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pup and cat box,...hmmmm suggestions appreciated.

Super Princess

Well-known member
She hasn't even come home yet..shes only 19 days old..and im already stressing.

i have 2 cats, one is 16 ..the other is 2.
the 16 year old has been introuduced to many pets over the years..including our last cavalier, oliver. hes going to be no trouble at all.

the little cat..meh..this is going to be interesting!


my issue is..my 16 year old cat..in the last few months..has stopped using cat box for #2 (uses it #1) . its a covered cat box. FINALLY i decided to try un covering it.
suddnly the accidents have stopped.
cover it back up..they start again.


so.. lid has to go..for now..
but im brining a new puppy in..and i can see waht will happen already..

any suggestions?
putting it up high is outa the question..16 year old whos having issues in the first place..he cant jump anymore..his bones are of an elderly humans.

i was thinking maybe in the bathroom cupboards (my vanity is huge..4 cupboards) but im not thrilled about that idea..and i dont know how the cats will take to that either..
(i live in a 1 bedroom basement suiet..so i dont have hte luxury of trying other places..and my bedroom is closed to them..because the little cat is REALLY annoying at night.
(plus pup will be in my bedroom at night)
 
Misty views litter trays as "buffet boxes":grnyuk: which was a real struggle when we had an indoor cat. We tried moving the litter tray, but this upset the cat who was used to it being where it was, and we ended up moving it back to avoid accidents. I never really found a solution with Misty, so it always ended up with a race to reach it first.

You might have better luck with a puppy though. Murphy was trained to leave while he was growing up, and as far as I know never raided the litter tray for snacks. Misty on the other hand was already possessive of food and treats when we rescued her, and has never learned leave, no matter how hard we try. I think she was probably short on food before we got her so anything that smells like food goes straight in the mouth.

While your house training him, he wont be out of your sight anyway, so I'd just train him the litter tray is out of limits at the same time.
 
At first its not going to be an issue because puppy cannot have the run of the place remember strick supervision is the key to house training. So its a good thing the pups are in the big side hopefully when she is old enough to have some freedom around the apartment you can use something to keep the bathroom door open just wide enough for the cats to get thur but not the puppy.
 
It seems like once they get a taste they are all for it.

I have an older cat (11 yrs) and I have been wondering the same thing when she is too old to jump into her covered box. Right now everything is going great because her litter is in a box with a door at the top. She can get in and dogs stay out. Maybe you will get lucky and your new pup will be so obedient you won't have a worry. :)
 
Is this somewhere you can put a baby gate to the area with the litterbox, maybe the walk through kind? This is our solution for our upstairs (the cat stays up there, Rose isn't allowed-Smoochie- 13 years, and Bean, 16 years, hop over). You may be able to pick up a gate for a decent price at the thrift store/garage sale/kid's consignment sale. They have pressure mounted walk through gates, so you don't have to make any holes in your doorway trim. http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=n:165796011,k:walk through baby gate

They also have play yards and fireplace gates to give the cats a "safe" area to use the litterbox, and keep the puppy out should he get out of sight for a minute- I found a fireplace gate at a consignment sale for $40 :D . http://www.amazon.com/Regalo-Metal-...2&sr=1-1&keywords=walk+through+fireplace+gate

But if your kitty doesn't jump at all, I'm kinda at a loss myself for anything other than strict supervision, since I'm guessing an automatic litterbox isn't an option either? The one I have works great, but since it is a dome, I don't guess it will work for you? I got this one because one of my other old cats (who has since passed on) started refusing to use a "previously used" box, and I couldn't keep up with scooping after every cat (4) every time to make her happy :/ http://www.litter-robot.com/ . They sell refurbished ones for a nice discount, same warranty, for future reference if you're interested ;) . They do make open top automatic litterboxes though, might be worth checking here for a good one: http://www.litterbox-central.com/litter-box/
 
maybe ill look into the auto boxes.. i saw one at a store thats closing out..
i think its going to have to be a strict supervision thing.
my mum suggested putting up a baby gate (dividing the livingroom off from the bathroom and bedroom, when we get home from work..cats get bedroom bathroom and we get livingroom ..then removing it when we go to bed (as cats are not aloud in bedroom)

i dont know how meeko will take to that (simba can jumpi f he wants) but its worth a try.

i LOVE him to pieces..but what 'good' timing to quit using a covered box.
i loveee the idea of a box that opens from the top..but that wont help us at the moment. THAT is an idea i will look into in the future though :D
 
I use the baby gate solution the Furrfoot mentions in the post. It has worked well and now that BB is larger I may move to one with an opening that Simi (cat) can fit through but BB cannot. Simi is 9 years old and seems to be avoiding jumping but no litter box issues yet! I do think it is important to not let the puppy develop a liking for the litter box - it will help keep things under control more easily. Good luck and share your solution once you get it down, may help us all live in peace with our Cavs and cats!!!!
 
I will let you know how it goes. Still have 43 days till i pick her up;)
I like the idea of an opening for cats once Maggie gets bigger.
Maybe put the gate higher on the wall. Cats can slide under but not pup.

I remember with Oliver, we had a large 2 story house. Cat box was downstairs in the bathroom (and cats didn't care it was covered) and Oliver's gate was at the top of the stairs. Cats could jump or climb. Had some funny memories of Max trying to climb.
If he ever got or went downstairs, it wasn't cat box it was the food he was after. God, that's another thing ill have to figure out lol:D
Ah if these are my challenges in life..I'll take them!!:D
 
I will let you know how it goes. Still have 43 days till i pick her up;)
I like the idea of an opening for cats once Maggie gets bigger.
Maybe put the gate higher on the wall. Cats can slide under but not pup.

I remember with Oliver, we had a large 2 story house. Cat box was downstairs in the bathroom (and cats didn't care it was covered) and Oliver's gate was at the top of the stairs. Cats could jump or climb. Had some funny memories of Max trying to climb.
If he ever got or went downstairs, it wasn't cat box it was the food he was after. God, that's another thing ill have to figure out lol:D
Ah if these are my challenges in life..I'll take them!!:D

Rose fits through the cat door to upstairs, and would fit through the baby gate pet door ones too, just fyi (she's about 17-18 lbs). The putting it up off the floor a bit might work, just don't hurt yourself going through/under! :p
 
I've never found a covered litter box did anything to discourage a dog from raiding cat poop. You can get all sorts of boxes though that will make it hard for dogs to get in but they tend to be expensive! The easiest approach is to have litter boxes in places the cats can access but dogs cannot.

Most cats incidentally, dislike using covered litter boxes -- same reason we tend to dislike portable outdoor toilets. Small enclosed space where you have to smell everything that has been done inside that small space. Ugh. Many cats will tolerate a covered a box. But it is a lot nicer for cats to not have to use them. And often the main reason cats stop using a litter box is because they finally have had enough of a covered box. :lol:

http://cats.about.com/cs/behavioralissues/a/outsidebox_one.htm

Hooded or covered litter boxes are popular with consumers, but if cats did the shopping, they would be left on the shelves. Humans do not want to see or smell what kitty leaves behind in the litter box, but for that matter, neither does kitty. The hooded litter box forces him to enter a cramped, cave-like structure that concentrates odors, creating an outhouse effect. Since the cat's sense of smell is at least 14 times more sensitive than ours, this may be all it takes to send kitty in search of a fresher smelling toilet area...
 
I guess that makes sence.. I don't like using outhouses.. theyre pretty dirty and gross...adn they have A LOT of bugs.
i think im more afraid of bugs then anything else about outhouses..
although..we recently had THE ENTIRE family over and the topic of outhouses came up...according to both my cousins..when we were younger..there was a man arrested for hiding in the bottom of outhouses...aparently he found this arousing? thats disgusitng..an i googled it but found nothing lol so i think they're wrong. but.. while the topics here..thought id pass that along ;)

im just glad i got to the bottom of it.. at 16 hes got a few minor health issues and that was one thing that sent alarm bells.



bwahahha..yes.. i got the count down going.. Dad and i are going over on saturday to meet them. im thrilled. They are now fluffy, have opened their eyes..are starting to walk around (aparently like drunkin soldiers) and have had a taste of solid food (well i wouldnt call it solid..but its not mums milk.
 
It's so funny you mention this because I have just recently started having problems with both the litter box and the food with the kitties and Lady. Lady is not very interested in the actual poo in the box. The box I have is covered and my fat girl can't stand covered boxes but I finally found one at Target or Petsmart that was tall enough that she didn't mind it. I think the ones that are very tall don't annoy the kitties as much and has actually kept Lady from getting IN it quite well. We just made sure we always gave her our annoying "EH EH!" command when she got near. However, when one of the cats feels extremely ignored by us, they will poo on the floor right next to the box just to peeve us off. If Lady sees it she will run RIGHT up to it and try to eat/lick it. EWWWWWW! We've dealt with that twice, and I don't think there's any getting around it when it's right out in plain sight. I would suggest finding the tallest one you can find or try the clever cat. We had luck with this box for a while and then they all of a sudden hated it after a year. It may work for you!

http://www.amazon.com/Clevercat-77000-Top-Entry-Litterbox/dp/B0002ZS20I

As for the food, that was a real struggle b/c our kitties are just as crazy about food as Lady. All 3 of them beg, beg, beg for food and know EXACTLY when dinner-time is and try to eat each others meals. We feed Lady twice a day and the cats as well. We've found that feeding the kitties inside (they're indoor kitties) and Lady outside at the same time works best...they finish eating at the same time, separated. I don't know if this will work if you free feed your kitties. Luckily, we can't free feed ours b/c they are extremely plump and on a diet...and eat it in 10 seconds flat anyway.

Sometimes I wonder how much easier it would be if I wasn't chasing around 3 animals...all with extremely outgoing diva personalities. ;)
 
I couldn't figure out anything that has worked, so we finally put up a baby gate in the room where we keep the litter. This way Sonny can't get through, but our cat can easily jump over. We bought a gate that you can open and close, so you don't have to climb over it every time. This is the best solution we have found!

Ugh I never realized what a dilemma litter boxes are with dogs!
 
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