Automatic Litterbox Central

2 cats.
1 LR.
Both used it happily from the first day up until about a month ago.
Female refuses to use the box.
Didn't switch litters on her.
No new cats.
Tried changing the location.
Tried un plugging the LR.
Resorted to using gross old scoop and box method.
Does anyone know a way to entice her to start using the LR again???!?

I had that problem (6 cats, 2 LR). One female now refuses to poop in the LR, but will pee just fine.

First, rule out a medical issue - I would take the cat to the vet and have her checked out. If nothing physical is wrong then it is behavioral. She may have had a bad experience in LR such as it started turning with her in it or something. Make sure that when she goes in the sensor is sensitive enough that she triggers it. Whatever the situation was, she has now associated that bad experience w/the LR.

I have used Dr. Elsays (sp?) Cat Attract litter to some degree of success when I have had issues in the past. It is touted as a good litter to encourage cats when there a litter issues and I have to agree. Cat Attract is available at Petsmart, Petco, etc.

Good Luck!

Hello,

I got LR on April 7, 2006. One female cat, 1 year old. Fully used LR after 4 days after littermaid elite got dirty. I think she took to it easily because she's had a couple weeks practice with noise and other mechanical things with the littermaid. Before that it was covered litterbox with WBCL.

Sometime in July we adopted another male cat. Boyfriend convinced me to get another because he wanted one. I was apprehensive because one was already too much for me to handle. Boy cat took to LR easily from seeing girl go in I guess. Things were fine up until August when I decided to cover the entire drawer with the plastic still showing near the step. I guess the plastic spooked one of them out. So the mess begins...

I tucked the plastic inside. Still same mess.

Poop on the floor by the LR. Thank goodness for the tile floor for easy, yet still painful cleaning. I don't know who started doing it, but I see more poop on the floor. I screamed and had a tantrum for the first day or two and scared them as they ran away when I cleaned the floor and the box. This situation was really taking it's toll on my stress level and perhaps them too. I send male cat back to his foster mom middle of August. I come back from 2-day trip since I got him from out of state where I was originally from. My lesson here is to never again listen to BF about adding another pet/cat when I know one is plenty for me and my lifestyle.

Girl still continuing her nasty habit. She will pee in the LR but she will not poop in it. I got frustrated scolded her and showed her where she did it and said NO! and put her in her kennel for bad behavior. This went on for about 2-3 days. On the third day I found her trying to poop on the tile and I said nicely 'No' and she spoke back and knew exactly what I was talking about and walked away. I waited for her to go back to LR area. A few minutes later, she walked right in. I followed her to see if she was going to try the floor or the LR--she chose the LR! YEA! I praised her and gave her treats. The next day, I did not follow her and she pooped on the floor again. By this time I was furious! I found her and took her back to the spot and told her NO! and put her in the kennel again. That whole day I was thinking about what I should do. I decided scolding or having a fit was the last method to cure the problem.

It has been almost 6 months so I decided to clean out the globe by taking it outside to hose it down and really clean it. I thought maybe the globe is too nasty for her.

The next day. Poop on the floor--BTW everytime I clean up the poop, I use a bathroom tile cleaner to spray the area down and wipe. I never got the natures's miracle after reading on several places that it did not work. I changed my game plan. I didn't have a temper tantrum for over a week now. I cleaned up quietly and just show her love and affection so she is not doing it because she is stressed out or mad at me!

I had to go back to the manual box that I kept in the basement. I let it get dirty. After about 4-5 days. The smell was getting unbearable. She goes into the LR to pee and still poops outside!

It was last Sunday Sept. 17th. Cat was acting too weird. She went to her bed in my office and just stays there for several hours! I sensed that she was feeling guilty for something. I went to check and sure enough poop was waiting for me outside the dirty manual box. I decided as a last resort to clean/disinfect the area. Also added empty computer boxes to the area next to the LR to make it tighter so that there is nowhere near that she can go and find a new spot. I was on a quest that day to get this resolved so that I can get on with my life. I was all over this forum reading up on a possible solution. I saw something that said not to scold cats--somehow I knew that but I thought it might work on this cat. One idea caught my attention that said something like 'Put her food near where she poops'. I decided to give that a try. It is a narrow path from her LR and food. About 5 feet long and 2' wide. After all the cleaning and rearranging I took her there so she can feel comfortable eating about 6 feet from the LR. I gave her treats and stayed there for about 10-15 minutes to let her know that everything was okay

That did the trick. The next day she held out as long as she could and finally pooped in the LR. We are both happy again! It has been about 5 days now and so far so good.


**My advice here (if you don't know already) is DON'T change anything that is visible and might spook them. Even if it is minor. I changed from bag to a small litterbox that I got from petco that fits right inside with nothing sticking out. Works great with newspaper as liner and sprinkles of the activated charcoal and baking soda for odor control.**


**NO scolding or tantrums of course as this will only make things worse **

** Put their food near where they pooped. Maybe my setup was helpful because it is a narrow path which gave her no other area to work with. I believe that my attitude adjustment helped too .**


Hope this helps. Good luck!

One of our two cats has decided the LR is not for her. Started peeing on our bed but would still poop in it. She has had bladder issues in the past, and found it easier to use the manual box when she was sick, but she is not sick this time. We set out the manual box again and she will use that. Now she started pooping in the manual box too. I think she just doesn't like the LR anymore. But why after using it for two years!?! We don't get it.
The other one still uses it. We really do not want to go back to manual because we love the LR, but we might have to do this dual process unless we can figure out a trick to get her back in there without her ruining our bed! Any suggestions would be appreciated but after reading here, it sounds like this is an issue that will not be helped anytime soon. I have read through the suggestions on this forum, but since she pees in the bed and robot is in the next room over, we can't try blocking it off or something. I think she has gone on the couch before so locking her out of the br is not an option in opinion either.