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My cat is normal overall, but usually I get up in the morning and there's something to clean. There was nothing.

Yesterday I got him a new litter box with new silica litter. Up until this point, he was mainly using clay. I have tested silica with him before and he did use it. He's not usually picky about this type of stuff, but maybe he is? He's eating and drinking and acting normal. I poured back some of the new litter into the bag it came from and poured a majority of old litter on top to see if that will work.

How long can he go on without using the bathroom even when he's eating and drinking? Is he throwing a tantrum?

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    Generally you should have one box per cat plus a spare, mostly for other reasons, but it would also help here so you could change one box but leave the other until the cat adapts—or until you give up.
    – StephenS
    Commented Oct 20, 2020 at 21:35
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    Seconding having one litter box with the original stuff and one with new; additionally, did you transition the litter, or just do a fast change? Many cats do better with a slower transition, especially if the textures are particularly different.
    – Allison C
    Commented Oct 20, 2020 at 21:36
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    There is an old joke. Someone supposedly cleaned the litter box of his friend's cat for a week straight as soon as the cat does his business. After a week, the owner is of course very worried, the man put his own feces on the litter box, making the owner think that cat held it for a week before he takes a massive dump :) TL;DR: Check with your flatmates :)
    – ck1987pd
    Commented Oct 21, 2020 at 13:26
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    I took your advice started to slowly transition him by adding a lot more of the old on top of the new. About a day or two later he decided it was time to go to the bathroom so thank God! Thanks guys! I'm thinking about buying another litterbox just in case for situations like this.
    – Lou Osman
    Commented Oct 21, 2020 at 22:33

1 Answer 1

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This answer is part of Pets Spring Cleaning Campaign. This question is old, but this answer will still help people with the same problem.

Basically what the comments already suggest:

Cats are creatures of habit. Whenever you want to change one of the factors connected to habits you need to do a slow transition, so your cat can get used to the new thing. This goes for feed, litter or beds.

To transition to a different litter you already did the first step of seeing whether your cat would use the new litter at all. This should be done by using a second litter box to give the cat the possibility to use a litter box he accepts.

The next step is the transition. Mix a little of the new litter into lots more of the old. You can go with 10% new and 90% old. Now every day you can increase the amount of new in the mix every time you see that your cat is still OK with this.

Should your cat stop using the litter box take a step back and do a mix they already accepted. This way you can slowly change factors of your cat's life in a way that helps them understand and adapt.

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