Litter Box Attacks

[Laurie and Tasha]

I am having a big problem with Jingle, the new kid on the block. She has been here for about 18 months, and is almost 6 years old. For a couple of reasons, the main litter box in the house is in my bedroom. Jingle has started hiding under the bed and attacking the other cats after they have finished in the box, and are getting ready to exit. Of course, this is very distressing for them, and I'm worried that they may choose to eliminate elsewhere to avoid being attacked. I have two other boxes in my utility room, and they all use it occasionally, but everyone prefers to use the one in my bedroom.

On a regular day to day basis, everyone just tolerates each other. Jingle is very energetic - the other cats are older, and are not amused with her energy and antics. Dax hisses and growls whenever Jingle passes by her (still), but I have seen them sleeping on my bed at the same time with no problems. Silver growls sometimes when she and Jingle happen to meet, but she basically ignores Jingle most of the time.

Any ideas as to why she does this, and is it possible she will stop?

[Tambrey]

Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is water bottle training. If you can, watch in an out of view location and have a water bottle on hand, make sure the stream is thin and not a spray. Whenever Jingles jumps out at the others, shoot a stream of water at her. Hopefully after a few times of being sprayed every time she jumps, she will learn a negative association with it and stop.
I keep a few pretty blue tinted bottles strategically placed around the house and I know that since they are pretty blue, they ONLY have ever had water in them to use for just this purpose...scratching furniture, getting on counters, bugging each other, don't touch the bird cage...

As long as they do not see it coming from you, they associate the activity with the spray and soon learn....but if they see you doing it, then they learn to just not do it when you are around, but might when you aren't.

Traci and others will probably have different suggestions/ideas as well

[Traci]

Is it possible to include a second litterbox in the bedroom?

Also, I would encourage the cats to bond more. Spend at least 10 minutes every day getting them involved in play sessions, with you actively involved. Drag a shoestring across the floor for them to chase and take turns, dig out their favorite toys, toss balls around, invest in a few kong kickeroos. The more they can share the same space together with a favorite activity and be focused on the activity rather than each other directly, the more likely they will form bonds and tolerate each other better - they will associate the time with a favorable experience and will learn to look forward to it. It's sort of hard for some cats with a lot of energy to expend that energy when the other cats don't want to. Jingle could be frustrated with the lack of energy/play/bonding from the others and may be attacking them at the litterbox because of that frustration. Encouraging playtime sessions together (and being consistent) can help greatly.

[Tambrey]

I knew Traci would have great advice!!