Our cat is fat (we brought her home from the humane society in May weighing 17 lbs. We got almost two pounds off her, and then she regained some when we visited my family and the cat sitter overfed her, and we're working on getting her slimmer), but she isn't just fat, she's all around big (tall and long).

We bought a rug to put under the litter box, because we noticed she sometimes left a poo on the floor right in front of the litterbox (a covered model). We thought it was her way to complain about the cleanliness or quality of her litter, but she's been doing it more and more, and we couldn't figure it out until the other day I was in the spare room (our storage and craft area) where the litter box is, and I saw what is happening. If she faces the wall to do her business, her heinie is sticking out the door of the litterbox and the poop falls out of the litter box, because her heinie is sticking out over the lip of the box. She's a very long cat and even with her nose practically touching the wall, the heinie is still hanging over.

So today we bought her a new litter box. We started in the pet supply area, but none of the available models were any larger than the one we got, so we bought a plastic sweater storage box (the kind you slip under the bed). It's the only thing we could find longer than our cat (she's a humongous cat).

So tomorrow she gets her new litter box (gosh it's going to take up so much room, and use so much litter. I'm glad we use scoopable).

Hubby says "what if she's gotten used to having the lip of the pan to sit on to prop up her heinie while she poopies?"

Oh geez, I didn't think of that. I guess in that case, we'll have to put one littler box inside of a bigger littler box (or teach her to use a baby's potty chair?)

What have we gotten ourselves into with this crazy cat?

My cat does the exact same thing...

I used to have a Litter-Maid self cleaning litterbox, thought it was because she was afraid of the getting hit by the comb so started leaning outside the box, got a regular box, she has started doing it again with that box, too... Had nothing to do with the cleanliness of the box... She just sat too close to the center when she was facing the back sometimes and poopie fell out the front...

Good luck!

Edited: Oh yeah, I got a mat and put under mine that has some kind of static treatment to it or something and it collects litter she tracks out right where her feet hit instead of letting it track all over the house. That litter often provides a convenient litter pile in front of the box for any excess stuff... I can't remember what it was called, but it is really thin, smooth tight pile fleece on one side, rubbery plastic on the other... Got it at PatSmart.

i actually had a friend who bough sweater storage boxes for the same reason. She cut out an opening and the cat can use the litter box in comfort now. It takes up a large space but the cat doesn't go out side.

I don't have the "big" cat problem, but the fluffy cat problem. We can't use covered litter boxes because we end up having to wash bottoms and tails! I hope your problem is solved by your accomodations!

I have had a lot of luck with the "Breeze" model litter box. My girl kitty doesn't pee on random things anymore since we got this, PLUS I don't have to feel tiny gritty litter in my bed anymore....
They transitioned fine (we just followed the directions on the box).

i have a big fat cat too!

he is humungous. weighs 19 pounds and is very long amd tall. size of a weiner dog really.

i have the biggest cat box known to man. it is a big flat rectangle. i "think" it is a catbox but might be a tray from housewares.

he need the space to dig and position his butt. he doesnt "prop the heinie" and i dont think your kitty does either. she just cant get in far enough to go in the middle.

i found the BEST cheap litter at walmart. it is called mimi litter and look like fish gravel. it cost $4 a bag and one fills the bottom of his box.

it really really controls the odor and kinda dehydrate the poo so is flushable.
and chunk is the MOST tolerant cat but he appreciate the space to poop in comfort.

I love all the tips and stories. It's funny to know our cat isn't the only with potty eccentricities.

The rug we have under her litterbox is one I picked up at a thrift store for $2. It's got a bit of a ridge to it's weave, so it's pretty good at keeping the litter (and even her "misses") off the carpet, and can be easily washed. I think we'll need a larger rug to put under her new deluxe accompodations.

I caught her in the act of another funny habit. There were some papers near the front of the litterbox that apparently fell from the trash basket, and I threw them away. Today I find a couple more papers in front of the litterbox (that this time I knew I didn't drop there, because I'd seen them in the small wastebasket across the room), and I see her leaving her litter box and wiping her paws on the paper. She's a little cat genius, I think.

Getting paper out of the wastebasket to play with isn't new for her, or for our previous cat who passed away in April. Both share a love of paper, especially "shiny paper," especially to lie and roll on. On Sundays I used to lie out all of the shiny ads from the paper for KeeKee our previous cat, to play on. We don't get the paper anymore, so every once in a while I'll tear off a big sheet of wrapping Paper for Chub Chub. Chub Chub isn't as fond of big shopping bags as KeeKee was though.

We have a maine coon who weighs close to 30 lbs....he's a big boy. We used to have a regular box, but his digging would send litter everywhere. We ended up getting a covered model and he's been fine. It definitely cuts down on the litter spray as well. It has a swinging door as well. I haven't seen any little poops out of the box, but that never has really been a problem.

What about getting something like a dish drainer pan (plastic rectangle with a short lip around the edge) to put underneath the litter box? I can't imagine filling a sweater box with litter every few weeks.

Mrs. Dorson, does the Mimi gravel travel far like regular litter? We use tidy cat or an equivalent now and it seems to get tracked all over the house. We've considered using the Tidy Cat crystal kind, but it's expensive...I guess I would pay more for better litter to save my sanity though. I HATE litter stuck to my feet.

Kaplods, I love your kitty's name. Chub Chub....that's adorable. Our kitty is Gary "the" Cat.

I've never been able to contol little litter trails, but now, since the SO indulged his geekyness & bought a roomba-I just let it take care of it. Plus it's great at picking up the flyaway hairs from our fluffsters-Titian & Obi-Wan, that I can never sweep off the hardwood!

oh my, owlmonkey....I think you just hit the nail on the head. I wonder if DH will let me buy a roomba after I just bought a dyson?

haha.

Mrs. Dorson, does the Mimi gravel travel far like regular litter? We use tidy cat or an equivalent now and it seems to get tracked all over the house. We've considered using the Tidy Cat crystal kind, but it's expensive...I guess I would pay more for better litter to save my sanity though. I HATE litter stuck to my feet.




no, it stays on the bathroom floor! i sweep 3 times a day but Chunk doesnt track it out. i do if i forget to sweep but it annoys me to NO end to feel the little crunchies so i am prompted to sweep!

I must have a weird cat. She is large in stature and in weight. We have a litter mate automatic box (because the dog likes to eat the "puppy rocha".) Honestly, it is too small for her, but she backs into it and perches her front paws on the ramp. So I guess she poops backwards. We've never had a problem with poop outside of the box. She does track litter everywhere though (even with a rug underneath the box.)

Aside from the noise, we like the litter mate. Litter lasts much longer before getting stinky and it's not that pricey since we reuse the plastic receptacles.

[QUOTE=zenor77;2413439]I must have a weird cat. She is large in stature and in weight. We have a litter mate automatic box (because the dog likes to eat the "puppy rocha".) QUOTE]

Ha Ha Puppy Rocha-we callit "Kitty Crunchies" in our house!

My mom used a regular storage box (not the short one) because not only did the cat need more room that way, but it needed a high side or it would pee on the wall! She just cut out an opening in one of the shorter ends of the box.

The sweater box isn't huge, it's more 2/3 the size of what I think of as a traditional sweater box, but it's a little wider than a typical cat box and a quite a bit longer. It really shouldn't use THAT much extra litter if we're careful.

I'm betting it will solve the problem, because she doesn't like it any more than we do when there's a poopie where it doesn't belong. She'll cry until we come and clean it up. Once a little tiny bit of poopie stuck to her butt fluff and fell off in our bedroom. It was so small we even couldn't see it at first, but she was wailing and clearly destressed over a spot on the carpet until we noticed what was causing the ruckus (I thought it was a bug at first) and helped her dispose of it properly, and cleaned the spot on the carpet (which as far as I could see there was no spot, but apparently she knew better).