What can I do about my cat not using the litter box due to something in the basement having spooked her?
Saturday, August 28th, 2010 at
10:45 pm
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first off take her to the vet to see if she has a urinary tract infection
go to the pet store and get some Natures miracle, it is in a white bottle and has red lettering. it has enzymes that will eat away the urine.
if she doesn’t have a urinary tract infection and after you have cleaned those areas up good and she still pees on the carpet you may have to retrain her to use the litter box by putting her, her litterbox, some toys and water in a small room, keep her normal feeding schedule and make sure you go in and spend time with her in there. she will eventually learn that she has to use the box or she is going to have to live in it. and most animals don’t want to sleep or eat where they go.
Cats tend to not use the litterbox when they have urinary tract infections because it hurts and they associate pain with the litter box. they will also do this to get their owners attention that something is wrong.
Why on earth would you keep a litter box in a basement? So it’s "out of sight/out of mind"? Since it’s far, far away in the basement – how often do you clean it?? I bet not very often.
How about putting the litter box UPSTAIRS where the cat is and keeping it super clean so you won’t even notice it’s there? How would you feel if you had to go all the way downstairs to the basement just to take a pee????
Bring the litter box out of the basement, show the cat the new location…problem should solve itself then.
Can you put the litter box in a smaller place than the basement? If you have a utility room, put the litter box in there with the cat several times a day, and close the door. Smaller places are more "secure" feeling to cats. You may want to put her food and water in there too….to make it enticing for her to enter. Make sure to let her out of the room. Don’t make it jail. She’ll soon see that it’s safe to use the litter box again.
I’d bring her litterbox upstairs to a safe place and one you can put her in QUICKLY if you catch her trying to go somewhere else. If necessary that her box go back downstairs, try moving it there slowly. Is there a landing part way down the stairs where you could put it for a few days?
Well, since there is really no other place to put the litter box, you could try to stick it in that bathroom, or bring her with you and check out the basement to see if it’s ok and talk to her in a a calm voice.
If she won’t go into the basement and you won’t put it anywhere else it’s simply a matter of time befoere litterbox avoidance begins, and you don’t want to have to correct that.
You’d have to compromise on this one.