Ragdoll Cat Forums

So this isnt about a raggie, although he may possibly be part raggy. He's not even my cat, he's my friend's cat.

Meet Bonkers..
(art my me, and he's the star of my personal comic, but I actually base the comic Bonkers off of the real Bonkers and George lol)

He is a 10-11 year old very beautiful long haired orange and white cat who has a few problems.

The biggest and least tolerable one is litterbox avoidance. He has no problem peeing in the box, its pooping. He's been to the vet multiple times for it, but they cant figure it out. At first he did have a UTI, but he has overcome that, and its been almost a year since. He is declawed (all 4 paws) and only has 1 good fang, the others are all broken from him having a love-affair with a hockey glove (he attacks and chews on it while playing). The vet cant find any medical reason for him to be pooping outside of the box, and believes its a behavioral thing.

3 out of 4 of his household members put up with the deficating outside of the box, but the dad of the family has huge problems with it and has zero problems tossing him outside permanently.

Needless to say, we dont want this to happen.

MY personal opinion is that because of his age, arthritis has set in from him being declawed and he is avoiding the act of digging in the box because its painful... afterall the pee that's in the box doesnt have to be buried right?

Any solutions for this?

I thought to re-train him... put the poo in the box instead of throwing it out.. or even putting a piece of carpet that he IS allowed to poop on inside the box, and slowly introduce layers of litter after he gets used to using it or something like that.

You're probably right about why he's doing it - arthritis, declawing, and not wanting to dig. How about changing the litter to one that is gentle, like shredded newspaper and see if he'll poo using that?

I will suggest it to his owners.

One of the biggest problems is that the dad of the household never wanted a cat in the first place when they got Bonkers, and he really doesnt want to do any "extra" work... so convincing him to at least TRY some of this stuff is difficult in itsself. Bonkers came to them already declawed at about 2-3 years old or so. They dont believe in declawing either, but he was already done when they adopted him.

Do they have more than one litter box? Maybe he wants a separate box for each type...

Yeah they actually have 3 boxes for him, 2 in the basement and 1 on the top floor of the house because of the UTI he was peeing a LOT outside of the box last year, but they kept the 3rd box for him because he just got used to using it.

Aww poor Bonkers (about the declawing). I'm not sure if arthritis is the issue though as he obviously has no problem peeing inside the box and I don't imagine he digs or buries his poo outside the box anyway so what difference does it make doing it inside? I wonder if it's more of a behaviorial issue that requires training. I think you're right about putting a piece of carpet inside the box and see how he goes. Does he have a preferred area to poo at, i.e. lounge, bedroom, bathroom? Is there a litter tray near that area and does it have his favourite type of litter? I think there're many factors to consider so they'll just have to keep trying and see what works...

Hi there! and a happy new year to you!

I read with interest your posting about the litterbox avoidance. I am also having a similar problem with 'Fudge' my 4 year old boy.

We got him from a rescue centre along with his sister Coco. She is fine but Fudge keeps missing the litterbox. We have been to the vets with him and they cannot help. We have tried every possible type of litter but to no positive effect.

The best way we have found is to keep checking the litterbox as often as possible and removing anything.

Mind you Fudge is a big lad and can always be found with his head in the trough. We have tried various sensitive foods (all introduced gradually) and no success.

I have spoken to a long time ragdoll breeder in my local area who advised me to try something called 'Provita' occaisionally to help his digestive system. I haven't done this as yet but if he persists we will have to try.

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It sounds like Fudge doesn't like to go in a box that's already been used if you find keeping it clean helps. For two cats, the rule of thumb is to have three boxes (once for each and an extra). You might consider increasing your number of litterboxes.

My guess is that the current litter box is already associated with the pain from having to dig after going poo.

I would suggest trying out a whole different kind of box, different litter (or the carpet in the box idea), and putting the new box in a new place. You don't want the poor guy to associate using the bathroom with pain anymore so you want to make it seem as different from before as possible.