The majority of cats are faithful to their litter boxes. But when they aren’t, the reasons fall into two general categories: health problems and thinking-outside-the-box issues. In all cases taking the cat for a health checkup is the vet-recommended first step.
If the problem is not health-related, a cat will use urine and feces to communicate with us. The most common reasons for feline unhappiness include the litter box (type, litter, location), the box isn’t clean enough, and/or social conflicts (people, feline housemates, other house pets, all of the above). The following are lessons learned by a handful of caring cat owners:
1. Adult cat was so brand loyal that when her owner took advantage of a sale to buy a different brand of the same type litter, the cat stopped using her box. Fortunately the cat’s owner scooped the box regularly, noticed the absence of activity, and on a hunch went back to the store to buy the usual brand. Both the owner and his cat were very relieved.
2. A cat with feline housemates and multiple litter boxes was himself faithful to only one box. If any other cat used “his” box before he did, the cat would poop on the cream-colored hallway runner just beyond the sweep of the front door so his owner wouldn’t miss it when she walked in. Eventually the owner tried a top entry litter box, a change that did reduce the frequency of poop messages at the front door. The owner always considered herself lucky the cat’s disappointments were expressed in solid form.
3. Young woman living in a studio apartment with two cats sharing the same litter box without issue, discovers that the male cat has started peeing on her bed. Why? The woman had a new boyfriend who was spending nights at her apartment. The cure? Tossing the mattress and moving into her boyfriend’s house in the suburbs. The cats loved their new country home.
4. Woman and her cat have been living in the same small apartment for years. The first sign of trouble was the smell which she traced to an inside corner of the sofa. The owner blocked access; the cat moved to the opposite corner. Then to another chair. The problem? The owner had switched to a covered litter box, a problem that disappeared as soon as the cover was removed.
5. Couple with two cats, multiple boxes, and no issues moved to a new place where one of the cats started pooping next to one particular box. After much trial and error the owners figured out the problem was a combination of box location and which cat pooped first. If the “good” cat pooped in the preferred box first, the “bad” cat would poop on the floor. After the preferred box was moved to a new location several feet away, the “good” cat didn’t care for the new location and switched to a different box. The “bad” cat had the preferred box to himself. All better.
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