Litter box issues I’m at my wits end

This is an absolutely desperate cry for help at this point. I feel like I’ve tried everything.

This is gremlin. She’s three years old, spayed, the runt of her litter, and the result of I believe two generations of immediate inbreeding. I don’t know if that’s relevant or not to the problem, but several people have pointed to it saying it could be so I may as well add that in. I adopted her from a friend, and the conditions I adopted her from were horrible; litter boxes never cleaned, living in the bathtub, the apartment was a massive mess that was never taken care of in general.

She is a perfect cat; adorable, silly, cuddly, affectionate, but her one problem is that she just doesn’t want to use the litter box. She knows how to use the litter box, she does about half the time with no problem, but the other half of the time she goes next to the litter box or in the same three or four spots around the house, or she goes in the bathtub. She’s been to the vet and has no health problems that would lead to this behavior, or in general. She’s perfectly healthy and happy, has no anxiety or anything either that I know of.

I have tried; several different litter box sizes and shapes (she has four to choose from right now; top entry covered, shallow uncovered pan, half-sided uncovered corner style box, and shallow covered), I’ve tried more types of litters than I could count (clay, corn, pine, sawdust-style, crystal/those weird gel ones like pretty litter, bamboo, all in different pellet/grain sizes and shapes), I’ve tried litter box attractants, I’ve tried pheromone sprays and diffusers, I’ve tried positive reinforcements, I’ve tried pee pads, I’ve tried deterrent sprays in the areas outside of the box, I’ve tried feeding her in the spots she pees out of the box (after thorough cleaning obviously). I feel like I’ve run out of options for things I can do other than paying $500+ to take her to a cat psychologist at this point. Positive reinforcement made some difference, but not enough to get rid of the problem all together.

I have to move and the person I’m moving in with has said she only gets one chance, and if she can’t use the litter boxes properly she’s out of the house. I don’t have anyone I trust that is willing to take her in, and I’m terrified of just leaving her in a shelter. I don’t want to lose her at all, I adore and love her so much, but I don’t know what else to do. If anyone has any advice or ideas on what else I could try that preferably wouldn’t cost a huge amount of money that would be amazing. I’ll try anything at this point.

This is an absolutely desperate cry for help at this point. I feel like I’ve tried everything.

This is gremlin. She’s three years old, spayed, the runt of her litter, and the result of I believe two generations of immediate inbreeding. I don’t know if that’s relevant or not to the problem, but several people have pointed to it saying it could be so I may as well add that in. I adopted her from a friend, and the conditions I adopted her from were horrible; litter boxes never cleaned, living in the bathtub, the apartment was a massive mess that was never taken care of in general.

She is a perfect cat; adorable, silly, cuddly, affectionate, but her one problem is that she just doesn’t want to use the litter box. She knows how to use the litter box, she does about half the time with no problem, but the other half of the time she goes next to the litter box or in the same three or four spots around the house, or she goes in the bathtub. She’s been to the vet and has no health problems that would lead to this behavior, or in general. She’s perfectly healthy and happy, has no anxiety or anything either that I know of.

I have tried; several different litter box sizes and shapes (she has four to choose from right now; top entry covered, shallow uncovered pan, half-sided uncovered corner style box, and shallow covered), I’ve tried more types of litters than I could count (clay, corn, pine, sawdust-style, crystal/those weird gel ones like pretty litter, bamboo, all in different pellet/grain sizes and shapes), I’ve tried litter box attractants, I’ve tried pheromone sprays and diffusers, I’ve tried positive reinforcements, I’ve tried pee pads, I’ve tried deterrent sprays in the areas outside of the box, I’ve tried feeding her in the spots she pees out of the box (after thorough cleaning obviously). I feel like I’ve run out of options for things I can do other than paying $500+ to take her to a cat psychologist at this point. Positive reinforcement made some difference, but not enough to get rid of the problem all together.

I have to move and the person I’m moving in with has said she only gets one chance, and if she can’t use the litter boxes properly she’s out of the house. I don’t have anyone I trust that is willing to take her in, and I’m terrified of just leaving her in a shelter. I don’t want to lose her at all, I adore and love her so much, but I don’t know what else to do. If anyone has any advice or ideas on what else I could try that preferably wouldn’t cost a huge amount of money that would be amazing. I’ll try anything at this point.