Please Help Mayhem Eliminate Appropriately

Post date: 2020-09-22 01:15:22

Recent household disruptions have revealed that our kitty Mayhem dislikes sharing a litter box and was/is taking out her feelings on any available bedding, clean clothes and the now-removed forty-year old carpet. Please help us resolve this. The complicating factor is that we spent 10 years with a different cat who had litter box issues which we were never able to successfully resolve. As much as we love Mayhem, we just cannot do another 10-20 years of ruined carpet, floors and bedding.

She was treated for a UTI and will happily use a box IF she the only one to have access to it. We have enough boxes in the house. Attempts to use a self-cleaning box have failed as it is too loud and kitty Menace thinks it is a toy and keeps intentionally triggering the cleaning mechanism.

Right now I see three options.

Option 1: Enclosed sunroom porch.
Pros - Good sized space with windows on three sides. Indoor/outdoor carpet. Lots of furniture for lounging. Enough space to add the cat tree, cardboard scratcher, a myriad of toys and an outlet is available to add heated water dish.
Cons - Not heated. The windows cannot be winterized as one of Mayhem's hobbies is chewing on plastic. We cannot leave food out for long periods of time due to ants. A space heater would not be safe. The door is flimsy, but could be blocked off I can convince spouse to bring fireplace wood through the garage.

Option 2: My office.
Pros - Heated. Space for cat tree, food and water.
Cons - Space is small and in active use. I cannot guarantee restriction of access of the other cats like I can with the sunroom.

Option 3: Return her to the shelter from which she was adopted with a generous donation to the shelter and sponsor her adoption into another family.
Pros - She could be adopted into a more appropriate environment - Quieter, without additional cats.
Cons - She is over two years old, so the wait could be considerable. We would be not be permitted to ever adopt another animal from that shelter.

I would very much like to avoid option 3, so help please? I am WFH indefinitely, so I have time and money to throw at the situation.

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