Selfish logistical issue

Can you guys help talk me through this?

Background: I have two cats, Alex Rodriguez and Blossom (Princess Blossom Pepperdoodle Von Yum Yum), both of whom are around a year old.

My catbox has always been in the bathroom, under the sink. But this is getting to be untenable for a few reasons: 1. The pipe under the sink makes it impossible to have a covered catbox so it's just standing there open, which leads to 2. Blossom kicking litter out when she scratches. So I'm constantly having to sweep up litter from the bathroom floor.

Is there a way for me to stop the litter-kicking problem while still having an uncovered litter box? There's no other space in the bathroom to put the box. Otherwise, where can I put the litterbox that I can cover it? I'm thinking the kitchen hall sort of near the bathroom. Remember that I'm in an NYC apartment that's approximately 750 square feet, with two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom.

Also, is there any truth to those self-cleaning cat boxes?

Also, for the two people who sent me cat-related questions two weeks ago: I have no idea. I don't even understand my own cats! (Which is pretty much the point of cats.) I'd take your cats to the vet to get them checked for UTIs, which is what I'd do it one of my kids started peeing or pooping in the wrong places with no other major changes going on.

Comments

[Melba]

My cat has THE MOST organized litter box EVER. Seriously, whenever I go to clean it, there's the poop in the back left corner, all piled up together and neatly covered. The pee clumps (we use the odor absorbing clumping kind - fantastic) are neatly piled and covered in the back right corner. Front is reserved for doing his business, then he clears it to the appropriate pile. Very little kicked out litter (so sorry I can't help with that problem).

He does however have a nasty habit of peeing on the carpet at the bottom of the stairs whenever he's p-o'd at us. So gross and annoying.

[jdv]

Weird and kind of gross but effective for plugged ducts: grated potato. The last time I had a plugged duct I found this remedy somewhere on the internet (2 1/2 days of agony had me doing some creative googling). The potato is supposed to draw out the milk or something to that effect.

[Dawn]

Since I have to travel with the cat and catbox sometimes, mine catbox sits in a large rubbermaid tub - it also seems to help catch the over kick.

[hedra]

@andrea, I think that's a siamese thing...

we've had siamese and tonkinese cats all my life. About half of them were dump and run types. It seems to be a sensory thing, because the reaction seemed to be worse with certain types of litter (like, they didn't like how it felt to dig in it?) and those ones tended to shake their paws a lot on exit, and sometimes with certain foods (the really smelly ones offended them, I think - 'yeah, like I'm sticking around to bury THAT?'). We also toilet trained one of the siamese (actually probably a tonkinese but i don't know if they'd separated the breed types at that point - 'apple headed siamese' was what they were called), and it freaked her RIGHT out - she'd use the toilet, then 'go on a tear' - race around the house like an idiot for a few minutes. We always knew when we needed to go flush for her... eventually decided that litter box was less stressful for her, so went back to litter (she would sometimes go on a tear after stinky poop, too... we always thought 'run away! run away!' a la Monty Python...)

[amy]

oh, hedra, i'm glad you mentioned the litter change thing. i have one cat who will NOT tolerate litter changes. god help us if the manufacturer of the litter we use ever goes under.

[MaggieO]

Apartment Therapy has lots of good ideas for the litter box -- although their best were some DIY ones, that I can't now find a working link for. Here's an example of one that you can buy (although from your description I'm guessing this wouldn't fit in your bathroom): http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/pets-dogs-cats-snakes-etc/kitty-washroom-032567
Or how about a nice potted plant?! http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/pets-dogs-cats-snakes-etc/hidden-litter-box-011261

[epeepunk]

To add onto hedra's comment.

We have a Litter Robot (http://www.litter-robot.com/) and I love it. I change out the bag about once a week, add some more clumping litter, and I'm done. It's worthwhile to note that the company has a 60 day money back return policy - since they understand that not all cats will like the same things.

There is still some tracking, and the big cat sometimes pees around it because he's too big for it (and a little dumb some days), so something under it would be a good idea. It is large, but it does the job. And it uses kitchen garbage bags, not specialized containers that the other automated ones have. If all of your cats like it, I'd say that it would replace two pans easily. We've kept the additional pans just because we're lazy and the big cat will poop where a pan used to be (see above about not being too smart).

Because we didn't usually change them often enough and because the cats would take ownership of certain areas, leaving other cats out of luck, we also have many litter boxes throughout the house, two of which are covered - partly for odor and partly to keep things from falling into them (one's in the upstairs bathroom). We ended up with 4, which is (2*cats) + 1. And the cedar litter is also great. Hardly any odor, and you can leave it for a while and then just change it, which supports our lifestyle (constant cleaning hasn't been a priority or skill of ours - that's changing now that M and R like to scoop.)

[Ann]

Re Andrea
One of my cats wont bury hers either. Stinky!
Her brother buries his and they share a box. You'd think he'd be telling her to bury that stuff! Anyway, the vet said some cats are just like that and any attempt to "teach" her to bury it would likely result in her not using the box at all.

[Noel]

Hey Moxie.

I really think that the rubber mats seem to help too.

Here is an example (http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2755053Y)

[Gemma]

We added 2 beautiful Korat kittens to our family in May and are HUGE fans of the Litter Robot. It is self cleaning and odor free. It looks a bit crazy, a bit like a spaceship, but it was worth every cent not to have catbox smellies in our place. Like you, there really isn't a good place for the box, so ours in the the bathroom. We have an issue with the litter tracking as well and I just try to keep sweeping it up. I saw some rubber mats in the Drs. Foster and Smith catalog for cats that I might try out...but then we might have problems opening and closing the door!

[Roya Rose]

we use a big shipping box with the litterbox inside. we have 2 cats and it has been a lifesaver!

[Tatiana]

Yesterdays News. A vet recomended this litter to us. It's larger pellets made of recycled newspaper.
We've been clumping litter fans for a very, very long time. And for just as long, we've hated having the 'litter sand' all over the house.
Now: no litter sand. Downside is that every 10 days to two weeks we have to completely dump the box and start over. Daily removal of solids helps