We Can Discuss Anthing Here, Right?
NGartplay
Posts: 3,377
in The Commons
I have a problem with my cat and this may seem like a silly question but it's starting to be irksome.
I have 3 cat litter boxes in three different rooms of my house. My cat always seems to use the litter box in the room that I'm in. She has two others at the time that she can use. Why does she feel the need to smell up the room that I'm in? Argh. There's got to be a reason for it but I have no clue.
Daz 3D is part of 
Connect
DAZ Productions, Inc.
7533 S Center View Ct #4664
West Jordan, UT 84084
Licensing Agreement | Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | EULA
© 2025 Daz Productions Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Comments
Lol, well, she is sitting on my desk in front of me at the moment. I have to peek over her :)
If you gave your cat praise and affection when it was first learning the purpose of the kittybox your cat is probably demonstrating its pride at doing something properly and expecting affection. Like when they bring you a dead mouse or bird.
However, unless you personally have three bathrooms, you've spoiled your cat. It may be too late to unspoil her. 
You might try moving or eliminating them one at a time until she gets used to fewer potty spots.
My old cat used to love sitting on my desk
Needless to say when we lost him and replced with 2 youngsters (siblings) they were trained not to get on desks.
Litter trays are kept out in the utility area. House is tiny and semi open plan, so it works
Chohole, your cat looked beautiful. I'm so sorry that he's gone now. I know the pain of that loss.
Our cat was a rescue cat from animal control. She started peeing on the walls in the corners when we got her so I had to put a litter box in each of those corners. We used to have a lot more but are down to 3. We've had her two years now and I'm pretty sure she no longer has a love affair with the walls anymore.
Spoiled?....nah....well, ok, so I spoiled her, lol. We were never able to have children so she's my baby :)
Tiggy had a good long life, he was 18 when we lost him. He grew up in Surrey, only had the last 10 or 11 months of his life up here The 2 new ones came to us from a rescue place in the next valley (The Rhymney Valley) in 2012, so they are local Welsh cats. They were 6-7 months old when we got them and although we had only intended to get one they had never been separated so we took them both.
This fashion for multiple litter trays seems to revolve around the notion that cats suffer stress with a single litter tray. I'm not sure how the varying stress levels were compared in any studies, and I'm not sure if any cat litter manufacturers were involved in any funding.
Felines (allegedly) bury their excrement to make themselves less conspicuous to predators and dominant cats, so moggies are happy if their crappy is out of the way. Mine* always seemed content with a single tray (regularly cleaned) that was easily accessible but not in a main living zone.
*Almost mine, strictly speaking. Spent long stretches looking after them. Never had one myself and probably never will, despite missing them all terribly.
Because she loves you. LOL Mine shows her affection by leaving dead mice in the middle of the living room floor. ;)
Laurie
Don't you just love generous cats. One of my two kindly used to wake us up by loudly meouwing all the way up the stirs and presenting Himself with a furry mouse, before settling down on the bed to sleep. It was a cat nip stuffed furry mouse though, not the real live variety. I know she was bringing it up for Himself because she stopped doing it when we lost him earlier this year. I hear her playing with the mice downstairs, but they no longer get brought up stairs.
As long as we're on the subject of cats, we have three (and an amazing young Maltese-Shitzu mix who looks like a stuffed animal). Even back when we "only" had two kitties, they preferred having multiple litter boxes, and mind you, we were dligent to scoop them twice a day. One of our cats just seems to have an incredibly sensitive sense of smell and will always seek out the cleanest possible litter box. Now that we three cats, we actually have three boxes, but that's primarily because at night, we don't let them roam the house (they get into far too much mischief...night time is their witching hour, lol). So, the two best buddies who enjoy sleeping together are kept together in my daughter's room (with a box) and the grumpy old man gets his own area with his own food/water/litter box for the night. We've tried just about every combination of night time arrangements, from having them in our room to letting them roam, and this current distribution keeps everyone, human, canine, and feline the happiest. ;-)
As far as the cats always wanting to be wherever we are...there are times when I look like the Pied Piper with the cats following me *everywhere*. I sit down to work, and all three compete for my lap or (play) fight over who's going to lounge on top of my laptop keyboard. They're adorable, but make it challenging to get work done!
My cat goes out; he would be very distressed if he couldn't. I know in the UK, cats have right of free roam; the saying 'like trying herd cats' is a good one, so probably why they do have that right.
We have a coyote that comes through our yard so I don't let mine roam. She goes out but with a harness on and I have to be around to watch her. That coyote tramped through our yard twice so far when she was in the bush by the back door. I ran out both times and chased him away and since our neighbors got rid of their Guinea fowl I haven't seen him.
PDS, that's so funny. My favorite ever cat was a grey tabby. Chohole, really beautiful kitties.
I've got 3 cats and 4 litter boxes in the house. I have found they will ALWAYS use the litter box that is in closest proximity to their current location when they feel the need. After all, leaving the room they are in to track down a box in another room cuts into their naptime, and they must be well rested to be able to cope with bedtime. If your kitty is hanging out with you, a litter box in the same room is more a matter of convenience than anything else. If you clustered the boxes into one room, she would most likely go there instead. All of our litterboxes are in the basement currently.
Edit: changing rails here, she used to pee on the walls, but doesn't now since you put boxes in multiple rooms? Definatley check if there is anything outside that could be causing the territorial issues. One of my fuzzballs will occasionally poop over by the backyard sliding door. We have tracked this behaviour down to unwanted animals in her space, and are going to improve the fencing to keep stray cats/dogs/deer/foxes out of the backyard. A wandering coyote could certainly be viewed as an intruder.
what is worst a cat box in a computer room? or a large dog walking into the dinning room during dinner and breaking wind & turning the air green.
Ha Ha
Let's hope that's all it does up there.
Agree with the single tray concept. Just be responsible enough to always keep it clean. It's the cat's job to dirty it, ours to clean it. And why it would be in any guest visible room is beyond me. The cellar, or at most a least used bathroom worked just fine for any of our cats.
Now that I'm old and feeble and alone, people tell me that I should get another cat. A few whacks on their ankles with my cane chases the idea right out of them.
No thank you. I'm quite happy not buying cat food, and litter With not vacuuming cat hair. With not worrying about claw maintenance or upholstery maintenance. With not dealing with veterinarian bills that make mine look small. With not having to find a cat sitter when I want to go away for more than 24 hours. And with not dealing with trying to find a cat friendly motel if I do decide to take my cat with me. Been there, done that, burned the T-shirt. 
When I was young and silly we used to smuggle our Russian Blue into the motel in a small cardboard box. We knew he was no trouble but dealing with a temporary litter box at each stay was a scene ripe for some TV sitcom.
We've just got two guinea pigs now (who seem to cost more between them to feed than the dog, cat, tank of tropical fish and pond full of cold water fish that I once had all at the same time). We've always had cats though, up until a few years ago, and none of them had a litter tray beyond the kitten stage. They just went outside.They had other ways of driving us nuts though.
We had one cat who worked out that she could take a running jump down the front path so that she could launch herself at the front door and swing on the doorknocker that was halfway up it, demanding to be let in about thirty times a day. She also enjoyed lying along the tops of half-open doors inside the house, so that she could drop on the heads of the unwary as they passed through. Then there were the two who used to insist on sleeping on top of the veggie basket (because humans love peeling hairy potatoes, right?). We lost one of them while he was still quite young, and after that his brother made his own entertainment. I'd just be drifting off to sleep at night when I'd hear this loud tapping, which would be Dorge (originally George, but the kids were too small to pronounce his name, so Dorge stuck). Dorge would be sitting in the dark on the edge of the bath, batting the pull cord for the light switch back and forth against the wall. Attempts to keep him downstairs on a night resulted in him hooking a paw under the living room door and rattling it so loudly that it sounded like the house was falling down.
Curiously, I miss all this anti-social behaviour :)
She used to pee on the walls in our family room where we spent a lot of time (4 areas). I had one litter box only under the sink by the washer and dryer at the time. This was around the time that I had started taking her outside for a little sun. I always stayed with her but another cat was marking my bush and my vet thinks that she was stressed by that. I put many litter boxes in the house; anywhere that she peed on the walls. She stopped peeing on the walls afer a while and I've removed the extra boxes. Jackson Galaxy says that you should have more than one litter box if you are having litter issues so I left 3 of them in the house. I left the one in the computer room because that's where she goes when company comes over. She does not like little children so we put her food in there and shut the door. Just easier to leave the box in there full time.
@ Ivy, that's so funny. I've had that happen to me during a dinner party...stinky.
When I'm in the office, working or whatever, all three cats are in here with me unless off to go get food or use the litterbox. If i go to a different room, within ten minutes they're all in that room, having made up excuses to go in there.
I try to talk on a Google Hangout or in Skype, and I have fuzzballs draping themselves over me and nuzzling my chin.
I go to sleep, and I have at least one snuggling and wanting pettings as I settle into the bed, then before I drift off the other two have curled up around me with that one.
I close the office door for ANY reason, with the cats outside (say, working on part of the computer)... and there's three plaintive, quiet meowing voices wanting in.
This all means... that I treated them right when they were growing up. My furballs love me. :D
I think that cats tend to feel vulnerable when they defecate as they can't be as on guard and ready to run when doing it. Having a member of their pride around to protect them while they are vulnerable, I think, makes them feel more secure.
It's interesting how social cats are. Apparently the social structure domestic cats use in 'the wild' is called a colony, and they do things like raise kittens communally and bring back food to feed whichever mama's looking after the babies, and anybody who's sick... but they like to hunt alone. When I was in Italy on my honeymoon, our hotel was right across from the location where Caesar had supposedly been assassinated... a big excavated marble structure that had been designated in these modern times as a cat sanctuary. Hundreds of cats happily living together and taking care of each other, every one of 'em venturing out alone when they wanted to go out.
I suspect cats get their reputation for being less social because they don't have as much evolved behavior and capacity to pick up on human cues, like dogs do. Dogs have a VERY unusual ability to interface with humans that I'm not sure any other animal quite matches.
Which is not to say cats are less affectionate or less bonded than dogs with humans, just that a lot of what we do requires a lot more effort on their part to figure out (and vice versa).
My cats will always use the litter when I am in the room its in
and they keep guard over me when I am vulnerable using the toilet
animals do that to protect
yep that
Mine come into the bathroom when I am in there although they never did it quite so much to himself. The bathroom door does not close really securely (lock is a bit worn I guess), so enough cat pressure on the door will open it, which can sometimes surprise visitors who have gone to use the neccessarium.
I agree with you there. One of mine had the habit of watching out the window when Himself had gone out, and when she saw the car return she would jump down and go to meet him at the door. She still does sometimes jump up and check when a car draws up outside, and that is several months since Himself passed on.
Most cats I had used to do their "bathroom buisness", when I did. They mostley waited for me. :-D
cats are social animals but they lack a social media site (Other than the ENTIRE internet) I though I'd check go-daddy for availability of catbook.com, and it's available if anyone has $33,000.00 they want go invest with me (I have about $20 in my wallet but I need to get gas on the way home)
Otherwise dogbook.com is taken an it goes to a dog racing site, which not a fan but its better than a dog fighting site which I could only hope the dogs are permitted to turn on the trainers and chase them out to sea
Make the litter more attractive that you want them to frequent. Leave cat treats in bowls in the vicinity of that litter, and little pinches of catnip (not anywhere close to the litter, so they won't roll in litter on the floor or digest the nip and litter.) If you make the litter more appealing, they'll frequent it. Vary the time of day that you put the treats in there, and they will go in there often to check.
HA
I also find it so weird when people don't like cats because cats are like X.
But... wow. Cats are so varied. A friend of mine had a cat that the minute anyone came to visit, she'd run over, flop on her back, and expect to be petted.
I've been a cat 'owner' once, and my cat was this affable but a little skittish cat. Every time I came home from work, Jay would jump up and flop on my shoulder, and I'd pet him for about 10 minutes. Then time was up and he'd get on with cat business. At night, when I layed down, he'd flop down next to my head and knead my very long hair (heh, very long ago, alas) for, again, about 10 minutes, then bug out.
My boyfriend's cat was this large extremely surly English blue, who had a vile hatred for all people. I was one of the very few people he tolerated, and was occasionally affectionate with. Max literally attacked visiting friends of mine, and when we went our separate ways, the new roommate lasted about 2 days before he so terrified her she refused to live there.
My wife isn't a cat person, alas, so ... we have a dog. ;)