Cat House Soiling/Litter Box Problems

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Feline Follies - Cat Behavior

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Anxiety is the most frequent cause for a cat not using the litter box or spraying/marking. However, a medical check by your veterinarian is always wise to do when your cat begins to urinate or defecate out side its litter box or in strange places. The things you want your veterinarian to check for and rule out are:

Cystitis (bladder infection)
Feline Urological Syndrome (FUS crystals)
Parasitic worms
Coccidosis
Impacted anal glands

The most common things to change with a cat who is not consistently using the litter box is:

The number of litter boxes
The access to the boxes
Type of litter
Removal of liners and litter with deodorizers
The frequency of cleaning out the box
Interactions at the litter box with other family members, human or animal
The ability to fee roam during the day or at night
The association the cat has in its mind with respect to the accident areas it is using
The ability to go outdoors
The amount of one on one time with the cat and its owner.
And possibly, a diet (making sure the cat is not on a fish diet only) or medication change.

Moving to a new home, or having new furniture or people visit is the most frequent triggers for cats who begin to housesoil. Sometimes, following treatment for a medical condition that originally started the accidents, the cat still goes out side the litter box, due to it now being a behavioral habit. Any type of steroidal medication can cause cats to urinate outside the litter box.

Below, are some general tips on how to treat your cat housesoiling problem. If it is purely behavioral, and there is no illness reason for the problem, then combined with the behavior modification steps outlined below, possible anti-anxiety medication, such as buspar (buspirone) may be needed for a temporary period of time.

Cat Litter Box Problems

In my cat behavior consultations, not using the litter box for either urination or defecation is the most predominant problem I see. Following this, are cat spraying problems, cat destruction problems, cat to cat relationship problems, cat to dog relationship problems, and cat to person relationship problems.

In about 50% of my cat litter box behavior problem cases, the cat first started urinating (and sometimes defecating too) outside its litter box following a physiological illness episode. Such episodes include bladder infections or cystitis, Feline Urological Syndrome, parasite infestation, or some other biologically based disorder.

Then, after the cat's veterinarian successfully treats the physiological disorder originally responsible for the housesoiling episodes, the cat continues to have accidents outside its litter box. Even though the housesoiling was originally caused and maintained by a physiological pathogenesis, the cat subsequently develops a behavioral habit and continues to housesoil.

The other 50% of my cat litter box behavior problem cases involve a cat who either was never quite fully housebroken or successfully litter box trained to begin with, or one who just underwent a significant and emotionally upsetting change in its home environment. This change in its environment triggered acute anxiety which was manifested in the form of urinating or defecating outside its litter box. In addition, other reactions to such milieu induced anxiety have taken the form of: not eating, becoming aggressive, excessive grooming and so on. These are usually the background of the offending cats in the litter box problem consultation cases.

Depending on the factors involved in the etiology and maintenance of the cat litter box disuse, they will affect course of treatment and prognosis. Generally speaking, while acknowledging the idiosyncratic nature of each and every case, there are several main areas which require modification in order to correct the housesoiling incidents emitted by the offending cat. These areas include:

More frequent cleaning and scooping of the litter box(s).
Change of the type of litter, frequently going from a deodorized clay type of litter to a non-deodorized sand-type of litter. Removing plastic liners.
Change of location or number of litter box(s). Adding boxes.
Ceasing trauma-induced behaviors at litter box or litter box vicinity (e.g., grabbing and grooming the cat, the dog pouncing on the cat, etc.)
When unattended,temporary confinement of the cat to prevent access to off-limit urination target areas resulting in intermittent or variable ratio reinforcement for the problem behavior.
Making the off-limit soiled areas aversive, by applying several different type of aversive agents, texture surfaces and engaging the cat in elimination-incompatible behaviors at these locations. (Citrus smelling agents, with tin foil and feeding treats in the area, can help with this.)
Catching the cat in the act of eliminating in the off-limit location and triggering a mild to moderate startle response through non-physical non-corporal punishment based interventions. (Saying "off!," and blasting with water.)
In consultation with the cat's veterinarian, changing the cat's diet to a more nutritious and anxiolytically prepared food or formula.
Implementing owner-cat anti-anxiety corrective one-on-one focus sessions, whereby the cat receives more stress reducing behavioral, verbal and kinesthetic contact with the owner in a quiet and comfortable setting.
And finally, also in consultation with the cat's veterinarian, possibly prescribing the short-term use of appropriate anxiolytic agents, possibly diazepam, buspirone, or amitriptyline, to further reduce the cat's over all anxious state.

Taken in concert, and over an eight to twelve week period of consistent implementation, the cat's failure to use its litter box should be corrected and fully eradicated.

It is my experience that following a careful social, medical, and behavioral history of the offending cat, in addition to an examination of the physical layout of its owner's home and litter box locations, in addition to observing the interaction patterns between owner and cat, a clear and concise and successful anti-housesoiling plan can be implemented and carried out to a successful conclusion. The cat urination problem behavior is more straight forward and clear than many dog behavior problems, but due to the difference in the dog being a more socially dependent pack animal and the cat not being such an animal, the corrective behavioral program may take longer than in dog behavior cases.

However, with patience, and with the owner working closely with the cat's veterinarian, and the rest of the members of the cat's household, successfully resolution to cat litter box problems are quite high.

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