My Pet World: How to get a cat to use the litter box

Q: A few months ago my 4-year-old cat started pooping in my bathtub. She continued to pee in her litter box. When we blocked off the tub she continued to poop on the floor next to the tub. She still continues to pee in the box, which we keep clean. I would prefer not to change her litter brand due to asthma. We currently use feline pine, which can easily be cleaned up and dumped in the toilet. Her litter box is lined and we've done nothing to change anything we've used. Other than diapers or potty training, do you have any suggestions? Thank you. -- Sharon Wilson, Chicago, IL

A: Well if it is your destiny to have an issue like this with your cat then a pooping issue on washable surfaces is a lot easier to deal with those cats that choose to pee on the furniture.

At any rate, for whatever reason, she does not want to poop in the litter box. This is quite clear. Most cats prefer to bury their waste so that other cats do not know they have been in that area, but this behavior is instinctive, so most domestic cats may not feel this way.

So the best advice I can give to you is to re-create the bathtub for her to poop in but have things under your own terms. Continue to keep the bathroom door closed and put a litter box right next to the one now that she pees in but instead of litter just try lining it with a flat sheet of newspaper or a puppy wee-wee pad.

Most likely when she goes to the litter box to pee she will explore the new box next to it with a smooth surface in it like she prefers now and most likely she will take advantage of it to poop in. Then you can just dispose of the paper and line it with a new sheet for the next time.

This may not be the answer that you wanted to hear but compromise is still better than losing and cats rarely lose, so it must be you that compromises.

Q: We have a mini-dachshund that is now 2 years old and he is the best dog in the world except when we try to cut his nails. As soon as he sees the clippers in our hands he runs and if we confront him he turns into an snarling wolf and he has no hesitation in biting us when he is in this red zone. We tried to put a muzzle on him and then come out with the clippers but he fought the muzzle so hard that he got his foot stuck in the strap and broke his dewclaw off and there was blood everywhere. His nails grow very quickly and they curl around into circles and cannot be comfortable for him. We were wondering if you had any tips that we could use to make the situation easier. -- Gary Sims, St. Paul, MN

A: This is not an easy question to answer. Cutting the nails of a dog that does not like the process is sort of like music -- there is music that is good and there is music that is not good and it is hard to describe what you can do to make the music that is not good, better.

Either you can cut a dog's nails or you cannot and it sounds like you cannot in this case. I doubt I can tell you what to do to make the situation better under the circumstances and a dachshund is one of those breeds of dogs that do need frequent nail cutting.

Of course if you had nothing to do all day you could train the dog with positive reinforcement training methods to happily accept nail trimming. However it can take weeks and weeks of training to do this, but any animal can be trained to do anything as long as the animal understands that whatever it is that you are training it to do is in its best interest or has some kind of tangible reward.

In your case I can advise you, but I cannot really answer your question. I do not think there are any tips I can give to you to make such a job on a dog that is so afraid easier on both you. There just are not enough hours in the day and the dog is too set in his ways. If he were younger or a bit less dramatic than the situation would be different.

The best advice I can give you is to just wave the white flag of defeat and take the dog to a groomer or your vet and have the job done professionally. It will cost money to do this but in the end it will be easier on both of you.

Q: There are flocks of wild quaker parrots in our park and we enjoy watching them. Last month we noticed an all blue quaker parrot flying in the group and then when we went back a few days later the bird was not longer to be seen. How does a blue bird appear in a group of green ones and what could have happened to it? -- James Prince-Westport, Connecticut

A: What you saw is a color mutation -- the color green is a combination of the primary colors blue and yellow and when a mutation in the genes of the bird removes the yellow color then you get a blue bird. Conversely if the mutation removes the blue color then you get a yellow bird.

What actually happened to the bird I cannot say -- a mutation like that in a wild population usually does not survive as the blue bird stands out in the flock of green ones and attracts the attention of predators, such as hawks who can zero in on and catch it easier than if it was chasing the green ones.

The domesticated quaker parrots that we keep as pets are bred in the blue colors as well as yellow, white and combinations of these colors, but those birds are bred in controlled settings, thus not subject to natural selection as the bird that you saw was.

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(Marc Morrone has kept almost every kind of animal as a pet for the last half-century and he is happy to share his knowledge with others. Although he cannot answer every question, he will publish many of those that have a general interest. You can contact him at petxperts2@aol.com; please include your name, city and state.)