Savannah Cat Chat - THE Place for Savannah Cat Talk

Welcome to the Savannah Cat Chat Forum! Our forum has been in existence since 2012 and is the only one of its kind. We were here, serving the savannah cat community before Facebook and Instagram! Register for a free account today to become a member! Please use an email program other than Hotmail, since Hotmail accounts are blacklisted by many servers and ISP's. Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site in some of the forums by adding your own topics and posts. But in order to take advantage of the full features, such as a private inbox as well as connect with other members ad access some of the larger topics, a donation of $2.99/mo or $25/yr is requested. This will allow us to continue running this forum!

Inappropriate Elimination

OneCheekyChick

Savannah Adult
My 5 1/2 month old neutered F5 has started going outside the little box. I have 3 litter boxes and use wood pellet litter (this is what the breeder told me to use). He will urinate inside the litter box but for the past two weeks has been doing #2 on the floor. The litter is replaced everyday and scooped a few times per day to remove the soiled bits. They are regular uncovered boxes. This morning I changed the litter and within 5 minutes he had gone on the floor. Nothing has changed in the household. I am at a loss of what to do to get him going in the box again. Any advice?

(He was neutered at 12 weeks and has always used pellet litter. Food is the same as the breeder used.)
 

DumaLove

Site Supporter
Staff member
My 5 1/2 month old neutered F5 has started going outside the little box. I have 3 litter boxes and use wood pellet litter (this is what the breeder told me to use). He will urinate inside the litter box but for the past two weeks has been doing #2 on the floor. The litter is replaced everyday and scooped a few times per day to remove the soiled bits. They are regular uncovered boxes. This morning I changed the litter and within 5 minutes he had gone on the floor. Nothing has changed in the household. I am at a loss of what to do to get him going in the box again. Any advice?

(He was neutered at 12 weeks and has always used pellet litter. Food is the same as the breeder used.)
I'd try a different litter. Sometimes they don't really like the pellets but put up with it......for a while. My F2 boy decided he didn't like pooping in pine pellets because when he spread his toes to balance better he got pellets stuck between his toes. This would especially happen if you change it every day because there isn't any broken down pellets to "cushion" the bottom of the box. I would try some Cat Attract litter to get him retrained. Then you could switch to something like Worlds Best if you want a more natural litter. Also make sure you are using something like Anti Icky Poo to clean up his mistakes. The stuff you get in the store does not clean as effectively.
 

OneCheekyChick

Savannah Adult
I'd try a different litter. Sometimes they don't really like the pellets but put up with it......for a while. My F2 boy decided he didn't like pooping in pine pellets because when he spread his toes to balance better he got pellets stuck between his toes. This would especially happen if you change it every day because there isn't any broken down pellets to "cushion" the bottom of the box. I would try some Cat Attract litter to get him retrained. Then you could switch to something like Worlds Best if you want a more natural litter. Also make sure you are using something like Anti Icky Poo to clean up his mistakes. The stuff you get in the store does not clean as effectively.

I thought he was using it outside because he didn't like the broken down pellets. We don't have any of those litters in the small Canadian town I live in. I just filled another litter box with scoopable clumping litter. That makes 4 litter boxes. Will see how it goes.
 

Pam Flachs

Savannah Super Cat
Many cats like two litter boxes side by side or next to each other; one for pooping and one for peeing. You could try that and see if it helps.
 

SavannahLuv

Site Supporter
I had the same problem when I got Shango. I used the pine pellets the breeder had used. He was fine going #1 in the box, but it was a 50/50 chance if he was going to go #2 in the box or in front of it or sometimes he'd even go in his play cube. I used the breeze litter box with pine pellets so the soiled pellets/saw dust would fall into the bottom tray and could be dumped daily keeping his box fresh.

I then caught him in the act and realized immediately what the problem was. Poor baby was trying to balance all 4 paws on the front ledge of the litter box so he could avoid standing on the pellets. He then lost balance, face planted in front of the box and then just pooped on the litter mat in front of the box. I immediately went to the pet store, purchased a new litter box and kitten attract clumping litter. I kept both litter boxes out, but right away he went to the new one with the soft clumping litter. At first he thought it was a blast digging & throwing the litter 5 feet away all over the floor, but then he caught on that he was supposed to use it to go potty in. After that, Shango never had another accident. It was #1 & #2 in the box 100% of the time.

As much as I prefer the pellets over regular litter, Shango didn't so he got what he wanted. It's either clean up the litter that gets tracked out or clean up #2... needless to say, I'd rather clean up a little bit of litter.
 

OneCheekyChick

Savannah Adult
I had the same problem when I got Shango. I used the pine pellets the breeder had used. He was fine going #1 in the box, but it was a 50/50 chance if he was going to go #2 in the box or in front of it or sometimes he'd even go in his play cube. I used the breeze litter box with pine pellets so the soiled pellets/saw dust would fall into the bottom tray and could be dumped daily keeping his box fresh.

I then caught him in the act and realized immediately what the problem was. Poor baby was trying to balance all 4 paws on the front ledge of the litter box so he could avoid standing on the pellets. He then lost balance, face planted in front of the box and then just pooped on the litter mat in front of the box. I immediately went to the pet store, purchased a new litter box and kitten attract clumping litter. I kept both litter boxes out, but right away he went to the new one with the soft clumping litter. At first he thought it was a blast digging & throwing the litter 5 feet away all over the floor, but then he caught on that he was supposed to use it to go potty in. After that, Shango never had another accident. It was #1 & #2 in the box 100% of the time.

As much as I prefer the pellets over regular litter, Shango didn't so he got what he wanted. It's either clean up the litter that gets tracked out or clean up #2... needless to say, I'd rather clean up a little bit of litter.

Interesting. My cat also balances on the edge of the litter box. I had 2 Siamese and a DSH that did the same thing. I was using reg. clumping litter for those cats. I just thought I had weirdo cats. :)
 

Brigitte Cowell

Moderator
Staff member
My Savannahs will do the balancing on the edge of the box no matter what the litter is, I guess they don't like putting their feet in their toilet.

In any case, I do think it very likely that your kitten doesn't like the wood pellets as others have suggested already. Hopefully you will see improvement with the clumping litter. Is the clumping litter you are trialling an unscented clay? Sometimes the perfumes added they don't like either, and some of the plant-based ones have strong smells too....just something to keep in mind if the issue doesn't totally resolve.

And make sure the boxes you are offering are large and uncovered. A smaller stuffy space (covered litterboxes are often not that large and they do enclose odors) is less attractive to cats for #2s...
 

Stormi

Savannah Super Cat
Fiji was doing this recently. I emptied her litter(Breeze system using pine pellets) and KitKat's(regular clumping). After I completely cleaned and sanitized each litter box and refilled, she stopped doing #2 outside of her litter. This ended the day before yesterday and started over a week ago.

I hope you find something that works for you! :)
 

OneCheekyChick

Savannah Adult
Fiji was doing this recently. I emptied her litter(Breeze system using pine pellets) and KitKat's(regular clumping). After I completely cleaned and sanitized each litter box and refilled, she stopped doing #2 outside of her litter. This ended the day before yesterday and started over a week ago.

I hope you find something that works for you! :)

That gives me hope. Thanks :)
 

Stormi

Savannah Super Cat
Oh, forgot to add that I steamed the floor and sanitized it as well, including the litter mat on the floor to try and get the scent away. There's stuff meant to remove the scent of their urine/stools there so that they are less likely to go there again. Don't know if you already knew about the stuff(I don't know the actual name), but I thought I'd give it a mention. ^-^
 
Top