This is a specific conversation about Cat litter boxes — size, type, and placement — ask about yours and get one honest answer for your exact situation.
inparticular.ai
Your vet is onto something important — litter box aversion in cats is almost always solvable once you remove the trigger, and a covered box is one of the most common culprits. Most litter boxes are also too small to begin with: cats need a tray at least 1.5 times their body length to feel comfortable stepping in and turning around. Tonkinese are lean but active cats, and they tend to be more particular than average. Before I point you to the right box, a few quick questions: is your cat currently refusing to use the box entirely, going somewhere else in the house, or just hesitating? And do you have any other cats sharing the tray?
She's going outside the box — mainly on a bathmat near the bathroom. We have one other cat, a younger male, but they've always had separate boxes. The vet thinks the covered box made her feel cornered.
inparticular.ai
That bathmat location is a classic sign — she's chosen somewhere soft and private that feels safe, which tells you she wants to eliminate, she's just lost confidence in the box itself. The vet is almost certainly right about the covered box. Tonkinese are social and curious but they hate feeling trapped or ambushed, especially if the younger male has ever loitered near the entrance. What size is her current box, and roughly how long is she from nose to tail?
I honestly don't know the exact measurements. She's a typical Tonkinese size — maybe 45cm body length? The current covered box is one of those standard hooded ones, probably about 40cm long inside.
inparticular.ai
Right, so she's been using a box that's actually shorter than her body — that alone would cause reluctance even without the hood. For a 45cm cat you want an internal floor space of at least 55–60cm. The product I'd point you to is the Savic Senator Open Litter Tray in size XL. It's 61cm long, has no hood, and the sides are high enough to contain scatter without boxing her in. The open design means she can see the whole room while she's using it — that 360-degree sightline is exactly what a cat with aversion history needs to rebuild confidence. It's straightforward to clean, widely available on Amazon UK, and it's not flimsy. Get one for her and replace the other cat's box at the same time so there's no territorial imbalance.
Will she definitely go back to using a box, or is it possible she's just decided the bathmat is her spot now?
inparticular.ai
She can absolutely be retrained — a five-year-old cat with no prior history of aversion is a good candidate for recovery. The key steps alongside the new box: place it initially very close to where she's been going (near the bathmat), use an unscented, fine-texture litter, and don't move it for at least two to three weeks. Once she's consistently using it you can shift it gradually to where you want it. Block access to the bathmat in the meantime — just pick it up. Most cats in her situation are back on track within a fortnight once the right box is in place.
That's really helpful. I'll order the Savic Senator XL today. Should I get two of them, one for each cat?
inparticular.ai
Yes — the rule of thumb is one box per cat plus one extra, so ideally three between two cats, but at minimum get two Senator XLs and keep them in separate rooms. It removes any competition and means she never has to wait or feel watched. Given what she's been through, giving her as much choice and space as possible right now will speed up her recovery considerably.
