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| 2007 | ||
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My Cat's Not Using His Litterbox!
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House soiling is the number one behavior complaint voiced by cat owners. "I love that cat, but he's wrecking the carpet and the house smells terrible!" Unfortunately, it's a difficult problem to deal with, and we have no miracle cures to offer. Finding a cure will take some detective work and patience on your part, but if you put some honest effort into it, most of these problems can be improved and possibly solved. Before you begin to seek a solution to your cat's elimination problem, be sure that you have identified the type of elimination he is exhibiting. It's difficult for a veterinarian or animal behaviorist to recommend appropriate action unless you are describing the problem accurately. Is the cat (a) digging a hole (or acting as if he were) then squatting, eliminating, and covering? or (b) assuming a standing posture (tail erect and quivering, probably shifting from one back leg to another) and spraying urine onto a vertical surface such as walls, drapes, or furniture? The latter is territorial marking rather than true elimination behavior. Usually it is the un-neutered male who marks his territory, but some neutered males will also spray, as well as some females, especially unspayed females as they approach estrus (the heat period). Spaying and neutering are not guaranteed solutions for spray marking, but will take care of the problem in most cases and should be done before the spraying becomes an established habit. When a neutered animal begins to spray mark, the cause is often stress-related, such as fighting with another cat in the household, the addition of a new pet, or perceived invasion of his territory by an unfamiliar cat. Spraying by a neutered animal can be very difficult to deal with, but you need to identify and then remove (if possible) the stimulus. It can be as simple as shutting the drapes so he can't see the neighbor's cat in his yard or as complicated as trying to get animals in the household to get along better by such methods as having good things happen to them in the presence of the other animal. Short term anti-anxiety has helped some difficult cases; consult with your veterinarian. |
| Physical Causes |
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When you discover a lapse in your cat's housetraining or a marked change in his elimination behavior, consult with your veterinarian at once to see if there is a physical cause. It's futile to address the behavior symptoms if there is a physical reason why the cat is eliminating outside his box. A cat with a bladder infection or a blockage of the urethra is feeling miserable and may be eliminating elsewhere because he associates the litterbox with the pain he's been feeling when he tries to use it. A cat that urinates in the bathtub (or sometimes the sink) may find the smooth, cool porcelain of the tub a more soothing place to urinate than the rough-surfaced litterbox. (This is often the first sign that the cat has a bladder problem.) Your vet will ask you such questions as the following to see if your pet may have a medical problem: (1) Does he spend unusually long periods of time squatting in the box? (2) Does he return to the box more frequently than usual? (3) Does he void only small amounts? Does the litterbox seem drier than usual? (4) Can you see blood in the urine? (5) Does he lick the genital area a lot? A suspected bladder infection can be confirmed by urinalysis and treated with appropriate medication to eliminate the reason for the behavior. You may be lucky enough to have your cat automatically resume using his litterbox when the infection is cleared up, but in many cases you will still be faced with reversing a bad habit that was established. We will offer some suggestions for doing this after the section on Emotional Causes, since the retraining process is similar no matter what caused the lapse in good litterbox habits. Diarrhea (often caused by giving a cat milk, overly rich canned food, or table scraps) may cause a housebreaking lapse; the cat's body simply doesn't give him adequate warning to make it to the litterbox in time. |
| Emotional Causes |
Not all emotional stresses that your cat might feel can be eliminated (you can't very well return the new baby to the hospital just because his arrival upset the cat), but some can be eliminated, and some can be modified or compensated by your treatment of the cat. And he may, in some cases, simply get used to a change... like the new baby... and no longer consider it a problem. Some people find it hard to believe that cats, who don't pay taxes or battle traffic on the way to work, can suffer from stress. But they are very sensitive creatures. Here are some possible causes for emotional upset in your cat.
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| Retraining |
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Do the very best you can to eliminate any problem you can identify, whether it's physical or psychological, and then proceed with trying to eliminate the bad habit that will often linger on. Retraining is much the same regardless of what caused the problem. Here are some suggestions, some common sense, and some a little more exotic, that you might use to correct the remaining bad habit of eliminating outside the litterbox. Make the litterbox as attractive as possible. It must be clean, which means that it is changed completely at least once a week and the solid waste and wet clumps of litter scooped out daily. Just adding a layer of litter to a dirty box won't fool a fastidious cat. For most cats a two inch layer of plain (not scented) clay litter seems to be about right, but at least one animal behaviorist says that some cats prefer a thinner layer of litter that they can push around the smooth bottom of the box. Use a box that is large enough to accommodate the cat. If you've been using a covered box, you might try leaving the cover off. In our housetraining leaflet we advise not switching types or brands of litter when your cat is faithfully using his box, but this might be the time to do some experimenting; try a smaller amount of litter; try mixing a little potting soil with the litter if your cat also eliminates outdoors; try switching to the soft, five, clumping litters if your cat has used the soft surface of your bed or a clothes basket for eliminating. Consider moving the box to a new location; your cat may want more privacy or may have been so frightened by some noise or incident at the old spot that he is reluctant to return there. Sometimes simple confinement will work. Put the cat in a large metal or fiberglass dog kennel or a small bathroom with a clean litterbox. After he is firmly back in the habit of using the litterbox again, let him out for increasingly long periods of time. If the problem occurred in only one location, the easiest solution is to deny the cat entry to that area. If that's not possible, there are two other strategies that might work; (a) place a litterbox at the spot where the accidents occurred. If the cat begins using the box, after a week or so try gradually moving to a more appropriate spot, if necessary. (b) Place another dish of his food at the spot where the accidents occurred; cats are reluctant to relieve themselves where they eat. Expert opinion on the effectiveness of punishment for inappropriate elimination is mixed. Some feel it never works; others feel that it can work if used carefully with the following guidelines: never punish an animal unless he's caught in the act; use "remote" punishment that he perceives as coming from the environment (like a water pistol or a can with pebbles in it tossed behind him) rather than from you (yelling or swatting at him); Keep the animal confined or out of the problem area(s) unless you're able to watch him. Don't forget that you need to remove as much of the odor of previous accidents as possible; odor is a powerful stimulus for repeating the mistake. The enzymatic cleaners sold at most pet supply stores are effective, but many people still swear by the old method of adding a big dollop of white vinegar to the final rinse water. After thorough cleaning you might try some techniques which can make favored spots for accidents unappealing or even scary, especially trouble spots that are hard to watch, like behind the sofa. These might help: set old fashioned spring mousetraps in the area (make sure you cover the traps or set them upside down so they won't catch a tail or paw); soak cotton balls with perfume or muscle rub and leave in the area; lay down an area of double sided sticky tape; or cover the area with a plastic carpet runner, pointy side up. Dr. Mike McMenomy, a Twin Cities veterinarian with an exclusively feline practice, sometimes suggests to clients with a problem the following unusual, but often effective, technique which is a kind of aversion training: Twice a week, hold the cat and let off a blast of aerosol deodorant right near the side of his head. Don't spray it on him; he just needs to hear that scary whoosh of air and smell that odor, which he won't like. Once or twice a day spray the accident area lightly. Not only will the cat avoid the accident area because it has a smell he doesn't like, but he will be reminded of and apprehensive about the scary sound that went with the smell and have double reason to avoid the scene of past mistakes. Don't expect any of these suggestions to be 100% successful overnight. The longer the problem has existed, the more difficult and time consuming it will be to correct. As with most endeavors involving animals, patience and persistence will pay off.
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