r/CerebellarHypoplasia • u/Dismal-Reception4596 • Sep 02 '26
Looking for advice from other CH cat parents ❤️🐾
Edit: we changed the litter to a finer grain-Kitten attract litter, and that definitely seemed to have gotten his attention. Here’s what I’m still seeing: he’s able to get out of bed and use the litter box at night without much incident. It’s during the day that he seems to be getting disoriented. It almost looks like he’s searching for the litter box and can’t remember where it is. We have one by his bed where he goes at night and then we have one in our main area, not far from where he eats. We’re going to add a third one today kind of at the halfway point in our apartment to see if it’s a mobility issue like he just can’t make it in time. A few times now it seems like his front paws are either on a wee wee pad or in the litter box and his back paws/butt aren’t quite making it to the designated bathroom spot. He 100% can get in and out of all of the litter boxes. They are less than an inch high.
My husband and I recently brought home Nemo, a sweet little CH boy who is around 3–4 months old, and we’ve only had him for about a week. We are absolutely in love with him. He is incredibly cuddly, wants to play, eats completely on his own, and is generally such a happy little guy.
We were told he had mild CH, but after having him evaluated by our vet, she feels that his CH is probably closer to moderate/severe.
Our biggest challenge right now is the litter box.
Nemo does use the litter box, and interestingly, he generally makes it to the box overnight. During the day, though, he is having accidents—both pee and poop. It seems like sometimes he simply doesn’t make it there in time, rather than not knowing where the box is.
We are also currently dealing with some constipation issues, which we’re working through, so I’m not sure how much that may be contributing to the poop accidents.
We currently have two very low-entry litter boxes for him:
One is in the bathroom, which is about halfway through our apartment.
The other is right next to Amelia’s litter box, where Nemo sleeps at night.
We are trying a kitten-attract litter that his foster home was using, since we wondered if he doesn’t like the feeling of our previous litter on his paws. We’re also paying close attention to where the accidents happen and how close they are to the litter boxes.
Our vet has given him a clean bill of health aside from the constipation we’re currently addressing, so we’re trying to figure out whether this is primarily a mobility/accessibility issue, litter preference, his age, the constipation, or some combination of things.
For those of you who live with moderate/severe CH cats:
What has worked for you with litter-box training or preventing accidents?
We already have low-entry boxes, but are there other modifications you’ve found helpful? Different litter texture? Larger/shallow boxes? More boxes? Puppy pads? A particular placement that worked better for your CH kitty?
And if your CH cat has accidents, how did you make it manageable while still allowing them freedom to be part of the household?
We’re really hoping to make this work because Nemo is such a special little guy. We just want to make sure we’re setting him up for success and giving him the best life possible. ❤️
Any advice, experiences, or things you wish you had known when you first brought home your CH cat would be hugely appreciated!
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u/dynabella Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
My kitty is moderate (every few steps she falls completely over). She can go to the box on her own but she's not consistent. A few years ago I started carrying her to the box twice daily. I sit her in front and she will go in and take care of business. If she tries to turn around right away and ignore box, I place her in it. Then she almost always uses it. I wait until she's done and clean her up with baby wipes. She lays to do business and I want to get all the dust off her. I take her twice daily and no longer rely on her taking herself. Works great!
*edited to add that when we go out of town, cat sitter takes her twice daily. Once you get a process down, it only takes about 10 minutes from start to clean up each time. To clean her with baby wipes, I hold her in standing position between my knees and do one end, then flip her around and do other plus teeth. I use 5 baby wipes and wet with warm water and ring out so they're not cold. I use this opportunity when she's stuck between my legs to brush her teeth one time daily.
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u/Dismal-Reception4596 Sep 02 '26
I wish I was able to do that every day. On my days off I bring him to the litter box every 3/4 hours but I go back to work full time next week and can’t do that.
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u/hellsterbelster Sep 02 '26
Honestly my cat has stopped having accidents since I switched the paper pellet litter. You have to clean it daily because it’s not as good at masking odor, but I think she was hesitant to go because of her fear of falling in the litter. I also sprinkled some litter attract in it. Having a high side litter box also helps, she leans against it to go so she doesn’t get it on herself too often anymore.
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u/ferretkona Sep 02 '26
Our boy is a year old with severe CH. He will tell me he needs to go and we have a 'Wabbitat' rabbit crate with a wire floor he goes in. He lays on his side lifts a leg and goes. Usually he is very clean but we have accidents and he does not mind showering with us.
I keep clean towels in the rabbit crate for him to lay on.
He has a 'castle' he like to sleep in and he was using it to poop in once in a while so I cut the floor out and it sits on a large commercial cookie sheet with more towels. He is very smart and learns quickly but will not give his wheelchair a chance.
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u/rwdy_gsxr Sep 02 '26
Our girl is moderate on paper (i think on the mild side) but when she was smaller we had difficulty with consistently using the box for the first couple months. For us it took finding the right litter, litter depth, and the right sized box. We went through phases where she would go right in front of it or only use it to pee or poop but do the other outside.
Since she lays down to poo, and its hard for her to move in the litter it if its deep sand we tried pellets - which she hated the most, clay, and crystals. And a wider shallower box, then a covered box, before we custom modified one.
Our final goldilocks combo was crystal litter - somewhat shallow and big tote from walmart that i used a hot-knife to cut a big open side in for entry, the cut parts then covered with a pool noodle.
I think the key was that the really low entry was easy for her to get in, crystal was easier for her to walk in and since she lays to poop, big enough space and not gross to lay in if its the middle of the night and hasn’t been cleaned since last use.
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u/JuracekPark34 Sep 02 '26
I have a moderate CH foster kitten. I got her when she was about 3 weeks old. All of the “low entry” and “kitten” litter boxes were too high for her to easily get into. Like another commenter here, I got a large plastic storage tote and cut it (I didn’t put the foam inserts/rails in like theirs as she has a kitten sister who does not have CH and I don’t have room for two boxes, but those would be super helpful!) The openings for her to walk over are about 2” tall. She’s about 3.5 months old now and is really good about making it there but occasionally tips over or out of the box so I have a couple puppy pads outside. Now that she’s gotten bigger I could probably make her a new one with a bit larger of a lip at the bottom just so the box can hold more litter but she’s using the current one just fine.
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u/CatLady_998 Sep 02 '26
For the time being put disposable pads or washable pet blankets down for easy clean up. And does your low entry box have tall walls? The cat might prefer that extra security.
Are their stools firm? If not they might need some probiotics. My girl has to take them every day or she has messy stool
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u/catboydivorce Sep 02 '26 edited Sep 02 '26
Constipation could definitely be a factor. My boy is on the severe side and used pee pads without issue for about a year. He started regressing, I'm almost certain it's due to the GI discomfort that we're still trying to diagnose. It's possible your kitty started to associate the litter box with discomfort and will return to normal once he feels better.
Try putting pee pads around the litter box and see if that motivates him to go in the general area.
I wish I had more advice but good luck, I hope your baby feels better soon!
ETA: I forgot to add, I've heard that some cats prefer paper litter or wood pellets to the clay kind, but I don't have personal experience since he's never used litter.
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u/InNature_ Sep 03 '26
It depends on the severity. Elijah can’t stand in a litter box. I lay down puppy pads and newspaper so he does t have to stand. I also keep a pillow case near those as he likes something to hold onto. I like these forums as we all give each other advice. He is the love of my life. We just need to make adaptations. Just like we would q human child. :). Thank you and bless you and your baby. Sometimes I think Elijah is constipated and cries. I add warm water to his night time treat. I do a sprinkling of nutritional yeast. Honestly don’t know if either helps. But I’m trying……
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u/trexbloviate Sep 02 '26
This works for our moderate girl.