Automatic Litterbox Central

After a year of "perfect-ness", my perfect little girl has become a multi-tasker. She jumps in her SF and does #1, turns around and says (thinks), "I'm not digging in those wet crystals!"... then jumps out and proceeds to do #2 less then a foot away. Yes, I actually caught her in the act one morning after several days of waking up to a nice stinky present on my bathroom floor.
Anyone else with multi-tasking children? How can I break her of this habit? Or do I need to get "two" litterboxes for her now?

Good question, Jenn. I think the cat behavior is normal, i.e., peeing in one place and pooping in the other but doing both in the litter box is the idea, isn't it! Because I recently learned that going to the vet with a cat having litter box issues (see my Dec. posts) is probably a good first step, you might try that one first or at least get it on the list. Here's some other suggestions:
1) Start with fresh litter in the SF and see if that makes a difference;
2) Try a new crystal litter;
3) Get that second litter box and see what happens (just the nonelectric type) so the cat has an alternative to the floor and doesn't develop a bad habit of using the floor (and spreading the new behavior to other rooms);
4) Any chance of the cat having worms? I recently noticed something suspicious in one cat's poop after she decided to use the bed rather than the litter box! I put on the "Advantage" [think that's the name of the stuff] and she hasn't had an accident since... (I have been monitoring her accessibility to beds, as well).

Good luck with this. Just to repeat: A check-in with the vet would be prudent if you haven't done so already.

Good news and bad (sad) news. The good news is that you were right and I now have no more stinky presents being left on my bathroom tile every morning. The bad (sad) news.... it was indeed a litter change that did it.

Our Walmart has once again stocked Mimi on the shelves, so I bought a beg of that to try again. I guess it is the sandy texture of that she prefers, and the other crystals were just too sharp on her paws. Now I have to go back to hoping I can find those on the shelves whenever I go there. Why is Walmart the only place carrying that litter? Sorry Rick, I really really loved the idea of buying those Just The Crystals online like that too.

Has anyone else ever experienced this "sensitive paw" issue before?

This is indeed sad news -- I wish we had a better answer! I'm sorry that you had to go through all this................!

Just fyi -- one thing I have been working on with the factory is to get the crystals to a more uniform size. One of the beauties of being a small business is the ability to make product changes and improvements relatively quickly. I've been sampling the production crystals, and while my cats don't have the sensitive paw issue, I have told the factory we need to get the crystals to be more uniform -- which means that they should not only perform better but should also be easier on your kittie's paws.

Let's keep a dialog going on this, and when we get the next run I'd like to send you a box or two on the house just to try and see how they work. As yours is the first report of the sensitive paws issue, my thinking is that your cat would be the ideal "tester". If your kitty is OK with them, then we'll really have a home run. Make sense?

Jack 'n Stans Dad wrote: Let's keep a dialog going on this, and when we get the next run I'd like to send you a box or two on the house just to try and see how they work. As yours is the first report of the sensitive paws issue, my thinking is that your cat would be the ideal "tester". If your kitty is OK with them, then we'll really have a home run. Make sense?

Sure. I'm confused by this whole thing though, because she was doing just fine with the first bag of Just The Crystals. I thought she was only telling me in her own way, "I need it changed, please!" So I changed the litter, but she still continued with that on-thr-floor business. I also saw that she was very reluctant to, but would, pee in the box... then quickly jump out. So I'm not absolutely positive here that it's a sensitive paws problem, but I'm guessing it is, bc I do notice the mimi is softer (more like sand), and she is doing fine with that litter.... so far. It sadly tracks much-much more though, yuck. What in the world did people do before dustbuster hand-vacs?!

I hear you on the tracking.....

Have you considered trying a mix of the two litters to see what happens? That might be a way to get a little of both worlds -- it would stretch the cost effectiveness and convenience of both, maybe track a little less........etc etc.

Just an idea.

I was planning on doing that actually since the mimi bags are a little short of the 4.4 lbs needed. I was planning to just pour a bag of Just the crystals in a old milk jug for add-back use. Then I read on the mimi bag, "Do not mix with any other litter."

I wonder what will happen if I do mix them? Will there be fumes? Spontaneously combust? Or is that simply a veiled way to say, "We want to frighten you into using only our litter?"

Bingo (on the frightening thing).

I've learned an awful lot (more than I ever thought I would) about cat poop and crystal litters as this whole journey has progressed.

Crystal litter is in fact made from silica gel that is basically dried and formed into the crystals we all see and use. Interestingly, it is used in a variety of applications -- you see it in little packets inside bottles of vitamins and medicines to keep the tablets dry -- as well as in the drying of flowers for dried arrangements, etc. It is chemically inert (won't react with other stuff, much less other litters) and the composition is 99%+ simply silica (the same family as sand and glass).

So it's perfectly safe to mix. This experiment you're doing may end up with a different interesting result -- maybe the mixing of the two will yield even better results for length of time between changes -- or at the very least make it so you aren't left any more "presents" on the floor...........

I'll be interested to learn how it turns out!

Here's an idea, Rick. Develop two crystal litters -- one for sensitive paws -- you could call it Sensitive Paw Crystals. I know one of my cats did not like the crystals (although I really did) and seems to have an aversion to larger granule litters of any type, i.e., she prefers soft litters and who can blame her. Also, I noticed that my cats spend a lot of time digging holes and burying poop whereas one cat didn't even bother with digging a hole if she needed to pee... Thus, the larger crystals might be more irritating for a cat when engaged in poop related activities, a nice explanation, anyway, for Jenn's cat's behavior.

Sigh... good news and bad news once again. Good news, it wasn't the litter afterall, Rick, because bad news, yep, she's up to her ol' bad habit trick again. Not allways, no, but definately when she "multi-tasks."

Three times now I've walked into the bathroom after that lovely odor tickles my nose and I see that blinking light on the SF blinking away...., a pee spot in the crystals, and her doody on the floor. I'm afraid to scold her about it, because I do not want her to choose another area of the house, a carpeted area, to do this So I simply pick it up, mop that area and mutter under my breathe, "Bad kitty!"

I have had cats for all of my 44 years and she is my very first problem child. I'm not sure what to d about this?! She was using the SF faitfully for a year... no problem at all. She was just fine with the first bag of Just the Crystals too. I even took her to the vet after seeing some soft poop and $40 later, "She's perfectly healthy." OK, so what's wrong, Holly? Why are you doing this??

How about giving her a second box and seeing what happens? Do you have enough space for that? My cat Nuba used two boxes for about a year and then returned to using one exclusively, again. Would beat having her use the floor or rug, maybe -- depends on your preferences, of course. She just might want to keep the pee and poop areas separate. Kinda sounds like it.

Or, I was wondering if she starts this behavior after the fresh bed of crystals has been used for a while -- thinking that the crystals absorb the urine and the urine absorbed crystals get distributed throughout the litter box so the cat continues to use them to urinate on but does the pooping elsewhere... I know its kind of a strange hypothesis but if she tends to use the litter box for both processes when the crystals are still fairly new (and fresh) and then changes after the crystals have been used for a while, you might need to change the crystals more frequently. If Rick is going to send you some free boxes, you could try this out and see...

Oh, those cats! Always creating a little bit of havoc for us to contend with!

I'm really sorry to hear about the multi-tasking habit -- but I think Spaceshare has some really excellent ideas and suggestions. I know I've said it in other threads before -- but I just can't express enough how grateful I am that Jeff has this forum for us cat owners to share info and help each other.

I also have to thank you both for your feedback and ideas as we move forward. It really does help hugely that you take the time to give feedback and suggestions -- they are absolutely invaluable in the further development of the trays and the crystals. There is truly no substitute for real-world feedback from other cat owners.........

As far as your (Spaceshare's) suggestion on the crystal size and the "soft paws" idea, I've been thinking of some possible solutions. As my resources are limited, it's going to take some time to develop a smaller "soft paws" crystal version -- but what I [i]am[i] able to do (that I think will help and will also reach people sooner) is to change the specification on the production crystal size starting with the next shipment. What is in my power to do (and more quickly) is to strive to get a more uniform crystal size -- so that we make sure there are none of the slightly larger crystals mixed in. When we tested, we went for an optimal "mix" -- with some of the crystals being a wee bit larger, with the bulk being the smaller size -- in an effort to get more absorbency. I'm thinking if we just make them all closer to the same size (the slightly smaller size) we can end up with happier kitties with the tender paws without having to go into making an entire new product line.

What do you think?

Rick -- With the crystals, I never used the smaller size with my cats. I used whatever the Scoop Free came with (when I was using the SF) and used the least expensive brand when my cats, for whatever reason, needed a second litter box. The brand I bought had the larger crystals which were harder on the paws (but better for the budget) or I purchased the litter pearls -- the rounded off variety that were softer on the paws. I actually liked the pearls the best.

I thought the smallest crystals on the market might be useless -- i.e., I didn't think they would absorb very much or last very long so I never tried them with the cats.

Stick to what you are doing, Rick. Don't let me get you off track.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate the thought you put into your posts here -- both for anyone looking for inputs and for me personally. It's people like you that have truly "bonded" me to this forum.

Thank you.

To clarify on the crystal idea, the size we are currently using is just a very, very tiny bit larger than the Fresh Step crystals. We found in our testing (not a lab -- but rather friends and existing users who volunteered to be beta testers if you will -- thought it would be more real world) that the ever-so-slightly larger size gave us better moisture absorbency, while still working properly with the system. Basically the size difference is so slight you have to lay some of each out on a white sheet of paper and stare at them for awhile and sift them around to be able to see any difference at all.

So I think we'll stick with your suggestion and keep them as they are size-wise, but keep working with the factory to get them as uniform in that size as possible. I think in the big picture the added performance is the key.

Thanks so much.........

Well, once again good news and bad news. The good news is that I bought a manual box and discovered it wasn't the litter bothering her afterall. So now I can go back to supporting Rick's co. and not some co. from China. The bad news is obvious, of course... For some unknown reason she has begun to reject the SF.

Well,that's not entirely true, she was peeing just fine in the SF BEFORE I put down a manual box. She now is not pooping on my floor anymore, but is now both #1 and #2'ing in the manual box. I find this odd too, bc that manual box is actually "smaller" then the SF litter area! I'm noticing how now she even buries her doody, which to my dismay, she refused to do in the SF. Weird!