enough) sleeping on his butt (lol). Chippy inevitably left. Becky moved in with us. Dart got used to two other cats.

Chippy came back. They're together again and have been for a while. This time they're on more stable ground and are likely to be together a while (though not living together any time soon). Dart started to meow excessively after he came back into the picture. Could this be the reason?

Megan

Taking away a litter box, even moving it to a different location has always caused my cats stress. ( although I have never taken away a box....they each have there own) If he is having a hard time going pee or such, i would see a vet........cats are funny when it comes to being sick.

Hello from Hamilton,

I would just like to say that your cat likely has a Urinary Tract Infection. (however I am no doctor) My male cat last year started the identical behaviour. It started with peeing outside the litter box and the excessive meowing began! When I spoke to my vet she indicated that this is the most common way for a feline to indicate there are problems. It also is their way of telling someone the litterbox is not clean. With a needle that was around $50.00 or so and he was fine within a week!

Best of Luck!

Cindy

Becky got Dart because her boyfriend, Chippy, had broken up with her

is his name really Chippy??:rolleyes:
I think he meows in protest to the name.. :laughing: j/k

but i think dart poops outside the box because he once did it and that was ok and now he does it again because there's nothing bad coming out of it. Maybe he peed there too? Is there a carpet the litter box sits on? I would throw that out and get a new one. There may be smells on it he likes that tell him to poop there. Or maybe he just would like his own litter box. I think 1 litter box for 3 kitties is not enough, because they're fussy and who knows, when these accidents happen, for Dart there may be one too many poops in the box and he just would rather have a clean spot all to himself. :cat:

Chippy is not his real name...just we know so many Chris' that its easier to call him by his nickname :) (used to have a chipped tooth)

See I'm thinking its not enough litterboxes but I'm not sure where I could fit FOUR in the house (as the rule states). I know the cats used to use both boxes, one for peeing and one for pooping, but since Dart has decided to fling the litter out of the box we've had to go down to the one with the high sides. I'll go grab a second one with money that I just got :). (Like I said stepping on litter while coming out of the shower is NOT cool)

@ dogcat: the litter's been where it is for a while now. It never stressed my two and I'm sure Dart will be ok until I clean up the floor. It just means that I need to get Becky to move the pile of clothing off the floor and into a box or something...

He's not having PROBLEMS peeing/pooping. He just periodically pees outside the box! It either has to do with Chippy popping back into his life or it has to do with me not being fast enough cleaning up the flung litter on the floor (from other months). He would toss litter out of the boxes as he was covering his "deposits" and then later come back and "deposit" on the litter outside the box (also the reason why we have so many issues with the floor). This is also the reason why I want to move the litter boxes so I can clean that damn floor before I have to replace the hardwood! I don't want him (or my two) to be around the Hydrogen Peroxide!

On the Chippy note again: Is there any way we can get him more used to Chippy? I mean he will run away from Chippy if he tries to touch him! I have never seen a cat avoid someone sooo much! There's been no abuse (in fact comparitively we probably "abuse" him more than Chippy does...we don't call him puntable for nothing ;)) and he's a real good guy (throwing out the theory of "if an animal doesn't like you..."). Before Chippy left to move away Dart LOVED him!

Megan