Second litter box upstairs for senior cat
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 giving you solid advice — a second box upstairs is one of the most effective changes you can make when a senior cat starts missing the tray at night. It's rarely a behaviour problem; it's usually that the journey to the litter box has simply become too far or too urgent. Before I point you toward the right box for upstairs, a couple of quick questions: how big is your Somali, and what's the current box like — covered or open, and what size roughly?
He's a pretty big boy, maybe 5kg. The box we have downstairs is a standard covered one from Pets at Home, medium sized I think. He's been with us ten years and never had any issues until about two months ago.
inparticular.ai
That's useful — and actually the covered box may be part of the problem even downstairs. At 5kg, a medium covered box is quite cramped for a Somali, and older cats especially dislike having to crouch and manoeuvre in a confined space when they're already feeling urgent. For the upstairs box, I'd go open-top and genuinely large. What room were you thinking of putting it in — a bathroom, landing, spare bedroom?
Probably the upstairs bathroom or just outside it on the landing. He sleeps in our bedroom at the end of the hall.
inparticular.ai
Perfect — just outside the bathroom or on the landing is ideal. Close enough that he can get there quickly in the night, but not so hidden away that he hesitates. My recommendation for this spot is the Catit Jumbo Hooded Cat Pan used without the hood. It's a genuinely large tray — around 59cm long — which suits a big Somali comfortably, the low front entry means no awkward climbing if his joints are stiffening at all with age, and without the hood it stays well ventilated and feels open rather than trapping. It's straightforward to clean and sits neatly in a bathroom corner or against a skirting board on a landing.
That makes sense. Should I use the same litter as the downstairs box, or does it matter?
inparticular.ai
Same litter, yes — especially to start with. Cats are creatures of habit and a familiar texture and scent will encourage him to use the new box straight away rather than investigate it suspiciously for a fortnight. Once he's using it reliably you could experiment, but there's no reason to change what's already working. The main job right now is just reducing the distance he has to travel at 2am.
Great, that all makes sense. I'll order the Catit Jumbo. Thanks for being so straightforward about it.
inparticular.ai
Good — it's a simple fix and it genuinely works for most cats in this situation. Keep an eye on the downstairs box too: if he continues to miss that one even with the upstairs option available, it might be worth revisiting the size or switching it to open-top as well. And if the night-time accidents don't improve within two or three weeks of adding the new box, it's worth a follow-up with your vet to rule out anything like a UTI or early kidney changes, which are common in older cats and very treatable when caught early.
