Cat lovers..... any suggestions?

I have a cat her name is Callie. We "acquired" her after my dogs ran her up a tree. That was in February. She has since delivered 5 kittens. They were born on 7/16. I am going to keep Callie and the little grey one. Maybe. Hence my question. Callie has for the past 4 nights decided that my bathtub (which I might add is on the other side of the house) is her litter box! YECH! The vet told me to put her on kitten chow and because the kitties are now almost 6 weeks old I have introduced wet food. We do clean out Callie's litter box 3 times a day, and the little ones have another one just for them, which is also cleaned. How do I make Callie understand that my bathtub is not the toilet? Any suggestions?

I know that when I was litter box training my cats I pretty much had to stay on top of them for awhile. Any time I saw them getting ready to use an inappropriate area I would pick them up and take them to the litter box. I kept doing this over and over again until they finally caught on to the idea. Have you been making sure the litter box is cleaned out? I know some cats are very picky and won't use the litter box if there's so much as one tiny wet clump in there. I also think another fishie had recommended certain sprays (not sure what kind) that you could put on any area that the cat keeps using and it will deter him/her from using that spot.

Good luck with the potty training!

Hi Lorifish
Proberly cann't be of a big help, the only thing I know is that cats do not like their food near the
litter box (here 'bath'); you could try putting her food bowls in the bathtub.

But I'm sure other fishies will give answers with names of products to put in the bath, cats don't
like the smell off.
As I'm from Europe and do not know the names of US (or UK of Austr. or NZ) products cann't help.

Good luck and keep us please posted whenproblem is solved and how.

Unless her litter pan is in your bathroom........close the door. Keep an eye on her when you do to make sure she doesn't find another "bathtub" spot, meaning the carpet, wood floors, etc.

Simplest possible solution: Leave about an inch or less of water in the bottom of your tub. She'll jump in, scream like all get out, and leave your tub alone!


We had a tub doodler once.

I agree with kishimojun: We had a cat that loved to poo in the bath tub. That's what we did. It took a couple of times. However, if you have a smart cat it will look in the tub and figure out that there is water or that there is no water. I'm afraid that's what our cat did. We don't give our cats enough credit. We think they are stupid. Not true they just try like heck to make us think they are. I like the idea of closing the door. But the cat might wait you out or maybe get the hint. Good Luck. I know what you are going through.

So many good Ideas.

Kishimojun..... that seems like a very good idea... one that I will probably try. I leave the light on in that room all night as a nightlght.A bomb wouldnt wake me.

Murphy that is a great suggestion, until I actually have to open the BR to go myself.

Axo another great suggestion that I will try.

Tayers it is not the kittens it is the mama.

Has the litter box for the mom cat been used by any other cat or animal before? If so, you might want to try completely washing it out with mild soap and water and then rinse it with a 10% bleach solution. After that, rinse with water until all the bleach smell is gone and dry it thoroughly, preferably by leaving in the sun if possible, and then refill it.

Is it possible the cat doesn't like the litter itself? Some cats don't the litters with strong fragrances and would much prefer fragrance-free litter. Have you changed litters lately?

Does Callie both pee and poop in the tub?

I had a cat once that didn't make the tub its litter box but instead, he made it a super play area with a ping pong ball. Because of the slight incline of the tub, he could be at the faucet end and bat a ball toward the back, and the ball would come back to him to bat again. He LOVED doing that, and the cat I have now is starting to get into it as well. Just a thought that MAYBE if he saw it as a play area, he wouldn't see it as a potty. I have no idea if that has any validity whatsoever, but it might be worth a try at least.

kishimojun wrote:Simplest possible solution: Leave about an inch or less of water in the bottom of your tub. She'll jump in, scream like all get out, and leave your tub alone!


We had a tub doodler once.

That sounds great, and I have a cat now that slid off the edge into a tub with water in the bottom because crazy me had decided it wouldn't drain out. The cat did scream and FLY out the door and away, BUT...after a time or 2 of that, she KNEW water was in the tub and wouldn't even get on the edge anymore. However, once I FINALLY figured out that it wouldn't drain because I had pushed the handle that closed the drain and allowed it to drain at last, she was right back in the tub as soon as it dried out. So...yes, cats really ARE smart!

I have one that simply will NOT go anywhere but the tub. I've simply given up, LOL. At least it is easy to clean, and much better than going on the carpet! And yes, he pees there, too.

If Callie used the box before, I would think you either changed litter, or the manufacturer changed the formulation. I use Fresh Results from WalMart, which is the exact same product as Nature's Miracle. They are now making a Pa-purr clone, which I just bought a bag of. Some may like it better since it feels like clay.

Our dear old Minnie Mouser, may she rest in peace, went through a phrase of going in the tub. If we close the tub door, she'd pee on the tile next to the tub. If we closed the bathroom door, she'd pee on the carpet next to the bathroom door. Finally we gave up and just let her go in the tub. Rinsing pee down the drain is a heck of a lot easier then cleaning out the box all the time anyway.

And for those of you who were wondering, she was not a bad cat. She came from a pet shop and was retarded.

Just to be sure, has mama cat been seen by a vet since the birth of the kittens? It's not uncommon for a cat to avoid the litterbox when they are having a urinary or digestive problem. My dear departed Dallas started using his basket as a litterbox many years ago and it turned out to be crystals in his urinary tract. If she checks out fine you can try adding a second litter box in a different area than the first. It might be that mama doesn't want to share with the babies. Sometimes a mom just needs a quiet place of her own to do her thing. And as others have suggested, if you recently changed litter brands, you should go back to the original.

I had a couple cats that used the tub as a litter box also. The water in the tub trick worked every time. They hate water. You can also train them to not jump on counters by putting tin foil all over the counter then leave the room. When the cat thinks nobody is watching they jump up on the foil covered counter and it freaks them out. For some reason they also hate tin foil on their feet.