D
Dantes
Guest
What a great pic! He looks just about the same size as Desi, except Desi is wider. Big boy!
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!
My F2's inexplicable urine/litter behavior
- Thread starter Myles
- Start date
Myles
Savannah Super Cat
I've officially given up on the big pan, it's in the bath tub.
He clearly prefers it to his litter box (every use has been the big pan, plus he enjoyed playing in it between uses), but it's simply too big, and too messy (because of the way the "spills" happen, they get drawn around the entire edge of this huge pan, which is too big to effectively pick up and clean out). The smaller (but still big) pan at least has one entrance, and a mat to contain the spills, minimizing clean-up.
We'll see if the good behavior continues with the box (the pan sits in the bath tub right now, so he can use it anytime except overnight).
Having said all of this, he's still well behaved under the harness, right now he's sleeping behind me in his cat bed, limped over the side in a daze. He's using the litter box only after I take the harness off, at night (hence the "accidents" are back), but any elimination during the day/with the harness on hits its target 100% still.
He clearly prefers it to his litter box (every use has been the big pan, plus he enjoyed playing in it between uses), but it's simply too big, and too messy (because of the way the "spills" happen, they get drawn around the entire edge of this huge pan, which is too big to effectively pick up and clean out). The smaller (but still big) pan at least has one entrance, and a mat to contain the spills, minimizing clean-up.
We'll see if the good behavior continues with the box (the pan sits in the bath tub right now, so he can use it anytime except overnight).
Having said all of this, he's still well behaved under the harness, right now he's sleeping behind me in his cat bed, limped over the side in a daze. He's using the litter box only after I take the harness off, at night (hence the "accidents" are back), but any elimination during the day/with the harness on hits its target 100% still.
Why is the pan not in the bathtub overnight? I imagine it has to be removed if you want to USE the bathtub but that would seem it could be replaced after use?
I can see the smaller pan is more convenient for you to clean up spills but if he's not happy using it, is it the better choice?
Also, I seem to remember the harness you are using that gives the better behavior is one of those webbing harness things. I know many cats that wear those 24/7... maybe it doesn't need to be removed?
I can see the smaller pan is more convenient for you to clean up spills but if he's not happy using it, is it the better choice?
Also, I seem to remember the harness you are using that gives the better behavior is one of those webbing harness things. I know many cats that wear those 24/7... maybe it doesn't need to be removed?
Myles
Savannah Super Cat
The pan is in the bathtub as my sign of defeat (as I had to use the shower head just to wash the outside down), I'm not sure if he'll end up using it there.
Dante has his own bedroom, hence his food, water fountain, litter, "house", etc. are all within his room normally. Usually overnight, Dante is locked within his room, hence if the litter isn't there, he has nowhere to use the washroom. I know in a carrier he's usually ok overnight without washroom use, but I'm not so sure if he was wandering around, active, etc.
Pics are attached of the harness, I'm not sure it's the type you're thinking of or not?
Attachments
Yes, those are the types of harnesses I know of cats wearing full-time... you might not need to remove it at all?
It's so hard to visualize everyone's set up, hence my confusion on where Dante's litterbox normally is... I thought from previous posts the litterbox was in a more confined space and that was limiting the size of the litterbox.... my confusion, sorry!
It's so hard to visualize everyone's set up, hence my confusion on where Dante's litterbox normally is... I thought from previous posts the litterbox was in a more confined space and that was limiting the size of the litterbox.... my confusion, sorry!
Myles
Savannah Super Cat
Hrm, maybe I'll try just leaving it on and see what I get then
.His "small" litterbox is still a solid 22" x 18" or something ridiculous like that, it's definitely not small. The limiting size is typically the door, if you can't fit through it carrying it normally, it's a bit of a problem to scoop and remove (since I walk it to the toilet to flush and whatnot).
Not an option here in SF, they don't want us flushing kitty waste... so I use a Litter Locker beside the litterbox locations...
Myles
Savannah Super Cat
I only flush it because it's the pine stuff, it's sawdust when he's done with it.
Having said that, the harness good behavior appears to have stopped =\. I let Dante downstairs for the first time in several weeks yesterday, and he had an hour or two of good fun/play in some boxes I had left for him.
Directly in front of the girlfriend (while I was outside BBQ'ing), he squatted over his cat-bed by the back door, and urinated all over the side of it. This continued while I re-entered the house from the back door (directly adjacent to him, less then a foot away), and he continued to dribble urine for another 30 seconds before I dragged him by his harness to his room, walked him into the litter pan, then left him for the night (door closed/locked as you'd expect).
Today, after being freed from his room, he found his way to the new/bigger litter pan in the bath tub, urinated in the pan, then hopped out and continued to urinate on the outside of the tub. It looks like I'm back to square one, the only benefit currently is that he doesn't seem to be marking on the 2nd floor anywhere, at least not that I've found.
I'm so sorry the behavior has returned :-(
Myles
Savannah Super Cat
Yep, harness is gone now too. He just went smashing around the upstairs for several minutes while I was downstairs. I came up to check, saw nothing unusual, just Dante making a lot of noise/being hyper, etc.
About 15 minutes later when I came back upstairs, he was laying in his doorway, didn't think anything of it. Then about 3 minutes later, a strange set of meows, I went to check, and his harness was on upside down, which I have no idea how he did, given it's got straps both top and bottom and both sides.
I realized then he was breathing very heavily, pulse was quite high, I immediately took the harness off and inspected him as he lay limp at this point on the floor panting away.
He has a cut on his right hind leg, and I think he somehow had expressed his scent glands (as he smelled distinctly bad, but not like feces, and the fur around his anus was sticky).
For now I've cleaned up his hind leg, and am monitoring him to see if this is simply overexertion from whatever the heck he did to spin himself in the harness, or whether he needs more specific attention (thus far, it's looking like the former).
About 15 minutes later when I came back upstairs, he was laying in his doorway, didn't think anything of it. Then about 3 minutes later, a strange set of meows, I went to check, and his harness was on upside down, which I have no idea how he did, given it's got straps both top and bottom and both sides.
I realized then he was breathing very heavily, pulse was quite high, I immediately took the harness off and inspected him as he lay limp at this point on the floor panting away.
He has a cut on his right hind leg, and I think he somehow had expressed his scent glands (as he smelled distinctly bad, but not like feces, and the fur around his anus was sticky).
For now I've cleaned up his hind leg, and am monitoring him to see if this is simply overexertion from whatever the heck he did to spin himself in the harness, or whether he needs more specific attention (thus far, it's looking like the former).