my girlfriend has a 13 year old cat. recently we went on vacation and left him home alone with adequate food and water for about a week. she told me when he was much younger he was trained on littler to do his business and for whatever reason it was switched to ripped up little pieces of newspaper in a plastic box. in preparation for this trip she went and got some real kitty littler to replace the news paper. we notice that when its time for his littler/ newspaper to be changed and you waited to long he will do his business on the living room floor which is carpeted bad kitty. when we came back from vacation there was surprises all over the floor. we cleaned up everything changed his ghetto litter box and thought everything was going to be back to normal. he refuse to go in the box with the kitty litter so we change back to the ripped up pieces of newspaper. not once has this cat use the damn litter box. how can we retrain him to use the box again. carper and couch smells like piss.
2006-08-04 03:35:52 · 13 answers · asked by tony535 1 in Pets ➔ Cats
It is probably a combination of two things: the change in litter box material and the fact that he was left alone for a whole week. He was probably upset by the change in his routines, cats are like that. It is surprising that now he is not going back to normal. You may want to take him to the vet to make sure he is ok medically. You also might have to do a really thorough cleaning of the areas that smell bad (try Nature's Miracle) so he won't return to them. There are no easy answers to this problem. Here's a good article from the humane society, you may get some more ideas...good luck!
2006-08-04 03:50:43 · answer #1 · answered by Lee 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Retraining an older cat can be difficult but not impossible. Your cat obviously is showing he's upset by doing it where he shouldn't. I would suggest that you put the cat in a room easy to clean, such as the bathroom, together with his litter box, his food and clean water. leave him there for two or three days.During that time make sure you check on him regularly and when he does it in his box, reward him with one of his favourite snacks. I would think that that would be sufficient to retrain him. If even in the bathroom he does it on the floor, scoop it up and put it in his kitty litter. Pick up the cat and put him there, saying 'Here!' Please do not punish him or spray him Positive reinforcement works better.
Incidentally, next time you're away for more than two days, please have someone check on him regularly. Cats do not like to be left alone for so long.
2006-08-04 04:00:53 · answer #2 · answered by pepper 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
A13 year old cat Wow! The only way to stop him from doing this is to get him a brand new litter box. Cats are tempormental. They are generally clean animals. move The box and try a different litter, My cats do not use the scoopable and always seem to celerbrate a new box in a clean area. Power clean with vinegar where he had made his messes, he maybe able to still smell the former drop offs
2006-08-04 03:45:17 · answer #3 · answered by Bobbi 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
How about instead of newspaper put 2 trash bags on your litter box and then put the litter in the box. Hope this helps.
2006-08-04 03:43:28 · answer #4 · answered by kirbmister 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He was acting out because he was mad. If you catch him in the act, you will need to take action at that time-it's going to involve following him around with a spray bottle and being ready to toss him (gently) into the litter box when it's time to go-if you don't have the time or inclination to do this, he's gonna keep going on the carpet because it's soft and convenient. He needs to be re-trained and that will be difficult at his age.
2006-08-04 03:41:02 · answer #5 · answered by curiositycat 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
he is mad at you for switching his paper to a litter box.....for some reason he is not comfortable with litter....probably because he is 13 years old and is used to paper!
would you start using a litter box to use the bathroom after you have used a toilet your whole life?NO
it is all your fault.....and its going to be very hard to retrain an old cat....i think he is trying to piss you off now.
good luck
2006-08-04 03:41:41 · answer #6 · answered by brandiejs1979 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
wow, that sucks. It's kinda hard to train him anything, cause he's 13 years old and probably won't be willing to learn.
All I can say is reward him when he uses the litterbox.
2006-08-04 03:40:58 · answer #7 · answered by pearl_682 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
ok first you do wana stick his face smack him say no so he dont do it then what i would do is take him to the liter box stick him in it and tell him its where he needs to go and if he understands and you get him trained feed him some treats
2006-08-04 03:42:33 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
well it sounds like since hes an older cat.. he is just mssing that sense now.
im not usre how to explain this.. hes old! thats it
2006-08-04 03:41:42 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
it sounds like he needs to stay out side
2006-08-04 03:40:55 · answer #10 · answered by Neil G 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋