My fiance and I have a cat, Miranda. They have an uncovered litter box, it is basically just a tray. They also have a mat for in front of the litter box that is meant to be there, it is for the litter box to have the litter fall of their paws before leaving the poopie area.

Anyways, the problem is she pee's on the mat. Then pulls the litter out of the litter box to bury it. She poops in the litter box and our other cat both poops and pee's in the litter box.

We are at a loss of what to do.

We have been thinking about getting a covered litter box, but I can't see this solving the problem. We also discussed the idea of getting a deep storage tub so they physically have to be IN the box and not just stand on the edges like they do.

Thank you for any feed back.

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Hello,

Probably a couple of things that this could be or that you could try.

I think you are implying you have two cats and one litter tray? The general advise is one tray per cat plus one so really you should have 2 (if not 3). Some cats are very fussy about where they toilet and she may not want to pee where the other cat is peeing but still wants to do it in the toilet area (hence peeing on the mat).

Another thing could be the size of the litter tray, if it is too small she may think she is peeing in the box but is missing - we just had this with our girl. For reference my old litter tray on the inside rim was 47cm my new one in 54cm and we have a nearly 2 year old girl who weighs about 4.5kg.

A hooded tray would help with this if they take to using it (which they should do) as, as you say, they would need to step into it and their would be a door you could fit.

Finally - it would definitely be worth taking her for a check up with the vet. Elimination problems can be the external signs of sickness, not only urinary (UTI, Kidney stones etc) but general pain. Get the OK from the vet and you know that you're little one is fighting fit and can try the above.

Goodluck

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I would certainly invest in a very deep enclosed litter tray - maybe with a door (not all take to the door) this will mean she will need to go into the tray to wee and if it's deep covering up won't go outside of the tray. If you have more than one cat then more than one tray is needed. If all that is happening is that she/ they are standing on the edges of the tray and missing then you need a bigger tray, quite a bit bigger. The mats are good but not perfect. If she isn't going n the tray at all, not even standing on the edges it may be that she doesn't like the feel of the litter you are using on her feet - some cats can be quite fussy - I'd change you litter as well in that case. Other cats won't go in a dirty tray (by their standards, one wee can mean the tray is dirty) so you may need to clean out very regularily - a clumping litter will help with this. Other cat don't like to pee and poo in the same tray - so again two trays would be best.

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They have had the same litter for over a year and they have always used the same litter box until recently. We will look into a different box.

Thank you.

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