Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

The litter tray

Join our community of cat lovers on the Mumsnet Cat forum for kitten advice and help with cat behaviour.

Flip

Original poster

Peeing in the cat basket!!!

17 replies

wetaugust · 09/11/2013 15:30

I have 2 kittens, both 7 months old. Both have been using their litter tray sonce they were 3 months old. No accidents.

When I first got them they were tiny and slept on a blanket in a bed I'd made in the bottom section of the cat carrier (without the roof).

They are now far too big for this arrangement so I have bought 2 cat baskets - a brown one and a purple one.

The problem is that one of my cats keeps pee-ing in the purple basket (never in the brown one). She just steps into it and deliberately crouches down and pees!

I grab her and take her to her litter tray - but usually too late.

I then have to wah the basket.

This has happened 4 times now. I've tried putting toys she likes and her blanket into the basket. I've tried putting her in the basket, giving her treats and trying to get her to lie in it and relax. That doesn't work.

At night her choice of sleeping area is to jump up on top of the fridge freezer and sleep up there. I can't put the basket up there as, if she pees, she'll electrocute herself!

Can anyone suggest what might be going on here?

Thank you

OP posts:

issey6cats · 09/11/2013 17:12

i would remove the purple basket as she seems to have decided it makes a nice comfy right sized litter tray, how many litter trays do you have if only one she may be telling you that you need another one and she wants a purple one

issey6cats · 09/11/2013 17:14

and if shes sleeping on top of the fridge she wont go into the basket even with blankets she has decided that she has outgrown the basket as a bed which is around normal given her age i would just put a thin blanket on top of the fridge for her to sleep on

Fluffycloudland77 · 09/11/2013 18:04

With a puppy training pad underneath

cozietoesie · 09/11/2013 18:06

Strewth. The fridge freezer? Mine is over 6 foot high so that's a very proficient jumper for 7 months old.

bundaberg · 09/11/2013 18:08

i would imagine she is jumping onto something nearby first..

cozietoesie · 09/11/2013 18:18

Even so.

Wouldn't be allowed at CozieTowers. It smacks too much of 'going on surfaces' which is a big No No here.

Original poster

wetaugust · 09/11/2013 18:32

Going on surfaces is supposed to be a big 'No no' here too - but I'm fighting a losing battle as they are fascinated by the running tap. Yes, she uses the worktops as halfway house to the top of the fridge freezer.

You may be on to something with colour though - if cats can see colour?

Litter box is brown plastic and brown basket doesn't get wee-ed in.

She's an excellent climber and can manage the 6ft fences around the garden no problem at all. The other kitten needs an improvised ladder!

Thank you - I'll just give her a blanket

OP posts:

cozietoesie · 09/11/2013 19:21

..........but I'm fighting a losing battle........

Hah! Get in control. You'll have happier cats in the long run.

Fluffycloudland77 · 09/11/2013 19:24

You have a Siamese though, we all have cats who don't give a rats furry one, no matter how loud you yell.

cozietoesie · 09/11/2013 19:28

Well that's fair, Fluffy - for the moment. I've taken the same approach with non-Siamese though and it's worked. (Maybe I have 'eye'.)

qazxc · 09/11/2013 19:32

i take it that she is doing big sized pees not small little ones. Our cat suddenly started weeing in weird places and it turned out to be a urinary tract infection.
my only other advice would be to get rid of purple basket. Don't worry most cats i've had have never used their baskets and just found their own "spot".

Fluffycloudland77 · 09/11/2013 19:39

You can have fluffy cat for a fortnight. I expect him to come back work top trained

cozietoesie · 09/11/2013 19:52

Hah! I'm not at all sure that our local environment would survive ASBO cat. (I mean, round here, the toms tote small weaponry but I guess ASBO cat could cope with that?)

Fluffycloudland77 · 09/11/2013 19:54

No time for socialising, there is training to be done.

Nyborg · 09/11/2013 19:56

One litter tray's probably not enough for two nearly-grown-up cats. Lots of cat behaviourists recommend one tray per cat, plus an extra. I certainly think you should consider having two.

cozietoesie · 09/11/2013 20:02

Seniorboy has two litter trays and uses both - as the mood takes him sometimes but also he doesn't like to pee in a tray he's poo'd in. I work from home so clean trays fast but peeing and pooing can follow each other so quickly.

Original poster

wetaugust · 10/11/2013 00:15

Thanks Nyborg - I didn't realise they preferred their own litter trays.

This long term litter tray use is new to me. When I first had a kitten decades ago it just went outside as soon as it was big enough to use the cat flap. Now, with these 2, I worry about them being out at night, about foxes, about them getting lost etc. So only let them out during the day.

They are starting to understand 'DOWN' in a loud voice

OP posts:

Flip