F4 male won't use litter box consistently

[Lauren Nicole]

We have recently adopted a 4 year old F4 male Savannah who just will NOT use his litter box consistently. He urinates in it 100% of the time but when he goes to use #2 it's a hit or miss. Sometimes it's in the box sometimes it's in the floor. We have switched litter brands, we even bought the cat attract brand, we have brought in a second litter box, we have moved them around. NOTHING. He has been here at the house for 4 months. Note we do have 3 other male cats who have SEPARATE boxes than the new male. They aren't getting along well YET, that is also a work in progress. Any tips or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Rob1984]

anytime i see my cat using his littler box i praise him after and give him a treat thats just what i do because i dont even want to deal with him not using it so far he has never missed once but i also have an automatic littler box so its clean everytime he uses it (not sure how much longer it will last tho it takes a beating him from whenever it does a cleaning cycle)

 

[admin]

Are the cats altogether?

 

[WitchyWoman]

Have you seen him poop and if so does he put all of his feet in the box or does he balance on the edge of the box? Before I switched to Litter Robots one of my F2s would poop by balancing on the edge of the box and sometimes he got preoccupied with not losing his balance and forgot to pay attention to which side his butt was on.

So many things could be the issue with the poop -- perhaps he likes the poop box litter to be deeper or more shallow. If both of the boxes are close together, he may see them as one box rather than 2 boxes and if he likes 2 separate boxes that could be the issue. If there's already poop in the box, he may be protesting that. He may also like a bigger box with higher or lower sides.

Does he have a clean bill of health from the vet? Fecal done and no parasites found?

 

[Brigitte Cowell]

When a cat pees in the litterbox all the time but not always poop, that tells you that the cat knows it should be using that litterbox but he's just not comfortable in it.

So then it becomes a puzzle to solve, why your cat is not comfortable with the box situation. Is he declawed?
Is the litterbox covered?
How large is the litterbox?
Is it clear or opaque plastic (important with the high sided boxes)?
Where are the litterboxes located?
Is it on the floor next to the box? If so is there a mat or something he is pooping on perhaps?

You mention that your other cats have separate boxes, does that mean that he is still in separate quarters from them?

 

[Lauren Nicole]

Hi everyone, Simba (the new adoption) is kept separate during the night and only allowed out when someone is home during the day since him and the other 3 haven't gotten along 100%. He has two boxes one is a large covered one (The cover has been off for the past month or so) and the other is a short-sided one. They are in the same area on towels. Simba will sometimes poop on the carpet, and other times on the towels the boxes are sitting on. His food bowls are in a separate area of the room and so is his sleeping spots. I can only guess this is a behavioral thing at this point. He has gone to the vet multiple times with no diagnosis of anything wrong. Soon I will be moving into my own place and will be taking Simba, and only him with me and leaving the other 3 with my parents. Hopefully when he is an only cat again he will resume normal litter box routines.

 

[Rafiki]

Have you tried moving one box to another area?

 

[John Popp]

My boys wouldn't even consider using a standard size box.

 

[Patti]

Try using just a towel or newspaper in one of the litter boxes and see if he isn't more inclined to use it then. Are you still using the Cat Attract?