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Thanks guys for all of your suggestions and the website. I think I may know the reason(s) for her sudden dislike of the litter box. We've actually been changing the litter type quite often here lately. We used the same liter for years when we had multiple cats in the house & then changed a few years ago when she was the only cat in the house. That worked fine but we got another cat (Atlanta) in the house almost 2 years ago and that litter just wasn't cutting it. So we've been searching around for a new litter. I bought a totally new litter a couple of weeks ago.
I got the feline pine scoop clumping liter. It says it's for mustiple cats and is all natural and chemical free so I thought we'd give it a try. I'm thinking that Baby just doesn't like this litter. That and again she's almost 10 and Atlanta is now 2. Atlanta loves to play & run & jump but Baby has never liked those things. So almost everytime Baby will go to use the litter box Atlanta will chase her wanting to play.
So we're going to try another cat liter & stick with it & probably bring in another litter box as well & place it in another part of the house. We live in a single story home so stairs isn't a problem. And she's never had a UTI & in fact she eats food for cats with a history of UTI's. We had another older cat in the house who once had a UTI so we switched their food to a UTI friendly food. When we gave him to my brother I tried to switch Baby's food to something else & she would have none of that. So we switched her back & that's what she's been eating most of her life. So I'm not really worried about a UTI.
And Zembonze ~ Sorry I disagree. I do NOT want to toss her outside. She's been inside since she was 3 months old & she's almost 10 years old now. NO WAY do I want her outside. And Baby agrees. Over the years I have just walked out onto the pourch holding her & she would very quickly jump down & run back inside. So I know she wants nothing to do with outside either.
The food will not prevent a UTI...she could well still have one. And that she hasn't had one before doesn't mean she doesn't have one now. I would check for safety's sake.
You may be able to train Atlanta to stop chasing her while she's in the box. Jonas does this with Robin. Basically, every time I hear Robin in the box I keep an eye on Jonas. If he looks like he's THINKING of making a move in that direction I just call his name in my 'don't even think about it, young man' voice. If he does actually walk in that direction he gets picked up and scolded. It took time, but now when I say his name he walks away in the opposite direction and most of the time he won't even try it.
Neither of my cat's liked Feline Pine (well, Jonas likes it too much...he tries to eat it). The pieces are very large and have a very different texture.
If the box and litter are the cause, you may need to do some retraining to get her back into using it. Switch back to the litter you know she likes, then confine her in a small room with the box for a few days until she's using it reliably.
Why? You don't like cats? In most cases the problem can be found as to why the cat stopped using the litter box. Throwing them outside isn't the answer.
The change in litter could likely be it. Still, get her a checkup if she hasn't had one recently.
You may want to try litter from this company: Precious Cat Litters - Quality Cat Litter They are pretty widely available in Petsmart and similar stores these days I think. (I bought my first bag at Petsmart.) The Cat Attract may help early on getting her back to using the litter box, but going forward you can probably just use Precious Cat Ultra which is what I switched to here recently. Yes it's clay but way less dusty than any clay I've ever used before and still very good at preventing odor and does so without giving off any smell of its own. Not trying to be a commercial or anything; I just think they make a good product.
It'd be absolutely MEAN to kick a cat out at 9 years when it's always lived indoors!!
I agree!
I adopted a cat and a kitten a few months ago. The kitten likes to be the first one in the litter box. I was using non-clumping because they said that is what you should use with kittens. Well, the kitten would go in both boxes and she used one almost exclusively but if I didn't change out the litter totally in both boxes I would find her going on the floor by the box, on the floor in the pantry and other places. I then went to the clumping kind and have no more problems with that.
Go back to the litter that she liked and see if the problem still persists.
I have a 16 year old cat - used to be a silent cat. He now meows 24/7 - acts like he is starving, may or may not eat, lost a lot of weight. Took him to the vet about 9 mos. ago. Said he may have an intestinal cancer (the test to determine that could kill a cat his age) or a bit of kitty alzheimers or both. His brain and stomach may not talk to one another. And, he is a neat freak in the cat world. Anyway one night he was doing his incessant meowing and I looked at him and raised my voice and told him to be quiet and give it a rest. He promptly looked and me and walked over to the door and urinated on it. He has NEVER done that ever. Checked him out at the vet - same diagnosis - no UTI or other detectable illnesses. So now, when he meows, hungry or not - I jump to fill that food bowl. Guess he showed me who's boss.
I have a 16 year old cat - used to be a silent cat. He now meows 24/7 - acts like he is starving, may or may not eat, lost a lot of weight. Took him to the vet about 9 mos. ago. Said he may have an intestinal cancer (the test to determine that could kill a cat his age) or a bit of kitty alzheimers or both. His brain and stomach may not talk to one another. And, he is a neat freak in the cat world. Anyway one night he was doing his incessant meowing and I looked at him and raised my voice and told him to be quiet and give it a rest. He promptly looked and me and walked over to the door and urinated on it. He has NEVER done that ever. Checked him out at the vet - same diagnosis - no UTI or other detectable illnesses. So now, when he meows, hungry or not - I jump to fill that food bowl. Guess he showed me who's boss.
Just a suggestion...did they check his thyroid? That's just a blood test and thyroid problems can create ravenous hunger and weight loss. It's also a pretty easy fix if that should be the case.
I tried out that type of litter once, and my cats didn't like it either. Perhaps if they had started out on it, it would have been OK, but they didn't and it wasn't. They played in it rather than using it.
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