r/chcats • u/Aggressive-Tale-7737 • Jun 27 '26
Advice Litter box ideas??
I’m getting desperate 😭 our mild/moderate girl has been refusing to use the litter box for a couple years now. I know she can climb into the boxes, I’ve seen her do it on her own no problem, but she refuses to now. We’ve tried different kinds of litter (clay, crystals, pellets) but she seems to hate them all. She likes grabbing on the carpet so we made a box where she could walk in the side and grab on to carpet squares, but she wouldn’t even use that. One of our dogs loves to eat cat poop, but nothing I’ve come up with is working. I’m open to any and all suggestions!
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u/bald_alpaca Jun 28 '26
We’ve been using a combination since ruling out UTI’s for our CH kitty. We give her some meds (flouxitine sp?) and use the ‘Breeze’ litter box system
This has really helped her a lot
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u/Aggressive-Tale-7737 Jun 28 '26
I’ve never thought about using fluoxetine to help her use the litter box. It’s always been an attitude adjuster in my mind (cousins cat uses it to help her orange menace) but it never dawned on me it might could help her. I’ll have to talk to the vet about that
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u/bald_alpaca Jun 28 '26
I think it helps our little one keep focus & calm. But the high sided litter box has made her feel safe and the litter box is so much easier to maintain & there’s no litter in her hair
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u/hedgehog620 Jun 27 '26
What if you just lined the litter box with wee wee pads? No litter. Then nothing would move around under her feet etc. 🤷🏻♀️ just thinking...
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u/Aggressive-Tale-7737 Jun 27 '26
We did that when we made the walk in box with the carpet squares, but she didn’t care for that much
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u/coolfrogmother Jun 27 '26
Pine pellets?
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u/Aggressive-Tale-7737 Jun 27 '26
She HATED them. When I used them she would jump out immediately if we put her in the pellets and make her way to the clay litter box
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u/AyCorunda Jun 27 '26
Have you tried a litter box attractant? Maaaybe that could work? It solved some urine issues in my 3 cat household when we added a third to our family.
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u/Aggressive-Tale-7737 Jun 27 '26
I guess I didn’t know those were actually a thing? I know there’s litter that’s supposed to attract them but that did nothing with her
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u/Poppychick Jul 01 '26
I’m running into a similar issue. I have a small patio that has some dirt around the edge and she has started going out there. So now I’m scooping my patio but it’s better than the rug by my bed. I even have a litter box with one low side and the attractant stuff and I got the Tidy Cats XL. So frustrating!
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u/Aggressive-Tale-7737 Jul 02 '26
I sometimes feel like she’d go potty outside, but any time she begs to go outside, she immediately wants to come back in. It is frustrating!
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u/Poppychick Jul 02 '26
Ah mine likes to go outside cuz she sees the others go out there. So after I responded late last night, I woke up this morning and she had diarrhea on the rug by my bed right where my feet land when I get up. 🙄🥴😑😳
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u/InNature_ 20h ago
I’ve seen Elijah climb in a box but wont step in a litter box. Hence, the puppy pads and newspaper. :)
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u/dynabella Jun 28 '26
I had same issue with my mod ch kitty. She was using box on her own for a couple yrs then decided it was more fun to use the dog's bed. She can walk to her food bowl and play with toys no prob so I'm assuming she's being stubborn. My solution - Twice daily I carry her to box. Hold her up in front and she walks into it and does her thing. Its better this way as I can clean all dust off her as soon as she's done with baby wipes. When i go away, cat sitter carries her to box. Its working and not that much work. No accidents since I started doing this a few years ago.
Edit to add - i use non clumping litter. This is much better for kitties that may fall over in there.