Kitty News

[kouredios]

So Moxie (that's him in the icon) has been peeing outside the box occasionally for a really long time. Since, basically, our older cat Mica died about 5 or six years ago. It's been getting worse lately though, so the extent that I find puddles of pee in the bathroom next to the box pretty much daily. We've tried all kinds of things: new litter,

Comments

[serge_lj]

We keep the kitty litter's box in the bathtub. This prevents doggies from rummaging thru to look for 'candy'. Also, should a kitty become quite enthusiastic about covering his/her business, no litter gets spilled onto the floor. Finally, if a kitty overshoots, it lands inside the tub.

[kouredios]

What do you do when you want to take a shower?

[serge_lj]

The shower stall is in the other bathroom. When a soaking in the tub is requried, yes, I have to clean it up first. Luckily, we're shower people more than tub people otherwise the tub cleaning would become tiresome.

[kouredios]

Ah. See, we only have the one tub/shower combo. And two boxes. :D

[firynze]

Awwww, poor kitty! He IS a gorgeous boy. I hope the new diet helps make things easier on him.

[kouredios]

So far, so good. He's used the litter box in the library, eaten most of the food, and now is hanging out on the futon.

[fledgist]

Oh dear, poor Moxie.

[kouredios]

It definitely could have been worse. the vet was also looking for kidney disease, of which there was no evidence, thank goodness.

[fledgist]

That's positive.

[writingortyping]

John arranged a kind of "guillotine" barrier that keeps the dog out of the litter box bathroom, while allowing the cats to slide under (basically, it's some 1/4 molding about 1/4 inch from the jamb, with bits of 1x at the bottom - about 8" from the floor - to act as stoppers. This creates a channel for a piece of plywood with a strip of 1x that acts as a handle on the top).

I can take a picture if this is confusing....... Which it probably is.

[kouredios]

The problem is that Pepper is also a cat. :D We keep the dog separated from the cats by having a gate at the bottom of the stairs. Downstairs has become dogland, and upstairs is catopia. So Moxie's not bothered by the dog...he's bothered by the other cat, and anything that can keep her out can keep him out too.

What we're going with now, is basically shutting him away overnight with his own food and box, and then letting him out but shutting up the bathroom for the time being, so he's completely used to eating and littering elsewhere for a while. I've got some pheromone spray that will hopefully help with his stress levels. I also picked up a furminator for the cats, which will help give them more care time, which will help them both out with well-being, I think.

[writingortyping]

Aha - sorry: I got nuthin, then!

[kouredios]

I think we've figured out something workable. I'll update how he's doing in a month, probably. :D

[minyan]

Poor guy.

When Mac and I shared an apartment with a pomeranian (yeah, the largest dog he's ever lived with is half his size), I wound up barricading the door to my room with a two-foot high stack of books, so he could have one entirely to himself. He seemed a lot happier.

If you feed Moxie at set times, can you either shut him and the food away from Pepper or Pepper away from the cat and the food... or if you always have food in his bowl, can you put his bowl somewhere he can get to and Pepper can't? Can he outclimb her?

[kouredios]

We feed the cats at night, so right now we're leaving him overnight in a room by himself with his food and his box. Pepper gulps down all her food, so leaving her food out isn't a problem. Moxie is a nibbler (one source of his stress is her pushing him away from the food), so letting him have access to his food without her overnight seems to work. Tomorrow we'll just put the food up for the day (his; hers is already gone) and lock them both out of the bathroom.

That's the plan anyway...