Big Bertha Domestic Short Hair & Tiger Mix Clayville, RI

Big Bertha needs a big box — or barn! Big Bertha, who first came to the shelter a year ago, is back from her adopted home. She had problems using the litter box consistently — though she pooped in the box, she would often pee on nearby floor mats. When her family took all the floor mats away, she turned to larger area rugs, and that was something they just couldn’t live with. So now we are tasked with finding her a home where she can go outside to use the bathroom, or where she can live as a barn cat — or a home that is willing to take a chance on box training her in the home. Since her return to the shelter, Bertha has been back in a cage where she has little choice but to use the litter box, and we have done some testing with her, leaving her out for hours with two litter boxes and various floor mats on the floor. Though she did well on a couple of occasions, on a couple of other occasions she did urinate on mats that we left right near her boxes. We also noted that she used both boxes that were left out for her, which were left in different locations on the days that we tested her box use. The only conclusion we can draw is that placing a floor mat near her box might encourage her to urinate on the mats instead of in the box.

And the curious thing is that Bertha LOVES her floor mats. She really loves rolling around on them and trying to wrap herself up like a burrito in a mat — as long as it’s not near her litter box. It’s kind of funny that she has this love-hate relationship with the floor mats. As for other things she loves and hates — Bertha is very affectionate with her human friends, but merely tolerates other cats, and she despises dogs. She was so agitated when she returned to the shelter and wanted nothing to do with the other shelter cats, squawking if they came near her, but she eventually settled in and learned to share space with them. So we are challenged not only with finding her a home where her litter box issues can be managed, but one where there are no dogs, or a barn where the dogs don’t have access, and for the best chance at success, a home with no other cats.

As you can see from her photo, Bertha is a hefty cat — she receives a restricted amount of food at the shelter, and if she is a house cat she will need to have her food portioned out each day. She is 8 years old, spayed, current on vaccinations and tested negative for FIV and feline leukemia. For more information, email ClayvilleCritters@cox.net, call the shelter at (401) 647-7200, or visit her during regular shelter hours: Tuesday through Friday, 7 to 11 am and Saturday, 10 am to 3 pm.