Wednesday, January 9, 2008


After scolding one's cat one looks into its face and is seized by the ugly suspicion that it understood every word. And has filed it for reference.
Charlotte Gray

Note: this is a great question to be answered by a pet owner and may gross you out if you aren't... thank you!

My cat Bella has a nasty little habit. She has a tendency to do the side-of-the-kitty-box-peeing. She is inside it like a good girl but instead of popping a squat right on the kitty litter she just relieves herself on the side of the box standing up (EDIT: She has a covered litter box and still goes all over the side). Almost like a male cat spraying, but she is just using the bathroom.


I know you can't really train a cat to use the bathroom the way you would prefer but does anyone have an idea how to reduce the odor associated with this? Because the urine is not going in the litter it smells like she just went on the tile floor... nothing to absorb the odor because it is just on the side of the plastic litter box. Yikes!


I know it's gross but if anyone has a brilliant idea of how to relieve (no pun intended) the smell it would be greatly appreciated.





Bella is ready and waiting for your advice!

11 comments:

Arizona Mama said...

You can get a covered litter box from WalMart for about 12 bucks. They are great for keeping the mess contained!

Amy said...

Yep, a covered litter box is what I was going to say, too. We have three- two square ones from WalMart, and one round one from PetSmart that's great for keeping kids from reaching into the litter.

Jeni said...

Covered litter boxes help, but they're so stinky for the kitty - it would be like us having to use a port-a-potty every single time we went to the bathroom. Ick.

My suggestion is to ditch the regular litter box and instead us a high-sided plastic storage box. I've got 5 inside cats (yes, 5) and I've used these boxes for years. They keep the goodies inside, and they're also a bit better at keeping the litter contained, if you've got a litter-flinger. They're super cheap, so we replace ours every few months, which also helps prevent odor buildup.

Good luck!

ames said...

Maybe try lining the litter box with something before putting in the litter? I've seen people use a kitchen trash bag (you turn the bag inside out, put the whole box in the bag then fill it with litter on top of the bag), also makes it super easy to clean up again, you just flip the bag right-side out and the litter stays contained in it.

Jenna said...

If the smell is getting into your tile, you can also put a plastic mat underneath the litter box (like the kind you put rolling chairs on, or even just a garbage bag) and then put a towel or paper towels down that you can regularly pick up and throw away or wash. It's more work, but if it keeps your tile from permanently smelling I would think it's worth it (says the woman who was awoken at 2am this morning by a cat having a furball on the end of her bed... lovely!).

Anonymous said...

bigger box.

we had a cat that would do that... she was basically standing in it the wrong way... not far enough forward for it to hit litter.

bigger box gives more space for the cat to not have be all the way forward towards the opposite side but still have litter where it lands.

Anonymous said...

I was going to say bigger box, too. It looks like you have a large kitty. My Willie sometimes just loses track of where his back end is and pees right out of the box. Lucky for us it's in an unfinished area of the basement and isn't too hard to clean up when he misses.

Janelle

Melanie @ This Ain't New York said...

My cat did this until I got a bigger box. See how that goes.

Kaci said...

I know this will sound crazy, but toilet train her. www.citikitty.com has a piece to fit your toilet that you can use for the training stages. We trained our 9 year old cat last year & it is wonderful! So much better to just flush the toilet!

Unknown said...

My female Siamese does the same thing. We have a covered litter box, but it will leak if she pees too close to the place where they join together. My only remedy is cleaning the box every.single.day.

Anonymous said...

our family cat was housetrained??? lots of people suggested a coverd box but did you say you had one? maybe a taller one is key...would it force her to use it in the middle in the litter? has anything worked give us an update...

 
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