Litter training the Diva

[alexgirl73]

Yeah for Eva!!! Bet that made you feel good Elaine!

[dandysmom]

Great news! May it continue!!!!

[Elaine]

The good news is that Eva has only pooped on the carpet once so far since the weekend.

[Fran]

Now that is good news!! :D

[Mags]

Good girl Eva!

It's looking promising Elaine ;)

[dandysmom]

Fingers crossed that she'll continue to use the box mostly and hopefully, always, in the future,,,,,good girl!

[alexgirl73]

That is good news Elaine, long may it continue!!

[Elaine]

Ok the Diva has let me down again. Two days in a row and she has pooped on the floor again. Although I love that tubby fluffball I call the Diva, I do despair sometimes. Oh well, it was a small improvement for a short time.
I still dont think it has to do with which litter I use and more to do with her asserting her authority towards Bernie. Och maybe I am talking poop LOL
Back to the drawing board LOL

[alexgirl73]

What a cat!!!! I'm all out of suggestions Elaine? I think you'll just have to get rid of the carpets and put down cat litter all over your floors, problem solved!!!!

[Fran]

How frustrating! Diva being Diva :roll: Really don't know what to suggest now Elaine :?

[Elaine]

Situation Eva has really taken a down turn over the last few days. Am putting it down to stress this time though but she has poo'd in almost every corner of every room over the last few days.
Hoping things will settle down a bit soon though.

[dandysmom]

Oh Elaine, sorry to hear this! What's especially stressing her now; the wallpaper steaming, or the cold weather, or..???

[Elaine]

I think its all the stress of re-decorating etc. Hopefully she will settle again soon.

[Fran]

I do hope so Elaine it must be so very frustrating for you :(

[Mags]

Oh dear, I hope she settles again soon Elaine............ :(

[yola]

Oh no, two steps forward and one step back :( Hopefully she'll be back on track soon . . .

[alexgirl73]

Fingers crossed that she'll settle down as soon as all the decorating is done Elaine. ((hugs))

[dinahsmum]

Sorry to hear this Elaine. The decorating + your stressy time the last couple of days are not helping her.

[Animagus]

Hmmm tricky..... I have a kitten who is extra fussy at the cleanliness of the cat tray one poop and he does it outside the tray...(showing him the poop and 10mins in the Naughty box/cat carrier helped a little) I am pretty lucky though and he contains it to the Kitchen... as for Diva... Too many choices maybe???? sounds as if she is very sensitive and upsets easily.... lots of fuss and attention directed her way may help calm her down a bit while the decorating is going on....then back to the training.... are you putting new carpet down??? baking soda and vinegar on the areas where she has pooped might help take away any smells that will attract her back..... hope she gets back on track soon.....

[Elaine]

She is a most fussed over Diva, maybe thats been part of the problem....... I do always make a fuss and praise her when she gets it right.
We are toying with the idea of putting down laminate flooring as we have that in the kitchen and she never poo's on the floor in there. And if she should continue to use the floor it would be easier cleaned.
I dont really like the idea of penning her or confining her to a cat carrier especially coz i have such problems getting her into the carrier for a normal vet visit and she really does get very stressed over it, so my feeling about that is that due to her sensitive nature, confining her may well make the problem worse instead of better.
Maybe I just have to accept her the way she is and just get on with it coz we do love her and have absolutely no intentions of giving her up. I never give up on my animals.
A very big thankyou to every one who has tried to help and given sugestions. Should she ever decide to eliminate appropriately LOL, I will let you all know.

[Liz]

She's a sensitive wee scone and knows full well Mummy is her slave - agree on the wooden floors so much easier to clean when they miss - Bert at 21 and blind walks in to any litter tray head first and bum points the wrong way but at least he tries!

The Diva is her Mummys girl and Auntie Liz's wee scone!!!!!

[dandysmom]

I think the wooden floors sound like a good idea, practical as well as looking good. My Misty, when she went blind, sometimes faced the wrong way in the litter tray also, but she tried, bless her, and I kept an old car mat in front of it to catch accidents. She lost her sight at about 18, lived to 19 1/2; happy and purring to the end. Give the Diva a pat from me..if allowed !! :-D

[Elaine]

Just had a ridiculous thought.
Have done some clicker training with Eva in the past, which she took to pretty well. Had tried to use it to help with the whole litter box issues but not religously and hadnt formulated any sort of real plan of action with it.
Have just been looking into clicker training birds etc for work purposes when it occured to me that I may well be able to resolve the pooping issues this way too.
What do you think? And how exactly am I going to do this successfully, as I am not always here when the offence is committed. Need to formulate a real plan. Think people think LOL.
Any thoughts on this greatly appreciated.

[Elaine]

Update!!!
Have had a brain wave about the whole pooping on the carpet issue with the Diva.
You may all probably know she is currently on a diet and may have to attend an obesity clinic as she weighs in at 7.6 kgs, hopefully that has reduced a little on her next weigh in.
Anyhoo, I am thinking, maybe its coz she is carrying excess weight that the cat litter feels uncomfortable for her underfoot. Maybe she can bare it long enough to have a pee but as a poo takes a bit longer, she cannt stand on the litter coz it hurts.
So maybe this diet thing will do the trick.

[Fran]

Oh Elaine, I hope your theory is right! Only time will tell ;)

[Elaine]

Its got to be right Fran:lol: :lol: :lol:
I cannt think of anything else, will keep you updated with weight and behaviour. Have to tell you all thet her temperament has improved somewhat since reducing her food so that alone has to be a step in the right direction:lol:

[Mags]

How about giving her a carpet lined litter tray Elaine, just to test your theory? You can usually pic up carpet offcuts quite cheaply......

[dandysmom]

I'm bringing up my previous suggestion of shredded paper again,,,worth giving it a try...

[Elaine]

I have tried the carpet and again she would pee in it only. Havent tried the shredded paper and I do remember you mentioning it before. Just trying to think if I know any one with a shredder.

[Kazz]

Well I've just spent1/2 and hour reading through this thread and have to say I don't think you are going to change what is to her habit. Although you may have almost answered your own problem earlier in the thread I think, she does not use the laminate to go the loo, so did you ever put laminate in another room?

[Elaine]

Yes i put laminate in the lounge when we decorated it. She did poo in there once but on the rug.

[Kazz]

There is something about the rugs/carpet isn't there. How about putting something under the rug that makes it feel unstable to her like bubble wrap?
Either that or take the rug up when you go out and leave her. I am assuming here that she does not do it while you are watching her?


Karen

[Elaine]

Good idea Karen, will try that too. ;) Sadly the bedroom, bathroom and computer room are carpeted still so we may have to do something about that sooner than we had hoped.

[Kazz]

Can you not isolate her from one of those area's such as the bathroom for starters.

[Elaine]

I could but we have 3 litter trays and one of those is in the bathroom.

[Elaine]

Do you know, my Diva has pooped in a litter tray every day this week:shock: :lol: . Thats consistent for her.;) Didnt want to say before incase I jinxed it. I bet its jinxed now:? :-D

[Mags]

Well done the Diva!! :D

[alexgirl73]

yay for the Diva!! Let's keep our fingers crossed that you haven't jinxed her Elaine lol!

[Erin]

Yay,,,,well done Eva,now all you have to do is keep it up!!!

[dandysmom]

Good girl. Eva!!! Keep it up!!!

[Elaine]

Now that I've told you, you just know she will make a liar out of me later:lol: :lol: :lol:

[Grete]

Just read this thread and something occurred to me. If she sometimes poops near the tray but not it or happens elsewhere, could it be possible its' a behaviour thing where she doesn't realise she needs to go until she has to GO and doesn't even make it to a tray. The other thought is, since she is such a sensitive cat, when she gets stressed or upset, could it cause something like indigestion or whatever and has pain when pooping. That could put her off a particular location that she was previously happy to go in.

Just a couple of thoughts.

[Elaine]

Thanx for your thoughts. I dont think it is the first coz she will go scratching for a place to go first, if I catch her and say Eva No then she just swears at me and runs into another room to do it. Its not like she just has to go there and then, she always chooses her spot.
I am wondering about the indegestion thing though, may look into it.
Another point of interest might be that she and Bernie ARE becoming closer.

[Elaine]

Sorry to drag up this old chestnut again:roll:
Graham and I were talking about the cats this morning, conversation came up coz Bernie has began to give the hamster a talki9ng to when she makes too much noise on her wheel:lol:
Anyway, Graham came up with a new theory about Eva and her middening. Now its more than likely that the middening is a habbit which is ingrained in her mind but this is the new pattern.
Eva now only middens in the computer room under or right beside my chair and in the bedroom she middens at my side of the bed (still with in a foot or so of the litter box, there is no room for litter box in the computer room).
Grahams theory is that she uses this as a marker for Bernie to stay clear of me. Eva lies in the computer room with me of an evening and at bedtime she jumps ontop of me and settles down on my chest. Where as Bernie rarely comes into the computer room and only lies on Grahams side of the bed. He does jump on my lap for a fuss if I am in the livingroom and a fight does normally ensue after this. She does allow for Bernie to get a fuss in the kitchen, most often at feeding times.

[dandysmom]

Interesting theory, and plausible! Cats are so inscrutable, and who can figure out the complicated relationships between themselves, and with their persons? No doubt, though, that Eva is the Alpha cat.......

[Grete]

You know, you could be on to something there Elaine. Doesn't Feliway mimic the 'safe' scent cats use to mark territory? The spray in areas she does it in could be beneficial?

[Elaine]

I have used feliway before but that was when I was trying to introduce the two cats rather than resolve the middening issue. Thanx Grete.:D

[dandysmom]

Incidentally, I've never heard "midden" used as a verb...is that a Scottish expression, Elaine?