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So despite my best efforts, Zelda finally decided to pick a turd out of the cat box and eat it. And now she knows that they're a tasty snack. The cat box is located in a bathroom that I gated using pet door gate, although Zelda can fit through no problem and I'm not sure she'll ever get too big to fit through. Our issue with keeping the gate closed and letting the cats jump over is that one cat is elderly, fat, arthritic and can't make the jump. She's the one we're most worried about. Right now, we open the gate when Zelda's not around, but that can be hard when we're all at home. And anyone who has cats knows they wait for no one. Zelda does not go for dog poo, only cat poo.
we have had the same problem...and I guess they like cat poo so much because cat food is so high in protien...therefore their poo is high in protien! we have pretty much trained our dog away from it...at least in the cat box. Outside is another story. We used the leave it command and it hasn't been to much of a problem. she learned quickly that was not any place she wanted to be with noise aversion too. any time she got close we shook a can with some coins in it (what we use for our cats when they are misbehaving) and then gave her lots of praise when she left the bathroom...and like i said, we haven't had much of a problem!
I also have indoor cats and dogs and I solved this problem by putting the litter box in my laundry room. We installed a cat door on the bottom of the laundry room door so the cats can get to their litter box but the dogs can't fit through. Maybe you could install one of these on your bathroom door. The cat door should be too small for a corgi to get through but easy for the cats. If your corgi is small (or very motivated to try and squeeze through) you might try one of the enclosed litter boxes. Some are specially designed to keep dogs out while giving the cat easy access.
Well, she's still the size of a cat right now so anything the cats can fit through, she can too. It'll be a matter of time before we really know what she'll grow into. I hesitate to use sound aversion at this point as that's my last resort.
Oh, I didn't realize Zelda was a puppy and still small. And I wasn't quite sure what you meant by "a pet door gate" Perhaps that is similar in action to the cat door that I recommended. So sorry for all the confusion.
Hmm . . . teaching her the "leave it" command would work well here, but constant watching would be necessary for when she wanders into the bathroom for a snack. I know that can be difficult to do. My sister had a puppy that she didn't want going into her craft room because of all the small items in there so she put a small bell on Sassie's collar. She could tell by the sound of the bell where Sassie was and if she needed to scoot her out of the craft room. Just another thought . . .
Hopefully someone will come along with other thoughts for you.
They make a variety of supposedly dog proof litter boxes. The one I have is like a storage bin/tote with a hole in the top. Not sure if that would work for the older cat, and I haven't seen them in the store lately. Plus, if the dog is the same size as the cats, it may be a moot point.
When he gets bigger, the small pet openings in gates might work, but in my experience, a determined dog can still get through them. I took the one I bought back to the store after my husky lab mix was the first one through the cat door. It took her a little while to figure out how to get her body down that low, but I was in the room and she was bound and determined to join me.
Vigilance is probably the best bet for now along with leave it training.
Grammy to Sky and Sirius, who came to live with me, stole my heart, and changed my life forever as I took over their care and learned how to be a dog owner.
Another suggestion - talk with your vet. We had that problem years ago when my Irish Setter went for cat turds like See's candy. We were given small packets of something to add to his food for a couple of days, but I can't remember the name of it. Anyway, he left the cat boxes alone within a week. Worth a shot, anyway.
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