When confining a cat to re-train to use the litter box

[cmjones311]

Thank you for all of your encouragement! It's hard because people IRL just don't seem to get it, so it's nice to find someone who does.

I've had her continuously either in the new closet room or in my bedroom with me, and she's done great so far with the box right there. I'm just afraid that once she gets back out into the rest of the house, she's going to go right back on the floor in the room that the litterbox is in.

One thing I'm concerned about is that since starting the meds, her diarrhea has gotten worse (way more runny) instead of better. I can call the vet tomorrow, but do you think that's showing more of a problem?

[patricats]

can I asked if a change in her diet was ever tried?...allergy to grains can cause lower GI upset and diarrhea too...

[bluebirdflats]

We are at the end of week two of confining our cat due to litter box issues. She's a rescue that first used my chair in the family room as a litter box, moved to the couch and then to the living room area rug. We also tried all the different litters, different boxes, different locations, and medicine (Prozac), medical check ups and our last resort was confining her to our laundry room and using Prozac daily. We had tried confining her without the Prozac and only got through four days without an 'accident'. This go around we kept her confined unless we were actually watching her. After about ten days we allowed her in the family room without constant supervision but we've checked on her every fifteen minutes. Today we allowed her one more room, the spare bedroom. Although everything is going in the cat box, her bathroom habits aren't regular. She can go two days without pooping, one whole day without peeing and then she'll have a whopper of both and we start all over again. I plan to keep her confined or supervised until her eliminations are fairly regular. She should be peeing more than once a day, she drinks water from her fountain often, and she should be pooping at least every 24 hours, she eats both wet and dry food and she's getting plenty of exercise when we play with her. The only side effects of the Prozac we're seeing is increased aggressiveness, she can nip if you try to pick her up when she's not in the mood (picking up involves going into the laundry room and/or a pill). We lost our beloved fifteen year old Himalayan in July and adopted a cat to fill the hole in our hearts. Sassy is only 3 so we have lots of years left with her, this is a frustrating problem.

[leesands]

I've had many cats for many years. I know from experience that moving my own furniture around in the house can be scary for cats. I suspect your moving and that of your roommates moving in and out is probably stressing your cat out. I have been told that the only way to break a cat from pottying outside the box is confinement. The length of time differs for each cat. One of my cats would poop in odd places at times. I began holding her more and giving her a lot of attention. I told her I loved her and that I didn't want her to go potty on the floor anymore. She stopped the bad behavior. I know people who had put their cats down because of this very thing. A lot of people mistakenly believe that cats don't need attention like dogs, but that is not true. I believe the older they get, the more attention they need. So, try brushing her, holding her, and engaging her in play every day and see if she starts to feel more secure.