Solving Litter Box Issues
A high percentage of
cats end up being surrendered to shelters because
they have litter box problems. Unfortunately, many
of these cats are euthanized because they are
considered unadoptable due to their poor urination
habits. This is such an unnecessary waste of life
since most of these challenges can be resolved with
a little patience, behavior modification and changes
to the environment. If you are pet-owner struggling
with your cat in this arena, you should consider the
following factors to help resolve these undesirable
urination issues.
Both male and female
cats can develop inappropriate litter box habits for
an array of reasons. When evaluating problems of
this nature, it is important to first take your cat
to a good veterinarian in order to rule out any
medical conditions that would be causing your pet to
not use its litter box such as diabetes, thyroid
problems, or Urinary Tract Infections. Also, take
into consideration whether or not your cat is fixed.
Whole males have a tendency to spray. Neutering
males can stop this behavior. After determining that
the cat is healthy and fixed, you could deduce that
the urination habit is probably behavioral.
In order to correct a
behavioral problem of this type, it is important to
first identify what is triggering the cat to spray
or not use its box. Identifying these triggers is
similar to solving any mystery- try asking yourself
questions such as “Where is my cat urinating?” If
your furry feline is spraying around doors and
windows, there may be cats in the neighborhood
visiting the house and your pet is responding
through spraying. A cat urinating immediately
outside the box can be an indicator of a problem
associated with the box itself such as the box is
covered or not clean enough, or perhaps there aren’t
enough boxes located in desirable locations. Cats
will keep urinating on the same areas over again if
the targeted areas are not thoroughly cleaned up
with a good enzyme cleaner.
Inappropriate
elimination can result from a cat being alone every
day or even because of changes in your household
including a loss of a human or animal companion.
Additionally, status issues in multiple cat
households can be a trigger. For example, your cat
may not be using the box because another resident
cat is resource guarding and not allowing the cat
access to the box.
After identifying
what might be influencing the cat to shy away from
using the cat box, the next step to resolve the
issues is putting a behavior-modification program
into practice that includes thorough cleanup,
trigger elimination, and changing your cat’s
association with the targeted areas.
No matter what the
trigger is, proper clean up is essential. Cats will
continue to target the same areas unless the areas
are thoroughly cleaned with a good enzyme cleaner.
Standard household cleaning products will not work.
Cats have a very keen sense of smell and even if an
area smells clean to your human nose, a urine smell
might still be detectable to a cat. A careful
clean-up starts with identifying all of the soiled
areas. A black light will cause the target areas to
fluoresce in the dark. After identifying the areas,
soak them a few times with the enzyme cleaner. There
are many enzyme cleaners on the market and some of
them work better then others. Regardless of the
brand you use, it does take time for enzyme cleaners
to do their jobs. To insure the most complete
cleanup possible, make sure to leave the cleaner on
the target spots and then let the areas dry
naturally.
The techniques that
work best for stopping inappropriate urination are
based on environmental changes combined with
positive reinforcement and behavior modification.
Punishing your cat will not work. It can escalate
the behavior or alienate your pet from you because
the cat might associate the punishment with the
punisher. The steps to take to change undesirable
urination habits are dependent on what is causing a
cat to not use its box. Below is a list of the most
common behavioral reasons that can result in a cat
having litter box challenges, along with the actions
to take to correct the behavior.
If an outside cat is
causing the resident cat to spray, the following
will help eliminate the behavior:
Eliminate triggers by discouraging cats in the
yard. Talk with the neighbors about keeping their
cats in, or trap, neuter and release ferals or use
safe deterrents to keep the unwelcome visitors away.
§ Put butcher paper around the windows so that your
cat cannot see outside.
§ Do a thorough clean up of the targeted areas,
using a good enzyme cleaner.
§ If possible, confine the cat to one room or one
area of the house with lots of cat boxes. There are
some cats where confinement simply won’t work. Cats
that do not respond well to being confined should be
allowed access to other limited areas in the house.
Whenever the cat is using the litter box, praise the
cat, let the cat know how pleased you are with it.
§ Change the cat’s association with the target areas
by feeding treats, playing, or giving the cat catnip
on the targeted areas.
§ Decrease stress by plugging in a pheromone
diffuser such as Comfort Zone into the wall outlet.
If a cat is being
triggered by the litter or litter box, the following
will help eliminate the behavior:
§ Use only large uncovered boxes. Covered boxes trap
odors, are too small and do not give cats a way to
escape. A cat is vulnerable when going to the
bathroom and needs to have multiple escape routes
available. Tall 66 qt. Sterilite Clearview
translucent storage containers, without lids, make
very good litter boxes.
§ Proper placement of boxes is very important.
Locate them throughout the home in accessible areas.
Don’t put boxes in closets, noisy areas, or isolated
locations where the cat wouldn’t normally go.
§ Make sure there is at least one box more then
there are cats in the household.
§ Scoop every day, dump and scrub the box every 2
weeks.
§ Do not move boxes around.
§ Do not use scented litter.
§ Change litter types very slowly, adding the new
brand litter to the old litter. Start by adding a
small handful to the existing litter. Every day put
more in. It can take from 5-7 days to change a cat’s
litter.
§ Do a thorough clean up with a good enzyme cleaner.
§ Change the cat’s association with the target areas
by feeding treats, playing, or giving the cat catnip
on the targeted areas.
§ Decrease the stress by plugging in a pheromone
diffuser (Comfort Zone) into the wall outlet.
Cats can develop
litter box issues when living in multi-cat
households. Among a few of the reasons that these
issues develop are that there are not enough litter
boxes, status issues with your pets, or too many
cats in too small of a space. The following will
help eliminate the behavior:
§ Increase the vertical territory by providing tall
cat trees for the cats. They should be about 6 feet
tall with multiple levels and a very solid base. One
way cats show status is by where they sit in
relation to the other cats.
§ Sometimes slowly reintroducing cats to each other
will help solve the problem.
§ Change the cat’s association with the target areas
by feeding treats, playing, or giving the cat catnip
on the targeted areas.
§ Deterrents, such as lemon can be applied on
specific areas twice a day to keep cats away from a
particular area.
§ Decrease the stress by plugging in a pheromone
diffuser into the wall outlet.
§ Increase the number of cat boxes so that there is
one box per cat and one for the house.
§ Take an honest look at the space available for the
cats and the number of cats in the household. Too
many cats in too small an area can result in cats
spraying and or not using the litter box.
Leaving a cat home
alone every day for hours at a time with no one to
interact with can result in a cat developing poor
behavior habits such as inappropriate elimination.
Consider doing the following:
§ Provide entertainment for the cat, leaving the TV
on, playing a video that features birds, small
animals, fish and insects
§ Make treat balls out of small plastic balls with
holes, filling them with treats. Dehydrated chicken
works great for this.
§ Provide interactive toys for the cat
§ Schedule regular play times with the cat
§ Change the cat’s association with the target areas
by feeding treats, playing, or giving the cat catnip
on the targeted areas.
§ Sometimes bringing in another cat into a one-cat
household will stop the behavior, if the cats are
slowly and properly introduced to each other.
§ Decrease the stress by plugging in a pheromone
diffuser into the wall outlet.
Tragically, too many
cats are unnecessarily surrendered to shelters
because they are not using the litter box or are
spraying. With proper cleanup, behavior modification
and environmental changes, cats can become model
citizens with perfect litter box habits. It is worth
the effort for cat owners to do the necessary work
to modify their cat’s behavior so that their beloved
pets learn to use the litter box consistently and
maintain a happy and lengthy companionship with
their owners.
© March 2007 by Marilyn Krieger, CCBC.
First published in the Pet Yellow Pages 2007
www.thecatcoach.com
Marilyn Krieger, CCBC is a Certified Cat
Behavior Consultant. She can be reached for phone or
on-site consultations to help solve cat behavior
problems either by e-mail
marilyn@thecatcoach.com or by phone: 650 780 9485. Additionally, Marilyn teaches
cat behavior classes and is available for speaking
engagements. You can find out more about The Cat
Coach at
www.thecatcoach.com
Marilyn is certified through The International
Association of Animal Behavior Consultants
